There will always be a magnetism towards wariness at Fratton Park when it comes to money. There exists a generation of Portsmouth supporters who will not remember that their club was once a byword for economic implosion, Icarus FC. There are plenty others happy to remind them: the past can be a handbrake on the future.
The only thing that really matters is that Pompey still exists. That has become part of the fabric. Last season in the Championship, Portsmouth recorded one of the lowest annual losses. They had the lowest wage in the division by almost 20 per cent. In a division of gross overspending, Portsmouth’s wage-to-revenue turnover actually improved. It was also the best in the league.
In that context, the last two years represent significant overachievement and consistency. In 2024-25, they won 14 games and stayed up. With one league game remaining, they have won 14 matches and stayed up. They are an outsider in this company according to their financial might; they are still firmly inside.
With respect to Michael Eisner, the US owner who did so much of the reconstruction post-collapse and supporter ownership, this is the house that John Mousinho rebuilt. There is no exact measure, but there are few higher performing managers in England over the last half decade.
Mousinho was registered as an Oxford United player when he was approached – and appointed – by Portsmouth in January 2023; he had played in the FA Cup for Oxford two months earlier. It was a significant gamble by a club that had become a little stuck in League One, 15th and drifting their seventh straight third-tier season.
Mousinho lost two of his last 18 games in 2022-23 to take Pompey to eighth. The following season they took 97 points – second highest total in the club’s history – and won the title. Championship consolidation has followed without Portsmouth ever dramatically loosening the purse strings.
The usual weakness of newer, younger managers is struggling to adapt to adverse periods of form: Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough, Russell Martin at Southampton, Rob Edwards at Luton, many others. They are able to maintain momentum through the delivery of their tactical message. But when form turns, addressing it is too much of a challenge and the tenure fades to grey.
That is where Mousinho has impressed most. Portsmouth took nine points from their first 14 games last season; he oversaw a recovery. At the end of March, they had taken one point from their previous six games and lost 6-1 away at QPR.
They then beat Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Leicester without conceding. The resilience – and the way that resilience is instilled into the team – is incredible and still catches its own disciples off guard.
As such, Mousinho is rightly adored. After their 3-1 win at Stoke, the travelling Portsmouth support serenaded him with “One more year, one more year, John Mousinho”. That they chose only a 12-month extension is indicative of the acceptance that their manager is destined for loftier climes.
It also puts Portsmouth at a difficult crossroads. After safety was secured, Mousinho spoke extensively about how far behind the rest of the Championship the club is in terms of infrastructure, training ground, staff networks, playing budget.
“If we don’t invest, on and off the pitch,” Mousinho said. “I think we’ll perennially be in this relegation fight and we need to try to move away from it.”
Which is true, but the finances of English football are scary for everyone and terrifying for any club that has tasted the poison of administration. And Eisner knows that only too well.
“No club can survive for the long-term in this system and if that continues, catastrophe will happen,” Eisner said in March.
“We need effective player salary cost controls, real attention to fairer distribution of media revenues… My family is walking headstrong into this storm, but if I was a historic fan in Portsmouth, I’d scream for change in the structure to protect the beautiful game.”
The problem: Portsmouth have two conflicting forces that they must fight their way through. They have invested in the academy, but it is still category three. They are aiming to improve their player trading model (they have signed seven players on permanent deals aged between 20 and 25 this season). Eisner has transferred the majority of his shares to his sons as a means of future proofing; he is 84.
But all these are long-term projects and the short-term aim is keeping one of the best managers in their history happy. There will be suitors for Mousinho this summer and he deserves them. It would be brilliant to believe in the club and manager growing together into a promotion contender, but it takes a huge suspension of belief.
Portsmouth, a club accustomed to walking through a storm and remaining whole, are having to continuously rebottle lightning or risk their own financial future again. That seems deeply unfair.
from Football - The i Paper https://ift.tt/U3oY2pg
Post a Comment