The Blues boss believes the Fratton Faithful not turning on him and his side during their nightmare start to the Championship, was a defining factor in the campaign’s success.
Pompey were handed an incredibly difficult opening to their return to the level after a 12-year absence, facing a succession of the division’s heavy hitters early on.
Including the Carabao Cup defeat to Millwall, Pompey won just one of their first 15 games and failed to win any of their first seven fixtures at Fratton Park.
The season turned on victory at PO4 against Preston in November, with the Blues then going four games without defeat as results improved.
Speaking to Express FM’s James Wilson, Mousinho said: ‘The fans never turned, when we had that streak at the start of the season the fans never turned.
‘We lost to Sheffield Wednesday at home on a Friday night. It was another loss and another game at home, and it took us right up to that third international break and the Preston game to get that first home win.
‘That took a lot of dedication and patience, I’m very, very grateful for that, because the season could have panned out very differently had that boiled over from the fans.
‘We would’ve understood that, but they stuck by us all the way through.
‘I’m incredibly grateful for that and I’m incredibly grateful for the support I’ve had personally, because ultimately the head coach takes the stick and should take responsibility for performances.’
Pompey boss: Players embraced Championship change
It wasn’t just the fans who kept the faith through the season’s testing moments, Mousinho feels the players doing likewise also proved significant with Pompey. The Blues boss changed the team’s approach to a more direct style, with the squad buying into that adjustment.
Mousinho added: ‘Making sure we rode that storm early on in the season where we only won one in 15 games was key. For want of a better phrase because it’s a bit cliched, but we stuck together and no one lost faith.
‘We made sure we kept working hard in terms of the players and kept at it.
‘We had to change a few things we brought into the new way of playing and the new tactical approach that we decided to take. That was really important for me that, having gone on for quite a few weeks about a certain playing style we decided to change – and the players took that on board.
‘There was a real level of resilience, a real level of detail and a real level of dedication we had from the players. Overall that dedication to wanting to improve and wanting to be better was really important to us.’
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