'Hugely important role': Rich Hughes delivers latest on filling Portsmouth's 10-month coaching vacancy
The position in John Mousinho’s backroom has been vacant since December 2025
Rich Hughes insists Pompey have finally filled a ‘hugely important’ coaching role.
And Zesh Rehman’s long-awaited replacement as first-team development coach is set to be announced ‘very shortly’.
The position in John Mousinho’s backroom staff has been vacant since Rehman quit in December to take up a coaching opportunity in Saudi Arabia.
Focused on one-to-one sessions with players, including analysis and ball work, the job is regarded as an important aspect of player development, particularly younger ones.
Now, more than 10 months after Rehman’s departure, Hughes has revealed that a successor has been identified, following the conclusion of the interview process several weeks ago.
And Pompey’s sporting director is delighted with the candidate selected.
‘We want to make sure we get things right’
Hughes told The News: ‘We are in a position where the club will be announcing something very shortly. We want to go really quickly with things, but we also want to make sure we get things right.
‘We’re really pleased with the process we went through and the person we’re able to bring in. Hopefully that should be announced in the next few days to get something out there to the wider public.
‘It’s a hugely important role. Zesh left at an inopportune time for the football club, but we completely understand why he went when he did - and he went with the best wishes and best regards of everyone from the football club.
‘The January transfer window then took priority, we went into a tough game time, and we also wanted to make sure we got the right person in for the role. That’s really important, even though it might take a while to nail down the process.
‘We wanted to conduct a thorough process. Myself and John spoke a lot about what the role looked like, what worked when Zesh was here, what didn’t work when Zesh was here, how we can reshape the role and put together a process to identify that person and making sure we can skills test the individuals against the criteria we want to see.
‘Then we bring in someone who fits with what we want to do quickly and fits with where the football club is trying to take the individual development of players.’
Position vacant since December 2025
Since leaving Fratton Park, Rehman has now been unveiled as an elite individual development coach for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF).
The 42-year-old, who was appointed to the position last month, will oversee the country’s youth national teams, as well as assisting with their under-16s side.
And Pompey will imminently be announcing his Fratton Park replacement.
Hughes added: ‘It’s quite nice that through various stages of the interview process, everyone was unanimous with who they felt was the strongest candidate, for lots of different reasons as well.
‘We’re really pleased to identify that person and to be able to bring them in.’