Football Season Guide

Portsmouth have yet to establish their place back in the Championship and this is likely to be a watershed season. Having recovered from the financial collapse that saw them fall down to League Two, it’s been two successive seasons of toil since returning to the second tier of English football for Pompey. It was the appointment of head coach John Mousinho in January 2023 that changed their fortunes and in the early part of the summer, there was real concern he could move on. The general consensus is he has not been sufficiently backed in the transfer market under the ownership of Michael Eisner, who is perceived, by some at least, as under selling the potential of the club. The consequences of this were seen for the first time, although for now it seems that Mousinho will be in charge again for the new season. Portsmouth survived by eight points last season, improving on a gap of five points the previous year. It felt a lot tighter than that with fans living on their nerves and a season of mid-table stability doesn’t feel like too-much of a demand from those fans. Mousinho has pretty much retained the squad from last season with just the one notable departure. Midfielder Andre Dozzell was a standout performer, whose contract was bizarrely allowed to end, enabling a move to MLS side DC United. Estonian international midfielder Rocco Shein appears to be a potential replacement having signed from Fredrikstad. The two biggest issues which need resolving are an extraordinarily long injury list, complete with lengthy absences, and a lack of goals. Winger Josh Murphy became a bit-part player having been unable to stay fit whilst centre-back Conor Shaughnessy continues to break down every time he comes back from injury. Colby Bishop’s goals have dried up and whilst Mousinho continues to show faith, it cannot remain indefinitely. A huge positive was the emergence of Terry Devlin at right-back and, at the time of writing, he looks set to stay despite interest from elsewhere.