Breaking: Portsmouth recruit well-regarded ex-Premier League physio to oversee medical department vision

Steve Hard, who spent 15 years at Bournemouth, largely working alongside Eddie Howe, has this week started as the Blues’ new head of medical.

He will oversee Fratton Park’s medical team, who will also soon be adding a lead physio to their ranks.

It concludes Pompey’s summer-long search to fill vacancies created by the surprise end-of-season exits of head physio Bobby Bacic and first-team physio Jack Hughes, along with head of sports science Jeff Lewis.

Since July, Tom Nation and Paul Cremin have taken on the roles temporarily, while the hunt for permanent replacements continued.

Now the well-respected Hard, who has spent the last two years as a medical liaison officer consultant to the Premier League, has taken over the reins.

John Mousinho told The News: ‘Steve has worked at the top level, with Eddie Howe extensively, and is close to 1,000 games. He brings a huge amount of experience, not just in terms of physiotherapy but also leading medical teams.

‘Steve was at Bournemouth until Scott Parker came in, then went into private practice after that and we’re really pleased he decided to take the leap here.

‘It works out for him geographically and is a fantastic opportunity for both parties. We’re looking forward to pressing forward with a medical department and turning it into one which is really vibrant.

‘It shows the intent and where we want to go as a football club, and where we want to take it. The structure is in place to make it more modern.

‘It also demonstrates that, unfortunately, these things take time. We couldn’t manage to get this in at the start of pre-season and Steve had quite a number of other commitments to take care of before taking the role.

‘We must make sure we do things properly, so purposely didn’t rush an appointment and get in someone we didn’t want.

‘This is a long-term appointment, we want Steve to stay here for many, many years. We want to make sure we get it right and build a world-class medical team from there.’

Hard’s first job in football was serving as Millwall’s assistant physio for five years, before joining Bournemouth in June 2006.

During his time at Dean Court, the Cherries rose through the Football League to spend five years in the Premier League.

However, in June 2021, Hard departed following 15 years of service, following Scott Parker’s arrival as head coach of the then Championship club.

He subsequently spent eight months as Crawley first-team physio during 2021-22 - and has now arrived at Fratton Park.

Mousinho added: ‘We will be sad to see Tom and Paul go because they’ve been excellent and filled a void where otherwise the club would have found it very, very difficult.

‘I know Rich worked really hard to make sure we brought in two good people temporarily – and they’ve fitted in brilliantly with the staff and will be welcomed back anytime.

‘A lead physio will be appointed off the back of Steve. We wanted to get him in before making decisions on that, but are pretty close to finalising that as well.’