The Pompey squad have a great respect for Duffy - especially youngsters such as Neil Barrett and Courtney Pitt and it is a shock to see the third most qualified coach in the country - behind Houllier and Wenger - leave the club. It is certainly a loss for Pompey's coaching staff and begs the question why Mandaric has made this decision.
The only real answer is that he is ready to install Redknapp onto the coaching team at Fratton Park - despite the best wishes of Rix who 'doesn't think it's a good idea' according to Mandaric this morning. Duffy is Rix's 'man' and it will be interesting to see how the manager will take to having his authority questioned once again.
With Duffy gone, Redknapp would slot into the assistant managers slot with ease but it is unlikely that a man of Redknapp's stature will be happy playing second fiddle to Graham Rix - it could be a Venables\Robson situation or Evans\Houllier where the two are expected to work as equals - history tells us that this rarely has a happy ending.
Speaking to the official site, Duffy played down his release from Pompey duties saying:
“There are some personal reasons which have contributed to my leaving the club, in that I want to spend more time with my family in Scotland and the recent circumstances have made it more difficult for me to travel back.”
More news on this story as it breaks...