'Tapped up' - Forest Green Rovers owner Dale Vince kick-starts his dispute with Portsmouth with jibes during TWO interviews

Twice the New Lawn owner accused the Blues of ‘tapping up’ his now ex-director of football at the Gloucestershire outfit.

And twice he blamed Hughes for being distracted by Pompey’s interest as he explained the circumstances that contributed to Burchnall’s exit on Wednesday after 37 games in charge.

Vince made the comments in two separate interviews – the first when speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire in the aftermath of his decision to change manager. The second came while speaking to Sky Sports News as Duncan Ferguson was named the new manager of Rovers on Thursday.

Hughes was initially linked to the sporting director role at PO4 last May. But his appointment wasn’t confirmed until September 29, with the 34-year-old not taking up the position officially until later in October.

In the autumn, Vince accused Pompey of breaching EFL regulations following the appointment.

At the time Blues chief executive Andy Cullen diplomatically said he was ‘disappointed’ to read the New Lawn supremo’s allegations.

Now Vince has refreshed his angst with the Blues as he justified his decision to part company with Burchnall.

Speaking to BBC Gloucestershire on Wednesday, Vince said: ‘I just think it was a very challenging ask for Ian to come up from National League to League One, and in his first season we didn’t do all that we could have done to help.

‘Our recruitment was poor, our director of football was being tapped up by Portsmouth in the summer – he had one foot out the door, we could see that. We’ve been hit by a string of injuries and arguably he (Burchnall) hasn’t had the tools to do the job.

‘He’s done really well, actually, just to be four points adrift, but the focus here is staying in League One, hence the recruitment in the window, and now the change of head coach.’

Vince reiterated his views when unveiling Ferguson as his new manager on Sky Sports News on Thursday.

He said: ‘We’re not far away and he (Burchnall) was unfortunate in a broader sense as well.

‘You know, our season didn’t start well. Our recruitment in the summer wasn’t good. Portsmouth were tapping up our director of football, which distracted him. We didn’t replace players that were injured or lost to the Championship and then we had a string of injuries and we’ve been close all season.

‘You can see it wasn’t the best shot he could have had. Coming from non league to League One as well was a big challenge and we just reached a point where there wasn’t any more time I could give him. I always do give managers and coaches plenty of time but I didn’t have any more time this season because of where we are.’

Forest Green are currently bottom of League One and four points from safety.

They head to Shrewsbury on Saturday looking to improve on form that has seen them collect one point from a possible 21.

Ferguson has signed a five-year contract with the Gloucestershire side.