There was a time when Portsmouth laid a strong claim to the unwanted title of the craziest club in English football.
The implosion after storming the Premier League[1], lifting the FA Cup[2] in 2008 and playing in Europe featured a chaotic cast of exotic characters and sent Pompey crashing into the fourth tier and the brink of extinction.
These days though, they are the epitome of good sense. On a steady upward trajectory with stable owners on a mission to make the good Chimes roll again, harnessing the passion and fierce identity of this southern hotbed.
Only this time without the existential risk. This being football, some fans crave the thrill of a steeper ascent, but most will acknowledge two and a half years of solid progress.
Since John Mousinho was appointed head coach in January 2023, Portsmouth have climbed from 15th in League One to promotion as champions in 2024 and survival in the first season back in the Championship.
They go into this weekend in eighth with seven points from four games as they travel west to Southampton[3] on Sunday for the first derby in six years, arguably the first pitched on a relatively even keel for 20 years.
These days, Portsmouth are the epitome of good sense as they climb back up the leagues led by John Mousinho (centre)
Portsmouth fans have seen a lot in the last 20 years, including hosting Ronaldinho and Co when AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw in the UEFA Cup at Fratton Park in 2008
The last meeting was a League Cup tie won 4-0 by Saints at Fratton Park and a triumph for Premier League over third tier. As it was in reverse when Pompey won 4-1 at St Mary’s in the FA Cup in 2010.
In between, there were two draws in the Championship in 2011-12, days when Portsmouth crippled by crisis, plunging to the second of three relegations in four years.
The rivals have not met in any league since. And, although Southampton are favourites with the luxury of parachute payment money and incoming fees of more than £80million from the sales of Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes, and a playing budget about five times bigger than their Hampshire neighbours, the rivals are more closely matched than they have been in recent meetings.
Mousinho has been central to Portsmouth’s progress and the club’s hierarchy can take credit not only for identifying his raw talent and handing him a first managerial role at the age of 36, but for persevering despite only one win in 14 at the start of last season.
‘We never had a conversation about changing the head coach,’ Richard Hughes, Portsmouth’s sporting director, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘I know it’s easy to put a different lens on it in retrospect but genuinely the thought never crossed my mind.
‘I knew we were going to improve. We knew John was an unbelievable leader with personality, charisma and tactical acumen. We had full confidence that he would find solutions to the problems we were facing.
‘We knew he was the person to take us forward and we are now reaping the rewards because of the work he’s done and because we’ve been able to recruit consistently across transfer windows for a head coach and his style.’
Of the 18 clubs in the Championship who were also in it last season, Pompey are the only club with the same head coach who started 2024-25. In this volatile landscape it can be difficult to hold your nerve.
Adrian Segecic’s goal gave Portsmouth victory on the opening day at Oxford United
Sunday lunchtime will see the return of the South Coast Derby for the first time since Southampton thumped their rivals 4-0 in the League Cup in 2019
‘We want to be consistent and fact-based, led by strong information not emotion,’ says Hughes, who arrived at Fratton Park in October 2022 from Forest Green Rovers.
Returning to the Championship after 12 years in the EFL’s lower leagues was testing.
‘The football is faster, stronger, more powerful,’ says Hughes. ‘We did a lot of planning but it’s the famous quote (from Mike Tyson) about everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.
‘Then there’s the huge gulf in finances. In League One there’s probably a variation of £7m to £8m in budgets between the top and bottom. In the Championship the difference is probably £60m-£70m. Teams in our league can do things financially that others can’t.’
Portsmouth hung in and recovered. Some fans were sceptical of Mousinho’s appointment at first but very few turned on him or his team after a difficult start last season. Not even after a bruising 6-1 defeat at Stoke in October.
‘The fans galvanise you,’ says Hughes. ‘It gives you that fire and motivation to know what this place means to people and what this club means to the city. You can’t take that for granted.
‘This football club is alive and where it is today because of the work of our fans and certain people behind the scenes such as Tony Brown, our chief operating officer, who is leaving at the end of this month after 12 years. He has played a pivotal part in saving the club and making it attractive to new owners who could propel it forward.’
Fortune turned in Portsmouth’s favour. One key moment was the return of Colby Bishop, the 21-goal top scorer of the promotion campaign who had been sidelined during the summer when a routine scan revealed the need for open heart surgery.
Colby Bishop has made it all the way back from open heart surgery and is leading the line again
Amid fears he might miss the entire season, Bishop set himself a private target to be back in less than the four months it took England rugby player Nick Isiekwe to return from a similar operation.
He was furious when he found Mousinho had name was left off the squad list at the start of the season, seemingly wrecking the plan, but the Pompey boss left one space empty and checked discreetly with the EFL to make sure his talisman could still be added when fit. In November last year, Bishop’s name appeared without warning among the subs for a home game against Preston.
‘We hid Colby’s shirt and boots when people came in on the changing room tours,’ recalls Hughes. ‘We didn’t want clues leaking out. We wanted the teamsheet to come with a “wow, he’s back”.’
It worked as Portsmouth won, only their second win of the season. They were 2-1 up when Bishop came off the bench and scored the third from the penalty spot to spark wild celebrations.
‘We didn’t even realise he was registered to play,’ says Donald Vass, chair of the Pompey Supporters Trust (PST). ‘That was huge. It lifted the club. Everyone was talking about relegation. We thought we were dead and buried but the mood was buoyant after that win.’
Bishop beat his Isiekwe target and ended up with 11 goals, including three in a crucial win at Norwich on Good Friday. Others weighed in too. Winger Josh Murphy, twin brother of Newcastle’s Jacob, hit a rich vein of form and defender Regan Poole returned from serious injury.
Reinforcements were signed in January, with Rob Atkinson and Isaac Hayden making important contributions towards the survival fight. And summer recruitment has sought to blend emerging talent with experience. Four signed on deadline day included the return of Conor Chaplin, on loan from Ipswich.
Chaplin made his Portsmouth debut at 17 in League Two before he was sold to Coventry for £500,000 in 2018, and he has been stunned by the transformation of facilities during his seven years away.
The training ground has been upgraded from portable cabins to a spacious new headquarters with a state-of-the-art gym. Fratton Park has been renovated and its capacity – which seemed doomed to be reduced to 10,000 on safety grounds at one stage – is back up close to 22,000 with further expansions planned.
Portsmouth are the only club to have been in both this season and last season’s Championship without changing their manager
Owner Michael Eisner (left) was Disney chairman and chief executive for 21 years from 1984 to 2005
All of which is testament to the sensible ownership of Michael Eisner, the former Disney boss who bought the club for £5.67m from the PST in 2017.
‘We’ve become a model of stability, gradual progress and incremental growth,’ says PST chair Vass. ‘The owner’s aim is to run us in a sustainable way. Some fans have been frustrated by that and would’ve liked us to move quicker and spend more, but we are in a position now from where most fans think we can consolidate again as a stable Championship club.’
Not all the madness has vanished though. Derby day preparations were rocked when Pompey’s most recognisable supporter John Westwood had his blue-and-white wig stolen on Tuesday while cheering on his team in a Hampshire Senior Cup tie at Romsey Town, deep in Southampton territory.
Perhaps more surprisingly, it was returned anonymously by post on Thursday to his bookshop in Petersfield.
‘I never thought I’d see it again,’ Westwood told Portsmouth’s local paper The News. ‘It’s in the same state, still dirty and smelly, which reminds me, I must wash it.’
References
- ^ Premier League (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ FA Cup (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Southampton (www.dailymail.co.uk)