Portsmouth rival gives recruitment admission as Bolton send warning

Portsmouth are preparing for life back in the Championship after lifting the League One title last month. John Mousinho’s side saw promotion confirmed after beating Barnsley 3-2 on April 16 and will now return to the second-tier, following an 11-year absence.

It looks set to be a busy summer at Fratton Park as Pompey prepare to make the massive step up, and second-placed Derby County will follow suit after securing promotion. The Rams are part of today’s League One headlines alongside play-off hopefuls Bolton Wanderers.

Rams recruitment

Derby manager Paul Warne insists no one will rest on promotion as they aim to recruit for a competitive return to the Championship. The Rams finished behind Pompey in League One but both will likely be swimming in similar circles when it comes to summer signings.

"Planning is a word that covers a lot of stuff, really," Warne told Derbyshire Live. "We've had recruitment meetings since January. We tried to sign players in the January window. For the last few weeks - to be fair, I've bullied it, really and said don't recruit for League One, try and recruit for the Champ and if we don't go up automatically, we'll have a two week window to rejig the list.

"Say there were ten strikers we were after - the top three are Champ only, the bottom three are League One only, the middle four are either or. When people say are there Championship lists and League One lists: they're all sort of the same. The talks with agents, the watching of games, has all been taking place.”

Bolton play-off warning

Dion Charles has warned that nothing has been decided in their play-off semi-final despite winning 3-1 at Barnsley in the first leg. Charles scored either side of half-time for Wanderers to reach the 20-goal mark for the campaign as he looks to propel his side into the Championship alongside Pompey and Derby.

“They are a really good side. They showed what they can do and can hurt us if we have that little lapse of concentration,” he told Wanderers TV. “It's going to be a good game on Tuesday. It's only half-time now. We’ve got a few things we can do better and go again on Tuesday and give the fans a performance they deserve because they were brilliant on Friday.

“They're like that every single away game. It means a lot to us and gives us that extra motivation to run that bit harder. It's there for us but we can't get too carried away yet. We’ve won one leg, there's still another leg to go, and we'll be ready and prepared for that.”