'We haven't progressed as much as we would like': Blues owners Tornante's honest Portsmouth Academy assessment

A once-productive youth system has slowed substantially in recent years, coinciding with the arrival of Michael Eisner as chairman in August 2017.

Crucially, during his Guildhall ownership pitch in May 2017, the former Disney chief executive pledged to oversee a flourishing Academy.

Almost five years on from that statement, head of Academy Greg Miller last week presented a blueprint to Andy Redman and Eric Eisner designed to reignite the Blues’ fading production line.

And Redman insists those findings will be assessed as Tornante seek to implement a fresh Academy ‘strategy’.

Redman told The News: ‘We had a big update from Greg Miller the other day and he is making substantial progress.

‘But do I think that much improvement was made in our earlier years? His report shows that the answer is “No”.

‘It will take more work from us to fully assess that, but it is slower than we’d like. I don’t think we have progressed as much as we would like.

‘We are trying to have real links from the first-team to the Academy. We have been able to sign some scholars and bring some people into the first-team. that is very, very long-term and you have to evaluate that.

‘Presently it’s not something which we have a particular specific handle on, such as this is how many players we need over the next 10 years or whatever.’

Regardless, there have been encouraging signs within the Academy since the turn of the year.

Promising goalkeeper Toby Steward and now Harry Jewitt-White have signed first-year professional terms.

Meanwhile, Dan Gifford has been offered a third-year scholarship, with other Academy deals still to be announced.

Eric Eisner said: ‘I agree with Andy, we have not progressed as we would have liked.

‘But it’s not like we have a plan to disband the Academy, it’s so important to the community, so we need to figure that part out as well.

‘Greg’s report is very in-depth. It’s like Fratton Park, when you have to really study it and figure it out first. We are still figuring it out, to be honest.

‘It’s a strategy. Until you get the strategy, you don't know how much you need to do – and right now it’s figuring out how to do it.

‘Ideally you would want a Mason Mount to stay with you the whole way, that is not realistic and we understand that, so we’re trying to think is there a way to build that – or is there not a way to build that?

‘We want the academy to be good, it has to be a safe environment for kids, it has to be good for the community, that’s most important.

‘If football (progression) comes on top of that, fantastic, but it has to be a safe environment for kids to learn and play football.’

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