Hello again: Why Forest Green Rovers are influencing Rich Hughes' Portsmouth transfer business
The Blues’ sporting director has brought four of his former League Two signings to Fratton Park since June 2023
He has overseen Pompey’s recruitment to restore them to the Championship - and then, perhaps most impressively of all, remain there.
Yet Rich Hughes has repeatedly demonstrated he isn’t against returning to his Forest Green Rovers roots when it comes to Fratton Park squad strengthening.
Indeed, Odin Bailey represents the fourth of his former New Lawn signings to reunite with the Blues’ sporting director, following last week’s arrival from Stockport.
Since his September 2022 appointment at Fratton Park, Hughes has also added the familiar faces of Ben Stevenson, Myles Peart-Harris and Ebou Adams to Pompey.
All featured in League Two for Rovers after being captured by Hughes during his four-and-a-half years with the Gloucestershire-based club, firstly as head of recruitment and then director of football.
And now Bailey has joined former Forest Green team-mate Adams in Pompey’s dressing room for the forthcoming Championship season.
Signed by Hughes for a third time in his career
Certainly in Bailey’s case, this signals the third time Hughes has signed him, having previously recruited the midfielder twice on loan from Birmingham.
The first occasion was in the second half of the 2019-20 campaign, when the 20-year-old arrived from St Andrew’s in January 2020.
Bailey would score against Grimsby in his third outing, yet an ankle injury, followed by the global Covid outbreak prematurely curtailing the season after just five appearances.
Hughes returned to sign him for a second loan spell in October 2020, at the time hailing ‘the X-factor that fans will remember’.
Bailey subsequently made 38 appearances and scored four times in the 2020-21 campaign as Forest Green finished sixth in League Two, before losing in the play-offs to Newport County 5-4 on aggregate.
Ebou Adams recruited from non-league football in June 2019
Hughes was Forest Green’s head of recruitment in June 2019 when they paid Ebbsfleet United an undisclosed fee to capture Adams.
The 23-year-old had featured 37 times in the National League the previous season, helping them claim eighth spot and narrowly miss out on the play-offs.
Adams went on to win promotion to League One with Rovers in 2021-22, yet left that summer on a free transfer for Championship side Cardiff after 121 appearances.
Hughes, having been unsuccessful in attempts to bring the midfielder to Fratton Park in January 2024, finally got the reunion he craved in January 2026 - costing £500,000 from Derby.
It was Hughes who had taken him to the New Lawn Stadium in June 2021, following the midfielder’s departure from Colchester, where he had been a first-team regular for two seasons.
At the age of 26, he was identified by his former director of football as a player to bolster the Blues squad for their promotion ambition - and he went on to feature 12 times, scoring once.
Peart-Harris signed from Brentford in January 2023
Another member of that 2023-24 League One title-winning team was Peart-Harris, who made exactly the same amount of appearances as Stevenson after joining on loan from Brentford in January 2024.
The attacker was previously on loan at Forest Green, having been recruited on loan in August 2022, only for Hughes - who signed him - to move to Pompey the following month.
Peart-Harris subsequently totalled 47 appearances and scored six times as Rovers finished bottom of League One, yet had shown enough to encourage Hughes to pursue him again six months later.
Now Bailey has become the fourth of Hughes’ Forest Green signings within three years to reunite with him at Fratton Park - and it will be intriguing to see how he fairs.