Portsmouth chaplain tells fans to ‘pray up Pompey’

The chaplain of Portsmouth FC is urging fans to pray after it became the first ever Premier League club to enter administration last week.

The club, which has debts of around £85m, was dealt a nine-point deduction for entering into administration and now faces relegation to Championship football next season.

The Rev Jonathan Jeffery, Portsmouth FC chaplain and local vicar, has written a prayer for fans to say, with the first letter of each line spelling out the name ‘Pompey’.

It reads: “Praying for this club and its community/ Order its affairs at this time, for/ Management and staff/Players and fans/ Everyone who loves this club/ You are God of all things. Amen.”

Rev Jeffery is inviting churches across the Portsmouth Diocese to use the prayer in their Sunday or midweek services.

“For many people in and around Portsmouth, there is a genuine love for Pompey FC,” he said. “It’s not just about football, it’s something that is part of who they are. That passion is incredibly important to the city’s morale, and no one wants to see the club die.”

He wants people to use the prayer even if they are not Christian and have never prayed before.

“Writing a prayer might seem like a last resort – as if we have no other option but to turn to God. Of course, for people like me and many other Christians associated with the football club, prayer is actually the first thing that we do,” he said.

“We’ve obviously been praying for Pompey for years, and we aren’t going to stop now,” he said. But there may be many other Pompey fans for whom prayer doesn’t come naturally.

“Hopefully this simple prayer will help them to express their feelings to God, who loves us, and therefore cares for everything that we care for."