John Mousinho joins The News for a special press conference, where the questions put to him came from the fans.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00We're here today for a very special Q&A with Pompipos John Massino here in Croatia.
00:07Towards the end of a fantastic, very intense week of training. Thanks for joining us John.
00:12People, you can just get your questions in below. We've got some already.
00:16We'll try and rattle off as many as we possibly can. Nothing off the limits.
00:20So we're crack on. First John, just before we get started, what was your take on England last night?
00:27I thought it was our best performance by a long way. I thought we were excellent in the first half
00:31and caused the Dutch all sorts of problems. I think it became a bit more difficult in the second half
00:36but I think the substitutions were effective. The Dutch changing the system was pretty effective
00:42and it became a bit more of an even game but I thought overall England thoroughly deserved it.
00:47And looking forward to Sunday now?
00:49Yes, I think it'll be a really good game. I think it'll be another test, a really difficult test.
00:52I think obviously watching Spain the other night, I thought they were excellent.
00:55I've seen them in the tournament, having knocked out France, Germany.
00:59I think they're in a really good spot so I think it'll be an excellent final.
01:02Okay, well we're here for Pompey obviously and lots of questions coming in so we're going to rattle through them.
01:07Firstly from Facebook, Terry Dearing here. Simply, how was the training camp in Croatia and how have the players?
01:13It's been really successful. We've had five really good days of training now
01:18so we had an initial block of those three days of training when we first arrived.
01:22So Sunday, Monday, Tuesday we got three good sessions in. A bit of a down day yesterday
01:26and then another intense day this morning where we actually managed to have an open training session with the fans.
01:30So all the boys are in really good nick. You would have seen Tom McIntyre come back into the fold today as well.
01:35So the only absentee at the moment is Gavin who isn't going to be out for long.
01:40Hopefully we have him back involved with the group next week.
01:42Obviously Regan Paul is still a couple of months away from getting himself back out
01:45but from an injury standpoint really positive.
01:47The fitness levels are high and I think the standard of football has been really good as well.
01:51Really interesting questions coming in just generally on the season, last season and the campaign here.
01:57Jack Cummins underscore nine with how different is recruitment at a newly promoted Championship club
02:03compared to an established and large League One club?
02:06Yeah, I think, I guess the assumption there in the question is that it's more difficult than it is.
02:12With I think the size of the club at League One and obviously resources as well
02:18it is a very, very different picture in the Championship and all of a sudden we've stepped up to the next level
02:23and we're competing with the majority of clubs at the level who are former Premier League clubs
02:28obviously ourselves included.
02:30The finances obviously do change as well.
02:33We've been really, really well backed so that's a positive.
02:37But yeah, it's a different ball game I think when we're having conversations with players
02:41this time last year at League One level.
02:44If they had other options, we tended to be the biggest club in terms of club size, in terms of stadium size, in terms of history.
02:52Now we're speaking to players and I think because we are competing I think at the right end of the market
02:58in terms of the players we want to bring in, they've obviously got other options in the Championship as well.
03:01And then all of a sudden, yeah, we're competing with the likes of Leeds and West Brom and those sort of clubs in the world.
03:07So it's very, very different.
03:08A question I've asked you a few times along with some of the other local media corps from Paul Palfrey.
03:13Do you think we are going to get Kamara back for this coming season?
03:17You know, we never say never for those sort of things.
03:20It's one of those that I've been pretty consistent about throughout, I guess, Abu's time.
03:26And that's probably from January onwards when probably Abu putting his best performances of the season.
03:30He's obviously going to go back to Norwich, he's been back in with Norwich this pre-season.
03:34And as their player, I fully expect him to be involved in their pre-season.
03:37And, you know, we'll see how the new head coach there decides if and how he wants to use Abu.
03:43And if not, then I think we've been pretty clear here that we wouldn't mind bringing Abu back to the football club.
03:49While we're just on the subject of recruitment, a number of transfer questions, as you would expect.
03:54Blue View, do you agree we need to strengthen with another five top players?
03:58Early sex and how many more players do you need for your ideal squad?
04:01And what positions do you feel need prioritising?
04:05So I think the essence of it at the moment is we've got a decent enough squad in terms of size.
04:11So we managed to put on nearly 11 v 11 today.
04:14We put on 11 v 11, but we were just one player short.
04:16So Zesh filled in.
04:18So we're pretty comfortable in terms of numbers.
04:21We're still looking to recruit in certain areas.
04:24We haven't put a definite number on it at the moment.
04:27And that's first of all, because we think we've got players in the building that I think are going to have a chance to compete first and foremost
04:33in this pre-season. And second of all, you never know what's going to become available.
