Portsmouth FC legend Alan Knight dies aged 65

Portsmouth Football Club has announced the death of club legend Alan Knight at the age of 65.

The former goalkeeper, coach and club ambassador died this morning surrounded by his close family following a battle with prostate cancer.

Knight spent more than two decades associated with Pompey and made 801 appearances for the club, the second-highest total in Portsmouth’s history behind Jimmy Dickinson.

Born in London, he joined Portsmouth as an apprentice while still a teenager and made his first-team debut at just 16 years old, keeping a clean sheet in a win at Rotherham on the final day of the 1977/78 season.

He went on to represent the club across four different decades and in all four professional divisions of English football.

During his playing career, Knight was part of three promotion-winning Portsmouth sides, including the team which won the Division Three title and the squad which secured a return to the top flight in 1986/87 for the first time in 28 years.

He was also part of the Pompey side which reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1991/92, when Portsmouth took Liverpool to a replay before eventually losing on penalties.

Knight was capped by England at under-21 level and became one of the most recognisable figures in the club’s history.

His 801st and final Portsmouth appearance came at the age of 38 against Norwich City at Carrow Road in January 2000.

After a brief spell playing for Havant & Waterlooville, Knight returned to Fratton Park in a coaching role.

He was even named on the bench by Harry Redknapp for a Premier League match at Aston Villa in January 2004 after injuries left Portsmouth short of goalkeepers.

Knight had by then been awarded an MBE for services to football and held the record for the most appearances by a goalkeeper for a single club.

His career also took him to the United States, where he worked with former Pompey teammate Colin Clarke at FC Dallas.

Further coaching roles included spells as manager of Horndean and Dorchester before he returned to Fratton Park in 2013 to work with the club’s goalkeepers.

Later that year, he was appointed as a Portsmouth FC ambassador.

The club says Knight was particularly proud of his work with academy players, drawing on his own experiences of addiction to speak to young footballers about mental health and wellbeing.

He publicly revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis in October 2024 in an effort to raise awareness of the disease and encourage men to seek medical advice if they noticed symptoms.

In May 2025, a special match was held at Fratton Park in his honour, with an Alan Knight XI drawing 8-8 with a Pompey Legends side.

The event raised £40,000 for prostate cancer charities.

Later that month, Knight was awarded the Freedom of the City of Portsmouth during the mayor-making ceremony at Portsmouth Guildhall.

Paying tribute, Portsmouth FC said the word “legend” was often overused in football, but said the fact Knight was still known simply as “The Legend” more than 20 years after his final appearance showed how highly he was regarded.

The club said he would be “sadly missed by the Fratton faithful, teammates and all of us at the club who knew and loved him”.

Portsmouth FC added that its thoughts were with Knight’s wife Heather, his daughters Jade and Rebekah, and his wider family and friends.

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