Portsmouth

"They've invested about £60m in nine years so you're talking about £6.5m a year, which is a pretty substantial amount of money.

"They've spent £25m on Fratton Park - that's a positive - and money spent on the training ground which is probably the biggest infrastructure spend in Portsmouth's history.

"But Pompey still have a long way to go, infrastructure-wise, to be a solid Championship club."

BBC Radio Solent's Chris Wise and the station's Portsmouth commentator Andy Moon discuss the positive and negative impact of the Eisner family since they bought the Championship club in 2017.

Listen to more episodes of 'Who Needs Mourinho?' on BBC Sounds.

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Portsmouth and Birmingham City have been fined for a confrontation which happened during their 1-1 draw on the final day of the season.

The FA determined that both clubs failed to ensure their players didn't behave in an improper manner following an incident in the 80th minute of the match at Fratton Park.

Portsmouth have been fined £53,125 and Birmingham have been fined £85,000.

Both clubs have admitted the charge against them.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

In other years, Portsmouth's retained list has been hotly anticipated, containing some surprising news.

Not this year - it was exactly how everyone would have predicted.

The only thing on Pompey fans' minds right now is whether the club can retain their highly-rated head coach.

It is hard to keep a secret in football. People like to talk. Very few transfers happen without being leaked along the way. Often deliberately, sometimes accidently.

But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that there's so little information eking out about John Mousinho's future. When he was appointed, it wasn't until Portsmouth approached Oxford to discuss compensation terms that the news leaked out.

Portsmouth were very tight-lipped during the whole process but the other two candidates on the shortlist, Ian Foster and Liam Manning, were both widely known to be contenders. As were several other people who had applied for job.

Mousinho has twice turned down moves to other Championship clubs. Both times very little information has emerged and it was significantly after the event when it did. Mousinho is not one to go around boasting about opportunities he's been offered.

Does this mean he's leaving? Not necessarily. Bristol City may well still be talking to several candidates. Not many details beyond Michael Skubala's release clause being activated have emerged.

Mousinho could come out and distance himself from the job but that would be highly unusual and set a precedent for any future speculation or job links. Mousinho has also spent a good amount of time answering questions about his future.

I wouldn't want to predict which direction things go from here. While there's a vacancy at Ashton Gate with no clear favourite to fill it, things will remain nervy for Portsmouth fans.

"It started fairly encouragingly but the run from October to December - you really thought: this isn't looking good.

"You thought Pompey look in real trouble after QPR - but you have to give them a lot of credit for how they fought back and got over the line.

"Staying up, fairly comfortably, is a good achievement but one difference to last season. This season felt like there were good spells and really bad spells, and when they were bad they were really bad.

"I thought Pompey were going down after QPR. You think: what's it going to do to the players' confidence? It was so impressive how they turned it around after that."

Fratton Park legend Guy Whittingham joins BBC Radio Solent's Chris Wise and Andy Moon to look back at Pompey's season. What were the key moments and who were the key players?

Also, your questions are answered in Moon's Musings.

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Portsmouth forward Adrian Segecic has been named the Championship's player of the month for April.

The 21-year-old scored four goals last month, including a hat-trick at Stoke City which helped to cement his place as Pompey's top scorer with 11 goals across the season.

Segecic joined Portsmouth from Sydney FC in June 2025 and made 38 Championship appearances as they finished in 18th place, eight points clear of the relegation zone.

"This award is thoroughly deserved and I'm delighted for Segs, who has really impressed in what is his first season in English football," said Pompey boss John Mousinho.

"He managed to find top form at such an important time, with an assist in each of those three successive wins that secured our Championship status.

"He's still a young player, and there is plenty of room for improvement, so I'm excited to see how he can continue his development at Pompey next season."

The Australia-born winger switched international allegiance earlier this year and made his debut for Croatia Under-21s in a 3-0 European Championship qualifying win over Turkey in March, with the chance he could now make the step-up to the senior squad for this summer's World Cup.

Wrexham forward Josh Windass, Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton and Norwich forward Mohamed Toure were also nominated for the award.

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Southampton's Tonda Eckert has been named the Championship's manager of the month for April, his third successive award.

