'I totally understand the frustration': Portsmouth chief defends under-fire pre-season tour plans
Pompey have announced plans to hold a pre-season training camp abroad in July
Rich Hughes has defended Pompey’s pre-season tour plans for Slovakia.
The Blues are heading to Bratislava on July 5 for a six-day training camp - but once again there will be no friendly during their time abroad.
That is the preference of John Mousinho, with the Blues having also decided against a fixture last summer during their stay in Medulin, Croatia.
Instead, Pompey will host an open training session on Thursday, July 12, with supporters invited to watch and afterwards meet the players in an informal atmosphere.
However, many among the Fratton faithful are unhappy with the lack of a fixture abroad yet again during the pre-season schedule.
‘I totally understand the frustration of fans’
Sporting director Rich Hughes told The News: ‘It will be an intense training camp for the lads and there will be an open training session on the Thursday, so if any fans can come out here they can meet the group and watch us train.
‘I totally understand the frustration of fans, they want us to play a game abroad, I know they love it. We just think it’s not the right thing to do from a loading perspective. It’s a footballing decision not to play a game while we are out there.
‘We do a lot of research, we try to find different places to go, and the place in Bratislava is highly recommended from a few teams who have been out there.
‘It has everything we need for elite week in terms of good pitches, a good gym, good recovery and good food.
‘Plus the important X factor is that it’s an opportunity for everyone to spend an intense six days together and get that team binding going early in pre-season.’
Portsmouth last friendly abroad was July 2023
The last time Pompey played a friendly abroad was July 2023, when they faced Gibraltar club Europa FC at the Estadio Jose Burgos De Quintana in Malaga, Spain.
That fixture arrived at the end of a six-day stay at La Cala Resort, Mijas, which represented Mousinho’s first pre-season training camp as head coach.
A sizeable travelling Pompey support saw Colby Bishop’s penalty settle the match 1-0 in their favour, with 21 players used, marking their first friendly of that summer.
However, in the subsequent two summers since, Mousinho has preferred for the training camp not to involve a game.
Portsmouth boss: It was my choice
‘Back then, we took the lads away for the pre-season tour for five days. You get to day 3 and have to be very, very wary about how much training we’re doing.
‘The whole point of the pre-season camp is to overload the boys and put a huge amount into them physically. But, if you have a game at the back end of it, you need to do game prep, so lose 2-3 days of that camp.
‘We have the boys for three sessions a day. If you stick a match in there, all of a sudden there’s game prep for 48-72 hours before it - at that point I don't think there’s any point in going away.’
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