'We have attributes others don't': One of Portsmouth's own details his vision after landing key Fratton Park role
The former Fratton Park season-ticket holder has taken over as the Blues’ Academy head
Pompey have turned to one of their own to bring through more of their own.
Certainly former Fratton Park season-ticket holder James Barlow is perfectly placed to understand the challenges presented to him as the Blues’ new Academy head.
The 33-year-old has this month been promoted from his role as Academy head of coaching to replace the long-serving Greg Miller, following the Scot’s departure for Charlton.
The ex-St John’s College pupil’s formative footballing education was provided by the likes of Robert Prosinecki, Matt Taylor and Linvoy Primus, cherished memories created while accompanying his dad and granddad to Pompey matches since the 2001-02 season.
Nowadays Barlow is a Uefa A Licence coach, who graduated from Loughborough University in Sports Coaching and worked in the academies of Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion to build his experience.
And the lad from Southsea is charged with improving the output of a Pompey youth set-up which has struggled to provide first-team players in recent times.
‘They are connected to a community - a community I am from’
‘I think I understand the city very well. Having seen a lot of the games at Fratton Park over the last 20 years, I believe I know what is expected if you want to play for this football club,’ Barlow told The News.
‘Portsmouth as a city has a strong identity, which not many do. It’s an island, there is a strong heritage around that which everyone I speak to knows about. It’s about educating the players about what they are, putting across who they are playing for, not just the football club, but the history around what we do.
‘The lads need to understand they are not just playing on a Saturday for an under-11s, under-12s or an under-15s, but actually they are connected to a community. A community I am from.
‘I went to both FA Cup finals with dad, I was at St Mary’s for the 4-1, I travelled to Braga in our first European cup campaign. I was very, very lucky to be able to witness those sorts of games.
‘Linvoy Primus was a huge hero of mine, what an underrated player he was, Arjan De Zeeuw too, while Toddy always has to get a mention because he was fantastic in that 2002-03 season.
‘During that period we were blessed with a lot of quality and probably one of my favourite players was Matty Taylor, what a wonderful left foot.
‘It's a real privilege to be able to go from that stage of just observing from the stands to being able to support Pompey internally.’
Nottingham Forest, Burton and England futsal experience
At the age of 19, Barlow left Portsmouth to further his coaching ambitions, having earned a place at Loughborough University.
He subsequently worked on the technical staff of England’s futsal side, being involved in three European Championships, before returning home in February 2020 to take up the position of assistant professional development phase coach in Pompey’s Academy.
Now he has progressed into the role of head of Academy, following in the footsteps of the likes of Paul Hart, Andy Awford and Mark Kelly.
Barlow added: ‘Coaching is something I always wanted to do. At 15, my first job was at the Goals on Eastern Road, I used to coach there.
‘I played football socially with friends at AFC Nelson, yet I knew very early on that football was just a passion of mine and not a career in terms of playing. I wanted to see the game, but probably needed to go and explore it away from Portsmouth. I had to broaden my horizons.
‘I studied Sports Coaching at Loughborough University, yet never played for the teams. For me, Wednesdays meant being on the touchline, not on the pitch, and I worked with some very strong mentors.
‘Michael Skubala was the head coach of the football programme and the futsal programme and I spent 4-5 years with him, working very closely alongside him on a day-to-day basis.
‘I was able to travel to three European Championships with him as part of the England futsal squad, which was really good for me. Now he’s top of League One with Lincoln as their boss.
‘The Nike Academy were based at the university, with Jimmy Gilligan their manager, so when he moved to Nottingham Forest to work in their Academy, I managed to follow him and work as youth development phase coach for the under-15s and under-16s for a year, which was fantastic.
‘I had another year working at Burton Albion for their under-15s, I was balancing a lot of part-time positions to gain as much experience as I could.
‘Coming back home was never the plan, if I am honest, but you never know where football’s going to take you. After eight years away, I was looking for my first opening into a full-time position at a football club. It was the right time.’
This season has seen Tayo Singerr emerge as a much-needed poster boy for the Academy, who have enjoyed very few Pompey first-team success stories of late.
Appearing off the bench against Reading in the Carabao Cup in August 2025, the second-year scholar marked his debut with a headed stoppage-time goal as the Blues slumped to a 2-1 defeat.
Aged 17 years and 10 months and 22 days at the time of his feat, he subsequently didn’t appear again for Mousinho’s side until New Year’s Day at Bristol City, when making his Football League bow.
Instead, Singerr has spent the bulk of this season developing during loan spells at Moneyfields and now Gosport, where the goals have continued to flow.
And while they may be surrounded by bigger Academy set-ups boasting higher category status’, Barlow is convinced Pompey still represents an attractive proposition for talented youngsters.
‘We offer some unique attributes which maybe other academies don’t’
He said: ‘It’s an opportunity for us to just concentrate on who we are. If you’re always looking over your shoulder at Southampton, Bournemouth, Brighton, Chelsea, Fulham and Reading, all of what those teams are doing, you dilute what your own identity is.
