Kenny Jackett has more or less resigned himself to another season in League One, after this weekend's loss at home to Charlton left them with a mountain to climb.

They're now four points outside the top six with two games to play, meaning a second successive promotion is out of their grasp.

It does mean manager Kenny Jackett can turn his attention to a summer of recruitment and he's been speaking about Derry City's Eire U21 international, Ronan Curtis, with whom he's been linked recently.

"I wouldn’t say I don’t know who he (Curtis) is," replied Jackett, when asked by Portsmouth.co.uk. "He’s played for Ireland under-21s. That’s a good team, a good team to play for. From our point of view there’s a number of players we’ve made enquiries for and will try to bring in if we can. I don’t think anything will quite happen until May, but May’s only just around the corner."

Curtis is a player in just one of the various areas Pompey have scouting networks in and Jackett revealed he'll be scouring all of those areas for talent this summer.

"The Scottish market, the Irish market, League Two and the National League. You need to look right the way along. Is there a foreign market for us at the right time? It’s quite wide ranging and we have built up quite a good scouting network now. We have a good recruitment team now."

The Verdict

Portsmouth are one of the biggest sides in League One and players would be foolish not to choose them over most of their rivals. With the introduction of Sunderland that might be about to change, but they're still going to be a huge draw at that level.