David Norris reacts as Portsmouth take on three trials ahead of Championship season
David Norris has recalled the new faces who showed up at Portsmouth during his time at the club, amid pre-season trials getting underway.
Three trialists have so far appeared for Pompey in various friendlies – Jamal Baptiste, Sean Patton and Cameron Plain.
Norris – who enjoyed a memorable spell at Fratton Park in the 2011/12 season – recalled the situation at the time and how it impacted players coming in on trial, and also told a story about his own experience as a young player at Bolton Wanderers.
“We obviously had a few players come and go throughout the season, but I think the club were a bit restricted in who we could sign because of the financial situation,” the former Blues midfielder exclusively told Pompey News.
“Financially at the time, of course, the club was all over the place. But we had a few come in and I remember thinking ‘he’s good’ about a couple of them, and then you never saw them again – they hadn’t been offered a contract.
“I think how it is, is that players are recommended by a manager or an agent and no matter how well they perform on trial, they’re not kept around if they’re not specifically what a coach is looking for – it’s hard for a trialist, I’ve been there myself when I first went to Bolton as a youngster, but Big Sam [Allardyce] luckily signed me because he found out Hibernian were interested and didn’t want to risk losing me!”
Portsmouth observing trialists in pre-season
Pre-season is always an exciting time for supporters for several reasons.
One is that your club will always tend to play some high-level opposition and you can easily watch your team against some top players – or that there will be plenty of local games in your region to pop down and see your heroes.
It also tends to be the first glimpse at new signings in the club colours, and of course, the time when trialists often spring out of the woodwork.
For Pompey, supporters have been impressed by what they’ve seen from former Manchester City academy defender Baptiste, as well as teenage Irish striker Patton.
Featuring in Friday night’s win at Havant & Waterlooville was 22-year-old goalkeeper Plain, who it was reported had travelled with Portsmouth to their pre-season camp in Croatia [The News, 8 July].
Plain was released by AFC Bournemouth over the summer, having been named on the bench 10 times for the first team, and could be signed as the club’s desired third-choice stopper for the season.
In other Portsmouth news, the club are closing in on another Australian recruit.
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