Saints went unbeaten in the Championship last month, taking 14 points from a six-game unbeaten run as well as reaching an FA Cup semi-final where they just lost out to Manchester City.

Southampton finished fourth in the table to secure a play-off place and will meet Middlesbrough in the semi-finals with the first leg on Teesside on Saturday, 9 May (12:30 BST).

"It's a real honour to receive this award again, but it's one that belongs to everyone at the football club," Eckert said.

"The players and staff have been outstanding, and our supporters continue to give us incredible backing every week.

"To win it three times in a row is something we can be proud of, but our focus remains fully on the games ahead.

"We've built a strong mentality as a group, and we have to keep pushing to finish the season as strongly as possible."

Coventry City's Frank Lampard, John Mousinho of Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill were also nominated for April's award.

"Eight goal contributions in the last six games. The fact Adrian Segecic has put it together at the end... he's gone from someone you think 'he could be a good player next season' to someone you think 'is someone going to be looking at buying him this summer' - has he made a late push for the Croatia World Cup squad? You never know.

"We know Wrexham came in for Terry Devlin late in January. It tells you they are bracing themselves for bids. I think it would be a lot easier to replace a right-back than someone like Josh Murphy.

"While the Bristol City vacancy is vacant, we're going to be continually talking about (John Mousinho's future). If that is filled, I think Watford or Sheffield Wednesday look a lot less likely as options for him to go to."

BBC Radio Solent's Chris Wise and Andy Moon go through the Pompey squad and look at their futures, there's also a review of the season-closing 1-1 draw with Birmingham, a look at John Mousinho's future and your questions are answered in Moon's Musings.

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Southampton's Tonda Eckert, Frank Lampard of Coventry, Portsmouth boss John Mousinho and Blackburn's Michael O'Neill have been nominated for April's Championship manager of the month award.

Eckert is hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins after taking the award for both February and March.

He led Saints to an unbeaten run of six games last month as they finished in fourth place to secure a play-off place.

Lampard took Coventry to the Championship title and a return to the Premier League after 25 years away. The Sky Blues were also unbeaten in April, taking 12 points from their six matches.

John Moushino has kept Portsmouth in the Championship for a second successive season with impressive wins over Middlesbrough and Ipswich part of a haul of 14 points from seven outings.

Pompey forward Adrian Segecic is up for the player of month award after scoring four goals as part of the club's successful battle against relegation.

Also nominated for the manager's award is Michael O'Neill of Blackburn Rovers after the Northern Ireland boss oversaw nine points from six games in April to guide the club to safety.

The winners will be announced on Friday, 8 May.

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Shutterstock

Saturday's 1-1 draw with Birmingham at Fratton Park was an end of season game with an end of season feel to it.

Adrian Segecic's fine form continued but otherwise that wasn't a match that will live long in the memory.

John Mousinho's post-match comments perhaps felt more significant following his talks with the owners in the past couple of days.

Clearly no one at the club is happy to be Championship relegation battlers year-after-year.

How you rise up the table to the point where you can dream of the Premier League is difficult. It's also very expensive.

Until the Bristol City vacancy is filled there will be nerves amongst Pompey fans about Mousinho's future.

It's another season where he's done an excellent job. However the squad will need a fair amount of surgery for the club to improve next season.

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Portsmouth manager John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent: "I thought we played pretty well in patches. Really good start, got the goal I think we deserved. After that, it became a strange game.

"When we showed our quality, I thought we caused a lot of problems. My issue was that lack of quality when the ball broke down. Overall, I was very pleased with the performance.

"Birmingham came full strength, we were far from that. We could have lost it, we could have won it, but a point was about right."

Andrew Moon
BBC Radio Solent's Portsmouth commentator

Image source, Getty Images

I've been to managerial press conferences that have been tense. Awkward topics get raised and things can get frosty or hostile quite quickly.

This was not the case with John Mousinho on Wednesday. For the best part of an hour he took questions on his future in a composed, relaxed and thoughtful way.

What did we learn? Mousinho was adamant that at this stage there has been no contact between himself and Bristol City. He'll be meeting Pompey's owners ahead of the final match of the season.

