'Not a difficult choice': Portsmouth boss addresses the Fratton Park futures of out-of-contract seven
The Blues have seven players out of contract at the season’s end
Deciding the Fratton Park futures of Pompey’s out-of-contract seven is not a ‘difficult choice’, according to John Mousinho.
And the Blues’ head coach has reassured fans that work is underway to keep ‘a number of them’ on the south coast beyond this summer.
Archer has been earmarked for a departure, while Pompey hold all the cards on Toby Steward and Reuben Swann, with 12-month club options on each.
However, there are no such clauses in the current deals of Pack, Swanson, Ogilvie and Dozzell - who can all walk away from Fratton Park for nothing in the summer.
And Mousinho has already made it abundantly clear to sporting director Rich Hughes who he wants to keep at the Blues.
‘We are working hard at the moment on a number of those’
He told The News: ‘As head coach, I am asked the question “So what do you think we need to do with contract renewals?” - and it’s either yes or no from my perspective. Rich then goes off and does all that work and we are working hard at the moment on a number of those.
‘With a lot of those contractual decisions it’s like a player purchase. The details of it I don’t get involved in, the finance I don’t get involved in, I don’t speak to clubs and agents. It’s purely the football side for me.
‘It’s not a difficult choice (this year). Whenever I make a decision, I obviously make it based on all the facts I have in front of me. If you’re telling a player you are not going to renew their contract, it’s never particularly nice.
‘Obviously we are not in that position yet for any players because we do that in the summer. I take decisions based on all the information I’ve got at the time.
‘Generally, we’ve got loads wrong over the past three years, every football club has. I guess when you’re letting players go, though, those are the ones you should be getting right.
‘You are seeing that player day to day, you know exactly what to expect from the player, you’ve seen them train, you’ve seen them in games, you know their personality.
‘With incomings, you don’t get to see that, that’s where it becomes a bit more of a gamble. You spend £150m on a player, but that doesn’t guarantee you anything, unfortunately. But, with the outgoings, we take everything into account.
‘We have to get the balance right between handing out long, good contracts at the football club to protect ourselves in case players don’t work out. We also have to secure players’ futures as quickly as we can.’
Surprise departures in summer of 2024
In May 2024, Mousinho was challenged with deciding the futures of several regular starters in the League One title-winning side.
The subsequent departures of Sean Raggett, Joe Rafferty and Joe Morrell at the end of their existing contracts wasn’t agreed with by all the Fratton faithful.
Nonetheless, Morrell has never played again following a career-ending injury sustained in January 2024, while Rafferty is currently with Rotherham, who are entrenched in the League One relegation zone.
Raggett is currently on loan at League Two high-fliers Cambridge United, having fallen out of favour at Rotherham during an injury-ravaged stay.
‘At the time, we made the decision based on facts’
Mousinho added: ‘You have to make predictions on the future. Not just on that player, but on what you think you’re going to be able to bring in in the summer.
‘At the time when we make those decisions, we have those conversations in early May, with a lot changing between May, June and July.
‘For example, there might have been times last year where Raggs would have played quite a few games for us. But, at the time, we made the decision based on the facts we had in front of us and who we thought we were going to bring in.
‘That’s just the way it works out. All we will ever do is look at everything we have in front of us at that time - and decide off the back of that.’
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