Danny Cowley's confession over the size of task he's facing to succeed at Portsmouth

And the Blues boss told of his eagerness to accelerate the process of putting the building blocks in place to allow his club to succeed.

Cowley has underlined his belief over the size of the task he faces to get his club moving into the Football League’s upper echelons, while the off-field foundations are laid.

But the 43-year-old believes the rewards for doing so at Fratton Park is far greater than managing elsewhere.

Cowley recently brought up his first anniversary at Pompey after succeeding Kenny Jackett at the helm.

In that time the former Lincoln boss believes he’s come to an understanding of what’s required to allow Pompey to succeed.

When asked if that was more than he first realised, Cowley said: ‘Yes, 100 per cent!

‘There’s been a lot to do in terms of trying to move it towards an elite environment.

‘There’s still a lot to do to get the club to where we want to get it.

‘We were very lucky coming in with Mark Catlin, who had a fantastic relationship with supporters, and so got the club.

‘He was able to give us an education and gave me a good insight into the club, where it was at and what was needed.

‘Then through living it day-in, day out it becomes more and more apparent

‘If I’m honest, I’m looking forward to the day we can speed it up a bit - go from a walk to a jog to a run!

‘This is a juggernaut of a football club and our challenge now is to unlock that potential.’

Cowley is now into his fifth managerial role at his third league club along with his brother, Nicky, at Pompey.

He admitted when he’d be in situ at previous outfits he wasn’t sure where else he could make improvements.

That’s certainly not the case in his present position.

He added: ‘It’s full-on here! We need to be aligned and have joined-up thinking.

‘I’ve been here a year and we’ve made progress, but there’s still loads to do. My goodness, loads to do - but I see that as exciting..

‘When I came to the end at Lincoln we were thinking what else can we do and where can we take this?

‘We’d got it all to such a good place we were thinking where is the next gain?

‘Here through, there’s just so much scope - so much scope it’s frightening.

‘There’s a lot easier jobs than this one, let me tell you, but none which can have the potential rewards.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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