Portsmouth chief's concern over Blues slump - but draws inspiration from Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday

Andy Cullen has revealed his ‘concern’ over the Pompey slump which threatens their promotion aspirations.

But he believes club togetherness and the January transfer window can put the Blues back on track for a Championship return.

With just two wins from seven league matches since that eye-catching Bolton triumph, John Mousinho’s men have declined alarmingly over the last month.

Cullen reflects on similar tough spells in 2022-23 for Ipswich (one league win in eight starting December 2022) and Sheffield Wednesday (one win in eight starting March 2023) - with both still winning promotion.

Nonetheless, he recognises supporter worries as Pompey find themselves flailing amid a post-Christmas slump for the third time in six seasons.

The Blues chief executive told The News: ‘This spell is disappointing, so of course you are concerned when you have a run like we’ve been on recently.

‘We’re going through a bit of a sticky patch, but we knew there would be some bumps along the way, we’ve always said that.

‘It was important none of us got too high when we were at the top - and we aren’t going to get too low at the moment.

‘My job is to make sure I am providing everybody with all the support they need, whether that be John, Rich, the players, the staff around them. We are all here together.

‘We’ve had a superb spirit of togetherness from day one and that’s something which will see us through.

‘If you look back at last season, some of the clubs promoted from League One - Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday - went through some sticky patches.

‘Ipswich did around this time last year, Wednesday was towards the end, while Barnsley also had a bad patch over the last month or so heading into the play-offs (winning three of their last eight)

‘This is where you find out how strong you are as a group and that collected sense of togetherness, which you hope will see everybody through.

‘We have really, really high standards, everybody would acknowledge the result on Saturday didn’t reflect those high standards, no-one is disputing that.

‘We want to get back to those standards, as well as the targets and objectives we set ourselves.’

The Blues now face a run of three successive away matches, culminating in a crucial trip to Oxford United on January 30.

They also have rock bottom Fleetwood (January 20) and 15th-placed Port Vale (January 27) as they bid to rediscover the form which has deserted them.

Cullen added: ‘We go into a run now of three away and if we can get something out of that, that will set us up nicely for when we return to Fratton Park in February for when we play Northampton.

‘Being in a transfer window, we are also in a position where we can affect things. With Regan’s injury in November, you couldn’t do too much about it at that particular time.

‘Now it’s January and, with Alex Robertson’s injury, we can do something about it - and that's what we are seeking to do.’