James urged to focus on Portsmouth

James was linked with a move to Tottenham (GETTY IMAGES)

Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has challenged England goalkeeper David James to "knuckle down and work hard" after a move away from Fratton Park failed to materialise.

The 39-year-old has become increasingly disillusioned with life on the south coast following a difficult 18 months for Pompey, both on and off the field.

James was linked with a switch to Tottenham on transfer deadline day and a reunion with former manager Harry Redknapp.

However, with no such deal forthcoming, the England stopper, not included in Fabio Capello's latest squad as he recovers full match fitness following shoulder surgery, has little choice but to get on with the job in hand for Paul Hart's squad - which also includes young Canadian Asmir Begovic as well as veteran Antti Niemi and Jamie Ashdown.

"David has got to knuckle down and work hard," Storrie said in the Portsmouth News.

"He may be the England goalkeeper, but we have got a lot of talented goalkeepers here.

"David has got competition, believe me.

"Asmir has grown in stature every time he has played and Antti Niemi is not far from fitness. We have also got Jamie Ashdown."

Storrie added: "David has said things and most of those conversations have been with Paul. Let's just say they have had discussions.

"As far as we are concerned, he is under contract and here to give 100% to Portsmouth Football Club.

"If he does not want that he has to tell us that."

Storrie revealed there had been nothing more than tentative inquiries for James.

"We didn't actually get any offers for him," he said.

"There was interest from Spurs as I understand it, but we had no direct offer.

"They wanted to trade Carlo Cudicini, but that wasn't anything which interested us.

"Now David's here to stay and it's up to him to get on with things."

With Sulaiman Al Fahim's takeover back on course, Pompey were one of the busiest clubs during the closing days of the transfer window.

Deals for Mike Williamson, Tal Ben Haim and Hassan Yebda, on loan from Benfica, were all concluded yesterday, with Croatia playmaker Niko Kranjcar reluctantly sold to Spurs for around £3.5million, while David Nugent joined Burnley on loan with a view to a permanent move back to the north-west.

However, full-back Nicky Shorey's switch from Aston Villa failed to materialise as did bringing back striker Benjani from Manchester City.

Nevertheless, Storrie is confident Hart now has the building blocks in place to kick start the campaign following four straight Barclays Premier League defeats which leaves them bottom of the table.

"We are extremely happy with how things have worked during the transfer window," Storrie said.

"These are the ones Paul Hart wanted to bring in and we got them. I know he is delighted about that.

"The squad is complete now. We have brought good players in, most of them with Premier League experience and the competition has been increased.

"The quality is there and with the team spirit and everyone pulling in the right direction because they want to be here, that looks good to me.

"I am sure you will see us climbing up the table soon, I'm pretty confident of that.

"Everything is there to start moving up the league."

Storrie, meanwhile, feels he is over the disappointment his consortium were not able to buy the club from previous owner Sacha Gaydamak and will remain at Fratton Park.

"I'm staying and I want to do keep working hard for this football club. I don't want to be anywhere else," he said.

"I've had hundreds of e-mails of support from fans.

"You don't expect that and that helped with my decision, without doubt.

"A lot of people took the time to contact me with nice messages of support, they didn't have to do that. That was greatly appreciated."