MICK ON POMPEY'S WINDOW

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Pompey Sound Podcasts 20 min 2 speakers 8 chapters transcribed

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What are the main challenges faced by Pompey in the transfer window?

Mick 0:01

Hello Sounders, it is Mick here to mull over that transfer window with you now that it's all done and dusted. It's been complicated, it's been long, it's been interesting but more than that it's been vital to our club's hopes of survival in the Championship because we had a bit of a dive in the autumn. The previous window in the summer simply hadn't produced the players and therefore the results we had looked for and hoped for so we went from finishing last season a championship side looking up to Christmas of this season a championship side looking down injuries really I do honestly believe injuries to important of the club, team, players made a difference but all teams suffer from those you could argue and therefore they're no excuse.

Mick 1:15

The conditions under which our recruitment team and John Monsignor planned their squad have been fairly clear since our American owners arrived. He and his family would fund and improve the infrastructure to make Fratton a safe and pleasant place for the fans and the club would spend the profits from playing in the championship on future players and indeed Fratton is a great place now and it's a full house the problem is there are no profits when playing in the championship. At any rate, they're pretty slender when viewed against the wage bills and the values of average championship players.

How did injuries impact Pompey's performance and recruitment strategy?

Mick 2:13

Michael Eisner pointed out when he studied the finances of our football club and the British football clubs generally and the championship clubs in particular, he pointed out that While the club was still in division one, that was fine. But the spending in the championship, led by aspiration and optimism, was virtually unsustainable, if I can say that word. Unsustainable. You needed luck. And clubs that felt lucky mostly went bust. or received a terrible financial setback, which took years to recover from. Pompey adopted a middle route through the minefield to reach for the many millions required to guarantee a prospective promotion winning side. They had decided to spend part of their budget on buying young prospects

Mick 3:20

With the ability talent.

What changes have the American owners made to Pompey's infrastructure?

Mick 3:22

And years ahead to improve. And as a result gain market value. To make themselves therefore. A selling. As well as a buying club. To play the football market. It sounds fun. And it is interesting. But lots of clubs do it. And it really isn't easy.

How does Pompey's recruitment strategy focus on young prospects?

Mick 3:46

And it takes seasons. Seasons. We can see potential rewards in the policy, even this season in the emergence of Zach Swanson and Terry Devlin. And even it could be argued on the profit made from Callum Lang's departure. Even those players who failed at Fratton have mostly washed their faces, if you know what I mean by that. They've paid for themselves pretty much. as they depart, although the same can't be said for, I suppose, Tom McIntyre, who I gather is now playing for Aberdeen, but to no benefit for us, and Abdulla Kamara, although I did somehow, I think I did actually see a line or two that said that we did actually get some value back for him but probably by no means anywhere near what he cost us to bring over but all that is the reason for their failures is because this is not obviously an exact science this bringing on of young footballers young footballers are complicated they have weird minds and lives and futures some of them

Mick 5:18

But it's a strategy, and I, for one, support it. In this January window, that strategy, the investment for the future, has had, simply had to take a backseat because of the shortcomings in the summer.

What recent signings have been made by Pompey during the January window?

Mick 5:37

In fact, you could probably only count ma dio dio dia, ma dio dio dia, as a potential investment. And he only arrived at PO4 when a considerable effort to prize another, a different, promising centre back from Dundee failed to be concluded. Someone that I gather we may go back to in the future. But Madio Diodia joins Agialis in the central defender's pool at Pompey. It's quite a large pool, but that's because we've got so many injury problems with the lads in that particular part of the defence. Adji Alise is a boy from Sunderland.