‘It’s no surprise’: Former Portsmouth man delivers intriguing John Mousinho verdict after summer talk
John Mousinho was linked with a move to Bristol City during the summer.
Asmir Begovic is not surprised John Mousinho has been linked with ‘bigger jobs’ amid talk of Bristol City in the summer.
And the former Pompey keeper believes the head coach has done a ‘fantastic’ job at Fratton Park since his January 2023 appointment.
Mousinho later revealed there were talks over the role before Michael Skubala was later chosen by the Robins as Gerhard Struber’s permanent successor.
Since his south-coast arrival more than three-and-a-half years ago, the 40-year-old guided the Blues to the League One title in his first full campaign in management.
Pompey then avoided the drop in successive campaigns since their second tier return in 2024, achieving 16th and 18th-placed finishes respectively.
Ex-Pompey keeper’s John Mousinho verdict after summer talk
Indeed, Begovic, who rose through the ranks at Fratton Park as a youngster before amassing 17 first-team appearances for the Blues, has lauded Mousinho’s work on the south coast so far and insisted he wasn’t surprised the head coach was linked with ‘bigger jobs’ in the summer.
‘He’s done a massive job’; the former Pompey, Bournemouth, Stoke City, Everton and Leicester City man said on Sky Sports.
‘Take everything into consideration, the resources that he has, the infrastructure of the football club and he’s competing against some of these bigger clubs.
‘To keep the club in the Championship is really a fantastic achievement.
Again, he’ll always have the backing of the fans. The fanbase at Fratton Park, it’s such a big home advantage because those fans are some of the very best in England and fill that stadium every single game.
‘They’re a massive help. Not an easy place to go to for any visiting team so there’s a good advantage there.
‘But what he’s (John Mousinho) has done on the pitch with the players, the recruitment and with the resources, it’s no surprise he’s been linked with some of the bigger jobs in the country.’
John Mousinho’s Bristol City ‘conversations’
After guiding Pompey to Championship survival, Mousinho was linked with the Bristol City vacancy at the end of last season.
The head coach explained in July that there was ‘some real interest’ in his services and admitted there were conversations with a club.
He told The News at the time: ‘To a certain extent. There was some real interest at the start of the summer. The one that had the most air time was Bristol City.
‘There was an initial conversation between the club and my agent, but it didn’t get any further than that. No official approach.
‘I spoke to the club about it early on, as per my contract, just to make sure everybody's on the same page. Absolutely nothing progressed.
‘Bristol City didn’t contact the club or ask to speak to me so that got a lot more air time than perhaps what was going on behind closed doors and that was dealt with fairly swiftly.
‘That was the one bid of real interest, there were a couple of other bits of minor interest that never went beyond that.
‘To be honest it was a very calm summer after the first couple of weeks of wild speculation. And a lot of it I just watched with interest from afar knowing that it wasn’t true.’
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