Danny Cowley delivers forceful response to Portsmouth fans as flak flies over club's direction

The Blues boss is adamant the buck stops with him with consternation growing among supporters about their team’s season drifting into obscurity.

Flak has intensified off the back of disappointing form and a frustrating finale to the transfer window, which saw the club miss out on landing a midfielder and bring in Sunderland striker Aiden O’Brien on a short-term deal.

The Eisners have found themselves in the firing line from many supporters over the direction headed on the pitch, but Cowley feels he should take the brunt of criticism.

He said: ‘We want success today - here, now, immediately. It doesn’t all happen that way, unfortunately.

‘When that doesn’t happen we absolutely deserve and accept the criticism we get.

‘This is a big club with a huge history and brilliant support base who just want the best for the club.

‘When that doesn’t happen they get disappointed, and the more they care for the club the bigger the disappointment is.

‘Myself, Nicky and the rest of the staff are absolutely determined to leave the club in a better position than we found it in.

‘At every club I’ve managed I’ve been able to leave it in a better place than I found it.

‘At the moment, that’s not equating to the results on the pitch

‘I understand that - and if there’s anyone to criticise, it’s me.

‘I feel for the owners that they have to receive that level of criticism when the club doesn’t do well.

‘I don’t think that’s fair, because they’ve been clear since day dot as to how they will run the club.

‘They’ve invested significantly into the infrastructure of the club, which will be for the betterment of the club in future years. I totally respect and admire that.

Pompey go to Oxford United on Saturday closer to the League One relegation places than the play-offs with 19 games remaining.

Talk of a top-six finish is now on the backburner, despite such a sizeable chunk of the campaign remaining.

Although acknowledging the recent run of form will impact the mood around the club, Cowley asked fans to try to see the bigger picture.

He added: ‘I understand that football is very outcome oriented and the moon at the club will go up and down on the results.

‘We’re on a journey and when we came here the owners were quite clear on what the journey was.

‘We’re working relentlessly hard every day to improve the provisions which support the first team.

‘We want to create an elite environment. We know we’re not there yet.

‘We want to try to improve the performance aspect of the club, the coaching element of the club and the analysis.

‘We’ve made some really big progress in these areas.

‘We want to improve the academy and recruitment.

‘We want to lay down those foundations, hopefully in terms of the provisions which support the first team.

‘If we can do all this we can create a consistent level of performance.

‘This is a journey which takes time. Know this, though, we are going to work relentlessly hard.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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