Not Walsall and not Crawley - Why Scottish football is the perfect place for Portsmouth starlet to flourish

There was frustration when a loan switch to Walsall fell through late on, while Crawley also declared strong interest in a potential reunion which eventually petered out.

Yet Joe Prodomo is adamant St Johnstone represents the perfect place for Toby Steward to maintain his encouraging development.

The Scottish Championship is the well-regarded 20-year-old’s home for the season after clinching a loan move earlier this month.

Apart from a four-game Crawley spell at the end of last season, the goalkeeper has spent his fledgling career in non-league football, last season reaching the National League.

St Johnstone, who were relegated from the Scottish Premiership last term, represents the first time the former Henry Court Community College pupil will live, train and play away from his south-coast home.

Steward has already featured three times for the Saints this season - and Pompey’s goalkeeping coach is convinced the youngster can flourish in Scotland.

Prodomo: ‘St Johnstone is such a good opportunity’

Prodomo told The News: ‘Those four games at Crawley definitely increased the scope of what opportunities would be available to Toby this season without doubt. There was interest.

‘We perhaps at one time thought Walsall was going to happen, but unfortunately sometimes in football these situations can occur.

‘Having said that, I am absolutely delighted with the St Johnstone opportunity. It’s such a good opportunity that had it come up earlier in the summer, we would have jumped on it straight away.

‘Fortunately for us, some other avenues didn’t quite materialise and, in conversations with St Johnstone, they wanted to make it happen. As soon as I knew that was a possibility we were all really determined.

‘It’s a really good club with ambitions to get back into the Scottish Premiership at the first time of asking. They also have a really good, experienced goalkeeping coach in Gordon Marshall.

‘It would have been great to get him in the EFL, but the Scottish Championship is an equivalent level, it’s a good league, it’s a really good place for young goalkeepers to go and play senior football.

‘The crowd in Scotland are very partisan, often one-club areas, and St Johnstone are a big club, an ambitious club, and I’m absolutely delighted with the move. I think it will be a really good one.

‘Toby has gone in as number one and it’s down to him to keep the shirt and perform. That’s the kind of pressure you’re under as a professional footballer, that will help his development.

‘He can go and experience a really good level of professional football and, to be honest, I’m also really pleased he’s not going to hear my voice this year!

‘Toby is brilliant to work with and an absolute delight, but I also think it’s great that there’s going to be a fresh pair of eyes on him on a daily basis for the very first time. He deserves every success he gets because he is such a humble, grounded hard-working lad.’

A Football League debut at Birmingham City

Steward has previously featured on loan at Bognor, Salisbury, Gosport, Tonbridge Angels and Wealdstone.

There was even an emergency loan spell at the back end of the season at Crawley, who handed him his Football League debut in a League One clash with Birmingham in April.

Steward has kept clean sheets in two of his opening three outings for St Johnstone so far, with their Scottish Cup campaign already underway.

And Prodomo is delighted with the highly-rated youngster’s Fratton Park progress.

Played more than 100 games at the age of 20

He added: ‘Sometimes football clubs have to look after their short-term needs in terms of how many goalkeepers we need in the building - and the football club have never once got in Toby’s way.

‘They have actively removed barriers in order for us to give him the pathway we want and I am absolutely delighted with Toby.

‘You look at his journey over the last three years. Playing more than 100 senior games at the age of 20 and then having his first opportunity in the Football League last season against Birmingham in front of 28,000 people.

‘Toby deserves all of that success because he never once turned his nose up at the idea of going on loan to Step 3. He actually had three separate loans at the same level in Bognor, a brief stay at Salisbury, and then Gosport.

‘Whether it was Ryan Schofield, Matt Macey, Josh Griffiths, Will Norris, Nico Schmid, Jordan Archer or Ben Fullip, all the senior goalkeepers we’ve had in the group have been so good for him. He has managed to take bits from all of them.’

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