Rich Hughes on the potential of a Portsmouth development group at Fratton Park - and why Brighton and Southampton come into club's thinking

Those are the words of club sporting director Rich Hughes when he was quizzed about the potential for a development group at Fratton Park on his visit to the Chichester Portsmouth FC Supporters’ Club last week.

It’s a structure which sections of the Fratton faithful have long clamoured for, with many believing it’s a crucial buffer that will allow Pompey to produce more homegrown talent.

But while those fans dream about the next Adam Webster, Conor Chaplin, Jed Wallace or Jack Whatmough emerging through the ranks, Hughes insisted it’s a structure that continues to require careful consideration.

Indeed, he stressed it should not be put in place just for the sake of it.

An emphasis on the best pathway that suits Pompey’s needs was also relayed to supporters, with the sporting director admitting that clear and obvious progression lines were key, irrespective of systems adopted.

Hughes told fans in attendance in West Sussex: ‘There’s a constant conversation about what that pathway looks like between the 18s and first team and I think what we’re trying to exhaust at the minute is not just taking under-23s for the sake of it.

‘What we have to do is, if we get to a point where we have under-23s or we don’t, we just have to make sure that the pathway speaks for itself.

‘And when when it comes to the best talent in the area, to be completely honest, Greg Miller and the Academy has done brilliant.

‘We’re desperate for the next generation of Portsmouth players to come through but unfortunately it does take a long period of time.

‘The good work that they’re doing at nines, 10s, 11s and 12s and the foundation phase, which is brilliant and they work really hard with them, you’re still five or six years away from the fruits of that labour.

‘I get that can be really frustrating, but having a 21s pathway also means a development group or however we frame it.

‘It’s not about ticking a box to go: “We have to have under-21s”. We’re about making sure that actually the pathway is right and they can see a progression and an opportunity.

‘It’s one of the points where I knew John (Mousinho) and I share an alignment on it when we were a couple of bodies down for the Peterborough game. It was a case of “let’s just keep calm. Harry Jewitt-White goes on the bench and he gets on the pitch”.

‘Now, after he’s got that exposure, it’s about how you manage his pathway through. Where is his next loan? What does that look like? And it’s like that with all the younger players.

‘We’re in constant conversation about who’s doing well in the academy and what pathway can we put forward.

‘Because the counter argument about potentially not having an under-21s is – if we just have an 18s and a first team, we could really cement that pathway to get to the first team quicker.

‘That might work in our favour over a Brighton or a Southampton in terms of there being an extra layer they have to get through.’

Prior to Hughes and Mousinho’s Pompey arrivals, former boss Danny Cowley believed a permanent under-23s group could only be implemented when the Blues had ‘the best Category Three academy in the country’ – and enough players on the cusp of the first team.

‘