'We’re in a significantly better place' - Danny Cowley convinced Portsmouth are stronger at end of summer transfer window

A total of 14 new faces arrived at Fratton Park across the entirety of the transfer window during a period the head coach regards as the busiest of his career.

Mahlon Romeo would prove to be the final signing, minutes before the deadline, and Cowley is delighted with how Pompey’s recruitment programme has panned out.

Cowley told The News: ‘It was busy. Definitely the busiest transfer window I’ve been involved in. We obviously knew quite early on in the window that it was going to be one of significant changes, and I think it’s been really positive.

‘We leave the window in a good place. If I compare where we were position-for-position when I arrived in March, certainly with the availability we had then, to where we are now, I think we’re in a significantly better place.

‘There’s a lot of competition in places, and, although we haven’t improved in every single area, we have significantly in others.

‘We have definitely been able to recruit towards the game idea. I think you even saw in the game against Wigan, which arguably for 60 minutes, was our best performance.’

The former Huddersfield head coach arrived in March last year following Kenny Jackett’s departure.

And Cowley has been on a rebuilding mission at Fratton Park ever since.

He added: ‘I just want to thank the board and certainly everybody in the backroom team; particularly the recruitment team that has worked exceptionally hard through this period.

‘I also (want to thank) the backroom staff who were involved in the signings, you’d be amazed at the number of people who are actually involved, and certainly on Tuesday night.

‘We took it right up to the wire, which we anticipated that we might need to. I want to thank everybody for their hard work and support.’

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