John Mousinho shares ‘incredible’ Portsmouth admission after survival confirmed
Portsmouth secured their Championship status on Monday after their 1-0 victory over Watford to the delight of Fratton Park and John Mousinho.
Colby Bishop netted the only goal of the game on Easter Monday to move Pompey six points clear of the drop zone with two games left to play.
However, with Derby and Hull still to play each other, it means that Portsmouth have already secured their survival in the second tier for next season.
It marks a fine achievement and, after some fans called for Mousinho’s head at Portsmouth following the defeat to Coventry this month, the boss achieved his ultimate aim of retaining Pompey’s second-tier status.
Now, the manager has admitted the achievement “hasn’t quite sunk in yet” as he shares what has “amazed him” about the campaign.
Mousinho admits what has ‘amazed him’ about Portsmouth’s season
It has been a great run of form from Portsmouth over the last few months. It was a difficult start to the campaign, with the club only winning one of their first 14 Championship matches.
However, since November, Pompey have completely turned their form around to rise up to 16th in the table and secure survival.
Now that their Championship status for the 2025/26 campaign is confirmed, Mousinho admitted that if someone told him in October that Portsmouth would stay up, he would have been “amazed”.
| Portsmouth’s Championship record since November 9 2024 | |
| Wins | 13 |
| Win percentage | 43.3% |
| Goals scored | 43 |
| Clean sheets | 8 |
He told the official Portsmouth website after the Watford match (April 21): “It probably hasn’t quite sunk in yet – if you’d have asked me on Sunday then I would have said that it was incredible.
“But if you had asked me back in October, then I would have been amazed at what on earth had happened!
“The feat is all the more impressive because of what we’ve had to deal with and some of the runs we’ve gone on.”
Portsmouth must now build on a successful campaign
The next task for Mousinho is to ensure that the club can build on this achievement going into the next campaign.
Portsmouth have all the tools to avoid a relegation battle next season and possibly even attempt a top-half finish.
However, this will no doubt be tough. Many of the teams aiming to come up from League One are unlikely to be in a relegation battle next season, with Birmingham City looking particularly good after they secured the title.
Therefore, strong additions are needed in the summer, while Mousinho cannot afford another slow start to the 2025/26 season.
Portsmouth have already been linked with a permanent move for Rob Atkinson, who has had a successful spell on loan this season.
Hopefully, preparations for the new campaign can now get underway to ensure that it becomes a memorable one and that the progress over the last few seasons is not lost.