'I went from Eddie Howe to Richie Barker and goose excrement on training pitches': Wes Fogden on his Portsmouth shock after leaving Bournemouth

Yet it was the motivation of playing in front of big Fratton Park crowds which kept him going through the weekly ‘grind’.

The energetic midfielder quit the Championship Cherries for the Blues in January 2014, signing an 18-month deal.

He was immediately pitched into a battle to avoid relegation to non-league, with his new club positioned 20th in League Two.

Those troubles extended to life off the pitch and in Pompey’s dressing room as boss Barker struggled.

Fogden told The News: ‘To be honest, apart from match days – with the fantastic fans and the atmosphere – the club and manager didn’t really live up to what I thought it was going to be.

‘Eddie Howe is probably the best man-manager I’ve played under and you’ve seen how well he’s continuing to do. I went from him to Richie Barker.

‘Barker didn’t have the management skill, while it was a tough time for the club. The fans were on his back as it was, there was probably a bit of pressure on him.

‘For me, it was a reality shot once you go from Eddie’s training sessions to that. We were training at the University of Portsmouth at the time as well, so the pitches weren’t particularly great, for some reason there was a lot of geese poo all over them.

‘It was strange, everything felt a little off. Coming from Bournemouth, where the whole squad was united, Pompey was a bit disjointed at the time in terms of the dressing room.

‘It’s not just about training facilities, the club at the time was disjointed. The team wasn’t united, there were a lot of individuals and the whole feel wasn’t quite right.

‘As Barker was under pressure game in, game out, he changed line-ups and the pressure spread into the players. It wasn’t as personal as it was elsewhere and, once that spreads, it makes players go off on their own.

‘If anything went wrong it was the players’ fault, if it went right it was down to what he had done.

‘We played at Chesterfield in March 2014, it was on TV, and we played really well in a goalless draw, we were unlucky not to win against a very good team.

‘Barker came out and said in his post-match interview that we got his game plan spot on. It was all about him when we got a good result – then all about the lads when it didn't go quite right.’

Barker was dismissed in March 2014 following a dismal 3-0 defeat at Rochdale, with Fogden playing the full 90 minutes.

Yet during that awful era under the current Derby assistant boss, the midfielder insists Fratton Park offered the sole bright spot.

He added: ‘It was the fans and match days which made it easier.

‘From the start of the week and through it, everything was a bit of a grind, but you would look forward to match days.

‘That’s when you could really feel the size of the club and noise from the home fans. That was Pompey at its best, that’s why I wanted to join this big club.’

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