'I never had Kenny Jackett's backing at Portsmouth - I wasn't for him': Christian Burgess on his Fratton Park frustration

Christian Burgess believes he never had the backing of manager Kenny Jackett at Pompey.

And he admits that uneasy relationship was one of the reasons why he opted to quit Fratton Park for Belgium in July 2020.

Paul Cook bought the centre-half from Peterborough in June 2015 at the start of a busy summer of recruitment for the newly-installed Blues boss.

Pompey were subsequently crowned League Two champions two years later, with Burgess a pivotal presence in defence alongside Matt Clarke during a remarkable charge to the title.

Even under successor Jackett, he captured the Checkatrade Trophy in March 2019 and, in his final year, was crowned the runaway winner of The News/Sports Mail Player of the Season for 2019-20.

However, the 33-year-old insists he was never the former Millwall manager’s ‘type of centre-half’.

‘That’s being honest, he would probably say the same’

Burgess told The News: ‘I’ve always had that will to play football, that’s one of the reasons I left Pompey was because the manager (Kenny Jackett) didn’t always see me as his player.

‘I was always being dropped and having to re-prove myself, never guaranteed to play. Even though I played a lot of matches, I always felt like I was a bad game away from being changed. Every summer, centre-halves would be signed to play ahead of me.

‘It was clear I was never Kenny’s type of centre-half, that’s being honest, he would probably say the same.

‘Whereas under Cookie, I was his type of player, he loved me and had a lot of faith. Wherever I was fit, I would play under him and that’s what you need as a centre-half, the continuity.

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‘I always think it’s very tough when you come off the bench as a centre-half. When you return to the team it’s fine, but coming off the bench is always difficult in those positions. You need confidence because it’s a position where, if you make mistakes, teams score.

‘You need the backing of the manager and heed that belief. I had that with Cookie, but never quite had it with Kenny Jackett. It’s one of those things, football is about opinions.’

Deciding to join Royale Union Saint-Gilloise

Pompey’s delay in offering Burgess a new deal midway through the 2019-20 season instead saw him sign for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise on pre-contract agreement.

The Belgian club last month sealed the Juliper Pro League title, marking a fourth trophy since the defender arrived in Brussels.

And in terms of recruitment models, Burgess sees a similarity between how Union and former club Pompey conduct transfer business these days.

He added: ‘Pompey have now changed the way they do things, they have a sporting director. I’ve seen and read articles about what they are trying to do and it’s similar to Union.

‘I saw an article where they are basically targeting a market they feel is underappreciated in terms of Australia, which is encouraging. Every club is under some sort of restriction of where they can recruit from, prices, get the best value for money - and they have obviously highlighted that area as an opportunity.

’Everyone has to start somewhere and it’s interesting to see how Pompey are doing in terms of recruitment, especially in the Championship, one of the most difficult leagues in the world.’

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