Relegation battle: Eight weeks ago Harry Redknapp was facing the ignominy of a second successive relegation from the Premiership. This evening he could be celebrating perhaps the finest achievement in a managerial career spanning almost 23 years. If Portsmouth win at Wigan and Birmingham City fail to beat Newcastle United, it is all over.
West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham would join Sunderland in the English Championship next season and Redknapp, whose team were eight points adrift with 10 matches left, can look forward to a party at Fratton Park next week rather than the tension of another "Survival Sunday".
"I would give anything to be able to put it to bed," says Redknapp. "It takes your life over but I'm only looking forward to the end of the season if we can pull it off because it would be a fantastic escape."
The fear of relegation has had a draining effect on everyone at Portsmouth. "It gets more exhausting with every game," says the chairman Milan Mandaric. "In all my seven years this has been the hardest season emotionally. If we can make it, I will be the happiest guy in the world. It will be a phenomenal success."
Yet it is impossible to shift the spotlight away from Redknapp. The return to his "spiritual home" after a year down the M27 at Southampton was a huge gamble that initially looked doomed to failure. It took Redknapp time (three months) and money (about £11 million) to arrest the slump.
"Some questioned the decision to bring him back and it was a big decision," says Mandaric, "but he is a guy who can turn things around and I never doubted him.
"I'm not saying we are there yet - we have still got two big matches left. For us, this match against Wigan is the most important of the season."
You can sense the renewed optimism at the club. Redknapp has looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders during a turbulent past two years at Portsmouth, Southampton and then Portsmouth again. Yet the chirpiness seems to be returning and he was happily chatting and joking with supporters this week .
The manager's ability to seize on any momentum is the key, according to the West Ham United goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who was with Redknapp at Upton Park as well as at Portsmouth during the 2003-'04 season when a run of 21 points from 10 games ensured safety. "Harry instils confidence in his teams," Hislop says. "He is a very good man manager. He brings out the best in the team so that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
For Portsmouth the catalyst was the spectacular injury-time winner from Pedro Mendes against Manchester City. They were still in a perilous position but the chants of "we are staying up" reflected a belief that has grown during a run that has seen them take 17 points from eight games. The improvement has come largely through attacking football and encouraging players to express themselves, despite the pressure.
"We keep telling them they are the best," says Mandaric. "If you keep telling a child they are the best, they'll believe it."
"I'm only thinking about the next two games," says Redknapp. "The only way we could go was to be attacking. We needed to win games - drawing games was no good .
"I think from January, when we got new players in, the place took a lift. It took a bit of time to get it up and running and then suddenly it turns. We kept saying we just need one result to kick-start us. We need to win two games - back-to-back games - and it can all change. That's what we did and we won three on the spin.
"It looked impossible really but suddenly we have caught them and now we have got a real chance." ... Guardian Service
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