Mousinho ‘makes telling Portsmouth admission’ amid West Brom exit fears
Portsmouth have secured a second consecutive season in the Championship, with manager John Mousinho playing a huge part.
Mousinho took Portsmouth back to the second division after a 12-year absence, and he has now kept them up on one of the lowest budgets in the league.
Pompey will now compete in the Championship again, and will aim to progress up the table under Mousinho.
However, there are fears among Portsmouth fans that he could leave as several jobs higher up the division have become available, with Mousinho potentially coveted by a number of clubs.
Mousinho says he wants to stay at Portsmouth
With West Brom and Norwich now on the hunt for new coaches, Mousinho could be targeted this summer, but he has reiterated his commitment to Pompey.
“Genuinely, my mindset is I’d like to have a long, successful career at Portsmouth,” he said, as per The News (24 April).
“I still feel incredibly grateful to the club for taking a chance on me and a risk on me in the first place. I’ll never forget that.
| John Mousinho’s record at Portsmouth | |
| Games | 122 |
| Wins | 55 |
| Draws | 34 |
| Losses | 33 |
| Win percentage | 45.08 per cent |
“We can talk about my ambitions and the club’s ambitions matching up in the future, but this is a club that went and took a risk on me that no one else did.
“People said they didn’t know who I am, and that’s fine, but Portsmouth took that risk on me.”
Mousinho has also expressed his delight at how his project at Fratton Park has progressed.
Portsmouth need to keep hold of Mousinho
Despite Portsmouth suffering a nervy dip in form in recent weeks, Mousinho’s side have secured their safety in the Championship with games to spare.
Given that this was their first campaign at this level in over a decade, Mousinho’s work deserves a lot of praise, and he has taken Portsmouth so far away from where they were when he joined.
Portsmouth will hope to steadily climb up the table, and their best chance of doing so will be if Mousinho stays and continues to build upon the foundations he has laid, rather than trying to find a new manager to replace him if he leaves.