Recruitment teamhave backing of Blues boss

DANNY COWLEY has defended the recruitment team associated with Pompey’s recent transfer window woes.

And the Blues’ boss has stressed a conviction he has the staff in place to ensure his club get the right signings in the January window.

Pompey will have to arrest a pattern of poor work in the winter window over recent seasons.

Head of football operations, Roberto Gagliardi, and head of recruitment, Phil Boardman, have been in situ when that recruitment was carried out.

But Cowley said: ‘Football clubs are ran in many different ways.

‘Historically, they are ran by a manager who makes all the decisions and he has a recruitment team who supports him.

‘In modern days you are a head coach with a head of football, director of football or sporting director and a recruitment team who make a collective decision.

‘That’s how we work, but at the same time our recruitment team is small in number but big in heart.

‘People like Phil Boardman are really skilful and hard working.

‘You speak to anyone in football and they will tell you he goes to a ridiculous amount of games.

‘He has really good contacts and a really good eye.

‘Roberto is enthusiastic, hard working and full of energy, and developing on a daily basis in his role.’

Cowley added: ‘We have a way of working and we’re building a team.

‘We’ve brought Matt Page and Toby Ellis, who work on a consultancy basis for us and do a lot of statistical work behind our recruitment.

‘We have statistical analysis software which gives us a clear understanding of our performance.’

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