John Mousinho reveals respect for Kenny Jackett as former Portsmouth boss prepares for Fratton Park return

The former Blues boss – now director of football at Gillingham – is in line to make his Fratton Park comeback on Tuesday night when the League Two side take on Pompey in the EFL Trophy.

His last appearance at PO4 was on March 9, 2021, for his then side’s 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sunderland in League One. Less than a week later the former Millwall and Wolves boss was gone – shown the door after a humiliating defeat at the hands of Salford in the Papa John’s Trophy final at Wembley.

Jackett’s departure brought to an end an uneasy relationship between the manager and the fans, many of whom believed he should have left a lot earlier after three unsuccessful promotion attempts.

Yet two play-off campaigns and victory in the 2018-19 Checkatrade Trophy earned him much respect in other quarters. That includes current Blues boss Mousinho, who is not surprised by the Gills’ showing in League Two this season under Jackett’s leadership – and despite the Priestfield side’s controversial decision to part ways with Neil Harris last week.

When asked by The News about Jackett’s potential return and his thoughts on his achievements in the game, Mousinho said: (I came up against him) plenty of times when I played against the Portsmouth teams of the past. The one that really sticks out is when Kenny was in charge of Portsmouth in the play-off semi-final games in 2020 (a head-to-head that Oxford won).

‘I also played against his Wolves side that absolutely blew League One away and he’s had a huge amount of success in his career.

‘I have a huge amount of respect for Kenny and everything he’s done. He had an incredible time here as well.

‘So it’s a really nice thing (his return to Fratton Park), one of those nice coincidences for everyone at the club and it’s no surprise that Gillingham are doing as well as they’re doing with him at the helm.’

Jackett left Fratton Park with a win percentage of 50.7 from his 211 games in charge. That makes the 61-year-old the Blues’ most consistent manager since Bob Blyth – and above the likes of Harry Redknapp and Paul Cook, who led Pompey to the first division title, FA Cup glory and League Two honours respectively during their times in charge.

Mousinho – the current incumbent of the Fratton Park hot seat – is running the former Watford midfielder close, though, with a win percentage of 50 from his 38 games in charge to date.