Portsmouth boss details what took place in meetings with Eisners in revealing insight to owners' visit

John Mousinho has lifted the lid on the high-level meetings with Pompey’s owners after they flew in last week.

And the Blues has revealed some of the surprising focus of those talks last week, during their recent three-match visit to these shores.

Chairman Michael Eisner and board members Eric Eisner and Andy Redman jetted in to take in the wins over Cambridge United, Reading and Pompey Women’s success over Chatham.

As ever, they met with Mousinho, his staff and the club’s board to appraise progress at PO4, as things currently progress well on the pitch,

Mousinho explained recruitment discussions took place, in the form of an appraisal of January’s business as five new faces arrived to supplement the Championship push.

But there was also a heavy focus towards on-pitch issues, as the head coach and his staff got into technical detail with the club’s owners.

Mousinho said: ‘In the meetings it wasn’t so much squad planning, more a review of January.

‘They were wide-ranging really from individual players and how they’re getting on and, particularly in this visit after being so close to the transfer window, Michael and Eric were really interested to see how the new signings are getting on.

‘Also because we spoke after the Cambridge game, I thought it would be interesting for everyone to get a bit of tactical insight of that game.

‘The Cambridge game was quite an interesting one, because we made a couple of tweaks at half-time in that game. So we talked through what we were doing and why we were doing it, and the same at the weekend with the changes in the way we pressed Reading.

‘Those were the sort of conversations we were having.

‘I think as owners who have been here for a number of years, their knowledge of football is getting bigger and bigger.

‘So these are conversations you can have with people, about the ins and outs of the games.

‘It’s quite natural and quite enjoyable, to be honest. There’s that definite level of interest there, particularly from Eric.’

Mousinho feels there’s no reason the club’s owners shouldn’t be privy to the kind of things Pompey’s coaching staff are working on, as their team push towards the second tier. That also meant looking at the sports science and data side of the club’s operation.

Mousinho added: ‘In the past there’s been a heavy focus on recruitment between the head coach and executives, but I don’t see why we can’t talk about what we do day in, day out on the training ground and why we do certain things.

‘Michael, in particular, is fascinated with some of the physical data we produce. It may surprise a bit, but they are really interested in that side of the football club. I think it’s interesting as well, so for them to show an interest is great.'