Promising tyros who came bouncing back after Fratton release
There is often an outcry from supporters when promising Pompey players are released after graduating from the Fratton Park youth set-up.
We’ve looked into those players who emerged from Pompey’s youth set-up only to be released, having barely featured for the first team – yet subsequently bounced back to prove the club wrong.
This doesn’t take into account players released before graduation at the age of 17 or 18 or those sold by the club.
Liam Daish
The Leigh Park defender progressed through Pompey’s youth team to make his debut under Alan Ball against Ipswich in February 1987, yet it was his sole outing.
Released in the summer of 1988, he joined Cambridge United, putting him on the path to a career which would see him play in the Premier League and earn five Republic of Ireland caps.
Daish also represented Birmingham and was bought by Coventry for £1.5m, before a knee injury forced an early retirement from the professional game. He saw out his playing days with the Hawks, who he also managed alongside Mick Jenkins.
Michael Nelson
Hailing from Gateshead, Michael Nelson arrived at Fratton Park as a first-year apprentice under Martin Hinshelwood and went on to earn first-year professional terms.
However, he never played for the senior side and was released in the summer of 1999 by Alan Ball.
After playing for three clubs in non-league, Bury brought him back into the Football League and he would later represent Hartlepool, Norwich, Scunthorpe, Kilmarnock, Bradford, Hibernian, Cambridge United, Barnet and Gateshead.
He totalled more than 700 career games and won two promotions.
Marlon Pack
The former City of Portsmouth Boys’ School pupil rose through the ranks of the club he supports to earn first-year professional terms.
Following loan spells at Wycombe and Dagenham & Redbridge, he made the first of two Pompey appearances in a League Cup clash with Crystal Palace in August 2010. However, he would see the season out with Cheltenham on loan.
Released in the summer of 2011, Pack joined the Robins permanently and would go on to play for Bristol City and Cardiff, spending eight years in the Championship.
Last summer he returned for a second spell at Fratton Park.
Paris Cowan-Hall
Cowan-Hall arrived with Callum Reynolds in 2007 from Rushden & Diamonds in a double deal, with both joining Paul Hart’s academy.
Cowan-Hall represented the first team during the 2009 pre-season, yet never played a competitive match.
He was released in the summer of 2010 following the Blues’ relegation from the Premier League and, following a trial, joined Championship side Scunthorpe, where he played once.
The striker would later represent Millwall, Plymouth, Bristol Rovers and Colchester in an injury-hampered career, while, during one of two Wycombe spells, was part of the team which won promotion to League One in 2017-18.
Paul Musselwhite
A talented goalkeeper who came through Pompey’s youth system and signed professional forms, yet there was no way past Alan Knight.
Musselwhite was released on a free transfer in March 1988 without an appearance, subsequently joining Scunthorpe.
In a 25-year playing career, he represented 12 clubs, amassing 815 appearances.
He is considered a Port Vale legend. Bought for £17,500 in July 1992, he played 367 times over eight seasons.
David Leworthy
Hailing from Hilsea, striker Leworthy came through the Pompey ranks and made one first-team appearance in October 1981.
He was released and joined
Fareham, where he was prolific, earning a £200,000 move to Spurs in 1984, making his debut in the North London derby against Arsenal.
Leworthy went on to play for Oxford United, Shrewsbury and Reading in the Football League and then enjoyed successful scoring spells at Farnborough, Dover, Rushden, Kingstonian and the Hawks, who he would also manage.
Brett Angell
Angell came through Pompey’s ranks as a central defender, without ever playing a match.
However, after being released, he scored more than 200 career goals.
Snapped up by Cheltenham in the summer of 1987, he was converted into a striker and finished the 1987-88 season as the Conference’s leading scorer. That subsequently earned Angell a move to First Division club Derby, although he never played.
However, he would later feature for Everton and Sunderland in the Premier League.
A prolific career also included Stockport, Southend, West Brom, Walsall, Port Vale and QPR, while he totalled four promotions.
Josh Flint
Boyhood Pompey fan Flint joined Pompey at the age of eight, yet was told he would be released in the summer of 2019 upon graduating.
However, invited back having missed the end of the season through injury, the Waterlooville midfielder earned an additional six months after impressing – and scored on his debut in a Leasing.com Trophy match against Norwich under-21s in September 2019.
Eventually departing the Blues in January 200, he represented Bognor before joining Dutch side Volendam, being part of the side promoted to the Eredivisie last season.
Nowadays a central defender, he has featured regularly in Holland’s top flight this term.
Kevin Bartlett
Southsea’s Bartlett made three appearances after coming through the Blues’ youth system, all coming in the old Third Division under Frank Burrows.
Upon his release by Bobby Campbell in 1982, he dropped into non-league with Fareham, where the pacy striker enjoyed a prolific time.
In September 1986 he returned the Football League, reuniting with Burrows at Cardiff City.
Bartlett would later play for West Brom, Notts County, Cambridge United and Port Vale, winning two career promotions, while also represented Neil Warnock’s Magpies in the top flight.
Jason Pearce
Fleet-born Pearce rose through Pompey’s youth setup to become a first-year professional, but left in August 2007 without making a Blues appearance.
Allowed to join Bournemouth, Harry Redknapp didn’t even want a fee, with the Cherries instead agreeing to a 50 per cent sell-on clause.
He returned to Fratton Park four years later in June 2011 for £300,000 having amassed 183 Bournemouth appearances and won promotion to League One.
Pearce was subsequently The News/Sports Mail Pompey Player of the Season for 2011-12, before being sold to Leeds at the end of the campaign with the club in administration.
He later played for Wigan and Charlton, before retiring last summer.
Mick Mills
Mills was not strictly released upon graduating at Pompey, with George Smith scrapping the entire youth set-up in the mid-1960s when Mills was part of it.
The full-back from Godalming moved to Ipswich, where he won the FA Cup, Uefa Cup and twice finished as runners-up in the old First Division, making 741 appearances – a club record.
Mills later represented Southampton and Stoke, while featured 42 times for England, often as skipper.