Portsmouth adamant substitute rule change can boost chances of League One promotion

Football League clubs, including the Blues, have voted to allow five substitutions for each team per game.

Changes come in immediately, ensuring Pompey can make two more substitutions than previously for Saturday’s visit of Crewe.

Both Mark Catlin and Kenny Jackett back the proposals, which have also generated support in the Premier League in recent weeks.

And he is adamant having five substitutions can be used to Pompey’s advantage.

The Blues’ chief executive told The News: ‘We voted for it and consider it advantageous to us.

‘There are a lot of games in a very condensed period of time. We believe that, with the depth and the strength of our squad, it’s the right move at this particular time.

‘We look at our squad and the players we’ve got who aren’t even getting a game at the moment and hopefully this change should suit us.

‘We have worked hard to build a strong squad. A lot of clubs, fair play to them, take the decision to heavily invest in the starting XI, while we have always tried to work more on a strength-in-depth policy.

‘We had discussions with Kenny and the board how we were going to look at it and agreed to vote in favour.

‘It’s a big change really, a fundamental change, but we felt it was something needed, given the amount of travelling and the short condensed period of time.

‘We can now adopt a more rotational policy in regards to resting players in the second half and utilising five subs.

‘Strategically, if a player, as an example, has played three games on the trot and is clearly tiring, you have more options to make that change.’

Pompey used three substitutes during Monday night’s 2-2 draw at Plymouth.

Ellis Harrison has been the Blues’ most-used substitute this season so far, with seven appearances from the bench.

Catlin added: ‘It’s a manager’s decision, but I think that for players sitting out for a period, it gives the opportunity to get some game time.

‘They can also impress in what might be the last 15-20 minutes of a match to get themselves a start in the next game.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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