Portsmouth FC CEO Andy Cullen signals signing strategy switch towards lower leagues

Portsmouth FC's CEO says the club will focus on finding hidden gems in the lower leagues as it looks to overhaul its recruitment policy.

Andy Cullen says the club will change its signing focus from next summer as it looks to shift its acquisition strategy away from the Championship towards youth players plucked from further down the league system and other less congested transfer markets.

Cullen has had success with a similar approach at MK Dons when he signed Matt O’Riley from Fulham’s Academy, with the 21-year-old going on to join Celtic last month for £1.5m.

He also oversaw the signing of Scott Twine for MK Dons from Swindon Town with the 22 year-old going on to score 13 goals in 28 appearances this season.

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Cullen told the Portsmouth News: "Tony Brown (finance director) provided me with some information from the last 4-5 years that shows 48-50 per cent of players signed by Pompey have come from the Championship.

"Perhaps there hasn’t been a real focus on lower down the leagues, so signing up-and-coming young players will be a really, really important part of the football club going forward.

"Give them the chance to play first-team football rather than being lost in the under-23s world. Or perhaps they are up and coming from League Two or the National League and ready for the next step up.

"So you might be able to bring in a younger player coming out of an Academy, take Matt O’Riley for example at Fulham’s Academy, who walks into your first-team and is going to be a great player and, in 12 months, is playing for Celtic."

Cullen said the approach would see young players nurtured when they came into the Portsmouth FC set-up and not immediately expected to make an impact in the first team.

He said: "Some will be able to come into the first-team immediately, some might take a bit of a year’s development. We have to create that environment for them to develop.

"Someone like Scott Twine you can invest in initially to get them into the building. Then you go again with them and reinvest in the next best young player coming through.

"We have to get the balance right, otherwise you end up with a very, very short-term approach to player recruitment, only dealing for today and not the long term.

"It’s an area we need to be a little more measured going forward and if you need to make some investment to get there – and it's part of your plan and strategy – there’s no problem."

Cullen said he expected Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley to spend the next few transfer windows firming up the "core" of his squad before the transfer focus shifted heavily towards younger players from the lower leagues.

He said: "As part of the transition for Danny, you have to fix a few things first to get the players in.

"Then, as you start to get your core together, you can go onto the next stage and that comes into the next window. That's why you can’t achieve everything in one or two windows.

"Now we have that spine, we can take it onto the next stage."

The Portsmouth FC CEO owner's signing strategy comments came as it emerged that a visit from the club's owners, The Tornante Company, for the first time in two years was imminent.

Tornante last visited Pompey in February 2020, when chairman Michael Eisner, Andy Redman and Eric Eisner attended the League One encounter with Sunderland.

Cullen said: "I think we will probably have a visit from the owners relatively shortly.

"We can’t put a timescale on it, but Eric is particularly keen to come over as soon as he can and do some communications with everybody.

"That’s on the agenda shortly. As you probably know, he was due to come over before Christmas but that was scuppered.

"Quarantine rules now being relaxed opens the opportunity to come over again, so he’s champing at the bit.

"They are missing it, they really are missing the engagement. Two years is a long time of not being able to travel, so they are keen to come.

"I wouldn’t want to put a timescale on it, but I think they want to come over as soon as they can."

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