‘Really willing to invest’: boss’ exciting reveal over how Portsmouth will compete with Sunderland, QPR, Cardiff City & Co in Championship

Pompey’s owners will make the levels of playing investment required to establish their club in the Championship.

That’s the unerring conviction of Blues boss John Mousinho, who feels there is a determination at Fratton Park to avoid becoming a ‘yo-yo’ side between the second tier and League One.

And Mousinho has gone into significant detail over the plan to ensure that happens in a sustainable fashion - before pushing for the ultimate dream of reaching the Premier League.

Pompey make their return to a level they last operated in 12 years ago next season, with the financial landscape markedly different to when they left.

Playing budgets will massively dwarf what the current kitty is at PO4, but Mousinho is certain supporters will see their club operate ambitiously this summer to ensure they can hold their own.

When asked about the financial strength of Championship clubs, Mousinho said: ‘That’s fine, the important thing is that we’re competitive next season.

‘From my point of view, and I won’t go into it completely, but the owners are really willing to invest at the next level. The football club is really willing to invest.

‘The structure and the set-up was really clear at the start of the job. If we achieved what we wanted to achieve, which was to get to the next level, then there was no point being one of the side’s who yo-yos. We want to consolidate and make a fist of it in the Championship before eventually, and we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, kick on and try to compete at the next level.

‘That’s about investment, it’s about finances and the club have shown they are going to be more than willing to do it.’

A big question for many stepping up to the Championship, was how would Pompey be able to take on rivals sustainably in a division where spending has reached ‘insane’ levels, according to chief executive Andy Cullen.

Mousinho went into depth about how that can be achieved by having a sensible and smart strategy, in tandem with the financial backing of the club’s owners.

He said: ‘The model has always been to develop sustainably.

‘Sustainability at this football club isn’t about breaking even, we’ve seen the football club doesn’t break even. There’s millions of pounds of losses every year and it will be the same next year, there will be a few more million pounds of losses. I feel very, very privileged to be part of that, because the owners don’t have to put their hands in their pockets and spend.

‘It’s about not being reckless and putting the club in jeopardy, but also being realistic about the level we compete at.

‘In football, it’s very difficult to turn a profit and the club do a huge amount to ensure they’re sustainable and run it in a good way. That will keep going, but it does require investment.

‘You get two versions of sustainability. You get the version where you eat what you kill, the other is you eat what you kill plus whatever the owners are prepared to put into the football club as well.

‘When you have owners who are willing to do that and cover those extra costs, that’s when football works really well.

‘When owners decide they’re not going to do that, it may not work so well. We’ve seen that in recent years with the likes of Derby, where the owner paid a lot of money into the club until the day he didn’t - then they couldn’t cover the wages.

‘A part of the structure here is the investment goes into the football club in the right areas - the training ground, Fratton Park and transfer fees, for example.

‘If we can be sustainable by covering the cost of the wages with the revenue of the football club, if anything then happened on any given day the football club keeps running - because the revenue covers the wages. It’s a really important part of how we feel football should operate going forward.

‘It’s a difficult thing to get the balance right, but in my time at the football club in January when we wanted to bring players in - the owners said “absolutely”. When then spent money and brought in Callum Lang, Owen Moxon and spent money on the extra wages to try to take the club to the next level.

‘I know the football club, the owners - Michael, Eric, Anders, Breck and everybody is really willing to do that and support the finances of Portsmouth.’