John Mousinho to meet Portsmouth owners to plot January recruitment drive

The Blues board member has returned to Fratton Park for the first time since the opening day of the campaign at the start of August.

In a packed schedule, he will tonight catch the League One leaders in action at Cambridge United and also watch them face Reading on Saturday.

Eisner is also planning to attend the high-flying Pompey Womens’ clash at MK Dons in the FA Women's National League Cup on Sunday (October 29).

Meeting up with Mousinho, sporting director Rich Hughes and Andy Cullen is also on the agenda as Pompey aim to build on their strong start to the campaign from both football teams.

And Pompey’s head coach admits his approach to the January transfer window will be high on the list of matters to discuss during Eisner’s stay.

Mousinho told The News: ‘Eric absolutely loves the matches, he is particularly interested in the football side of it and is planning to watch this week’s games.

‘We are in constant contact anyway, with regular communication, but it’s always nice to see people face-to-face and it’s great to see him over from America.

‘Obviously it’s going quite well at the minute, so everything’s really positive. It’s also good to know that the people who own the football club – and who put their money into it – have that huge level of interest and understanding.

‘This has been planned for a while, it’s not just because things are going well on the pitch, we can’t time that to coincide with him being here!

‘Still, we are never resting on our laurels, we must always push on, push forward, and a big part of the conversations with Eric during his time over here will be what we’re looking to do in January in terms of adding to the squad.

‘Having said that, we always speak about recruitment with the owners, Rich and Andy, this is absolutely nothing new, but on this occasion it will be face-to-face.

‘Like I have said constantly over the past few months, I’ve had nothing but the best backing from the owners that I could possibly wish for. Everything we’ve ever asked for, we’ve got, which is a brilliant place to be as head coach.’

The decision to appoint Mousinho as Danny Cowley’s replacement was rightly seen as a gamble by many in January.

Nonetheless, chairman Michael Eisner and Tornante backed the judgement of Hughes and Cullen to appoint the Oxford United player-coach in his first managerial position.

And the 37-year-old enjoys a strong relationship with Pompey’s owners as he continues to perform impressively as head coach.

He added: ‘We’ve gone through tough patches, like the back end of the season when we weren’t playing particularly well – but I never had an ounce of anything but positivity from the owners.

‘It has always been about talking how we’re going to make the club better and “This is what you need from us”. That’s the main message we get and we appreciate it.’