The secret's out: The impressive Slovakian Olympic Training Centre which served as Portsmouth's training camp

The culmination of the European Junior Swimming Championships ensured the pool was out of bounds to hotel guests on the Sunday.

A minor inconvenience, particularly on a day of soaring temperatures peaking at 32 degrees. Especially for those professional footballers training in such exhausting conditions.

Still, with Great Britain topping the medal table and Jersey-based Filip Nowacki claiming four gold in addition to breaking the European junior record at 200m breaststroke, it represented a hugely successful competition.

The X-Bionic Sphere Sports Complex in Šamorín, Slovakia, served as Pompey’s training camp last week, boasting an impressive array of facilities, including staging both the Under-23 and then European Junior Swimming Championships over the last month.

Recognised as the Slovak Olympic Training Centre, providing facilities for 26 Olympic disciplines, it was also home to the Slovakian football team in last month’s European Under-21 Championship, where England emerged triumphant.

Visited by Wolves and Arsenal

In recent years, Arsenal and Wolves have sent age-group teams to train at the venue, while Slovan Bratislava are regular residents on account of the venue boasting grass pitches far superior than their own training ground. They were also present at the same time as Pompey.

With a gym situated on three floors, a bowling alley, pool tables, and a cinema showing latest films, including the F1: The Movie, it was an impressively-equipped base for Pompey’s seven days in Slovakia. An excellent choice and the handiwork of the ever multi-tasking club secretary Ali Knell.

The precise location of the Blues’ training camp had been kept under wraps for privacy reasons. It was publicised as taking place near Bratislava, rather than identified as Samorin, actually a small town positioned 22 minutes away from the capital city which closes at 10pm.

50 Pompey fans attended the open training session

That was under wraps until the destination was revealed directly to those 50 or so Pompey supporters who had registered their intent to attend Thursday’s open training session.

Their number, as ever, included a delegation from Banksy’s Bus, as well as representation from Emsworth, Chichester, Portchester, Cosham, Southsea and Bristol.

It was rather closer to home for the Pearce family from Vienna, who hail from the south coast, while father and son Guy and Christian Bailey these days live in Bratislava.

There were even three Slovakian fans who have been fervently following Pompey’s progress since 2003 - the first season in the Premier League under Harry Redknapp.

The training session, which marked the last of the training camp, consisted of the sun’s first visit since Sunday, although inevitably it still rained for a fourth successive day.

Still, the Blues’ first-team squad, along with Mousinho and sporting director Rich Hughes, afterwards happily mingled with fans, signing memorabilia and posing for photos when asked to.

Then, on Friday morning, it was off to Vienna airport for Pompey’s squad, catching a return flight to Heathrow and eagerly eyeing two well-deserved days off before returning to training this morning.

‘We are very, very pleased with everything’

‘The training camp has been really good,’ Mousinho told The News. ‘The weather has enabled us to work a bit harder than we have in previous years because we’ve had the low temperatures and rain, while the pitches have been absolutely immaculate.

‘The sports complex has been really good in terms of facilities, so we are very, very pleased with everything.

‘It was brilliant to see all the fans here as well. I know we don’t play the game on an away trip now, so it’s nice we have the open training sessions. It’s something a bit different, an opportunity for them to be able to see us train and see how we work day-to-day.

‘From chatting to those here, there were Pompey fans from Bratislava and Vienna, some Slovakian fans, and obviously the staunch supporters which come out pretty much every year.

‘In terms of fitness and preparation, we’re looking like we are in a good spot. We did a bit of a top up in terms of the runs after the training session, but, overall, we are in a good space.’

Pompey’s pre-season now steps up this week with trips to Woking (Tuesday), Farnborough (Wednesday) and Crawley (Saturday).

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