Mousinho breaks silence on West Brom new manager talk amid Portsmouth exit news
John Mousinho was a contender for the West Brom vacancy last week.
The Baggies have been searching for a new manager since Tony Mowbray was sacked on Easter Monday (21 April) after their playoff hopes were effectively ended.
The Portsmouth manager emerged as a joint-favourite with the bookmakers alongside Eric Ramsay on 9 May but has since slipped to outsider status for the role.
Mousinho laughes off West Brom approach
Mousinho poured cold water over the linked to The Hawthorns outfit, seemingly confirming his intention to stay on the South Coast.
The 39-year-old revealed in an interview with Portsmouth-based outlet The News, that he had no contact with Albion and was amused by the links while on holiday with his family in Portugal.
He said: “There was no contact from myself to the football club, nothing from the football club to this football club, nothing from any agents, it came out of nowhere.
“I was sat around the pool having a little chuckle. I did speak to a couple of journalists on the UK side, just to let them know there was nothing in it, just to reassure everyone. That was it really.”
West Brom can have the last laugh on Mousinho
Many Baggies supporters were concerned that the former Burton Albion man was not the right candidate for the job anyway after the links initially emerged.
His stock is high after securing promotion from League One last season with the Blues but his experience in the Championship is limited and Albion would have been a step up that he may not have been able to handle.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points |
| Portsmouth | 46 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 54 |
He has managed for one season in the division and although it was impressive, he kept Pompey in the second tier, he has no experience challenging for promotion that high up the pyramid.
If Shilen Patel had appointed him, it would have been a huge risk and there was no guarantee that it would have worked out as he is an unknown quantity in the higher echelons of the game.
The Baggies need to get their decision right, it could be the difference between securing a dream return to the Premier League for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign or failing miserably, like they did with Mowbray, who everybody thought was a safe bet.
Mousinho was not the right man for the task, and the Throstles can get the last laugh on the Fratton Park outfit, if they can make the playoffs next season with a different boss at the helm.