Blues scrap reserve team
Pompey have scrapped their reserve team for next season.
The Blues have taken the surprise step as they revamp their squad set-up.
Instead of reserve-team football, Steve Cotterill will concentrate on sending out his starlets on loan.
The Blues boss believes regular first-team football in the lower divisions is more beneficial than appearing for the second string.
He will also have the option of arranging behind-closed-doors friendlies should he feel the need to look at his squad.
The decision was a joint one made between Cotterill and chief executive David Lampitt.
However, the club are keen to stress their motives do not centre on finance.
Pompey had been admitted into the the Totesport.com Combination League central division for the coming season.
That would have seen them compete against the likes of Crawley, Aldershot, Leyton Orient, Brentford, Brighton, Palace and Gillingham.
It represents a huge drop from playing the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham since being in the Premier League.
Now the decision has been taken to remove them and focus on a different approach to developing players.
Pompey are not the only Championship team to have pulled a side out of their respective reserve league.
Reading and QPR have this summer also taken the steps, while Stoke have dropped out of the Premier League version.
Spurs took the decision to do the same last season, opting to loan out more than 20 of their players over the duration of the season.
One of whom, Jamie O'Hara, revelled in spending the season at Fratton Park, sweeping the board in the player-of-the-year honours.
While news of Pompey now employing such a policy will be a disappointment to some fans, there is a groundswell of opinion reserve-team football is largely irrelevant.
The Blues loaned out several of their youngsters to Football League clubs last season, experience which has aided their development.
Matt Ritchie enjoyed time at Notts County and Swindon before returning to become part of the Pompey first-team squad at the tail-end of the campaign.
Buckland midfielder Marlon Pack totalled 26 appearances from spells at Wycombe and Dagenham & Redbridge.
Meanwhile, Paris Cowan-Hall was loaned out to Grimsby, although was restricted to two appearances during an injury-plagued spell.
In previous years, Joel Ward and Marc Wilson have also benefited from spells away from Fratton Park.
It will also end the club's link with West Leigh Park, where they have held a long-standing agreement to host second-string games at the home of the Hawks.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Thursday 24 May 2012
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