Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley issues response to comments made by Charlton Athletic owner | OneFootball

Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley has hit back at suggestions made by Charlton Athletic owner Thomas Sandgaard that Pompey are investing aggressively to get promoted this season.

Speaking at a recent fans forum, Sandgaard was quoted as saying the following when discussing his future ambitions for the club.

“My long-term goal is still to play in the best division, but I expect to take two seasons to get to financial sustainability as a significant tool to have stability in the club.” Sandgaard explained, via Charlton club media.

“Cutting the losses into half is a goal this season and to be cash flow neutral next season. Several other clubs have been able to do so; for example Portsmouth who, after several years of break-even, are now investing more aggressively in getting promoted.”

It appears those comments have not gone down well on the south coast, though, with Cowley suggesting they are not accurate.

“I’d say he [Sandgaard] doesn’t know. For us, we know what we’re working with and what we’re trying to achieve.” Cowley explained when asked about the comments, via The News.

“We have a lot of respect for Charlton and they have a really good squad and fantastic academy. I look at their academy and Ipswich’s and that’s what we’re striving to be at Portsmouth.

“For us, though we know the truth. You don’t get many compliments in football. All my successful teams normally get criticised when they win.

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“Normally when people say you’ve got a big budget that is a back-handed compliment to say you’ve got a good team. For us, we had to trade and everyone knows this.

“We had to trade one of our key players, a player who scored double figures and double figures for assists.”

Portsmouth sold Marcus Harness to Ipswich Town this summer for a significant six figure fee this summer – reported to be £750,000.

In the opposite direction, arriving at Fratton Park, only Colby Bishop and Zak Swanson are said to have cost the club a transfer fee.

The Verdict

I really don’t think that Thomas Sandgaard meant any offence by his comments.

But, it does appear that Danny Cowley was not happy to hear them.

You can understand that – especially when they are not particularly accurate.

As Cowley points out, the club had to make a big sale in Marcus Harness to be able to shake things up a bit at Fratton Park and that money was simply reinvested.

Indeed, it certainly doesn’t appear to be the case that Portsmouth are spending more aggressively, rather, they were just more aggressive in their trading – offloading a key player to bring in one, two or three fresh faces.