Andy Cullen delivers update on Portsmouth head of football operations role and ex-Leyton Orient scout Roberto Gagliardi

Yet insists he is continuing to evaluate whether to appoint a permanent sporting director.

Former European scout Roberto Gagliardi has served as the Blues’ interim head of football operations since Kenny Jackett’s March departure.

It’s a role previous chief executive Mark Catlin was keen to create, with support from newly-appointed head coach Danny Cowley.

However, in June, following Cullen’s arrival, the former MK Dons executive director declared he wished to evaluate the situation before making a decision.

And he provided an update to the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference at a meeting on Thursday evening.

Cullen told the conference: ‘I’m looking at positions right across the club at the moment and not just in the football department.

‘The job of a Sporting/Technical/Performance/Football Operations Director means different things at different clubs.

‘I want to plug any gaps we have here. I want to further enhance our player recruitment, which has been very good over this last window, and want to closer align the first team and the academy.

‘We want to align recruitment, sports science and medicine throughout the club. We want a clear identity here from top to bottom.

‘In terms of football operations, Roberto Gagliardi and Phil Boardman have done a magnificent job over the summer in identifying and recruiting players all aligned to the brief provided by Danny and Nicky.

‘Tony Brown has worked so hard with clubs and agents to get deals over the line at the best value to the club.

‘Anabel Roman has done a fantastic job of getting the paperwork completed and ensuring we are compliant with all the new player regulations and squad lists which are changing all the time.

‘I want to optimise what we’re doing and make the club as strong as possible in every area of our operations.’

This summer, Pompey have recruited 14 new signings, with Mahlon Romeo the most recent.

That has been overseen by Cowley, in addition to Gagliardi and head of recruitment Phil Boardman.

Both Boardman and Gagliardi arrived at Fratton Park under Jackett, with the former appointed in September 2017 following time at Wolves as an analyst.

Meanwhile, Cullen has apologised to supporters for the ticketing chaos which hit Fratton Park attendances for the opening two home matches.

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