Pompey have announced that Gary Waddock has been appointed as Andy Awford'd assistant manager following the departure of Alan McLoughlin.
The 52-year-old was recently at Oxford United but was sacked as first-team manager before this season began after his team faced a massive slump in form last season which saw the U's drop from the automatic promotion places and miss out on the play-offs altogether.
However, Waddock has had some success as a manager as he guided Aldershot to the Conference title in 2008 and also won promotion from League Two as Wycombe Wanderers boss in 2011.
Awford said he wanted someone alongside him who has experience in coaching at League One and League Two level and Waddock has that through his stint as Wycombe manager and as a coach at MK Dons.
The announcementn comes as something of a surprise given that Shaun North and Kevin Dillon were heavily tipped for the role but nobody can be unhappy with this appointment given his experience, even if the cynics will claim that Waddock is a ready-made replacement for Awford when he eventually gets sacked.
Hopefully that won't happen, and Waddock's experience can help Awford become a better manager and improve the team's results so that promotion may still be attainable this season.