04:37So we want to stay flexible.
04:39I guess a good example of that this time last year was the fact that we probably thought we were done and dusted.
04:43Then we were able to bring Tino in quite late in the window.
04:46And these sort of things, they sometimes pop up.
04:49One transfer happens somewhere and it opens things up everywhere else.
04:52So we want to be flexible. I think the overall answer is that, yes, we want to recruit more players.
04:57We're still in the market for making additions to the squad.
05:00We don't know how many that is yet or exactly where they are, but we're working on plenty of different options.
05:05Duncan Fitch, is Colby Bishop for sale?
05:08No.
05:09Simple enough. There you go.
05:12Fantastic couple of seasons for Colby.
05:15Let's have a look at some of the other questions here.
05:18Don Owens, have you been interested or looked at any of the players of the lesser teams that have performed at the Euros in Germany?
05:25There's always possibilities that these players pop up.
05:29I mean, I guess the answer is that of all of the teams that we have watched in the Euros,
05:36there haven't been any players that have been on our radar.
05:40Not to say that they'd be out of reach, but yeah, it's not quite as straightforward as obviously just watching a player on the Euros
05:47and then being able to be interested in them.
05:49There's lots of different permutations.
05:51Most of the time these days, the way that international football is going,
05:54we've probably seen that even with the England games early on,
05:56when we come up against sides that maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago would have been a walk in the park.
06:04The competitive levels of international football are so high at the moment,
06:07which sort of leads me to the answer to the question,
06:10which is even the players at the so-called lesser sides now command huge transfer fees
06:15and they're playing some of the best sides in Europe.
06:16So it's much more difficult to be able to do that.
06:19A really good question here from Darren Riley, which I liked.
06:22After 18 months in the role, what advice would you now go back and give yourself
06:26as you accepted the job at Pompey and what would you do differently
06:30with the benefits of experience and hindsight?
06:33Oh, really good question.
06:34Good question, right?
06:35Yeah, really good question.
06:36I mean, it's difficult to say we do too much differently in terms of last season,
06:42obviously because it went so well.
06:44But having said that, I think we've changed a lot already this pre-season
06:48in terms of the way we've gone about things.
06:49So I don't think there's anything specific, but there's a couple of things I think that,
06:54particularly football-wise, we might have changed last season.
06:58And in terms of advice that I'd have given to myself, I don't really know.
07:04It's a really tough one to be put on the spot.
07:06But I think when you come into the role, you have a lot of theory in terms of how it would be done
07:12and you think about how you would deal with certain situations.
07:15And it's very, very easy, I think,
07:17when you're on the other side in terms of where I was previously as a player or as a coach
07:22because you don't have to actually live with any consequences of those decisions
07:25and you think you can be very, very black and white with things.
07:27So the most important thing, I think, is to make sure that my advice I give to myself is just
07:32be flexible and learn as much as you can on the job.
07:34Nothing's going to give you a better insight into the job than actually being in it itself.
07:39And I think that I've got better at that over the 18 months and learned a huge amount.
07:44That's the best way to learn, I think, about how to be a head coach is to actually go and do it.
07:48I mean, throw it forward to next season, there's obviously tough challenges on the horizon, isn't there?
07:52And Pompey have been a club used to winning and your reality is you're going to probably lose more games.
07:57So there's some psychology about the challenges that might bring next season, I guess, as well.
08:01Yes, we've got to make sure that we deal with that.
08:03We had to, obviously, at points last season, it didn't happen too often, I think five times in the league,
08:08but we had to make sure that whenever we did lose games or we drew games or we didn't get the result we wanted to,
08:13we stayed resilient and bounced back.
08:15And the beauty of the Football League schedule is that it's non-stop.
08:20Unless you get one of those losses before an international break, then very, very likely you've got quick turnarounds
08:25coming up to a Tuesday or Saturday.
08:27And that was a really important part of last season.
08:29I remember losing to Blackpool at home 4-0 on the Saturday and it was brilliant because we had Burton away on the Tuesday night.
08:34We got to get on with it straight away again.
08:36We didn't have much time to work on anything at the training ground, but in terms of getting the loss out of our system,
08:40we managed to do it.
08:41We're just going to have to make sure that we stay level-headed as long as we're doing the right things
08:45and as long as we're showing the convictions and everything that we want to do on the pitch and off the pitch,
08:51then I think we'll be fine.
08:52A question from Chris.
08:54What was your toughest half-time team talk last season?
08:59Good question.
09:01Probably a couple spring to mind.
