Portsmouth's glaring player pathway problem as Michael Eisner's Justins and Britneys pledge still falls short
The Blues announced the departures of youngsters Reuben Swann and Harry Clout in their retained list
Inevitably, Zak Swanson and Connor Ogilvie dominated Pompey’s retained list, particularly having been offered fresh terms.
Tellingly, a shrug of the shoulders greeted the remaining identities, whether through indifference or expectation. Certainly Friday’s announcement consisted of barely few talking points.
Yet while departing youngsters Harry Clout and Reuben Swann may have attracted little attention, their inclusion is a damning indictment on the Blues’ pathway for young players.
In May 2017 during a slick Guildhall ownership pitch, Michael Eisner declared a strong commitment to the Academy, with the ambition of bringing through more ‘Justins and Britneys’.
Some nine years later and just four Academy products have made Football League debuts during Tornante’s time at Fratton Park; Alex Bass, Haji Mnoga, Harry Jewitt-White and Tayo Singerr.
Even then, Bass had long been around the first-team before their arrival as owners, making his debut in the Carabao Cup against Coventry in August 2016.
Alarming statistic
It’s an alarming statistic which doesn’t reflect well on a pledge tabled to convince the Fratton faithful that the future of Pompey’s playing prospects lay in safe hands.
And now, in the season in which Singerr joined that far-too-exclusive group, the Blues have released Clout and Swann, without a Football League appearance between them.
The ongoing absence of a development group and under-21 football at Fratton Park dictated both were this season sent into the non-league game to grow.
Clout subsequently failed to establish himself at three different loan clubs, totalling just 12 appearances, and, from February, returned to Fratton Park to train with the first-team.
As for Swann, he once again followed that well-worn route to Westleigh Park, but his season overall was wrecked by injury and, at one stage, he was recalled to serve as Pompey first-team cover.
The brutal truth is neither offered sufficient quality in non-league football to persuade John Mousinho they possessed a Championship future with the Blues.
Huge problem for Portsmouth
Nonetheless, expecting teenagers to negotiate the leap from Academy and non-league into the second tier of English football without as much as an under-21s team to bridge the gulf is the chief problem here.
Likewise, it was wholly unrealistic to expect Singerr to be catapulted from the Isthmian League South Division with Moneyfields into the Championship to solve Pompey’s goal-scoring problems. Some fans wanted it, yet, while utterly romantic, it was ridiculously impractical.
Arguably Clout’s struggle has been more frustrating of the two, particularly after a hugely encouraging 2024-25 season which culminated in being rewarded with first-year professional terms.
The left-winger first caught the eye of Pompey fans with a lively display in a July 2024 friendly against the Hawks, in which the visitors ran out 3-0 winners.
There was then a short-term Bognor loan cut short by injury after four matches, but he returned to shine in the Academy’s FA Youth Cup extra-time defeat to Leeds in December 2024.
The following month he made his first-team debut as a substitute in the January 2025 FA Cup third-round elimination at League One Wycombe.
By the season’s end, Clout became the first Pompey Academy graduate in two years to have been handed professional terms, with Josh Dockerill the previous recipient.
With the Blues eager for first-team football to aid the ex-Palace attacker’s development, he was handed loan spells at Farnborough, Welling and the Hawks - yet all were unsuccessful and failed to offer regular football.
Teenage talent plucked from non-league
Swann was viewed as a project when he arrived from AFC Sudbury in June 2024 following a successful trial, rather than a first-team contender.
He spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Westleigh Park, with Shaun North overseeing the midfielder’s development, returning seven goals and six assists in 43 outings.
Yet the bulk of those Hawks appearances were off the bench and Swann - and Pompey - were keen for more regular starting involvement when he returned in October 2025. Certainly it was a perfect start, netting six minutes into his second debut.
Fratton Park injury problems meant Swann was recalled in February and he subsequently was on the bench at Millwall, while travelling with the squad to Wrexham.
There was then another loan spell with the Hawks and another return to the Blues, before again finding himself on the bench for the last game against Birmingham, without being used.
Like Liam Vincent before him, who incidentally this season played for Sutton United and Dorking, a teenage talent had been plucked from non-league only to never make a first-team appearance during two years at Fratton Park.
Pompey have still to announce the fate of this season’s second-year scholars and whether any will be handed first-team professional terms.
Yet there have been too many Clouts and Swanns since the Eisners’ arrivals - and barely any Justins and Britneys.
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