Danny Cowley's message to Portsmouth supporters over what he can achieve amid huge player turnover

And the Blues head coach pointed to his managerial history as evidence his team can hit the ground running next term, even if a huge swathe of his players are new to each other.

Pompey currently have 14 players contracted for the 2021-22 season - with Cowley stating he wants two players in each position with a sprinkling of young non-league talent coming in, too.

That points to possibly the new faces getting into double figures and the 42-year-old facing the challenge of bringing a cohesion to the team.

Cowley is adamant can be implemented quickly - and successfully.

He said: ‘It is possible by the way. It is possible to come in and hit the ground running.

‘We came in at Concord and won the treble in the first season. We came in at Braintree inherited a squad which finished 16th, kept 11 players, added to it and finished third in the National League as a part-time team on a £180,000 budget.

‘We went to Lincoln, picked up a team who had finished above 13th in five season and won the league as well as getting to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

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‘We inherited 17 players, moved three, added nine and had a really competitive season after evolving quite a lot in January as well.

‘At Huddersfield we went in mid-season when the club had one point after nine games and we picked up 51, brought the wage bill down significantly in January and made the team significantly better in January and stayed in the division.

‘I know we can do this - but it’s not easy. It’s going to take a huge effort, lot of intelligent planning and work behind the scenes.’

Cowley is currently putting his backroom staff together as he puts the structures in place to take on the massive workload required to successfully put a strong squad together.

His brother, Nicky, is in situ, Simon Bassey is set to arrive as first-team coach with the head coach’s trusted analysts, Matt Page and Toby Ellis, also in place.

Cowley added: ‘We have people working so hard - and that gives me confidence.

‘I go to bed late at night knowing I’ve got a group of staff working incredibly hard for this club - and that allows me to sleep.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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