If good enough for Portsmouth, then it's good enough for Southampton - rivals book same pre-season venue

It served as John Mousinho’s training base for three days - now well-regarded hotel The Lensbury has new Championship tenants.

And it’s Pompey’s fierce local rivals Southampton who have replaced them as footballing residents at the Teddington-based venue.

Under new boss Will Still, the relegated Premier League club announced their return to pre-season training on Monday.

And, coincidentally, it was staged at the same place previously used by their neighbours, who vacated it the previous day.

Pompey had booked themselves into The Lensbury to allow pitches at their Hilsea training ground more time to recover following essential summer work.

According to chief executive Andy Cullen, in addition to the annual refurbishment of all three existing playing surfaces during the close season, new pitch irrigation has been installed to boost drainage.

Despite launching pre-season last Tuesday, initially for two days of testing, the Blues opted to use The Lensbury’s facilities for their Friday return to full training.

That spanned three days, with Pompey’s players and staff based at the 25-acre site situated along the banks of the River Thames until Sunday.

Southampton checked in on Monday

The following day, Southampton checked in for a week-long stay at the Middlesex resort, subsequently posting photos and video footage of themselves through official club media channels using the hotel’s highly-rated facilities.

And among those present was one-time Pompey loanee Gavin Bazunu, who impressed in the 2021-22 campaign from Manchester City, before signing at St Mary’s in June 2022 for a reported £12m.

Southampton’s Premier League season ended on May 25 with a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at St Mary’s - and, after a break spanning seven weeks, they were back in action on Monday.

In contrast, Pompey - whose campaign finished three weeks earlier - had enjoyed eight weeks off before last week’s return.

The Blues will be back at their Copnor Road training base on Wednesday morning, with the local media invited to attend and report on, before Mousinho’s men fly to Bratislava on Saturday.

They will then spend seven days on a Slovakian training camp until Friday, July 10 ahead of their pre-season schedule, which kicks off on July 15 with a trip to Woking.

While Southampton are booked into a training camp in Spain from July 21-27, during which they will face Espanyol in a behind-closed-doors friendly on July 26.

‘We want to protect the training pitches’

Speaking to The News on Sunday about Pompey’s decision to use The Lensbury, Cullen said: ‘At the moment, we just want to protect the training ground pitches as best as we possibly can.

‘We have obviously put new drainage down on pitches one and two, investing quite a bit of money on that. We then relaid the turf on top and, although it’s actually ready to play on, we felt the extra week would be useful.

‘This year, we have come back earlier than normal for training, John and Rich were very, very keen for that to happen, so instead we have gone to The Lensbury and been completely based there for three days.

‘I am happy with the investment we have put into the training ground pitches, they are really, really good and absolutely fine to play on. The Academy will be training on theirs on Monday.

‘What we are trying to do is take that longer-term view, so it best protects the pitches having made that investment into a whole new drainage system.

‘While staying at The Lensbury also creates that bit of togetherness before we go away to Slovakia.’

Occupying the same division for the first time since 2011-12

This season will see Pompey and Southampton occupy the same league since 2011-12, when both were in the Championship.

The Blues travel to St Mary’s on Saturday, September 13, with the Fratton Park reserve clash taking place on Saturday, January 24 - although both fixtures are subject to change.

Your Next Pompey Read: Andy Cullen details Pompey loan strategy in transfer window - and warns of recruitment wait