Portsmouth boss John Mousinho addresses his Fratton future as supporters chant for him to stay
The Blues head coach speaks about his future after fans at Stoke call for him to stay
John Mousinho reassured the Fratton faithful of his Pompey commitment and insisted: ‘I’ve had absolutely nothing from any other football clubs’.
Following an Adrian Segecic-inspired 3-1 victory at Stoke, the delighted 3,024 travelling fans sang ‘One more year, John Mousinho’ to the tune of Sing Hosanna as the head coach acknowledged their outstanding support after the final whistle.
Many Blues fans fear they may lose the popular boss should owners Tornante fail to match his ambition with the necessary financial boost this summer as he attempts to build on two years of consolidation in the Championship.
That manifested itself in the aftermath of a triumph over Mark Robins’ side which lifted them into 18th spot - equalling last season’s points tally of 54.
And, when asked on his future, Mousinho was adamant he remains as committed as ever to the Blues.
He told The News: ‘The position we find ourselves in the league is the most important thing to me at the minute, that has been the focus over the past however many weeks.
‘I have spoken to the press consistently over the past few seasons, my full focus is on Pompey, I love being here, I love the city, I have loved it down here now for three years and I think we have an opportunity, if we get things right, to start kicking on from where we have been over the past couple of seasons.
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‘With everything we have going for us, it’s a really good opportunity to do that.
‘I’ve had absolutely nothing from any other football club up and down the country, so they (the fans) are absolutely fine at the minute. I do want to stay, I have been really clear about that, I’ve got another couple of years here in terms of my contract.
‘How do we now figure out the next step for the football club and how do I figure out the step for the football club, which is two years of consolidation in the Championship?
‘How do we turn that into - not necessarily all of a sudden going and being a top-six side, that is almost impossible - but how do we approach that in terms of everything we do?
‘How do we turn that into a side which is competing a bit higher up and turning that into a strategy where, at some point, we can compete for the top eight and that puts us with a chance of actually going up at some point.
‘But that has to be underpinned by everything we do at the football club, there’s no point in competing at the top if we are not ready to make the next step.’
Segicec’s hat-trick took his tally to 10 for the season - and he will now finish as Pompey’s leading scorer, despite one game remaining.
Pompey were hammering 6-1 in their last visit to Stoke, when they were 23rd in the Championship in October 2024.
And Mousinho was hugely appreciative of the uplifting supporter reaction today - as well as back then.
He added: ‘That was absolutely amazing, an outrageous level of support today considering the fact we didn’t have anything on the game in terms of league position. The away end was sold out, everybody came in full voice and it was brilliant.
‘I heard the fans throughout and it was important that, off the back of the disappointment on Tuesday night, we followed it up like we did today. I thought it was very, very special.
‘The reaction of the fans today was bizarrely quite similar to what we had last year here where we got an unbelievable reception off the back of losing 6-1 and that’s very, very important to everyone in the football club and partially myself because.
‘We’ve had those levels of support throughout the last couple of years when it has been very, very difficult. Inevitably, when you are battling relegation, you lose more games than you win.’