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Portsmouth will be relegated. It is not the most outrageous prediction of the season so far – no points from seven games means survival would be record-breaking achievement – but the manner of Pompey’s decline suggests a recovery is all but impossible.

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The club is financially insecure, with first team players going short of wages. They are hardly on the breadline, but it will not help the confidence of a squad that has little self-belief. The protracted takeover has not helped matters, but the team’s problems lie in the quality of the squad.

Manager Paul Hart has done a decent job – Portsmouth would perhaps be playing Championship football if they had stuck with Tony Adams – but the boss’ lack of clout in the transfer market has been damaging.

True, the funds have not been available, but the likes of Jermain Defoe, Lassana Diarra, Peter Crouch, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin and Glen Johnson have left over the last 12 months and not been properly replaced.

Premier League journeymen like Michael Brown and Steve Finnan, supplemented by the purchase of Championship players Tommy Smith and Danny Webber are simply not capable of filling the void. It quickly became clear that the top-10 finishes of the Harry Redknapp era were going to be replaced by a battle for survival.

That battle started on the first day of the season and the players know they are in for a long struggle. They are only six points adrift of safety and the limitations of the promoted clubs and Hull City should encourage them. If they do not pick up a couple of wins from forthcoming fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hull and Wigan Athletic, the odds of Premiership relegation are high.

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