09:04I was extremely frustrated when we played Leighton Orient away from home, believe it or not,
09:11when we were 2-0 up because I just thought we were up a bit lucky in the first half
09:15and I didn't think we were playing particularly well and then we were really, really professional in the second half
09:19and I think we made a half-time substitution there as well.
09:22I think other half-times, I remember being a bit frustrated at Derby.
09:26I think part of that had been the refereeing decisions, but part of that was because I thought we'd gone there in the first half
09:31and we'd played like we were playing against Derby County, the history and league leaders and all that
09:38and the big thing at that point was about having a bit more belief in ourselves
09:43and thinking, look, get over the fact we're playing here at Pryor Park in front of 30,000.
09:48I think we're better than them and I think that we've got the capability to play a lot more.
09:52I think we've got the capability to believe in ourselves and get at them much more
09:56and we did that in the second half and I thought that was a really good point in the season
10:00because we didn't really look back since then.
10:02I thought we were excellent in the second half against Derby and that was the only thing.
10:06The biggest frustration I have with the players is when I know that they're performing below the levels that they're capable of performing at
10:11and as a coach and staff, we've got a huge amount of faith in the players and we want them to fulfil that potential.
10:15Right, we're going full Paxman now with Dave Sargeant.
10:18What is your go-to curry and what sides would you have with it?
10:22Do you know what? I'm not a loyal curry man all over the place
10:28and it could be like a King Prawn Rogan Josh one day.
10:33I always go for the specials. I like a special.
10:37I do like a tandoori mixed grill because it just has so much meat.
10:43And then in terms of sides, sometimes the poppadoms don't come with it.
10:47You've got to make sure you order the poppadoms and the chutney.
10:50I'm a very big fan of a mushroom bhaji, a big fan of an onion bhaji
10:56and anything with a load of spinach and cheese in it as well.
11:00So that's about it and we just get a lot and eat a lot.
11:04That is the most considerate of all your answers so far.
11:07It's slightly worrying.
11:09A good one from Brad Sked, I don't know if you'll be aware of this.
11:13He said as an indie music fan, I think he's talking about you, and a staggeringly good beer lover,
11:17are you aware that Pine Vinyl, which is an independent shop in South York, stocks stags?
11:23I was not aware of it and I know Pine Vinyl, it's not too far from me.
11:27So yeah, I was unaware of that.
11:29There's a few places in South York that do stock it.
11:32Sometimes it's hard to come by but luckily we've got a really good relationship with the brewery
11:38and they stuck my face in the beer as well.
11:40So we're alright in terms of beer supplies at the minute.
11:43You've really embraced South York and the lifestyle around there.
11:47Those places like Pine Vinyl are creative and independent.
11:50There's lots of nooks and crannies, isn't there?
11:52Some really nice places is what attracted us to the area in the first place.
11:55We've loved living there and I know I've spoken publicly about it.
11:58If you're out and about in South Sea, you're probably going to see me there walking the dog at some point
12:03or taking the family for a meal.
12:05Yeah, there's quite a few places that we love and we frequent.
12:10Very, very happy that we've actually made the move down here as a family.
12:14This is from Mike Davis.
12:16Who would you want to play you in the movie of your life so far?
12:20That needs some consideration.
12:22It does need some consideration. Let me come back to that.
12:24Ask me that at the end. I'll be distracted by all the other questions.
12:29We won't let you down, Mike. We'll get some thought.
12:32I'm kind of setting this up because I know the answer but I'm leaving some other things.
12:36From Sam PSV. Is there a coaching staff paddle competition this year?
12:39If so, who's winning?
12:41Well, there isn't but there's plenty of competitive bits and pieces going on, isn't there?
12:45Yeah, there's no paddle courts here.
12:47There's a tennis court. We've had a bit of a knockabout with the tennis.
12:51Who was that?
12:52So, Ali's currently club champion, Ali Nell, who's the club secretary.
12:56So, we're slightly worried that he spends a bit too much time playing tennis.
12:59Not enough time doing his job so we're going to have to have a look at that.
13:02He's a bit of a dark horse, Ali.
13:03Yeah, yeah. I mean, I wipe the floor with him at table tennis so there's no problem there.
13:07Same with darts but he's good. He's good with the full racket.
13:11So, yeah, he's going to take home the club champion for now
13:15and then I'll beat him next week when we're back at home on Saturday on the grass courts.
13:19I can't really handle the continental clay.
13:21I'm a bit like Federer in that respect. I just can't handle it.
13:26Is that just the different conditions? The give under your feet?
