Ryley Towler knew he couldn't turn down the opportunity of joining Portsmouth in January despite the club not having a manager at the time.
The Bristol City academy prospect ended his time with the Robins in the New Year, having joined the Robins at Under-9 level, to seek first-team football following a successful loan spell with League Two side AFC Wimbledon.
Towler, 20, has immediately settled into life on the south coast and after coming off the bench on his debut, has become an integral figure at the back under head coach John Mousinho, starting every game and playing 90 minutes as the left-sided centre-back in a four-man defence.
City manager Nigel Pearson said they sanctioned Towler's move to help him find his level with other academy prospects coming through the ranks. Ultimately, the decision came down to the player himself having faced the prospect of heading out on a series of loan deals with no guarantees of breaking into the Robins' first-team regularly.
Speaking to The News, Towler opened up on his decision to join Pompey after dealing with their Sporting Director Richard Hughes. He said: "Joining a club without a manager didn’t bother me, not at all, there was a bigger picture.
"Being a football fan, I know how big a club Pompey is, so when you’ve got a bit of interest it’s a no-brainer to come down, even if there’s no manager. You don’t realise how good the crowd is until you get to Fratton Park, it’s an unbelievable ground, and it’s an ambitious club who want to get into the Championship.
"My dealings were with Rich Hughes and I knew a manager would be coming in. It doesn’t matter when that happens, you’ve still got to impress whoever's in charge, whether he’s here before you or after.
"So not having a manager didn’t bother me, I just looked at the club, the great opportunity for me to play football, and couldn’t turn it down. To be fair, you just get on with it, keep training and keep focusing on games rather than worrying about a managerial appointment being made.
"That didn’t bother me one bit. I didn’t expect to go straight into the side, I thought I’d have another couple of weeks at least!
"Obviously my aim was to do that, I wanted to get into the team as soon as possible – and luckily it happened quite quickly. Initially, I was cup-tied for Bolton then, after a week’s worth of training, was on the bench for the league game.
"I suppose it helped playing almost every game for AFC Wimbledon, so I was fit and ready to come in and play – now I want to stay there."
City's defensive prospects coming through the ranks include Joe Low, who is currently on loan with Walsall. Raph Araoye is highly-regarded while Callum Wood, Jamie Knight-Lebel and Duncan Idehen are likely to be next in line to make the breakthrough.
Their opportunities could come sooner than expected this season if Rob Atkinson is ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a suspected ACL injury. Kal Naismith is sidelined with a calf injury leaving Tomas Kalas and Zak Vyner as the only fit natural centre-backs.
Cam Pring and George Tanner have both played in that position in a back three earlier in the campaign.
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