'Completely review things’: Portsmouth boss calls for spending strategy overhaul
The Pompey boss pulls no punches over the level of spending needed at Fratton Park moving forward, if his side are to remain in the Championship.
John Mousinho has called for a complete review of the levels of Pompey’s football spending.
The Blues boss believes a ‘really serious conversation’ is required over where his football club is headed on the pitch, in the event of remaining in the Championship this season.
Pompey boss: ‘Completely review things in the summer’
And Mousinho is confident the Eisners will be ‘100 per cent’ supportive of ramping up the levels of playing investment needed, to make Pompey competitive in the second tier moving forward.
The Blues are fighting for their Championship lives this season, with their head coach convinced a short-term approach to consolidation is the right pathway at present.
But Mousinho is clear there needs to be major consideration afforded where Pompey are headed in the bigger picture, as they currently sit near the bottom of the table at their level in terms of on-pitch investment.
Mousinho said: ‘Like I’ve said, at the moment the plan is to build on what we’re trying do this season - and be very short term.
‘We need to very focussed on staying in the Championship now - and then completely review things in the summer.
‘We need to look at where we are as a football club and, if we hopefully stay in the league, look at what our strategy is going to be over the next four to five years.
‘Then we need to go from there.
‘We would need to have a really serious conversation about the levels of investment required.
‘I 100 per cent think the owners will be open to that, but over the past couple of years it’s just been about consolidating in the Championship.
‘Then, if we do that, we then buy ourselves a bit of time to push on as a football club.’
Mousinho: ‘We have a bit of work to do’
Mousinho was at pains to acknowledge the work carried out by Pompey’s owners in improving the resources on the pitch, during his three-year PO4 tenure.
That has multiplied both in terms of playing and transfer budgets, as his team soared to the League One title and then finished 16th in the Championship last term.
The hike in spending at the level last summer, however, is something Mousinho sees his club needing to react to moving forward.
Mousinho added: ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt in the League One season, everyone was saying how we recruited in the summer, January and how much investment was there.
‘We went into the Championship season with a budget and, in the first half of the season, we were undercooked in terms of where we were as a side. We addressed that last January in the short term.
‘We probably tripled that in terms of the transfer budget in the summer and increased the playing budget as well.
‘If you look at where we are now and what we did in January, if we went back and knew what Birmingham, Wrexham and Charlton were going to spend coming up and the rest of the league (there was lessons to learn).
‘Maybe in terms of the rest of the Championship, we have a bit of work to do there.’