Portsmouth boss Danny Cowley admitted he thought his club was going to miss out on signing midfielder Joe Morrell from Luton after the Blues made what he says was a “significantly better offer” to the Wales international having tabled a bigger bid to the Hatters.

Despite that the 24-year-old Ipswich-born schemer opted to join Pompey on a three-year deal late on Monday evening. It’s understood Morrell was concerned that he may be down the pecking order at Town whereas he is set to be a first-choice at Fratton Park.

“It was a roller coaster ride,” Cowley told the Portsmouth News. “I think it was after the first loop the loop when I was feeling a bit sick.

“It was on, it was off, it was on, it was off, it was on. I don’t actually know how we signed him, if I’m honest.

“I don’t know how he decided to come here because he had a significantly better offer from another club, but Joe loves football. He just felt his heart, that’s what he said.

“I have spoken to Joe probably more than anybody this summer. I think we’ve known from the day we got this job that he’d be really good for us and fits the way we want to play and our ideas.

“Financially, we didn’t think it was possible. It then became possible. We thought we’d got it done - then another club came in and just blew us away, took it away from us.

“And somehow it came back to us. We didn’t think it would — but it did. We had moved on, we didn’t anticipate that it could be done.

“However, sometimes it’s not always about money, not everybody in this world is governed by money. Some people are governed by ambition and wanting to be the best they can be.”

Meanwhile, according to BBC South reporter Andrew Moon, Cowley revealed that Portsmouth winger Michael Jacobs jokingly reintroduced himself to his Pompey team-mates when he returned to the club following the collapse of his move to the Blues.

Photo: Action Images

Cadiar added 21:32 - Aug 11 It's obvious who Cowley is gobbing off about. I can't see why we are being called Chequebook FC, I bet we 've received very nearly as much in transfer fees as we've spent pus saving the wages of many high earners. What was our squad last season 40 or so?
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Monkey_Blue added 22:09 - Aug 11 This is the hypocrisy of football fans. If Pompey had behaved the way we have with jacobs and Morrell all of you would be on your high horses. Fact is we've been a little bit dishonourable. I don't like it but it's not against the rules. I want town to be successful but a part of why I love the club so much is that we do things the right way. Alf, Bobby and George wouldn't have done what we've done over these two guys. Do we want to be seen as the team that just attracts the greedy players or be seen as untrustworthy.

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Monkey_Blue added 22:13 - Aug 11 Btw Cowley didn't mention us by name so the headline is not honest. It is likely we were the club but can we all just accept this is not good conduct because there may be a time We need clubs to be sympathetic.
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istanblue added 22:24 - Aug 11 Morrell is better than Harper and Evans imo. Cowley is salty af! Hope we smash 'em 5-0.
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leroy2488 added 22:38 - Aug 11 Getting sick of hearing the things this bitter guys spouting, maybe he actually believes some of it, he's making a fool of himself.
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jnp2408 added 22:56 - Aug 11 Let's not criticise what some perceive to be a lack of class by showing exactly that.
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hyperbrit added 03:36 - Aug 12 a bit of a wake up call imo. that the wheeling and dealing that is commonplace in the US is not always admired in the UK.
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itfcserbia added 07:56 - Aug 12 Cowley was clearly hurt by Marcus Evans by not hiring him twice. No other explanation for all this small town boy complex.
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grinch added 07:58 - Aug 12 Shut up Cowley......embarrassing now you muppet losing respect on a daily basis
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 08:52 - Aug 12 A bit embarrassing for all concerned, not least Jacobs himself on his return. Maybe, "least said, soonest mended?"
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dirtydingusmagee added 09:01 - Aug 12 Cowley you got your man and we didnt , we move on .
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blues1 added 09:04 - Aug 12 Algarvefan. What are you on about? Itfc di nothing wrong over this. If you believe what cowleyvsays, that we didn't tell Jacob's we werent going through with signing him you'll believe anything. And Cowleyvwouldxhave done the same thing in that situation. As would all of us. For instance, if ud agreed to buy a mini for £500 . But just before you completed the purchase some1 offered you a brand new Ferrari for free, what'd you do? And that's all we did.

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blues1 added 09:07 - Aug 12 Fatboy. He doesnt need to mention us in name. Everyone knows hes talking about us as it was well publicised thar we were the other club involved. I agree to an extent with ur point about him accepting less money to sign for them. But the only reason he did that was bcse he wasnt up for fight to get into our team.
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Kitman added 09:46 - Aug 12 For the players decision, I read that there's two angles on this. His desire to play every week is admirable and he clearly believes that's what he'll be doing at Pompey and not here. If he has indeed turned down a "significantly better offer" then I can only assume that you can't argue with stupid...
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Fatboy added 10:28 - Aug 12 @Blues1, I appreciate your point of view but I think that Cowley has probably stirred things up on other matters in recent weeks rather than with this specific interview. Also, compare Morrell's position with some of our recent signings, e.g. Conor Chaplin. I'm sure Conor could have stayed in the Championship (where he's played around 80 games in the past two seasons), presumably on higher wages, rather than dropping a division to play for us. So does that mean he's only come here because he's not up for the fight of getting into a Championship team?

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blues1 added 11:44 - Aug 12 Fatboy. No. Chaplin came here bcse he said he was excited by playing for cook and the project here. Cowley has clearly stated that Morrell joined them bcse he was concerned he wouldnt get in to our team. Which was my point. Not slating him for it. Just stating the fact
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blues1 added 11:50 - Aug 12 Monkeyblue. Dont u ever stop talking rubbish. While I feel a bit sorry for Jacob's himself, we did nothing wrong. No different than u agreeing to buy a mini for £500, only for, before u pay for it, some1 coming along and offering you a new Ferrari for free. Would I really buy the mini? And how did we do anything wrong with Morrell? We are perfectly entitled to make a bid for any player we want. Tho presumably ur stupid enough to think we only wanted him after finding out Pompey did. And Cowley would have done the same thing regarding the Jacob's deal, if he in the same position. And no, he didnt name us. He didnt need to. Everyone with an ounce of nous knows he was talking about us. It's all he ever does.

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Beattiesballbag added 13:56 - Aug 12 Sour grapes ? I've read his response to a question put to him by the local paper.......& all I can see is the relief of winning an unexpected prize....... We have so many supporters that have the super power to read a headline & know the content without reading it or do they just see what they want to see before hitting the key board.
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