Danny Cowley pinning hopes on new Portsmouth arrival uncovering reasons behind constant injury woes

Part of the newly-appointed sporting director’s extensive responsibilities is analysing the Blues’ medical and sports science department.

It’s an area which has come under scrutiny of late following a lengthy injury list which has left Cowley fuming.

During the opening months of the season, Joe Rafferty, Tom Lowery and Michael Jacobs have all aggravated previous issues during comebacks.

Joining them in the treatment room are Louis Thompson and Jayden Reid, while Ronan Curtis and Marlon Pack have recently returned.

Cowley has publicly made it known he is unhappy over the ongoing player availability situation and also voiced his concerns to Hughes.

Now he’s hoping the former Forest Green man can uncover the reasons behind the issues.

Cowley told The News: ‘Rich has been in the building now for four weeks and it has given him a really good opportunity to look at our way of working.

‘He’s been able to look at all the different provisions that support the first-team, whether that be coaching, medical and sports science, analysis, Academy, player liaison or recruitment.

‘He will have started to gain an idea of where our strengths are and, maybe, where there’s room for improvement – and the next phase for him is to start to try to affect change.

‘We are all open-minded and all want to get better. We are really proud of the way we work but can always evolve, improve and get better, that’s what we all want. We all want to be successful.

‘Ultimately, our responsibility is to give the players the best possible chance of performing at their best on a consistent basis – and all the provisions that support the player are very important with that.

‘Absolutely I believe it can be positive for the injury situation. Whenever you are in an organisation you want to work out why certain parts are working well and you want to look at other areas and say why isn’t that working as well, what can we do, what are the reasons and how can we change?

‘Sometimes it’s a process, sometimes it’s personnel, we are trying to build up a picture and then you can start to make some decisions at the football club.’

Pompey’s injury problems have contributed towards the stalling of what was an encouraging start to the League One campaign.

They have subsequently won one of their last nine league matches, although lost just two of them – at Ipswich and Charlton.

Cowley added: ‘Rich has asked us about the injuries, he’s in the process of speaking to all of the staff and all of the players.

‘The first meetings are very much about getting to know people, getting to understand people. You need enough sample size, so he’s had a really good look, which is why we have worked so closely in this initial period.

‘Off the back of that, we can then start to look at the areas in which maybe we can get some quick wins and some change.

‘Some things can be affected immediately, other things you’ve got to say this is more a medium and long-term strategy.’