4 hours Ago By Neil Allen
Portsmouth FC Portsmouth boss braced for 'criticism' as out-of-contract six set to learn Fratton futures By Neil Allen Chief sports writer Comment Published 1st May 2025, 04:55 BST Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565 Visit Shots! now John Mousinho is braced for supporter criticism once more as D-Day approaches for Pompey’s out of contract players. Sign up to our Portsmouth FC newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
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Monday is pinpointed as the day when the six Blues players whose deals expire this summer will learn their Fratton Park fates. They consist of Tom Lowery, Anthony Scully, Kusini Yengi, Zak Swanson, Cohen Bramall and Ben Killip - in addition to loan players returning to parent clubs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad https://www.
portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/portsmouth-sporting-director-reveals-the-family-heartache-behind-elias-sorensens-fratton-park-struggles-5105807 While the departures of Lowery and Scully are inevitable, the situations of Yengi and Swanson are not as straightforward, although there are club options on both.
And having attracted criticism for releasing Sean Raggett and Joe Rafferty last May, Mousinho is prepared for the latest reaction to Pompey unveiling their retained list. He told The News : ‘They are always difficult decisions when you’re thinking about somebody's future as a professional and as a person as well. ‘We have to try to make the right decisions on balance and, this time last year, we came in for a lot of criticism for not taking a couple of players, which is fair.
Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad ‘I’ve been speaking to Rich about the retained list. We will keep consulting on it this week and I have also spoken to Andy (Cullen) and Tony (Brown). ‘We have a couple of board calls on Friday, just to finalise everything, then decisions to players will go out next week, mostly Monday.
John Mousinho is agonising over which players to release next week Picture: Gary Oakley/Getty Images | Getty Images ‘At the moment, those decisions haven’t already been made, we have talked about most of them, but we’ve tried to shield ourselves from that before we actually get through to the last game. We also have more important people than us to speak to on Friday about that. ‘We will do that, then make final decisions on Sunday - and communicate that to players on Monday.
Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad ‘There are not many out of contract at all. In my first summer here, there were something like nine or 10 out of contract, so it was very, very different. A few more last year, but we haven’t got many at all this year, so conversations should be straightforward.
’ ‘We have to try to predict the future’ In the aftermath of the League One title triumph last summer, the likes of Raggett, Rafferty, Harry Jewitt-White, Haji Mnoga, Lee Evans and Josh Martin were released. In addition, the Blues opted against taking up options on Zak Swanson and Joe Morrell in favour of negotiating new deals, with Morrell subsequently departing. Read More Revealed: The staggering £250,000 police bill for the return of Portsmouth v Southampton Swanson’s future is again up in the air 12 months later, while January short-term recruits Killip and Bramall are waiting to discover whether their stay will be extended to 2025-26 or beyond.
Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mousinho added: ‘We are always open to criticism, we live and die by the decisions we make, and again we must try to make them right. We have to try to predict the future with players and try to predict what we’re going to be able to bring in during the window. ‘Sometimes you are more successful than not, but, unfortunately, we have to make those decisions now before we know what we are going to bring in.
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