Australian adventure turns to frustration for much-travelled ex-Portsmouth, Luton, Ipswich and Millwall man

For the Blues, the midfielder made 69 appearances and scored three goals.

While Pompey celebrates their League One victory, one member of the team from the previous season has found life a little difficult away from Fratton Park.

John Mousinho decided to let go of central midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe, so he set off on an Australian adventure last summer.

After much speculation, the former Manchester United player agreed to accept a two-year contract with Adelaide United of the A-League.

Beginnings were positive as well; in October 2023, Tunnicliffe scored his first goal in just his second game after entering off the bench in a 6-0 triumph over Melbourne City.

But since the team finished a disappointing seventh, that would easily prove to be the player’s frustrating season’s high point—and he never scored again.

In the end, the 31-year-old would struggle to get into the game and ended up sitting on the bench for the last three months of the season that concluded this month.

Although Tunnicliffe did start other games, most of them came as substitutes. His first start came against Sydney in November, which coincided with a 5-1 loss at home.

As his role on the squad waned, he was in fact benched for 11 of the final 12 games and was inactive for 4 of them.

With just one goal in his 21 appearances, 11 of them came as substitutes, and Adelaide finished the season ninth out of 12 teams in a league that the Central Coast Mariners won.

After spending two years at Fratton Park, Tunnicliffe failed to live up to his spectacular debut on the south coast.

Having signed with Danny Cowley in June 2021, he started the 2021–22 season with a string of assists and scored the game-winning goal against Shrewsbury.

When he was at the height of his midfield abilities, in October 2021, he sadly suffered a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing for three months.

He missed two months of the 2022–2023 season due to another injury, and although he started playing regularly under new head coach Mousinho, it was concerning that he was not included in the final three games.

The fact that Pompey declined to exercise his option and Tunnicliffe, along with Clark Robertson, Kieron Freeman, Michael Jacobs, Louis Thompson, and Jayden Reid, left in the summer of 2023 was not surprising.

The former Luton man made 69 appearances and scored three goals for the Blues overall, but he was deemed unnecessary since Rich Hughes was in charge of a summer revamp.

As he approaches the last year of his contract, the midfield player will be hoping for more triumphant times with Adelaide after Pompey went on to win League One while he was out.

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