Record-breaking former Portsmouth goalkeeper Alan Knight MBE has passed away at the age of 65.
Knightsie featured 801 times overall for the Blues, an all-time record for the most appearances made for a single club by a goalkeeper - 683 of those 801 were league matches and the final of those came at 38-years-old against Norwich City at Carrow Road in January 2000.
He was also the club's second-highest all-time appearance maker behind only Jimmy Dickinson MBE.
Alan went on to become a coach and then an ambassador for Portsmouth Football Club after hanging up his gloves and as part of those duties, he became a friend of Express FM when he was named as a pundit on the station's matchday coverage show, 'Pompey Live', alongside Liam Howes and Jake Smith in 2018.
Despite being born in London, Knightsie became a legend on the South Coast with many supporters in fact knowing him as "The Legend".
His passing this morning, September 1st, comes almost 2 years after he bravely went public to share his prostate cancer diagnosis in October 2024, doing so to urge others to seek testing and raise awareness of the disease and the symptoms of it.
Last year, Alan helped organise a charity match at Fratton Park involving an 'Alan Knight XI' and a 'Pompey Legends' side, which ended 8-8 and helped raise £40,000 for several prostate cancer charities.
He first joined Portsmouth as an apprentice at the age of 14 and signed a professional contract with the club in 1977, making his debut a year later at 16.
Knightsie was part of the Blues side that reached the Semi-Finals of The FA Cup in the 1991/92 season, helping take Liverpool to a replay before losing out on penalties. He also enjoyed 3 promotion-winning campaigns as a player and also went on to represent Havant & Waterlooville before briefly returning to Pompey as a registered substitute in January 2004 for a Premier League fixture against Aston Villa in PO4 following injuries to goalkeepers Shaka Hislop and Harald Wapenaar.
In 2001, Alan Knight was awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List for his services to football.
The Express FM team send their thoughts to the friends and family of Alan Knight MBE, as well as his former teammates and the wider Pompey fanbase at this extremely sad time.
Rest in peace, Alan Knight MBE 1961-2026
