'Disappointed with the people involved' - Portsmouth take action after Astoria nightclub incident

And the Blues have sanctioned squad members, after a group was refused entry to the Guildhall Wall nightclub before moments later a University of Portsmouth student was left unconscious.

Astoria has banned the players with a barring also in place at other venues across the area, following the events on the evening of Pompey’s final league game against Accrington Stanley on May 9.

Pompey have investigated the events and held discussions with police, the nightclub and the players who were out that evening.

Cowley confirmed there’s been punishments for those deemed to have brought the club into disrepute, although those details will be kept in house.

The Blues head coach made it abundantly clear, however, what unfolded was not acceptable.

He said: ‘There was an incident and we were really disappointed with the people involved.

‘We were disappointed with the timing of the incident and we were disappointed with what happened.

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‘It’s an absolute privilege to be associated with this football club.

‘Whether you’re a player or a member of staff you have a huge responsibility to be a role model and to conduct yourself in a certain way.

‘We fell well short on that Sunday night - and we all take responsibility for that.

‘That’s not just the players involved, all of us. It hurt us all.’

Cowley was confirmed as Pompey’s long-term head coach the day after the Astoria incident, and made it clear he will employ a very clear code of conduct, which will define the standards of behaviour expected.

He promised there will be no efforts to sweep misconduct under the carpet moving forward in his tenure as head coach.

Cowley said: ‘I can assure you moving forward we’ll work really hard to make sure these instances do not happen in the future.

‘We’re very proud to be associated with this club.

‘We understand the responsibility that privilege brings and we have a duty to the people of Portsmouth to behave in a certain way.

‘We’re human beings and sometimes human beings make mistakes, but when we do come up short we’ll hold our hands up and take responsibility.

‘We’ll take learning from it and we’ll endeavour to make sure it never happens again.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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