An emotional John Mousinho chats to The News after guiding Pompey to the League One title in his first full season in charge at Fratton Park.
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00:00 So here we are with John Massino, the manager, the head coach of the League One champions.
00:08 What an evening.
00:09 Yeah, I mean an incredible evening. It wasn't great for 85 minutes, so I know I need to
00:16 just get over it and put the performance in the bin. And I will at some point, because
00:20 I really don't care too much. But the scenes at the end, the last 15 minutes were absolutely
00:25 incredible. It was without a doubt the last 15 minutes, the best atmosphere I've ever
00:29 experienced in football. It obviously helped that we got the equaliser and then the fans
00:35 could sense what was coming. But brilliant, brilliant night and nothing more than the
00:39 fans have deserved.
00:40 Has it sunk in?
00:41 Not yet. It honestly hasn't. It's one of those things that I think will take a bit of time
00:46 and the best thing I think about tonight is the fact we've got two more games to enjoy
00:50 it. Sometimes I think you achieve anything at the end of the season and all of a sudden
00:54 you're back in on Monday morning speaking to players and talking about contract finishes.
00:57 We don't have to do any of that. We can enjoy it for the next 10 days. And I think that's
01:00 very, very special. And to be fair to the boys, I said it in change room there, to achieve
01:04 what we've achieved, to win the league with two games to spare is an absolutely remarkable
01:08 achievement. It's honestly a remarkable achievement. I think I've been promoted before with two
01:13 games to spare and won the league on the last day of the season. I thought that was some
01:16 going. This is just in a different stratosphere.
01:19 I was speaking to Joe Perdomo earlier on saying you still aren't for 100 points. He doesn't
01:22 care. Would you like 100 points?
01:24 I'd love 100 points to be honest. If you asked me at the 81st minute, I'd have said all I
01:32 want is a draw from tonight or for the Shrewsbury game to finish up at Bolton. We were aware
01:38 of the score there on about the 94th minute which relieved a bit of the pressure. But at
01:41 that point we were like, OK, let's win the league. Let's try and win the league. It was
01:45 a bit of a chaotic game, a chaotic night, but just fantastic.
01:50 You introduced Christian Sadie in the 79th minute in your fifth and final substitution.
01:54 Was that just a lacer of the dice to try and get a point from this?
01:57 If you'd have asked me then, obviously, we were trying to get a point at that point. When
02:05 the penalty went in, I did think we could win the game. So introducing Christian I think
02:12 just sums up where we are as a squad this season. Christian played here against Leighton Orient
02:19 the last game we lost. He came off at half-time, he found himself out of squads. Difficult
02:25 time that he had and then to produce what he's produced, come off the bench and playing
02:29 games, he was just able to lose his place in the starting line-up a couple of games,
02:32 but to do what he's done, I think that just sums up. I'm singling Christian out because
02:37 it just sums up where we are as a squad in terms of everybody that's contributed. There
02:40 are a load of lads in track suits tonight that have contributed a huge amount to the
02:44 season and I feel sorry for them that they haven't been able to play a part because
02:48 it's such a special occasion, but they all deserve a huge amount of credit. So for Christian
02:52 to come in and do that was amazing. For Colby to take that penalty, all my life, to have
02:57 missed two this season and to finish it as he did, it just sums him up, it sums up the
03:05 boys. And then to go and get that goal, we've seen that goal a few times I think. Got a
03:10 shot to see at Flatiron Park at least a couple of times. The other game, Wiccan at High Marmour,
03:16 the place nearly erupted. It was just very, very special.
03:23 Christian, you needed something to change the game with inspiration, that was Christian.
03:27 It was Christian. I thought we were so poor tonight. I honestly, I'll get over it at some
03:31 point, the performance. Very, very quickly I'm starting to get over it now because it's
03:36 a night of frustration. And Barnsley are a really good side, of course there's a few
03:40 problems with them. Of course there's a lot of problems, but to come back the way we did,
03:44 to not get our heads down, to not worry too much about everything that went on.
03:48 You say you're poor, was it nerves, was it edginess, was it the occasion?
