'We've got some wrong - but a good few right': Rich Hughes' honest assessment of Portsmouth transfer dealings
The sporting director has overhauled Pompey’s fortunes since his October 2022 appointment
Rich Hughes admits Pompey have got ‘some transfers wrong’ - yet remains proud of the club’s strong recruitment record during his tenure.
Since his arrival at Fratton Park from Forest Green Rovers in October 2022, Hughes has transformed the Blues’ fortunes on and off the pitch, re-establishing them as a Championship club.
His partnership with John Mousinho, the head coach he identified, has so far produced the League One title followed by an admirable 16th-placed Championship finish - while this term has begun encouragingly.
Inevitably, the sporting director will primarily be judged on his transfer dealings, an aspect of football he admits ‘is not an exact science’.
Indeed, according to Hughes, there have been signings swiftly offloaded having failed to demonstrate ‘the application and the desire to train’ for a club with Pompey’s standards.
Nonetheless, with a number of masterstrokes amid considerably more hits than misses during a transformative three years at the helm, he is satisfied with results of his tenure so far.
Portsmouth chief: I think we’ve got a good few right
Hughes told The News: ‘We’ve got some transfers wrong in our time here, absolutely, anyone that professes to have not would be lying, but I think we've also got a good few right.
‘The board recognise that, they back our judgement, they back our thinking as a group and they want to help us strengthen as a team and stay competitive in the Championship.
‘You can have transfers which can be right at the time, but not work out for circumstances you don’t anticipate. There are some you review and you say “Actually, there were enough signs to probably dictate that wouldn’t work”, without going into the individuals.
‘But you want to see an effect from these players, whether that be their attitude and what they bring to the culture, the environment and the team.
‘It is also quite a subjective marker. Just to jump back a couple of years to make a point, in the League One title season we signed Ben Stevenson.
‘He didn't make a lot of starts for us, but actually was a good squad piece, he kept standards around the building and it gave us flexibility to use loans on players like Alex Robertson and Tino Anjorin.
‘So there are a lot of different markers which can lead to having been a successful transfer as opposed to them coming in and playing 40 games. We will always try to build the group in the best way we can to allow us to be as efficient as we can be.
‘There would have been a lot of people who initially looked at those three free transfers of Conor Shaughnessy, Jack Sparkes and Ben Stevenson and thought it underwhelming to go from Burton, Exeter and Forest Green. But we could see how they would fit in the group.
‘All had varying effects. Shocks played 45 league games, Sparks played a good few, and Ben not so many, but they helped the group achieve the wider aim and that’s sometimes the bit people don’t always get to see.
‘You need every member of the squad to help you achieve anything and everyone is going to have a different part to play, whether that’s five starts or 45 starts. The judge of whether a transfer is successful or not is always whether it helps achieve the wider aim of the whole group.’
Pompey signing successes
Certainly Paddy Lane, Christian Saydee and Kusini Yengi, all recruited during Hughes’ time at Fratton Park, played huge parts in Pompey’s resurgence before being moved on this summer.
Likewise Will Norris - an ever-present in the League One title triumph, keeping 19 clean sheets and being named in both the PFA and EFL’s League One Team of the Year - who left by mutual consent in January.
Although among those who didn’t shine is Elias Sorensen, whose wife had trouble gaining a visa, with the striker subsequently leaving after 13 matches to join Valerenga in January.
While Abdoulaye Kamara had the remaining three years of his contract torn up on this month’s transfer deadline day having failed to impress the Blues hierarchy with his commitment to the club.
‘It won’t end well for you at this football club’
Hughes added: ‘In terms of application, that’s a big thing. If you don’t see an application from a player when they come into the building it won’t work. Without going into the specifics of players and names.
‘If you don't have the application and the desire to train and be better every day then it won’t end well for you at this football club. Ultimately, the environment John has created and we have created as a group doesn’t accept that and spits it out quite quickly.
‘Then you have players who don’t settle and there are certain things which fall against them off the pitch. That can have an effect as well.
‘There are a million and one things to it and probably the evidence of that point is people are always striving for new recruiters, new platforms, new concepts, it’s an art form. There are too many things to it, it’s not an exact science because nobody has really cracked it and completed it.
‘One of our strengths is knowing that, when we've got stuff wrong, not to double down on it. We get opportunities to get out of a bad position for want of a better phrase. There is a humility to admit mistakes, we are not going to wait three years to admit it was a mistake.
‘If we get an opportunity to get out of it, we will do so at the earliest opportunity once we have given it time to breathe and time to present itself. If it has not worked we'll move on from the position, start again and learn from the mistakes.’