‘It’s really important for us to just do what matters for Pompey. People are starting to notice some good practice we are doing, as opposed to us looking over our shoulder.
‘They have to understand that we will provide opportunities which maybe Cat 1 clubs will not. We are an under-18s set-up going into a Championship first-team - that is an opportunity.
‘You look at Tayo this season. Had he been somewhere else, he may not have received the opportunities he’s had in terms of making his first-team debut. I don't know that for sure, but we must shape what we believe is right. We care about the player journey and also care about the realism of the challenge ahead.
‘No matter who we want as a player, we also have to bring a parent on the journey with us. Effectively they will choose what they believe is right for their child - and we have to fully support that.
‘However, I believe we offer some really clear unique attributes which maybe other academies don’t. We want to be a leading name across the south and regard ourselves as a Championship academy, regardless of wherever we want to progress.
‘On the pitch, we always have a strong identity in terms of a team which works hard, a team which has a strong team spirit, a team which likes to play attacking, exciting football. That is deeply rooted from what the first-team offer as well in terms of their intentions on a match-day.
‘I don’t think we have a problem with (player) retention. The Academy game is so vastly recruited from under-6s all the way through to under-18s, greater than ever before, so we have to respect that other people are going to recruit as heavily as we are.
‘We must ensure the players are aligned with what we believe our values are in terms of being stronger together, honest, passionate and proud. The more we can ask that of players, the more they want to retain and stay in the pathway.
‘Not only that, we’ve had four staff over the last five years who have progressed into the first-team from the Academy - and we have to look at success like that. It’s not just retention of players, but also retention of staff.’
Changing category status ‘is not in the immediacy’
One of Tornante’s headline pledges ahead of becoming Pompey owners in August 2017 centred on improving the quality of the Academy.
However, approaching nine years at the helm, the Blues remain a Category 3 set-up, with Brighton and Bournemouth utilising their Premier League wealth over the same period to help transform their youth production lines.
According to Barlow, though, a prospective raising of the bar to Category 2 status at Fratton Park ‘is not in the immediacy’.
He said: ‘We want to be a leader in Cat 3, we want to be one of the best Cat 3s in the south, if not THE best Cat 3 in the south. Once we have concluded that, then there’s fair conversations to have around the progression - but it is not in the immediacy.
‘Every football club is governed by where the first-team sit and all our support is to the first-team at present, ensuring they have sustainability within their model, we have sustainability within our model, so without spending extra.
‘It’s about maximising the resources we do have and ensuring we’re providing the best opportunities and experiences for the kids.
‘It’s important to always think what could be next, but, before you get excited as to how we do that, we have to be really good at what we’re currently doing. We must be really consistent from year to year.
‘From Mark (Kelly) and through to Greg (Miller), we have progressed massively as an Academy and consistency is starting to really come through. That is coming from notable performances from younger age groups, all the way through to the under-18s.
‘From a compliance and standards perspective, we now have a huge credibility across the Premier League and EFL as to how we operate as an Academy. We had a ‘Good’ in terms of our audit rating, which is the second-highest you can receive.
‘Obviously staff progression has been huge, but also staff retention. A lot of people here have stayed between 18-24 months. If you want to build the correct culture for player development and understand what is necessary for each journey, consistency in staff is vital.
‘The mission is to educate and teach the game, providing players with the correct pathways for them - and I think we are doing really well in that space.
‘Of course we want to see successes like we’ve had with Tayo this season and the first-team bench appearances of Chinedu Agu and Ashton Sizer. Equally, we want to be able to build great links across the community, to create really good links across other non-league teams which we can provide opportunities for loan or even to recruit from.
‘For me it’s about community impact. To understand what we do, we need to refine within what we currently deliver. Our job is to fuel the love for the game.’
Barlow’s predecessor, Greg Miller, had been with the Blues since April 2021, having spent four seasons as Barnsley’s head of coaching.
The Scot took up residency as Academy manager at Charlton earlier this month after serving his Fratton Park notice period. He replaces Tom Pell at The Valley, following his appointment as Spurs’ head of academy operations.
Now Barlow is striving to put his own stamp on his football club.
‘We’ll definitely give it a go at competing with others. Why not?’
He added: ‘I’ve worked so closely with Greg over the last five years, he has brought credibility and respect - and is very diligent in the work he’s done. He has been a fantastic custodian at the football club.
‘It’s knowing where we are. Probably my biggest challenge is not comparing myself to others who previously did the role and understanding what my best qualities are and how I can shape this Academy moving forward and support it the best way I can.
‘We are providing playing opportunities for those players and it’s about whether they can be first-team capable - whether that is with us or whether it’s within the football pyramid. No matter where they finish or enter, I want them to have the best possible chance to progress within the sport they love.
‘With collaboration across all the different departments there’s a real excitement across the Academy currently. We’ll definitely give it a good go competing with others. Why not?’