Guy: Change needed in administration rules

Jack Maloney had to wait for his call-up to the first team due to squad restrictions Picture: Joe Pepler

And the Pompey boss has offered to speak to the game’s authorities to relay his experiences of operating under their financial constraints.

The Blues ended their second period of administration in two years last month, when the Pompey Supporters’ Trust completed their takeover of the club.

Whittingham felt the brunt of that as he had to work to a 20-man squad limit imposed on the club by the Football League.

Players could also pen only month-to-month deals as uncertainty surrounded the Blues for 14 months.

In contrast to former managers, Whittingham had been vocal in abiding by the conditions he operated under.

He made it clear he accepted the laws impressed upon him, in the large part.

But Whittingham believes the 20-man squad rule needs tweaking, with it hurting the development of young players.

The Blues boss argued Academy players should not count towards the total quota.

Pompey shied away from adding young players to the senior set-up this season, with the knowledge they would have counted to that squad total.

With no extra expenditure being shelled out to use young talent at the club, Whittingham feels that shouldn’t be the case.

And he is happy to speak to the Football League to outline his thoughts on the issue.

Whittingham said: ‘If you could say it’s a 20-man squad but if you are down on numbers through injury or illness you could use the Academy, who are on the payroll anyway, why not?

‘You’re not increasing any expenditure and it’s not costing you more.

‘There must be a way around it, because you’re hurting the players’ development.

‘This season we had three on the bench because we couldn’t bring in a Academy player.

‘Why couldn’t we introduce them to our first-team environment? That’s all for their development.

‘I totally understand why there are these rules from a financial point of view. But I think that’s something that could change.

‘There’s one or two areas like that I would like to talk to the league about.

‘I think that myself, with my experience, I would be a pretty good person to talk to.

‘From the Football League, Premier League and being in administration, there’s a lot I’ve seen.

‘I’ve been there in it so it would be nice to talk about that.’