Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho sent warning amid 'shock' Stoke City links | OneFootball

Pompey's boss has been linked with a move away from Fratton Park.

John Mousinho's name just cannot escape the headlines as he has regularly been linked with a move away from Portsmouth this summer.

The 40-year-old has been in charge of Pompey for over three years and has done a stellar job in guiding them to the Championship and avoiding relegation for two successive seasons.

Given his success at Fratton Park, it is unsurprising that there has been interest in his services, with Bristol City reportedly holding talks with the former Oxford United player, although that has since faded.

Now Stoke City have been linked with a move for Mousinho should they sack Mark Robins, but should he jump from what has been a stable ship on the South Coast?

John Mousinho warned of Stoke City risks as Pompey boss eyed up

The 2025-26 season started so brightly for Stoke after they secured three wins in their first three league games, including one against Southampton, with many tipping them for promotion.

Perhaps the main reason they were fancied by so many was because of their manager, Robins, who did a stellar job in taking Coventry City from League One to Championship promotion contenders.

However, the 56-year-old has been unable to stop the Potters' slide, with the club finishing in 17th and reports emerging that the hierarchy may replace him this summer.

Mousinho is a name under consideration, but when asked whether he thought the 40-year-old would leave Fratton Park, FLW's Portsmouth fan pundit Miltos Ioannidis explained why it would be a risk.

"Try to name all the managers that were successful at Stoke over the past many, many years since they got relegated from the Premier League, and I don't think you'll find many," Miltos told Football League World.

"I think Stoke City are the complete opposite of what Portsmouth are in terms of giving managers time, backing their managers, not just financially.

"Had John Mousinho been at Stoke for the previous season, there would have been at least two or three, maybe, instances where he would have got the sack, he would have got the boot, and it's just not a sustainable football model and football strategy that's going on over there at Stoke.

"It's exactly the opposite to what John Mousinho is also often referring to as the ideal model to build up a football club. Sustainability is far from the thing that they do over there at Stoke, at least seemingly, so I wouldn't understand it if he left us to go to Stoke."

Would Stoke be a sideways move for John Mousinho?

When comparing recent history, it would be hard to argue against Stoke being the more successful club, but since their relegation from the Premier League in 2018, they have failed to finish in the top half of the Championship.

Portsmouth, on the other hand, have risen from the depths of League Two since their relegation from the top flight eight years earlier, and they have finished just above the drop zone in the last two campaigns.

Both sides surely have Premier League ambitions, but you would not find either club in anyone's predictions to be promoted next term, given the strength of the second tier.

Indeed, given the turmoil at the Bet365 Stadium over the years, Militos finds it hard to believe they have the strategy to reach the summit, and when asked whether it would be a sideways move for Mousinho, he questioned whether it would even be that.

"For Stoke, perhaps it's not even a sideways move really," he continued.

"Because you think about all the things that John Mousinho has bragged on about, about what he expects from an ambitious club that wants to push higher up the table and have ambitions for the Premier League and for establishing themselves essentially as a club that is ambitious and wants to do big things.

"Stoke City and the whole strategy that's going on over there is not really replicating that, so I'd say it would be a shock, and I don't think that's happening based on everything that we know about John Mousinho and Stoke City."

Given the pace of reports around Mousinho's future, it would be foolish to think that talk of him leaving Fratton Park will diminish any time soon, but it is unknown just how tempted he is by what is on offer.