Portsmouth boss John Mousinho sends clear spending target as he lifts lid on Fratton future
Pompey secured their Championship status for a third-successive campaign on Tuesday, now all eyes are on John Mousinho’s Fratton Park future.
John Mousinho has reinforced his desire to remain in the Fratton Park hot-seat next season.
But the Pompey boss has highlighted the two clear aims which have to be achieved over the summer to meet his current ambitions.
The Blues secured their Championship status on Tuesday after an outstanding turnaround saw them clinch survival with two games remaining.
Focus has already turned to summer recruitment, playing budgets and most-importantly Mousinho’s future, with his stock firmly on the rise after beating the drop against the odds for a second-successive campaign.
It remains no secret that Pompey are one of the division’s lowest spenders, which has prompted supporter calls for owners Tornante to increase the transfer kitty in the upcoming transfer window.
As attention now turns to next term, the Blues boss has revealed conversations with Michael Eisner & Co will take place in the coming weeks, with the budget and ambition at the focal point of discussion.
Pompey boss’ Fratton ambitions after securing Championship survival
And with Mousinho’s future also under the spotlight, the head coach wants reassurances over club’s position moving forward to avoid remaining in a relegation battle ‘perennially’.
In an interview with BBC Radio Solent, he said: ‘I still think we need to do both (invest on and off the pitch).
‘The investment that we’ve put into the football club has been amazing considering where we were as a football club in 2017 and previous to that when the fans saved the club.
‘But we’re still a long, long way behind other Championship clubs in terms of infrastructure, in terms of training ground, in terms of staff networks, all those kinds of things so we’ve got to keep going on that.
‘And then we have to take a viewing of where we want to be with the playing budget.
‘That’s going to be a conversation over the next couple of weeks because if we don’t invest on and off the pitch then we’ll perennially be in this relegation fight and we need to try and move away from it.
‘It’s just about figuring out what our strategy is. Our strategy over the past couple of years has been very short-term and we’ve been focused on staying in the Championship.
‘So spending has been at a level where we have spent money - we spent money in January - but we haven’t bought players that are necessarily players for the future.
‘It’s about the strategy, it's about what we want to achieve over the next 5-10 years as a football club and then going from there.
John Mousinho on Pompey future
‘The money is there to spend but that second point around solvency and that we do stay afloat, we’ve seen two sides get relegated this year because of the complete financial miss-management in Sheffield Wednesday’s case and Leicester ultimately docked six points because of what’s happened financially.
‘It’s a very attractive proposition to go and spend that money, this football club of all football clubs know how that can end in a negative manner.
‘So we have to do it sustainably if we possibly can and in a league where there are so many big clubs spending a lot of money but we also have to try and compete.
‘I think it’s about having a very honest conversation about where we want to go as a club.
‘I absolutely love the football club, I do want to stay here.
‘If you combine that and the last question around what we’re going to do as a club, where do we want to be and what’s our ambition, then if we can match those two things up then absolutely.
‘I make no secret of how much I love living down here, I absolutely love the football club. It’s a privilege to lead it every day.’
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