Jackett not bothered by Pompey budget

The new Blues boss promised he isn’t worried about the size of his kitty to assemble a squad to compete in League One.

Jackett was unveiled as the club’s new manager on Friday and knows he has to quickly go about shaping his options for the campaign ahead.

The 55-year-old currently has £3m to put an outfit together to be in contention next term.

That places Pompey in the bottom half of the third-tier hierarchy when it comes to the size of clubs’ budgets.

It remains to be seen if the status quo will change when Michael Eisner completes his takeover.

There have been calls for a transition budget to be introduced by Eisner but chief executive Mark Catlin has repeatedly stated Pompey are working to existing figures.

Jackett is not concerned about Pompey standing behind plenty of rivals in terms of their financial muscle at present, however.

And he is out for his new squad to punch above their weight when the new season gets under way.

Jackett said: ‘When you do talk about budgets they can be confusing.

‘There are clubs who go down and through existing contracts, have the biggest budgets. That doesn’t make them the strongest.

‘We are in a good position going from League Two to League One with momentum.

‘Budgets can sometimes be deceptive because of that.

‘Is there a lot of scope and space in that budget at the moment? No, there’s not.

‘It’s not massive but the plus side for me is that most positions – if not all – have players and competition.

‘Clubs when they come down have a big budget whether they like it or not – and most times they don’t.

‘When you are going up a level you can prove and achieve. Overachieving is something you have to do in football management.

‘You have to overachieve and we’re looking to do that.’

A big factor in Jackett’s relaxed attitude when it comes to his budget is the squad he inherits.

He feels there’s plenty of depth there and competition across most areas of the pitch.

The Watford-born man acknowledged there is plenty of work to do still but knows he has a platform on which he can build.

Jackett said: ‘These players have been coached and have a defined style. I’m not taking a mish-mash of a squad.

‘There are one or two holes, obviously, but there is time to look at that.

‘So, in terms of the budget, it’s not something I particularly worry about.

‘If you were starting completely from scratch you are scratching around.

‘I wouldn’t necessarily want that but we have an existing squad of enthusiastic players – and I’m looking forward to working with them.’