'The minute that breaks down, we will shake hands and I’ll go': John Mousinho adamant he has input in all Portsmouth transfers

And he’s prepared to walk away from Fratton Park if that wasn’t the case.

Rich Hughes’ October arrival as sporting director has cemented the Blues’ fresh approach towards player recruitment.

As head coach, Mousinho was subsequently employed to suit that existing structure, with other candidates overlooked on the basis of not considered a good fit.

It’s a remit the 36-year-old is comfortable with, nonetheless he retains a key involvement in Pompey’s transfer activity.

Mousinho had an input in Matt Macey’s loan from Luton – and pledged he will continue to have a voice in all Blues signings.

He told The News: ‘I will have an input in every Pompey transfer, you don't have to worry about that at all.

‘The minute that breaks down, you might as well just call it a day, we will shake hands and I’ll go.

‘If Rich and I so wildly disagree on a player one of us desperately wants to bring him in, it probably hasn’t worked.

‘We will definitely disagree, that’s a real positive, I want his opinion and he wants my opinion as well. If it’s a firm no from either side, that’s fine.

‘Should I think there’s a player we should sign, that player has to be right for Pompey, not just for me. That’s great for Pompey, trust me.

‘Clubs now don’t want managers coming in and going “Get rid of them, bring my boys in” and then you start the whole cycle again. It might be good for the manager, but it’s no good for the club.

‘This is the best model because of the responsibilities of the head coach. I can't go over to Belgium tomorrow and watch a game, I can’t go to Premier League 2 and watch under-23s games, I can't be at non-league games on a Saturday.

‘I will watch as much football as I can, but it’s over to the recruitment team to do all that work and recruitment.

‘I can look at players, but recruitment will come at it from a different angle, it’s a different skill. We will marry that together and get to the stage where there’s a list.

‘If I don't know the players I can do my work on them - and if there’s something I’m not happy with there, then we are not going to progress with that.

‘I have an input, but these players will be club signings, not solely my signings. If I like a player then I’ll put him to the club - but the club also have to want that player.’

Following the dismissal of Danny Cowley earlier this month, Ryley Towler was recruited in the absence of a head coach.

That represented the first example of a new way of working at Fratton Park.

Mousinho added: ‘It’s not like when I first started playing, your pool of recruitment was pretty small back then, pretty much the leagues and maybe the Conference.

‘Nowadays there’s the Academy teams and under-23s sides, European scouting and beyond has become a huge thing, while Premier League squads are 60-70 players deep, which means there might be 50 players there to choose from.

‘Rich is not just on recruitment, he does everything, club-wide, football-wide. I didn’t know what a sporting director was 20 years ago, it didn’t exist.’