According to John Mousinho, Pompey’s challenge for the upcoming season is greater than what it was in the lower divisions of the Championship this year.
The Blues manager also believes that the teams the team will play in the second division next season will be more skilled due to the growth of teams connected to the English league’s bottom division in previous years.
This August, Pompey returns to a level they haven’t been on in twelve years, but the landscape has changed significantly in terms of club size and finances.
To Mousinho, a look at Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City, two teams that will be fighting it out for spots in the division this season, tells a tale.
Birmingham City finished the division with a loss, while others like Blackburn and QPR also toyed with the idea of going down.
Mousinho attributes the emergence of large clubs to teams he played for during his prosperous runs in the lower leagues.
Premier League teams Brighton, Bournemouth, Luton, and Brentford have all played in the lower division of English football in the twenty-first century.
Although Mousinho believes Pompey faces a formidable opponent in every game, the 38-year-old is equally excited about the prospect of playing against seasoned opponents.
“That’s an extremely challenging league,” he declared.
“There are currently teams playing in the Premier League that were in the fourth tier when I played, like Brentford, Brighton, and Bournemouth.”
You are now competing at a new level as that knocks some of the big players into the Championship and maybe League One. As a result, we must ensure that we compete against the teams.
Relegated Rotherham is a team that has seen ups and downs in the Championship. However, if you look at some of the teams at the bottom of the Championship, you will see that they are large clubs.
A significant portion of the season has seen Sheffield Wednesday finish in the bottom three, Birmingham exit the competition, and Stoke come very near before producing a number of outstanding performances.
There are some really big clubs there; some will be playing in League One next season, while others will be in the bottom half of the Championship.
“Knowing we’re moving to a level where every game is a major one is a really exciting thing.”
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