Kenny Jackett's time at Portsmouth finally came to a close yesterday as the club decided to part ways with their long-serving manager.

With Pompey outside of the play off places and having lost the 2020 EFL Trophy final to Salford City at the weekend, the decision was made to let Jackett go after nearly four years to give them the best possible chance of promotion to the Championship this season.

Portsmouth have suffered back-to-back play-off semi-final defeats in the last two seasons to Sunderland and Oxford United, and it's looking increasingly likely that the best the club can hope for is a finish in the post-season knockout tournament.

The club are hoping to make a swift appointment and ex-Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel is apparently of interest, with Pompey putting the feelers out on his availability according to Portsmouth News.

Speaking about the decision for Pompey to part ways with their boss, former Premier League striker Kevin Phillips, who was managed by Jackett at Watford between 1996 and 1997, can fully understand the south coast club's decision to make a change after nearly four years of the same thing.

“It’s a shame about the sacking, I know Kenny very well, he’ll be hurting," Phillips said on Quest.

"But the expectation for Portsmouth is they wanna get back to the Premier League.

"But firstly, they have to get out of this league just like Sunderland”

The Verdict

There is no doubt that Jackett will be gutted - any manager is when he loses his job - but it feels like the two parties had reached a crossroads and a change needed to be made.

Sometimes a manager can become too familiar with a club, and in Pompey's case the same thing kept happening again with the club faltering in the play offs.

Many think Portsmouth should be challenging for the title with their squad and resources, but in what is a very competitive league, whoever the new manager is has a tough job on his hands to get the club into those play off places.