13:29Yeah, yeah. A bit of age, I think, as well.
13:31So, many, many excuses I've got.
13:35Okay. Michael Estley. Ketchup or brown sauce on your bacon sandwich?
13:40I'm very much like my Indian over here.
13:43Changes with the wind. I know that insults a lot of people but I can have both.
13:48Not together. I can do both.
13:51You're a maverick.
13:52But I do eat a lot so I'd probably have two sandwiches and then have one brown sauce and one ketchup.
13:59That's a true story. I'd definitely do that.
14:01A simple but good question from Kieran. What's your favourite band?
14:04Oasis. I was born in 1986, I think.
14:09So, when I was eight, it definitely maybe came out.
14:12That was all I used to listen to as a kid.
14:17I felt very, very lucky to have grown up in the 90s.
14:19You can go back to that, can't you? That album. It's just banger after banger, isn't it?
14:24Yeah. It was my first album purchase but I bought it off my brother.
14:28Two for £10, which was quite expensive back in the day.
14:32He sold me, definitely, Maybe and What's The Story.
14:35He'd moved out of the indie phase and he'd moved on to a more heavy rock and decided that Oasis were absolute garbage.
14:46All kinds of rock.
14:48Yeah. I was the recipient of that, the beneficiary of that.
14:52It was amazing just to have those as a kid.
14:55Through my indie music through the 90s, I thought all the way up until probably the mid-2000s or maybe 2008.
15:04I thought it was just an amazing time in music.
15:07I sound really old now because I don't think there are any good bands around these days.
15:10No. They all sound the same, though.
15:13Yeah. I don't listen to much new music anymore anyway.
15:18I stick Talkspot on. It's really boring.
15:21That's something that, from when I was growing up, I thought it was a really good age.
15:27Probably all old people say that and all the youngsters look at me and go, what are you talking about?
15:31But in the mid-90s in England, it was a great place.
15:34I mean, it wasn't just bands like Cast around as well.
15:37They were really good bands.
15:38I mean, Fruits Like The Cards, The Cheeks Into The Naughties.
15:40Is there any others that stood out for you?
15:43I mean, I had no sort of special affinity to Oasis in terms of them versus Blur.
15:49So I really like Blur as well.
15:51Massive, massive Blur fan.
15:53Have you seen Blur?
15:55I saw Blur in 1994.
15:57That was when I saw them.
15:59I never saw Oasis in their prime.
16:01I saw them, I think, seven times after.
16:03So that would be post-2006 on that Don't Believe The Truth tour.
16:10And then, yeah, for a few years after that when they were touring.
16:13So that was brilliant.
16:14And then I would say Arctic Monkeys' first two albums.
16:18And then, don't ask me for anything after that.
16:21And then one of the sort of big defining albums, I think, of that mid-2000s would be The Kooks.
16:27Was it Inside In, Inside Out?
16:30Is that the first one?
16:31That's the first one, yeah.
16:32And I would genuinely, if you're a Kooks fan or an indie fan,
16:37go and listen to their entire album catalogue
16:40because they've got some very, very underrated albums in there.
16:42Junk Of The Heart.
16:43Yeah, so really, really good.
16:45I think Conker's the name of their other album as well.
16:48Yeah, that was the second one.
16:49Yeah, I think they're fantastic albums but nobody really speaks about them.
16:53So yeah, there you go.
16:54We're going to go off on a massive tangent and just talk about music for a minute.
16:57I'd better get back to the football.
16:59Let's bear with me for a second and see what we've got going on here.
17:02Okay, just about the youngsters.
17:06Mel Clark, with Spain going through with a 16-year-old,
17:09why don't we use our youngsters in Staples when our Portsmouth get an under-21 squad
17:14so that the academy players can develop and hopefully progress into the first-team squad?
17:19Yeah, I think the answer has probably been consistent throughout the last 12 months
17:23is that if there are any youngsters at the football club,
17:25whether they're through the academy or whether they're external,
17:28if they're good enough to play for Portsmouth, they'll play for Portsmouth.
17:30We do not turn players down for any other reason than we don't think
17:34that they're good enough to come and affect the first team.
17:37So obviously the most important part of my job is to win games
17:41and I think that's the most important thing for the fans.
17:43And so whenever we do pick teams, whenever we look at squad building,
17:49it's all about who we think is going to be the most effective first of all in the short term,
17:54but then we have an eye on the long term as well in terms of long-term development.
17:57So there's two bits to the answer about player development.
18:01There's never a player that we've let go that we thought is going to be good enough
18:07in four years' time and we don't have the time to develop.
