Why Danny Cowley continues to influence Portsmouth's January window recruitment in his absence

The Blues last week added Ryley Towler to their squad – four days after the head coach’s dismissal.

Although sporting director Rich Hughes oversees player recruitment, Cowley and his staff have also played a crucial input in identifying targets.

A prime example is Towler, with Simon Bassey watching the central defender up to six times while on loan at AFC Wimbledon this season, with Cowley’s say-so.

And Bassey believes there are other potential arrivals this month that are the handiwork of the ex-Blues boss.

The caretaker manager told The News: ‘We have an input in a lot of things and there’s a lot of players watched and spoken about.

‘Rich has obviously come in recently and been a part of that decision. Rightly, Rich would have seen Ryley play for Bristol under-23s or on loan at Grimsby and when you see them you keep an eye on them.

‘So we have all been aware, as other clubs probably were. Rich has done well to get that deal done for us.

‘It should be a good one for the club and certainly everyone has had an opinion on players. We haven’t just turned up last week and signed him – and Danny was involved.

‘We have a list of young left-footed centre-halves and have them watched regularly, and the same with lots of other positions.

‘It goes through the recruitment process, some were flagged up by Danny and Nicky, some by the analysis staff, some by the recruitment staff.

‘They then get put together during recruitment meetings, we will grade them, look at them and see which ones would be doable for us in terms of finances and squad balance.

‘It’s all a long process, these things are rarely done overnight, there's a lot of work which goes into them – and certainly Danny would have been part of a lot of conversations.’

Based in Wimbledon, Bassey has been scouting London clubs when Pompey’s fixture list allows.

They consist of under-21/23 teams at Fulham, Palace and Spurs, in addition to Wimbledon’s first-team.

He added: ‘When I came in we didn’t really have much of a recruitment department, it was really low on numbers. It’s something we have improved in terms of bodies over the last 18 months.

‘Phil Boardman heads up the recruitment from his base and covers certain areas of the country, while we have other people covering other areas.

‘We probably get to 8-10 games over the weekend and there are a lot of games during the week, so we’re out there scouring the country for players.

‘It’s always a team effort, you try to do your part. You love football, it’s never a job going to watch games of football.’