US Portsmouth pair have ‘unfinished business’ as they turn down higher division club to stay loyal

The pair were key performers as USP topped the Wessex Division 1 table by seven points prior to the 2019/20 season being halted in mid-March. More importantly, they were 11 points clear of fifth-placed Downton with only eight games left and the top four teams due to win promotion.

Cain made 29 starts in all competitions and Franklyn 28 - the only players who made more were skipper Tom Jeffes (33) and Dec Seiden (30). Franklyn was also the top scorer with 21 league and cup goals.

US boss Glenn Turnbull revealed both were being courted by a higher division club but are staying at the Victory Stadium in a bid to help the club win their first-ever Wessex promotion in 2020/21.

Turnbull said: ‘Franko phoned me to say he was staying, he’s got unfinished business here and he wants to try and complete that.

‘Caino did speak to the club but phoned me to say he was staying too - he actually used the same wording as Franko, ‘unfinished business.’

Turnbull is surprised he hasn’t had more clubs showing interest in his squad. ‘I’ve been expecting more people to come knocking on the door to be honest,’ he said. ‘Genuinely, I was expecting calls about some of the other players too.’

The whole of last season’s squad are remaining at the club - including midfielder Calum Glenn, who returned from Baffins towards the end of 2019/20.

The only new signing Turnbull is planning to make is ex-Pompey scholar Jack Chandler, who made 12 starts for US last season prior to joining Baffins. There he only made two starts under Steve Leigh, plus another five off the bench.

‘It’s a real balance,’ said Turnbull.

‘We don’t want to get conceited and say ‘we’re the best, why do we need to bring anyone in to improve?

‘Equally, I’ve always said we will only bring in someone if they’re better than what we have already got.

‘Players come here for our brand of football, our facilities, and our camaraderie. But if you’re badging up the camaraderie, you have to make sure that anyone you bring in doesn’t detract from that rather than build on it.’

One off-field new arrival, though, is Portsmouth-based Marlon Day

The UEFA B qualified coach has worked in the Port Vale Academy as well as coaching Macclesfield Town’s under-21s and Warrington Town’s academy.

The Pompey fan was involved in the Petersfield Town coaching set-up last season, but has now joined Turnbull’s backroom team which also includes coaches Paul Barton and Fraser Quirke. He will take the goalkeeping coaching on matchdays as well as analysis work.

‘Marlon messaged me to say he’d left Petersfield, he was impressed with how we play, our philosophies, and would we be interested in having him?’ said Turnbull.

‘We were a bit worried about having a fourth voice in a tight changing room, but Marlon said he doesn’t like sitting in the dug-out. He said he’d prefer to sit in the stand and do some analysis work.

‘That fitted in perfectly with what we were looking for - it was the sort of gift horse you don’t want to look in the mouth.

‘I interviewed him for an hour on a Saturday afternoon, and it turned out he’d watched us five times last season.

‘He talked me through our game at Alton and, in essence, he knew more about the game than I did!

‘Apparently he’d watched all the teams in our league last season and written up reports on each of them.

‘At first our lads were asking if he was a plant from Petersfield, but Harry Bedford had worked with him there and talked highly of him. He said Marlon was great at talking to players on a one-to-one basis.

‘The lads were then asking Marlon if he was a Southampton fan, he’s basically had all the initiation apart from standing up and singing.’