'Utterly relentless': Hard-working Rich Hughes' Portsmouth recruitment update as transfer window looms

Determined Rich Hughes is adamant Pompey will continue being ‘utterly relentless’ in pursuit of success.

The transfer window opens on June 1, with the Blues hierarchy currently working through their recruitment wish list ahead of another important summer.

According to Hughes, May is traditionally a quiet month, with the Football League season only officially ending last Monday following the completion of the play-offs.

Nonetheless, having finished 16th in the Championship and largely exceeded many realistic expectations, Pompey have absolutely no intention of lowering their sights for 2025-26.

And their sporting director is once again spearheading the club’s drive to evolve and improve.

Portsmouth: ‘A lot of shadow boxing going on’

Hughes told The News: ‘There are a lot of conversations going on. A lot to no avail at this point, where things don’t tend to happen in May, but there’s a lot of shadow boxing going on.

‘Conversations are being had, we are working through lists, working through different scenarios, working through our group, all those things.

‘I always look back on before I was in football, I used to think it was the strangest concept when you would hear about people taking breaks from the game.

‘It’s the best job in the world, how can you ever not want to be in it? Then when you're in it, you know how relentless it is,

‘The point where you achieve something, the squad then comes apart a bit, you build again and there’s players coming in. It's the relentless nature of it and it’s something me and John speak about as well.

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‘It’s not a finite game, there’s always something else to watch, there’s always another player, always another game, it’s that world where there's always something else - and I think that is part of what drives us.

‘It is utterly relentless, football is always looking for the next shiny new toy, the next up-and-coming head coach, always something on the back burner for the next thing to happen and that next bit of progress.’

Football handed two summer transfer windows

Due to the 2025 Club World Cup, the summer transfer window will be operational over two periods this summer.

Firstly, it will open from Sunday, June 1 until 7pm on June 10. Then it will re-open on June 16, before closing at 7pm on September 1.

In the meantime, Hughes and John Mousinho have also been reviewing their first season back in the Championship, including analysing lessons learnt.

Certainly they can be heartened by Pompey’s progress from a side set adrift at the foot of the table in December - only to survive with two matches to spare and eventually finish five points clear of the relegation zone.

Although it promises to be another intriguing summer transfer window overseen by Hughes and head of recruitment Brad Wall.

‘That’s just the perpetual nature of football’

He added: ‘One of the things John and myself have felt as well is there’s a lot which has happened this year.

‘We need to review, we need to take the good bits, we need to find the bits we must work on - and we need to find low-hanging fruit for us to make progress again.

‘That’s just the perpetual nature of football, it never stops.’

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