John Mousinho has now managed 150 league games for Portsmouth since being announced as Danny Cowley’s replacement in January of 2023. It’s fair to say that since then, the risk has certainly paid off, regardless of what league Portsmouth are playing in next season.
In remarkable circumstances, John Mousinho was only forced to retire from playing football to take up the opportunity presented of becoming manager at Pompey.
He had in fact been playing in the same league as the Blues for Oxford United up until this point, making 8 appearances in the 2022/23 League One season in a player/coach role.
Mousinho had no prior experience as a manager when announced to the Fratton faithful and he was truly thrown into the deep-end of it all, joining a stagnating Portsmouth side.
On the exact date Mousinho joined the Blues, they were 15th in League One and sat on 31 points, just seven points above the relegation zone. He would impressively go on to guide his side to an eighth place finish though, more than doubling the points tally the Blues were on at the time of his arrival and narrowly missing out on the play-offs by seven points.
The now 39 year old joined Portsmouth half way through their sixth consecutive season in the third division. At the time, frustrations surrounding a lack of progress were causing unrest and disappointment among the Fratton faithful, with the club showing no development since they won the League Two title in 2017.
The closest Portsmouth had come to gaining Championship football prior to Mousinho’s appointment came in successive years, in their defeats to Sunderland AFC and Oxford United in the Play-off semi-finals. Portsmouth were stagnating.
This was epitomised by the fact that during Mousinho’s first game in charge of the Blues – a league fixture at home against Exeter City – an anonymous group of fans flew a plane with a banner reading “Eisners: No ambition, No plan” over Fratton Park.
Whilst the banner was a clear jab at Portsmouth’s American owners the Eisners, it was also a very obvious sign of the negativity towards the appointment of such an inexperienced manager shown by Pompey fans.
Mousinho’s appointment was met with much scepticism as was always to be expected, but by around half way through the 2023/24 season, he had completely rejuvenated the feeling of hope throughout the club.
The summer of 2024 saw huge shifts within the squad, 14 new players were introduced while key players such as Ronan Curtis and Michael Jacobs were among the nine departures.
Signings like Regan Poole, Conor Shaughnessy, Christian Saydee and Kusinin Yengi all breathed new life into Mousinho’s new Portsmouth squad, with some even being crucial players for the Blues today.
It was these signings, along with another eight additions in January that contributed to what was a truly special season for Portsmouth in Mousinho’s first full season as a manager.
John Mousinho achieved a win percentage record of around 61% in his first season, bettering the record of any previous manager in Pompey’s seven year League One stint.
More importantly than this though, he engineered Portsmouth’s escape from the third tier, a feat which no other manager had been capable of achieving in this period, doing this all at the first time of asking.
The Portsmouth team of that season showed a sense of fight and desire that hadn’t been seen at the club for years prior, with games such as the title-winning game against Barnsley underpinning a spectacular campaign under Mousinho.
John Mousinho ventured into new territory once more in the 2024/25 campaign, taking charge of Portsmouth for their first season back in the EFL Championship in 12 years.
Despite one of the lowest budgets in the division, combined with a devastating list of injury issues, Mousinho led his Pompey side to a comfortable 16th placed finish.
Within this season he masterminded his side to snatch four points off of league champions Leeds United while he also oversaw his side to one of the best home records in the division. Out of the 54 points accumulated by Portsmouth in the 2024/25 campaign, 40 of them were won at Fratton Park.
It is undeniable to suggest that Mousinho has done an incredible job at Portsmouth in his extremely short managerial stint. He has accomplished at his first attempt what many have been unable to do with years of managerial experience.
Now, in the midst of yet another devastating injury crisis, Portsmouth are once again in a relegation scrap in the second division. Despite this though, there have been clear progressions from last season once again with performances steadily improving under the former Oxford-man.
John Mousinho is undeniably hot property and one of the biggest struggles for Portsmouth will be holding on to him come the end of the season. This, especially if the Blues stay up and if there is still a lack of ambitious investment on the transfer-front by the Eisners who could blame Mousinho for wanting to leave?
For now though, the focus for Mousinho and Portsmouth is undoubtedly on remaining in the Championship for at least another season. Pompey now have to face one of the most in form teams in the division, lining up against Swansea City on Tuesday evening under the Fratton Park lights.
Hopefully, come the end of the season Mousinho will have pulled off yet another miracle on the South coast and will stay for years to come.
