"Play on Pompey, Pompey play on" - the famous chimes will ring out again now that the South Coast's only premiership club has been saved by an unlikely benefactor - step forward Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.
In a statement Man United said: "This is an obvious move for us. Up to now we have operated an unfair monopoly by letting less rich clubs develop talents such as Wayne Rooney. This way all the risk and expense of youth development is held elsewhere and we can reap the benefits.
"What we are doing now is buying up whole clubs so that we can take any talent they might have AND ensure we have a couple of easy wins in the season. We have a few other clubs in our sights which have no financial acumen and are looking fairly ropy - Liverpool is top of that list!"
Portsmouth boss Avram Grant said: "This is season has been so surreal, this move kind of makes sense."
