‘We’re not going to buy ourselves to the top of League One’ - Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley reveals how the Blues’ sustainable model will breed success despite sitting below Sunderland, Wigan, Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday and Co in the table

At the time of writing, the Blues are currently in 11th place in the League One table, nine points off the play-offs and 18 from second place Wigan.

But the Fratton chief explained how hard work, alongside the club’s sustainable model, can achieve promotion to the second tier.

Across both the summer and winter transfer windows, the Fratton Park outfit were reportedly gazumped by rival clubs in terms of finances.

Star players in the third tier, including Scott Twine, allegedly evaded them as their counterparts beat them to the services of influential figures.

However, Cowley explained, at the Southsea Castle Rotary Club evening, how climbing to the Championship sensibly will offer greater satisfaction to Pompey, and their supporters.

He said: ‘We’ve got clarity with where we’re at, the self-awareness which I think is important, a vision of where we want to go and now it just needs a lot of hard work.

‘We’re not going to buy ourselves to the top of League One, we’re going to get there with our skillset, and with a real work ethic. And I think when we get there, it will be that much more rewarding as a consequence.’

In recent years, there have been familiar tails of woe across the EFL, with historic clubs entering administration.

Derby County are the latest in a long list to be battling for survival off the pitch, as they entered financial hardship last season.

And Cowley described how the Eisener’s approach has impressed him, while stating money has been invested into other areas of the club.

He continued: ‘When I first spoke to Michael and the Eisner family, what I was most impressed with was the fact they were trying to build stability. I always think, if you want to be successful, then you need to have strong foundations.

‘I was really impressed with the fact they were willing to invest this amount of money into the stadium. And they wanted to stay at Fratton Park, and it’s a wonderful place to play football.

‘They also wanted to buy the training ground, and for any club to be successful they’ve got to have their own training ground. Particularly for it to be in Portsmouth was brilliant.

‘They want to run the club in a sustainable way, and there’s a lot of examples of football clubs being run in an unsustainable way, and we all know how that ends.’

A message from the Editor, Mark WaldronYou can support our local team of expert Pompey writers by subscribing here for all the latest news from Fratton Park for 9p a day, thanks to our 30%-off transfer window deal.