18:09The players that we let go we don't think are going to be good enough to play for Portsmouth
18:12at the top end of League One or in the Championship,
18:14which is now where we've sort of shifted the needle to.
18:17So that's why we've done that.
18:19If we do have a player, a really good example is Toby Stewart,
18:22who we do think could be good enough, we take that player on
18:25and there's no rush for them to actually find a development pathway,
18:28even though we don't have a 21-side.
18:30So that's the answer there.
18:32In terms of that sort of 21-side, I think for the football club,
18:37it would be something that in an ideal world I'm sure the football club would love to get to.
18:42I think the way that things have transpired in the past, say, 20 years of Portsmouth's history
18:50or 15 years of Portsmouth's history, is that I'm sure it's no secret to any Portsmouth fan
18:55that by the time the Premier League years ended, there was a football club without a training ground,
19:01a football club without a ground that needed significant investment to keep it above 10,000 capacity
19:08and there's a huge amount of money and time and effort that's gone into that.
19:12And I think all of these are building blocks towards us becoming the football club
19:17that I think all the fans obviously want us to get to.
19:20The priority at the moment is the first team and I think that's the right thing to do.
19:23I think we could have a fantastic 21-side.
19:26If the first team aren't performing, it's absolutely pointless.
19:28So we want to get our priorities straight.
19:29We want to make sure that we have everything locked off on the first team's side.
19:32So we've got the brand new facility in terms of the training ground
19:35and a huge amount of redevelopment of Frank Park,
19:37putting a lot of money into the first team squad and development there.
19:40And if one day we can then move on.
19:43Simply, if you look at logistics, for example,
19:46we haven't quite got the space at the training ground for that
19:49as a very basic thing that would stop us from doing it.
19:52So that's one thing that as we build and as we develop the layers of the football club,
19:57I'm sure that's something that we'll look into.
20:00But I think, rest assured, the most important message is that
20:03I don't think any academy players are being blocked because of a lack of 21s.
20:08We'd always take them on.
20:09We would take academy players on and we'd find a route for them.
20:12And if we're wrong on that, we're wrong.
20:14And we'll take our medicine.
20:15I think that's what the art of looking at those players is,
20:18is to make sure that we get these things right.
20:20And there's nothing that we'd like more.
20:23It saves us a hell of a lot of money and a hell of a lot of time
20:25if we have players that come through.
20:27And I've also spoken about how difficult that is now for a Cat 3 academy.
20:31That's a really, really difficult thing to do,
20:33especially with the pace that the first team's moved at.
20:35And when we don't take any academy players on like we did last year,
20:37it's not a failure of the academy at all.
20:39We haven't got an issue with it at all.
20:42I always use that.
20:45Dane was the top prospect in the country.
20:49He's still a fantastic young footballer.
20:51He's made first team appearances for Spurs this year.
20:55He's still playing for England in the 20s.
20:57And Dane came and in my time at the football club,
21:02he very rarely started.
21:03He struggled to get a spot in the side.
21:05And that's how competitive it is in league football.
21:07And he was by far the brightest under-18 in the country at the time.
21:12And that's just a really good example of the level.
21:15Rich, sporting director, Rich Hughes makes a very good point
21:17about talent versus investment of time and what comes first.
21:20You said it's having your investor time rather than the other way around.
21:23That's quite a succinct way of putting it.
21:25Yeah, I think so.
21:26And we'd always come back to that.
21:31Any player that we think is going to be able to affect
21:34Portsmouth's first team at the level that we expect them to play at
21:36at some point, we will take on and we'll find a pathway,
21:39especially with the fact that we have Zes here now
21:43as that individual development coach who does spend time
21:46with the younger players and older players,
21:49but particularly the younger players who can improve.
21:50And we've got someone in the building like Zes that can do that.
21:53So that would be a perfect sort of platform,
21:57maybe without the games program of the 21s,
22:00but a perfect platform for the player to be able to do that.
22:02And we could find game time elsewhere. That's never an issue.
22:05A couple of live questions coming in here.
22:06Peter, Andrew, hi John.
22:07Any news on transfers and Jason Cater?
22:10Any chance of getting Matt Ritchie?
22:13In terms of transfers, there is plenty of irons in the fire.
22:20I'm sure everybody's sick of me saying that,
22:22but you'll have to trust us on that.
22:24So, you know, the way that we are handling things at the moment
22:28is that there's a lot of football coaching related activity
22:33going on at the moment.
22:34So my focus has been on that with the amount of sessions
22:36that we've had out here.
