'The rules are' - why Portsmouth will not be mutually terminating any more Fratton Park contracts following Gavin Whyte decision

That’s the understanding of The News’ chief sports writer Neil Allen, who claims the agreement that allowed the Blues and Gavin Whyte to part company late on deadline day won’t be replicated now that the transfer window has closed.

And the main reason is - any player who negotiates such an exit outside the two main trading blocs of the year are not allowed to feature for another club until the transfer window re-opens - in this case, January.

The subject came up in the latest episode of Pompey Talk on Shots TV, with Allen asked if Ben Stevenson and Tom Lowery - two players likely to be left out of the Blues’ 25-man squad this season and, therefore, ineligible to play for the club again until 2025 at the earliest - could follow Whyte’s lead and cancel their contracts with less than 12 months remaining on both.

However, it was made clear why that was highly unlikely to happen.

Responding to the question, Allen said: ‘The rules are that if you leave a football club in a mutually agreed deal to end your contract, it has to be during the transfer window if you want to move to another club outside the transfer window.

‘So in theory, they (Pompey) can cancel a player’s contract now but they (the individual) wouldn’t be able to join another football club until January.

‘It made sense with Whyte - to cancel his contract before 11pm on Friday if he wants to play for another football club before January.

‘As it stands, it doesn’t make sense for those players remaining who will not be registered to mutually agree their exits from Pompey.’

Allen said Pompey would stick by any player not eligible to play under John Mousinho after the 25-man squad list is made public in the coming weeks.

He added: ‘Rich Hughes has said that those players who aren’t registered will continue to train with the first team.

‘They’re still contracted to the football club, they still helped Pompey to the League One title, let’s not forget, so they still want to respect them, treat them likes humans and not dump them in the academy or train on their own, or do a Brett Pitman and train in a park in Poole or whatever.

‘They still want to keep them around the squad and treat them like human beings.’