What Portsmouth fans learned from January transfer window as new regime look to future

Pompey fans looked on for clues for the route the club’s on-field operation will now travel amid the recent upheaval.

And sure enough, the signifiers of what recruitment will look like moving forward under sporting director Richard Hughes and new head coach John Mousinho were evident.

Once the dust had settled amid the Jevani Brown deadline day noise, it appeared most supporters were content with what they saw. Most of them.

Ending with a flurry always helps in the sometimes curious manner winter window business is perceived. So backing up Di’Shon Bernard’s loan arrival with the eye-catching Paddy Lane business set the tone for a positive reception for the work carried out.

The final details read four out and five in, when factoring in the development loans of Haji Mnoga and Liam Vincent outside the EFL structure.

There will be few tears shed among the fanbase over not seeing loan pair Josh Griffiths and Josh Koroma again, although the former can perhaps count himself unfortunate for his Fratton stay to be viewed in underwhelming fashion.

Michael Morrison will not be mourned either, as he takes up the opportunity to return to the club where he started on an 18-month deal which will likely take him towards the world of coaching at Cambridge.

There is no uproar over those who’ve been lost, however. And that has been counterbalanced by business which has gone down well.

Two of those additions have already put down promising markers, with Matt Macey’s form so far a riposte to those leaning on assessments from previous homes stretching back as far as six years.

Ryley Towler’s arrival has whetted the appetite for the kind of work we hoped and anticipated from Hughes, as he continues to repair his broken toys cast aside by Premier League and Championship academies.

His arrival came at a cost, however, and one significantly beyond the £30,000 plus add-ons first mooted at the Bristol City end.

Likewise the deal which quickened the pulse on the final day of transfer action, as Paddy Lane swapped the Fylde coast for the sunny south coast.

The 21-year-old was being spoken of as potential £2m target for Premier League Brighton last summer, off the back of a campaign which saw him named League One’s young player of the season, Fleetwood’s fan trophy winner and handed a Northern Ireland breakthrough.

This is business to be applauded amid a strategy the Pompey football operation is now aligned with.

Those who have called for Eisner purse strings to be loosened on the playing budget will be disappointed, however. No doubt some will see it as further evidence of a perceived lack of ambition.

The path forward will remain sustainable and Pompey will not be taking any steps to reel in those who’ve pulled away from them in recent seasons, in a shifting League One economic terrain.

The merits of such an approach will remain part of the Fratton discourse, and rightly so amid what is being viewed as some mixed messages over where ambitions lie.

When the gap to the play-offs is six points at the season’s halfway stage, it’s maybe not such a surprise there aren’t words from Pompey publicly writing off hopes of extending the season at this juncture.

The actions, however, point to a game plan now being implemented which is looking beyond today.