22:37So the recruitment with Ritch being out here,
22:40we're obviously in constant contact,
22:41but everything's been taken care of on that side
22:43and the club are working hard on a number of deals
22:46that are going on at the moment.
22:47So I think it's slightly different from last year.
22:50The landscape is different when you're recruiting in the championship
22:53as opposed to League One.
22:55There's no question about that.
22:58But yeah, it's tough and we just want to make sure we get the right players.
23:03We want to get the right players at the right time.
23:04We don't want to rush anything.
23:05We want to make sure that by the time we do bring players in the door,
23:08we haven't done it because we've panicked
23:09and we want to get anything done early.
23:10We get the right quality of players.
23:13So yeah, that's the way we're approaching it.
23:16It was about Matt Ritchie as well.
23:19Oh yeah, Matt's a fantastic player
23:22and obviously he's got the Porscheworth background,
23:25but as we are at the moment, there's nothing in that at the minute.
23:28Kieran, from the Fox,
23:30what atmosphere team in the stadium do you think will provide
23:32the biggest test to our players mentally?
23:34Which atmosphere team and stadium
23:38will be the biggest test for your players mentally?
23:40I don't know.
23:41I'd like to think that the players are tested appropriately
23:46by every game that they play.
23:48But I also want to make sure that there's a big difference
23:51between being tested by the atmosphere and tested mentally.
23:54And that's a positive rather than being overwhelmed by it
23:57and rather than considering anything to be too daunting.
24:00And the big message to the players is that they all deserve to be here.
24:03The reason that they're competing at the likes of Ellum Road
24:06on the first day of the season
24:07is because they all deserve to be there.
24:08So we've got to make sure that we do marching with heads held high.
24:12And also remember that,
24:14although Porscheworth spent seven years in League One,
24:17and remember the history of the football club,
24:19know that the away support we're going to get is going to be fantastic.
24:22And what we've always spoken about through the time at the club
24:25is at the very least getting the club back to the championship
24:28and really believing that we've earned the right to be there
24:33and that we deserve to be there as a team and as a football club.
24:35And I think that's the way you have to approach it.
24:37Flipping that question slightly on its head, Jamie Stewart,
24:39which team and which manager is John most looking forward to facing this season?
24:43I don't know.
24:46There's no particular manager that I'm looking forward to facing
24:51that stands out in terms of any others.
24:54I think there's some fantastic coaches and managers at that level.
24:57And the way that we approach it is we just try and be very, very objective
25:00in terms of our pre-match analysis.
25:01And we look at teams, we look at their system,
25:03we look at how they play and how we can counteract that.
25:05And that's just one of those things that we just try and get on with every week.
25:09And the same for the teams, really.
25:11I think if you look forward to playing any team in particular,
25:14I would leave that one to the fans.
25:16I know that there's going to be some really exciting fixtures there,
25:18but on the same token as wanting players not to get overawed,
25:21we've got to set the example as a staff as well
25:23and make sure that we're level-headed in the way that we approach games
25:25and we don't look at any of them and think,
25:27oh, this is too big a deal for us to be able to handle.
25:29This is a question I've been spending some time with fans out here explaining
25:32and they've been quite understanding once it's been explained.
25:35Pete Davis, why wasn't there a game scheduled in Croatia?
25:38So when we played the game last year,
25:41what we did was the training that we were able to do on the pre-season tour,
25:46we really had to taper it towards the back end of the trip
25:49and we didn't have a huge amount of time out there anyway.
25:51So we had a couple of really good sessions
25:53and then the third session we had to really start thinking about tapering off
25:56in preparation for the game because we just didn't want the players
25:58flogged to death in the game.
26:00We then lost a bit of control in terms of the venue
26:03and what we were able to do there.
26:05And when you do that in a foreign country,
26:07that happens and it's nobody's fault.
26:09It's just one of those things.
26:10I think if you remember after the game last year,
26:12about 1,000 kids ran onto the pitch and started setting up their tents afterwards
26:15and we sort of had to rush out the changing rooms.
26:17There were issues with the water supply, all sorts.
26:20It's a great concept and I fully understand why fans wanted a game
26:24but it was my decision to not have one
26:26because what we've actually been able to do now on this break
26:29is actually have five full training days
26:31and with the session that we had today,
26:34we were able to, as you saw, we were able to go full tilt with the lads
26:37and actually, probably in our opinion, put on something that's much more valuable
26:40which is an in-house 11v11.
26:42We also ended up last year playing against a side
26:45that were a week away from their Europa Conference qualifier.
26:50They were physical.
26:52We came away with a couple of injuries
26:54and there was a bit of needle between the two touchlines.
