🔵 How a left field managerial hire and a former Disney CEO revived Portsmouth
John Mousinho's team have won promotion to the Championship with a swagger!
Portsmouth fans were unconvinced. After a decade in the third - and fourth - tiers of English football, they saw the appointment of John Mousinho in January 2023 as underwhelming.
Mousinho, a former defender in the English lower leagues, had never managed at any level before taking over at Fratton Park. He was a rookie and, in the eyes of many, unqualified to be Pompey boss.
Some fans had never even heard of him before.
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Eric Eisner, however, saw it differently. “Just FYI, John [Mousinho] was not picked because he was the cheap option,” the son of the former Disney CEO turned Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner tweeted. “He was picked because we thought he is the best choice.”
Eisner’s comments proved prescient because under Mousinho Portsmouth have risen to the top of the English League One table. For the first time since 2012, Pompey will be in the Championship next season.
The club that famously won the 2008 FA Cup shortly before going bankrupt is resurgent again and has its sights set on returning to the Premier League sooner rather than later.
