What I’ve seen and know about Conor Shaughnessy and John Mousinho bust-up talk that's rife among Portsmouth faithful

And those who’ve been around long enough to be subjected to the unscrupulous ways of previous regimes, have become accustomed to a steady stream of bare-faced lies emanating from PO4.

But when it comes to the unrelenting talk of a bust-up between the sidelined League One title winner and John Mousinho, those refusing to accept there wasn’t fisticuffs between the two are this time off the mark.

It’s worth inspecting the sequence of events which have seen us arrive at the point where the conspiracy theory will refuse to relent, especially after Shaughnessy was ruled out until the new year this week.

Likewise, the suggestion a move to Leeds United in January is a done deal - and that is why we likely won’t be seeing Shaughnessy wearing the star and crescent in 2024.

To understand the suspicion, we need to go back to August 24 and team news dropping as Pompey travelled to take on Middlesbrough.

It was at the Riverside that a genuine miscommunication led to illness being reported as the reason for Shaughnessy’s absence, when it was in fact his first calf problem.

The fact the defender was then spotted at Victorious Festival the next day contradicted what was being reported. Throw in the fact the 28-year-old was wearing a Tubigrip to protect his calf (which some were stating on social media was a knee brace for a ligament injury) and the doubts were up and running.

From there, Shaughnessy was rehabbing with the bust-up talk first surfacing. This was something Mousinho addressed on the record after the defeat to West Brom in September.

Speaking to The News on video after the game he joked about the notion. Any supporter can watch his reaction here and make their own judgment over the Pompey boss' sincerity.

Then came Shaughnessy’s aborted return against Sheffield United a fortnight later, something deemed a ‘head scratcher’ by Mousinho. As criticism flew forth over Pompey’s spate of injuries, the boss highlighted the former Burton Albion man would have been pushed harder in training than he was in the warm-up.

After that there was a conviction Shaughnessy’s problem had been identified as tendon damage five weeks ago, with a four-to-six week timeframe given for his recovery.

There was a personal conversation with the man himself before the international break, with a quiet confidence of a comeback for Blackburn - though he wouldn’t totally commit after all the previous issues.

That was the last update before news dropped of the new setback on Wednesday at Mousinho's press briefing, the blow occurring in the first week of the international break.

It’s worth highlighting during press briefings with the Pompey boss, conversations will sometimes drift off the record with those exchanges remaining private.

It’s not breaking confidences, however, to say that through Shaughnessy’s absence the idea of an altercation has become an ongoing source of amusement between Mousinho and the local press corps - the Pompey boss openly ridiculing the sentiment.

And when it comes to a Leeds move being a fait accompli and the spate of injuries being a ruse, wouldn’t Pompey have just ruled out Shaughnessy until the new year back in August if that was the case?

It would surely have been easier to do that over a number of aborted returns, while throwing in the need for some believable acting amid the Blades warm-up injury.

For the record, Shaughnessy is one of the most mild-mannered players in Pompey’s camp and probably the least likely man to go swinging for his manager.

And with Mousinho, yes there is the need sometimes to hold back on information, but the local media are fortunate to have one of the most honest dialogues with any boss in recent memory.

You don’t necessarily need to consider that, however, when drawing your conclusions over Shaughnessy’s absence - an assessment of the facts and events should allow fans to draw a logical conclusion.