26:57And again, I know that doesn't necessarily have to happen
26:59when you play a pre-season game
27:00but you lose control over what you can actually expect
27:05and you lose control over things like the opposition
27:07and you just never know what you're going to get.
27:09And a lot of the time, I think we're going to go away next week
27:13to Gosport, Havan and Bognor
27:15and I think we're going to be facing, obviously we know Northey,
27:18we know Pat and Joe and Robbie
27:23and that always helps because I think there's a really healthy respect
27:27between both sides there.
27:29There's always going to be injuries in a football game sometimes
27:33But you can control that.
27:34I think you can control that.
27:35I think if sometimes, like we had last year,
27:37you've got no disrespect but you've got a side
27:39raring to go from Gibraltar and a hell for leather
27:42and it's just a bit too much of a risk.
27:44So a long-winded way of saying
27:46I just think that the pre-season for us by design
27:49is going to be a lot better because of the lack of game out here.
27:51Dan Reilly, what do you think are the team's strongest element
27:55and weakest right now?
27:57I'm not going to tell you what I think the weakest is.
28:01But I certainly think the strongest element of the team at the moment
28:05that we did have last year was the cohesion that the group have shown
28:09and we've managed to retain a lot of the core of the group this year
28:13and I think that's really helped.
28:14We've seen that as we go into these pre-season trips
28:17with some new players coming in
28:19and everybody spending every minute of every day with each other
28:22and I've been really, really pleased with the way that the boys have reacted.
28:24So even after we did a very, very heavy session, I think on Tuesday,
28:28we went down to the bottom pitch and the lads had a few more runs to do.
28:32Nobody complained, everybody got on with it
28:34and I just thought that was a real reflection of where the group's at at the minute.
28:38They're hungry, they're willing, they're ready to go
28:41and they're a really tight-knit unit.
28:43Just to get a few more questions in before we start wrapping up.
28:46How much are you looking forward to the next three games coming up next week?
28:49Yeah, I probably mentioned it there.
28:51The fact that we know all of the managers helps.
28:54Local games, we're going to get four or five thousand each
28:57so it's brilliant for the Hawks and fans to have a first glimpse at the squad
29:00and actually see some of the fringe players as well.
29:02So there are going to be some academy players that are going to be involved in those games, undoubtedly,
29:05which is a nice thing for them.
29:07There were a few that got that exposure last year when we did play these three games.
29:11So I think there are plenty really.
29:14The best part of the job is probably getting out on the grass and playing games
29:19and seeing what you've actually put on in the week
29:21and what we've done over the past couple of weeks
29:23and seeing that bear fruit.
29:25It also gives us some really good coaching opportunities as well
29:27to see how we're actually playing.
29:28So we're really looking forward to those games,
29:30looking forward to seeing all of those managers and the clubs.
29:32They're all really good clubs that we've got really good connections with.
29:35We've had, obviously, North East gone to Havan,
29:39the women playing train over at Havan as well,
29:42which is a really good connection to have.
29:44We've had players on loan at Gosport recently, which has gone really well
29:48and the same with Bognor as well.
29:50So I think the connection between those four football clubs is brilliant.
29:54What's the situation with Zach Swanson?
29:57The situation with Zach is that contract negotiations are ongoing
30:03and we're hopeful that we can agree something with Zach over the next week or so.
30:07That sounds positive.
30:08Yeah, I think so.
30:09So we'll have to see how that goes.
30:12But again, that's been something that hasn't been on the forefront of my mind.
30:16It's been at the forefront of the club's mind because it's been dealt with,
30:19but not by me, but by design and also because I'm out here as well.
30:22I think the phrase you've used on more than one occasion,
30:24Zach, is championship ability.
30:27That's a fair assessment, isn't it?
30:29Yeah, I think so.
30:30Zach's big challenge is making sure that he maintains his fitness.
30:34He did that for large parts of last year
30:36and unfortunately picked up that injury towards the back end of the season.
30:40But with Zach, we've always been really, really happy with the talent
30:44and the promise that he's shown.
30:46He also dealt with a couple of things off the pitch last year
30:48that I think we were all fully aware of.
30:51So I think for Zach, there'd be no way we'd offer him a deal at this level
30:57if he didn't think he was good enough.
30:58So that's definitely what we think is going to be a promising addition
31:02if he can make it.
31:03Another question here.
31:04With so many championship clubs recruited from abroad,
31:07will Pompey follow the trend after the success of Yenge, Devlin, etc.?
31:12With our recruitment, we don't have any boundaries.
31:14I think the ease in which we can bring players into this country now
31:20is lifted slightly.
