Exclusive:John Mousinho: Why an increase in Portsmouth's playing budget isn't the silver bullet
John Mousinho believes more than just playing budgets contributes to a club’s success - and he’s determined to make Pompey maximise this ahead of another season in the Championship.
John Mousinho admitted an increase in Pompey’s spending power isn’t a silver bullet and shouldn’t be considered the only means of making the Blues more competitive in the Championship.
The Fratton Park boss believes extra funds to tackle the summer transfer window will help his cause in establishing the club higher up the second-tier ladder, following two years of flirting with relegation.
But the 39-year-old is of the opinion that so much more underpins success. As a result, he’ll also be pushing owners Tornante for more than just addition recruitment money during the close season.
For Mousinho, bringing Pompey up to speed with rivals on infrastructural and football operational matters, and maximising those assets, is just as important.
Mousinho: We have to get everything right
‘I think that the obvious clamour is to spend and there's obviously something in that,’ Mousinho told The News after securing Pompey’s Championship safety for a second successive season with one of the division’s lowest budgets.
‘I think there's a big danger you spend the wrong way and it goes wrong. So it's about spending with everything right underpinning that spend, making sure that we make good decisions and then making sure that we have the right resources at the football club to be as successful as we possibly can with those players.
‘We're not going to be competing with some of the big boys, but if we have upped the budget, how do we make sure that we maximise everything we possibly can from the budget? And that comes from making sure that everything around the training ground is as good as it possibly can be.
‘I think we've got improvements to make here (at the training ground). I think it's making sure that everything we do on the recruitment side and the coaching side is as good as we possibly can. And that, for me, is probably more important than just the overall figure of what we spend.
‘It's making sure that we spend wisely. It's making sure we spend making good informed decisions. And then we have players in the building, making sure we maximise everything we possibly can out of those, whether it's coaching, whether it's medical, whether it's sport and exercise science, whether it's having the right facilities, whether it's having the right data to look at when we're trying to formulate game plans.
‘So all of that comes into focus. It's not just going to be, right, we want X, Y and Z in terms of the budget for next year. We have to get everything right underneath that.
‘If you look at the best sides in the country, they overachieve their budget by having everything off the pitch and absolutely spot on.
‘We are getting there. We've made a massive push over the past three years to try and improve everything at the football club.’
Getting Pompey to the next level
Owners Tornante have spent ‘huge’ funds on Fratton Park’s redevelopment following their 2017 takeover. They have also purchased a new training ground for the club and subsequently invested heavily in it in order to bring it up to modern standards.
Mousinho, however, still feels the need to push for more - something that he’s more than comfortable doing.
He added: ‘There's a huge amount of money being spent on that (Fratton Park) and the pitches, there's a huge amount of money being spent on this facility (at the training ground).
‘Unfortunately, we're still behind Championship clubs and we still need to push that, and I'm still going to push that. I'm always going to push that with the owners and I think that's what they want and they value from a head coach.
‘I don't think they're going to want a head coach and sporting director that sit there and are happy with their lot and think it's a good thing for the football club to be bobbing around in the bottom six of the Championship.
‘We've had that experience now, I think I've had enough experience in the game to have a good idea of what it takes to push up to the next level.
‘It's a whole club approach, it's not just spending and transfers, it's a whole club approach and that would be my take.’
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