MOVING from Tottenham’s serene Premier League start to the choppy waters of the south coast with Portsmouth could be likened to swapping a berth on the QE2 for one on the Titantic – in steerage.
SPURRED ON: Jamie O'Hara is enjoying playing regularly
But it is an enriching voyage of personal discovery that Jamie O’Hara has not regretted for one moment – not even with Pompey making the worst-ever Premier League start with seven successive losses, the club in takeover turmoil, a massive turnaround in staff and the players not paid their wages last week. On-loan England Under-21 O’Hara said: “I was in the comfort zone at Tottenham. I could have stayed and played matches here and there. But I am not the type of person happy to do that. I want to play every week.
“I hate sitting on the bench and I hate watching players while I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I want to be out there’.
“So that’s why it was a good opportunity to go and play football every week with Portsmouth. And yes, this experience, the whole situation, can only work in my favour.
“It’s a sticky situation where we are bottom of the league. We are having to fight for every result, and that can only make me better as a player.”
Saturday’s first league victory and points, at Wolves, was suitably invigorating.
“It was great to finally get off the mark,” said O’Hara.
“It’s probably the worst we’ve played, but you could see how much it meant to the players. There has been a lot of stuff going on in the last week or so at the club, so it was fantastic to get a result. Obviously it lifts everyone.”
O’Hara is glass-half-full, and can even see the positive in the delay in being paid.
So what about the players’ salary hiccup? O’Hara said: “In a way it brings all the lads together, it brings us together even more.
“At the end of the day, for footballers who earn good money, losing out on a week is not the worst thing that can happen. Hopefully it will not
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