After seven years in League One and 12 outside of the Championship, Portsmouth finally secured a return to the second tier after a late win against Barnsley on Tuesday night.
Pompey has been imperious all season, having lost just four of their 44 league matches to date and they haven’t tasted defeat since January 13th.
Whilst it may have only been a matter of time before promotion was guaranteed, it must have felt like a lifetime for the Fratton Park faithful who have certainly experienced more lows than highs since the club exited the Premier League back in 2010.
Goals from Kusini Yengi, Colby Bishop and Conor Shaughnessy gave them the three points that not only secured promotion to the Championship but the League One title with it.
The mastermind behind the club’s change in fortunes is manager John Mousinho, who may have been a surprise choice to replace Danny Cowley in January 2023.
Mousinho, in his first job as a manager, has taken the club from struggling to secure a playoff spot year after year to dominating the division and potentially finishing the season on 100 points.
Before Portsmouth’s ascent into the top division, Lee Sharpe represented the club on 17 occasions in Division One under Harry Redknapp. The Real EFL spoke to the 8-cap England international about the club’s chances of keeping hold of their title-winning manager.
“Yeah, I think they have got a really tough job. Although, would John Mousninho get a Premier League job and would he be able to somewhere bigger and better at the end of this season just because he’s got a promotion for Portsmouth?”
Despite suggesting Mousinho will stay this summer, Sharpe was not so sure how Pompey would keep hold of him should they continue their good form in the second tier.
“I think they’ll probably be able to keep the manager and after a promotion, teams usually come back on a bit of high and buzzing and it gives them some momentum and something to build on for next season.”
“Hopefully, next season starts off really good for them and, who knows, they could end up in the top half of the table next season and someone’s after the manager. I would say that the manager will get the chance to take his players to the next division and see how he does there before he starts leaving.”
His stay at Fratton Park may have been short, but Sharpe was complimentary when discussing the fans.
“Portsmouth is an unbelievable club, the fans are absolutely phenomenal. I can only imagine what it was like down there last night after the win and promotion, it must have been bonkers!”
The exclusive was provided by BetVictor.
Writer’s View
John Mousinho has announced he has no intention of leaving Portsmouth after guiding the club to promotion. While we have heard these sorts of comments before in football, Portsmouth are a club with fervent support and the manager will surely want to continue to lead the club on their return to the Championship.
Sharpe referred to it potentially being harder for Pompey to keep hold of Mousinho if the club perform well in the Championship. You would expect other clubs to start showing an interest in the young manager if this were to happen. At present, it is a little too soon for bigger clubs to come calling.
