Despite a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of now champions Coventry City on Tuesday evening, it was an Oxford United defeat that same night that proved enough to cement Portsmouth’s place in the Championship for at least another season.
In all though, what was a positive start to the season, quickly began to peter out into an ultimately underwhelming campaign for the Blues, only being rescued by a miraculous turn in form at the tail end of the season which saw the South Coast outfit earn safety with two games to play.
Portsmouth started the season away at Oxford United, doing what they had failed to do on 20 occasions in the season prior, pick up three points on the road.
An Adrian Segecic goal sent many Pompey fans on their way back down South accompanied with a fresh and positive perspective on the season to come.
This sense of hope would quickly diminish though, after Portsmouth fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Norwich City at Fratton Park which had been such a vital factor in their fight to stay up in the previous Championship campaign.
Unfortunately, this trend of inconsistency would underpin this campaign for the Blues, often full of ups, downs, surprises and a fair few thrashings along the way.
Having said this though, later in the season, after what was yet another example of Portsmouth’s capability to sometimes entirely capitulate – this time at the hands of Queen’s Park Rangers in a 6-1 defeat away from home – many Portsmouth fans saw the fate of the club only going in one, very negative direction especially due to how close this came to the season’s finish.
Portsmouth’s incredible turn in form after this though, was clear proof that this squad does have what it takes to play at Championship level, whilst also indicating the presence of the necessary guts to survive.
It was this turn in form that determined the direction of Portsmouth’s short-term future and made this season both a conflictingly underwhelming, yet successful season for Mousinho’s men.
When everything is taken into consideration regarding the multitude of issues both on the pitch, the ever-present plague of injuries at the club, and the situation off the pitch, the fact that Portsmouth have the third lowest wage bill in the division (only higher than newly promoted Charlton Athletic and disaster stricken Sheffield Wednesday) whilst also having one of the lowest transfer budgets, then survival within a division becoming ever-more centred around financial power seems a monumental achievement in itself.
More often than not, Portsmouth’s performances throughout the season were not reflective of the poor results that the club were accumulating. In fact, the football that Portsmouth were playing was at times much more intricate than had been on display in the season prior.
For this fact alone, there could be reasons for positivity regarding the success of Portsmouth’s campaign when in comparison to the 2024/25 season, with the fact that Portsmouth managed to avoid defeat on both occasions against their hated South coast rivals Southampton will be deemed as a huge success on its own.
After Portsmouth’s 3-1 success on the road at Stoke City, top scorer Adrian Segecic extended his goal-scoring tally to double figures with an emphatic hattrick seeing him hit ten goals in his first campaign in English football at any level, since joining the blues on a free transfer from Sydney FC in the summer.
Now, with only one game left of the season, a home fixture against Birmingham City, it looks highly unlikely that anyone will overtake Segecic in his goal-scoring tally with Terry Devlin the closest to Segecic, although with only five goals to his name, half that of the Croatian Under-21.
In terms of the highest number of assists for this Portsmouth side this season, Josh Murphy remains at the top of the tree with seven, despite his season marred by injury. Murphy also enjoyed success in Portsmouth’s most recent fixture, against Stoke where he provided the assist for Segecic’s ninth goal of the season, shortly after coming on as a subsititute.
Despite having scored only 48 goals all season, there were a fair few contenders for the Portsmouth’s goal of the season.
At the Portsmouth FC awards dinner, held on the 15th of April, it was Terry Devlin’s scorcher against Charlton Athletic in a 3-1 win away from home that was awarded goal of the season (watch here).
This was Devlin’s second goal from distance of the night, but other goals that deserve honourable mentions have to include both Zak Swanson (watch here) and Jordan Williams’ (watch here) screamers against Millwall at home in another 3-1 victory.
During the Portsmouth FC Awards dinner, it was Terry Devlin who stole the show as he collected both the ‘Men’s Player of the Season award’ and the ‘Men’s Player’s Player of the Season award’ whilst of course winning the club’s goal of the season award alongside these.
In terms of the other club awards, Regan Poole was named ‘Community Player of the Season’, Oscar Glover was named as the ‘Academy Player of the Season’ while Hannah Coan was awarded ‘Women’s Player’s Player of the Season’ and Georgie Freeland won ‘Women’s Player of the Season’.
Meanwhile, Mitch Jones deservedly won the club’s ‘Fan of the Season’ award for his commitment to running a marathon at every Pompey away game during the 2025/26 season to raise money for ‘Pompey in the Community‘ (If you are interested in donating to the Pompey in the Community charity, his donation link is here).
Now that survival has been confirmed, it is irrefutable that changes are needed in terms of financial investment if Portsmouth are truly looking to move forwards and progress as a team, with the Eisner’s continually being the target of criticisms regarding a lack of squad spending.
Furthermore, recently Portsmouth Boss John Mousinho outlined his love for the club, stating “I absolutely love the football club, I do want to stay here” but simultaneously highlighted the fact that for him to continue to stay at the football club, spending and financial investment has to increase.
Ultimately, Portsmouth have the man at the helm to see themselves progress as a football club tactically in John Mousinho, someone who has got the South Coast outfit promoted to the Championship as champions before keeping them in the division in two separate relegation scraps with some of the smallest financial aid of anyone else in the division.
What the club have lacked though, evident in all season under the Eisners to date, is a reluctancy to spend big which could very much hold the club back in the future and lead to Mousinho (one of the most promising, young, English managers in the world) to walk, and utlimately who could blame him?
If Portsmouth are to finally progress and stop languishing at the wrong end of the table for a third successive season then the board need to back John Mousinho to the hills, and it is that backing that could ultimately be the catalyst for change and hopefully future success for both Portsmouth and the Eisners.
Regardless of the fact that the 2025/26 Championship campaign has not yet drawn to a close, Portsmouth have already been linked with a variety of both departures and buys.
So far, Portsmouth have been linked with Dutch winger, Jayden Braaf, formerly of Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund (article linked here) and more recently Senegalese striker Bamba Dieng, with the Lorient man’s contract running out at the end of the French first division’s season.
On the departure list though, rumours have recently been flying regarding Andre Dozzell who has supposedly agreed terms with MLS side FC Dallas, to move stateside come the expiry of his contract at the end of the season.
Portsmouth now have one more game remaining in this Championship campaign but with nothing to play for, the blues have found themselves in a position they would have been longing to be in at times this season.
Despite this, though, and the fact that the fact that survival was achieved is a success in itself, Pompey can not find themselves languishing in the relegation zone again next season if the owners and board are truly intent on seeing the club progress.
Therefore, with the right backing, Portsmouth have the potential and blueprint to start climbing up the Championship table next season but only if a real sense of desire is projected from above that will surely trickle down and be replicated on the pitch.
