Portsmouth fans have experienced just about every emotion possible over the past 20 years, from FA Cup glory and European nights at Fratton Park to fourth-tier football and narrowly avoiding liquidation.
Having secured a return to League One at the end of the 2016-17 campaign, many would have backed Pompey to have been playing Championship football at this point.
Kenny Jackett and Danny Cowley were charged with getting the Fratton Park outfit back into the second tier but all fell short. In stepped John Mousinho. The former Oxford United man had never been a first-team manager at the time of his appointment in January 2023.
Fast forward 15 months and Portsmouth have just lifted the League One title and are set to embark on their first season in the Championship for 12 seasons. So then, what should we be expecting from Mousinho and his men next season?
The Real EFL spoke to former Portsmouth manager and football management legend Tony Pulis and asked him for his thoughts on expectations on the south coast and how the club should approach the season.
“That is a fantastic club with great support. I really enjoyed my time there and I’m pleased to see that they’ve got promoted.”
Pulis, who was in charge at Fratton Park for a short spell in 2000, believes the club should follow the example set by another promoted team.
“I’m not telling John what to do, he’s done an unbelievable job, but I’d have a good look at what Ipswich have done and I’d try to follow that example if possible. Ipswich got promoted and have really taken the Championship by storm.”
The Newport-born former manager did, however, concede that to match Ipswich Town, Mousinho would need to be well-backed.
“They’ve invested, obviously, a lot of money. I don’t think anybody in the Premiership wanted to take Kieffer Moore, Ipswich took him and they’d have had to have paid really good money to get that deal.”
“They’ve got a chairman who will back their manager and they’ve got a very very good young manager who’s done an exceptional job over the two years. If I was John and I was at Portsmouth I’d be looking at what has happened at Ipswich and try and follow that line.”
When pushed on whether that means Portsmouth should be looking to claim a top-six finish, Pulis reiterated the most important element to get right.
“Again, I go back to it, I think if the recruitment is good, they’ll certainly have the backing and they’ll sell out every week it is an unbelievable city in respect of the way they support their football club.”
“They’ll have the backing and everything there, they need to make sure they recruit well and in a way that gives them the best opportunity to be successful in the Championship.”
Tony Pulis was speaking to The Real EFL courtesy of OLBG.
Writer’s View
Mousinho has done an excellent job in what is a role with high expectations. More experienced managers before him and failed so to take the club up as champions and with such ease is an impressive feat.
Portsmouth haven’t spent anywhere near the amount of money that Ipswich have on their way to promotion and they will need to ensure their transfer dealings are almost perfect in order to compete with some of the big-spending second-tier clubs.