Not for the first time he was clear that he wants to hear the club can move forward on and off the pitch. He praised the owners for their significant investment so far and for sticking with him when times were tough in the past two seasons.

Being a manager is always stressful but being in a relegation battle is all encompassing. The physical, mental and emotional toll of living it for two years cannot be underestimated. It's completely understandable to not want a third year of it.

Three-and-a-half years at the same club is a lifetime in modern football. How much further can Mousinho take Portsmouth? Well that realistically depends on the budget. Mousinho was clear that his requests to the owners will not just be about more resources for his squad. However, all improvements require money. The Eisners' current investment stands at around £60m in nine years.

Mousinho did not imply he was making an ultimatum. At no point did he suggest he was about to simply walk away, quite the contrary.

However, if an offer appears on the table, you would understand Mousinho wanting to hear it. I know, in theory, interested clubs would have to request permission to speak to him, but that isn't actually how football works.

Mousinho has twice turned down the chance to leave Portsmouth for another club in the past. It surprises me there haven't been more offers. Speaking to contacts, it feels outside of Portsmouth his achievements at the club aren't recognised to the level they should be.

Will there be an offer on the table? Mousinho is far from the only name linked to Bristol City. Will it be better than his current position at Portsmouth? Will he get the answers he hopes for from the Pompey owners?

There is a lot of uncertainty. The next few weeks will be interesting.

John Mousinho has done an incredible job at Pompey. Fans will be desperate for his spell to head into a fifth season.

Image source, Opta

With safety already assured, Portsmouth welcome Birmingham City to Fratton Park for the Championship season finale on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Pompey have taken seven points from their past three home games, keeping two clean sheets, and bounced back from a heavy defeat at Coventry to win 3-1 at Stoke on Saturday which made it four wins in five games.

Blues could finish as high as ninth in the table in their first season following promotion from League One and have taken 10 points from their past four games, however they have earned just a point from their past five away games, scoring only twice.

• Portsmouth last hosted Birmingham in the league in March 2012, winning 4-1; Pompey last won back-to-back home league games versus the Blues in September 1992 (3 in a row).

• Birmingham have won four of their past five league games against Portsmouth (L1), more than their previous 14 beforehand (W3 D8 L3).

• Portsmouth haven't won their final match of a league season in any of their past nine seasons in the top two tiers of English football (D3 L6) since a 5-1 win over Middlesbrough in the Premier League in 2003-04 under Harry Redknapp.

• Birmingham have won their final league game in both of the past two seasons, last doing so three times running from 1992-93 to 1994-95.

• Portsmouth have won four of their past five league games (L1) – as many as they'd won in their previous 17 games combined (W4 D5 L8).

Portsmouth hat-trick hero Adrian Segecic said the weekend win at Stoke City was a "massive step in the right direction" for the south coast club.

The 3-1 victory was Pompey's fourth in five matches in a run that has taken them up to 18th and secured a third season in the Championship.

"It was a massive step in the right direction, and a positive way to end the season," he told BBC Radio Solent. "It was the performance we knew we had in us.

"It was a massive win for us. People will say there was no pressure, but no matter what football match you play, it's impossible to say you don't go out there and give 100%.

"Maybe at times this season it was in and out, and it's just about finding the consistency with those performances now. The boys have felt really confident about the way we are now playing".

Pompey's second season back in the second tier has once again been a battle with relegation before finally securing their safety with two games to spare.

Segecic's weekend hat-trick was just the second of his career, and he thanked the fans for their role in the club's survival.

"They've been massive for us the whole season," he said. "When we were down in the dumps and needed someone, they always stepped up and were always there for us.

"They've loved me from the first game I came here, and they've been behind me all season. They deserved the Stoke performance, and look how they sung all game for us".

Portsmouth's campaign has been hampered by injuries to key players, including winger Josh Murphy.

The fit-again 31-year-old supplied the delivery for Segecic's second goal at Stoke, in only his 15th appearance of the season.

"We missed Murph [for] a lot of the season," Segecic said. "We know how vital he was last season for us. It's certainly good to have him back. He boosts the boys a lot, he's such a good character to have around."