03:52 I thought a bit of it was because we had players doing things that we wouldn't normally do.
03:58 So people have asked me already tonight, does that performance sum up where you are this
04:02 season, in terms of the comeback in a positive way? In some ways it does because you came
04:05 back in the 8th or 5th minute or whatever it was and we won the game. But in other ways
04:09 it doesn't because we've actually deserved everything that we've got this year, which
04:14 is for the most part we've been very, very good in guard. In the last two games, honestly
04:19 it's the first time I thought we've got away with a couple there. Maybe it was the occasion,
04:25 how close everything is. But again, to be able to come over the point at Bolton on Saturday
04:30 and then to do what we did tonight, just blows me away.
04:33 You've won promotion as a player, was that twice is it?
04:35 Four times.
04:36 Four times, sorry! Delete, delete!
04:41 Don't delete, keep it in!
04:43 End of season bloopers, four times. How does that compare to being a head coach winning
04:49 the promotion?
04:50 It doesn't get close. Just being a head coach and being responsible for everything in the
04:57 football club, that's the way I feel. It was great, brilliant as a player, loved it as
05:02 a player but I don't think anything gets close. Maybe part of that's being at Portsmouth and
05:08 part of that is being at Portsmouth at this time in the club's history. With everything
05:14 that happened last season, with the appointment, with the disappointment towards the end of
05:19 the year, the expectation that we just completely fall off a cliff in January, which was fine
05:25 because we've had so many seasons of disappointment. It's an amazing feeling to do it as head coach.
05:32 It certainly feels at the moment like the best achievement of my career.
05:38 Your greatest achievement in football?
05:39 I think so, yes. It feels like that. I don't know why but it does and I think everyone
05:46 probably will get that, being a head coach. I hope there's many more and I hope there's
05:51 many more at this football club.
05:52 Quite emotional at the end, was it?
05:54 You know what, it was. It's a bit cliché but I feel extremely happy for the boys obviously
06:03 because they've put a huge amount of hard work in. You guys are out there in Spain in
06:07 pre-season. There's so much that goes on in terms of what the lads do, coming back fit.
06:14 46 games, obviously they've played 44, 46 games in the league season. It's just an incredible
06:20 grind to go again and again and again and again. It's much easier to just be a mid-table
06:24 side or be down the bottom. It's relentless winning games week after week after week.
06:29 I'm delighted for the boys. Like I spoke about the squad there, I'm delighted for the football
06:35 club right the way up to the top. My first game against Exeter, the plane flew over.
06:41 Eisner's no plan, no ambition. We knew at the time there was a definite plan and a huge
06:46 amount of ambition. I'm delighted for the owners, they took a perceived big risk in
06:51 bringing me in. At the time I'd spoken about this loads and didn't think it would happen
06:57 but for Andy Cullen, Tony Bowne and ultimately Rich to say this is the guy we want to take
07:04 a football club for, I'm just delighted for them because there was a lot of pressure on
07:08 them when this appointment was made. And then everybody else in the football club, 95% of
07:14 the staff here reports with fans. They've been long-suffering as well. And then talking
07:18 about long-suffering, the fans. I've gone through a lot of people there. We spoke about
07:24 it the other day, I do feel there's a really good connection with the fans. To go through
07:32 what's happened at the football club, to be at the top, Premier League, FA Cup 16 years
07:38 ago, to win that, to be hours away from liquidation, hours away from dropping out of the league
07:44 and then to come back and experience this. Honestly, this time last year we were probably
07:49 speaking at the Gershwin at Oxford Stadium when you could feel the frustration of the
07:53 fans for the seventh season in League One and everything that it meant to the football
07:57 club to actually try and get out of the league. I felt that, I got it. It probably took me
08:02 a few months but I really felt it living down here, I really feel it. I'm just absolutely
08:07 buzzing for those fans because they have been very, very long-suffering and I hope
08:11 that they can enjoy it.
08:12 Congratulations, John. You've taken Pompidou to the top this year.
08:14 Thank you very much, Neil.