31:21So it's slightly easier to bring players in.
31:24We obviously did a bit of work in Australia last year.
31:27We've managed to do that.
31:28I know Sammy came over from Middlesbrough,
31:29but Sammy was a player that we looked at last year.
31:31And we did like the A-League.
31:33We really like the market.
31:34We think there's plenty of undervalued players over there
31:36and we think we've got one of them in Cassini.
31:39So yeah, that's definitely one area that we would look at.
31:43And obviously Ireland and Northern Ireland,
31:46we've got Terry, who we'd signed directly from Northern Ireland
31:50in the likes of Gavin,
31:52who had a really excellent spell over in Northern Ireland
31:54before he came over to England all those years ago.
31:56So I think there's some really good markets in Northern Ireland,
31:59in Ireland, and also Europe.
32:02I think Europe's now opened up to us.
32:03It's just probably slightly more difficult
32:06because of the fact that all of our live scouting
32:09or all of our live scouts are based in the UK.
32:12So trying to see these players can be a bit more difficult
32:15and sometimes we take a pun,
32:17or not a pun, a calculated one like we did on Cassini.
32:20We'd never seen him live, but we saw enough on video
32:23to convince us that he was a player that we wanted to bring over.
32:26So it's just getting that balance right between the two
32:28and yeah, that's where it can be a bit difficult.
32:30Why do you think the Australian market is such a good one?
32:32I think it's just an emerging league
32:34and I think there's a bit of a generalisation,
32:38but I think Australia, in terms of their sport,
32:41they seem to do it well.
32:42They seem to produce really athletic players
32:45and they've certainly got a different lifestyle to us over here
32:48and I don't know if that contributes to that,
32:50but we've had a look at that market
32:54and seen some really good athletes and some really good footballers
32:57and I think football's popularity over there is growing
32:59with increased investment into the A-league
33:02and that's one of those things.
33:04It's a bit like the MLS, I suppose.
33:06The more money and the more infrastructure
33:08and the more coaches that go over there
33:09and there's been an influx, I think,
33:11of English coaches that have gone over as well
33:13or European coaches,
33:14so I suppose that's sort of maybe changed
33:16the way that the A-league thinks about football
33:20or plays football and maybe it's a bit more suited now
33:22to the English league.
33:23So, I think there's plenty of things
33:25and definitely a market that we like.
33:27A couple of big ones to finish with, Tom Halstead,
33:29would you rather have a thumb-sized leg
33:31or a leg-sized thumb?
33:33Thumb-sized leg or a leg-sized thumb?
33:38I'd go leg-sized thumb, I think.
33:40Yeah, otherwise you're struggling to walk.
33:43You're struggling to walk otherwise.
33:46You'd have to hop.
33:47Hop.
33:48Yeah, there we go.
33:49Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:50I'd go for the leg-sized thumb.
33:54Good, cool.
33:55Eddie Stead, what are your thoughts
33:57on the mullet making a comeback?
34:01You can probably tell by my haircut
34:04that it's not something that I've ever been too fond of.
34:08Is the mullet making a comeback?
34:11Any thoughts on that?
34:13We've got the tennis champion here in the room.
34:15I didn't know I was big enough earlier.
34:16I didn't realise he was behind me the whole time.
34:18I don't think so.
34:19Yeah, maybe, maybe.
34:21I don't know, the haircuts are very different these days.
34:23The kids have got some very strange haircuts.
34:25So, just let them be.
34:27We've got to go back to the big question, haven't we, as well.
34:29Who would you play, which actor would play you
34:32in the movie of your life so far?
34:34Yeah, I hadn't been thinking about that.
34:36I'd always been compared to Ben Affleck.
34:43That was the big one.
34:45It's never happened, don't worry.
34:47I'll go with Ben Affleck.
34:48I think he'd be a decent enough centre-half.
34:50He'd have to learn an English accent and go from there.
34:53But I think he could do the job.
34:54I definitely think he could do the job.
34:56We'll see.
34:57If there ever is, we'll see.
34:59He'll be a bit old by then, though.
35:01We'll find someone younger.
35:02Some of these questions, me as a journalist,
35:05they put me to shame.
35:06They really get into the heart of the matter.
35:08So, I really appreciate you, everyone,
35:10sending these questions in.
35:11Some real good stuff there.
35:12A good mix of reverence and some really clever questions,
35:16actually, wasn't there?
35:17And John, I just want to say thank you for your time,
35:19which you've given us all week.
35:21Yeah, rock on, crack on.
35:23It's a great season.
35:24Thank you, everyone.
35:25Cheers.