View: Portsmouth take gradual steps towards academy goals after Portugal tournament
Portsmouth Academy are making exciting strides lately which has included a trip to Portugal for the club’s Under-13s.
As the club’s Under-18 side find their feet with a mixed bag of results which recently included a 3-0 win over Cambridge United, the U13 side – made up of schoolboys in Year 8 – recently travelled to Madeira to participate in an international tournament.
The Portsmouth FC official website [13 September] recently covered the trip, in which academy coach James Barlow claimed the youngsters “played some outstanding football”, and learned life skills from self-discipline through to nutrition.
Portsmouth slowly building academy goals
There have been times when you could be forgiven for the view that Portsmouth have treated their academy as something of an afterthought – the lack of an Under-21 professional development phase side being made clear by several.
But following a new intake of nine scholars for the U18s and the school age groups heading out to overseas footballing environments, the academy is moving in the right direction.
Parents of the players who were part of the trip to the Portuguese island were very complimentary of the club and the coaching staff, who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes and want to see their work bear fruit.
It has been difficult in terms of the allocation of Pompey’s budget to be able to keep some of its finest talent progressing through the academy – notably leading to the departures of two schoolboys to Newcastle United and Wolves, whilst highly-rated Koby Mottoh left for AFC Bournemouth after the conclusion of his scholarship despite playing five first-team matches.
The Blues hierarchy simply must continue to allow plenty of funding for the academy setup so the next generation of local boys and girls can have their chance to flourish in the game for the club that represents them.
In other Portsmouth news, John Mousinho has hit out at the officials after the last-gasp defeat by Burnley.
For more Portsmouth news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.