Portsmouth FC: Sporting director drops transfer update after worrying Eisner comments | OneFootball

Pompey are probably going to need another strong January to fix their current situation.

Portsmouth sporting director Richard Hughes has clarified that Pompey will spend money in January if the club's hierarchy deem it to be a worthy investment to make.

There's an understandable sense of mild-to-full-on panicking going on among Portsmouth supporters at the moment. Making the step up to the Championship isn't always easy, and there maybe wouldn't be as much concern if the other promoted sides (Derby County and Oxford United) were doing similarly poorly. But that's not how things are going.

While Derby and Oxford are knocking on the door of the top half of the table, Pompey are at the pit of the league.

Thoughts are already turning to January, with a strong desire among supporters to see reinforcements brought in, despite 15 new faces arriving in the summer.

Some comments from club director Eric Eisner at Wednesday night's Pompey Supporters' Trust AGM about having to rely on signing players on loan in the winter spooked some of the concerned Portsmouth faithful.

The club's sporting director has since stepped in to clarify their approach ahead of the new year.

Portsmouth sporting director lays out January plans

Hughes has stated that Pompey will be willing to spend in January, but that any players that they look to buy need to be considered as good: "long-term investments."

"We won’t only be dealing in loans, not at all," the sporting director clarified to The News. "This strategy is going to be what best fits and what’s best available to us.

"The point Eric was trying to make is we have the availability and option to bring in loans if we think that’s the best thing to do. Our MO (Modus Operandi) in January is to bring in the best players we think will help us during the back half of the season and beyond that.

"Whether that be longer term investment or the short-term investment of a loan, we will do whatever we think is going to help John (Mousinho, the manager) and the team to keep us fighting and having the best chance of being in the division next year.

"I’ve said this numerous times, it is a case-by-case scenario with the owners. They are always receptive to a plan if they see it as a good investment. They haven’t said no to me on anything so far.

"I think they will make the funds available to us to try to strengthen the group, as they did last January.

"I’m always expecting a busy January by the very nature of it. There’s a lot of work that has to go on before things can actually happen. It’s a very difficult window.

"In terms of what that looks like and in terms of definitives about players in and players out, I don’t know at this point, but we will be working up until the window and working very hard through it to strengthen the group."

Portsmouth need to have as strong of a January window as they did last time

Pompey ended up finishing with a bit of breathing room between themselves and Derby last season. They finished the campaign well, in part thanks to the extra boost that they got from their January acquisitions.

On Christmas Day 2023, Pompey sat on 49 points from 22 games, with a five point gap to second, having lost just one league game all season. In their next five games, they lost three times, won once, drew once, and their lead at the top had shrunk to just one point.

They took action. They signed Callum Lang, Tom McIntyre and Owen Moxon in the final days of the January window, as well as Myles Peart-Harris on loan from Brentford around a week before.

Between then and the end of the season, they only tasted defeat once, and that was to Wigan Athletic in their final game at Fratton Park of that season when they had already won the title.

The club realised that a problem might be forming and they addressed it efficiently. That is what they will have to do again this time to try and secure their Championship status.