'What the hell!': Lee Brown lifts lid on Portsmouth controversy over 'winter footballer' Tom Naylor

And Lee Brown admits even the Blues players were stunned over Kenny Jackett’s ‘crazy decision’ against Oxford United in July 2020.

Pompey skipper Naylor was inexplicably dropped for the League One play-off semi-finals, despite starting 33 of their 35 fixtures before Covid curtailed the league season.

Instead Bryn Morris replaced him in both play-off fixtures, with Naylor not playing a minute as the Blues were, ultimately, eliminated in a Kassam Stadium penalty shoot-out.

At the time, Jackett told BBC Radio Solent’s Andy Moon about the decision: ‘The balance of Bryn and Cameron (McGeehan) has been very good all the way through this and, if we’re leaving halfway through March, it was definitely winter football and this is more like summer football. So I think the technical sides are doing well now and we have to adjust.’

Nonetheless, it wasn’t just the Fratton faithful who were baffled over the team selection.

Brown told The News: ‘Kenny had something inside him which made him come up with team selections off the cuff. Tom Naylor in the play-offs was one of those.

‘At the Kassam Stadium for the second leg, me and Nayls were sat alongside each other on the bench. This was his captain and vice-captain, who had been regulars when available. What the hell?

‘During Covid, we were going into the training ground for one-on-one sessions and Kenny ended up loving Bryn Morris, who was as fit as a fiddle. So played him in front of Nayls.

‘Bryn had good figures on the Strava app, but what does that mean? So you can run around the field? There’s a bit more to football than just running. He wasn’t even playing before that, it was so random.

‘Bryn was all right as a player, technically good, but a bit young at the time. I would definitely have played Nayls in those play-off semi-finals, there would have been no question of that.

‘There was never an argument, Tom wouldn’t have done that, he had the utmost respect for the manager. It was just a case of Kenny waking up one day and thinking “I fancy Bryn over Naylor”. Simple as that.

‘The players thought the same as the fans over that decision. Nayls had played every game, he’d been unbelievable, he was our anchor. What a crazy decision. What have you done there Kenny, what were you thinking?

‘We found out the day before the game when the team had been announced. The captain had played every minute, was probably our player of the season at the time, yet didn’t end up playing a minute of the play-offs.

‘It’s bringing it all back talking about it! I was close to Nayls, he was my room-mate, and he was confused. Kenny probably explained it, but Nayls still didn’t get it.’

Manager found ‘winter player’ jokes funny

Brown followed Naylor onto the bench for the second leg following a Fratton Park 1-1 draw, despite being vice-captain.

He would replace Steve Seddon in the 60th minute of the Kassam Stadium clash, which also finished 1-1, with a penalty shoot-out required to separate the sides.

Brown - who retired from football at the age of 33 last summer following a mental breakdown - successfully netted Pompey’s third spot-kick, yet they lost 5-4.

And the likeable left-back and Naylor found themselves restored to Jackett's starting XI the following season.

He added: ‘You know what dressing rooms are like, of course we gave Nayls stick over the winter player stuff!

‘We’d be training and me and the lads would be going “Sun’s out now Nayls, you can’t play today son”. In pre-season, it was “Are you allowed to play today, Nayls?”.

‘Sometimes Kenny would be around when you said it, you could see him chuckling in the background over the comments!’