‘I’m not sure’: Early Portsmouth call made ahead of new Championship fight with Birmingham City, Hull City & Co

Pompey have to continue to establish themselves in the Championship before they mount a play-off push.

That’s the clear verdict of Ryan Dilks and Justin Peach from the Second Tier Podcast, who are predicting another solid mid-table finish for the Blues next season.

John Mousinho’s men ended their first second-tier campaign in 12 years in what was a respectable 16th place and ahead of the likes of Hull City, Preston and Stoke City.

Despite a slow start to the campaign, Pompey were able to register impressive wins over Leeds United, Bristol City, Coventry City and more which helped them finish five points clear of the bottom three.

Next season will pose even greater challenges for the Blues, with Birmingham City and Wrexham both promoted from League One, while Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester were relegated from the Premier League.

With Mousinho’s men hoping to build on last term’s impressive position, Peach has given a clear picture of how they should approach the new Championship season.

Speaking on the latest episode he said: ‘I think it’s about establishing for the likes of Portsmouth, Derby and sort of Oxford United.

‘When you survive in your first year after coming up from League One, you want to establish yourself in the Championship and if you look at Preston as an example, I know last season they were poor, but when Simon Grayson brought them up it was solid mid-table finishes and then Alex Neil comes in and they started to flirt with the play-offs.

‘For me it’s all about making sure you're a solid Championship. So for Portsmouth, yes a mid-table will be absolutely fine and then anything else becomes a bonus. Just make sure you're not in a position to go down and it’s as simple as that.’

Pompey had one of the smaller budgets in the Championship last term following their promotion from League One. That will once again be the case next season with Birmingham and Wrexham entering the league, who have both been heavily backed financially in recent years.

And Peach’s co-host Dilks believes another strong mid-table finish is on the cards for the Blues.

Pompey prediction made ahead of new Championship season

He said: ‘I’m not sure what my early expectations are for Portsmouth. I don’t think they’ll go down but I’m not massively looking higher up the division with them. I reckon another mid-table solid finish for them next season would be a good season for Pompey.

‘Budget wise they will probably be one of the weaker sides in the division, especially with two of the sides coming up from League One. With that in mind, expectations do need to be moderated.

‘But what we’ve seen from Portsmouth this past season shows they’ve got what it takes to build upon what they’ve done.

‘They’ve ended up staying up relatively conformably and they’ve done that by keeping full faith in the manager and recruiting pretty well. If it wasn’t for the constant injuries at the back, they may have stayed up more comfortably.

‘There is a lot to like about Pompey. John Mousinho is showing more and more signs of being a promising manager, they play some nice football.

‘They’d need to have a good summer of bringing in really good players but all-in-all I’m feeling more promising about Portsmouth going forward than I am about a lot of other sides.’

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