Ranking Portsmouth FC's top 7 best managers based on PPG – Paul Cook = 3rd | OneFootball

Portsmouth had a fantastic 2023/24 season as John Mousinho guided the club back to the Championship.

Pompey have been out of the second tier since the 2011/12 campaign, with the South Coast side being stuck in either League Two or League One for a sustained period of time.

The club had finished in the League One play-offs but had never been able to get over the line; however, they did much better this season, as they didn’t need the play-offs to get promoted.

The club sailed to the top of the table very early on in the campaign and stayed there, despite pressure from teams like Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, and Peterborough United.

So, now the club is preparing for life back in the Championship, and while we wait to see what happens, here we have used Transfermarkt to rank Portsmouth’s seven best managers, who have managed over 25 games based on points per game…

7 Andy Awford

Andy Awford took over the reins at Fratton Park from Richie Barker in March 2014, and he was in the role for just over a year.

The 51-year-old has only managed Pompey and Luton Town in his career, with him taking charge of just four games for the Hatters.

Meanwhile, for Portsmouth, Awford took charge of the final 10 games of the 2013/14 season and then 42 matches of the next campaign. His time wasn’t deemed successful, as the South Coast side finished in 13th and 14th place.

He left the club having taken charge of 55 games in all competitions and a points per game ratio of 1.40, as per Transfermarkt.

6 Danny Cowley

Danny Cowley is one of the more recent managers of Portsmouth Football Club, as he was in charge from March 2021 to January 2023.

Cowley had a very impressive few years in management before joining Pompey, as he had guided Lincoln City through the National League and into the EFL.

He then had time at Huddersfield Town, which was quite successful, as he kept the club in the Championship.

So, when he joined Portsmouth, it was in the hope that he could get the club out of League One and into the second tier. However, that never happened, as in his one and only full season in charge, the club finished in 10th place.

Cowley took charge of 97 matches as Portsmouth manager, and he left with a points per game ratio of 1.59.

5 Harry Redknapp

In this list of former and current managers of Portsmouth, it is probably Harry Redknapp who is deemed the most successful manager of the club.

Redknapp had two separate spells in charge of the club, with his first spell coming in 2002 to 2004, where he took charge of 116 games and had a points per game ratio of 1.62, making him the club’s fifth-best manager in terms of points per match.

His second spell was more successful in terms of success, as the club won the FA Cup in 2008, and while he took charge of 10 more games, his points per game ratio was slightly lower at 1.50, as per Transfermarkt.

Bob Jackson might be a name that not many of the younger Portsmouth fans have heard of before.

He managed the club from 1947 to 1952 after joining Pompey from Worcester City.

Jackson took charge of the club when they were in the first division, and he was able to guide the club to two 1st place finishes as well as a seventh-place finish in the 1950/51 season.

Jackson took charge of over 130 games for the club, and he left with a points per match ratio of 1.62.

3 Paul Cook

Paul Cook was in charge at Fratton Park for two years, arriving in May 2015 and leaving the club in the same month in 2017.

The 57-year-old joined Pompey after leading Chesterfield to the League One play-offs the season before.

Cooks’ time with Portsmouth can be deemed rather successful, as in his first season at the club, he guided them to a sixth-place finish, but they were unable to navigate through the play-offs.

The following campaign was much better, as Cook and his side won the League Two title after winning 26 of their 46 league games.

That promotion was the end of his time at the club, as Cook then left to join Wigan Athletic. Cook left having managed 107 games and picking up 1.70 points per game, as per Transfermarkt.

2 Kenny Jackett

Kenny Jackett managed Pompey from June 2017 to March 2021, and he is currently the club’s second-best manager in terms of points per game.

The 62-year-old has been in the managerial game for a while, taking charge of teams such as Swansea City, Millwall, Wolves, Rotherham United, Portsmouth, and most recently, Leyton Orient.

His time at Fratton Park was quite successful, as he led the club to two fourth-place finishes as well as an eighth-place finish in his first campaign.

Jackett was unable to get the club promoted out of League One, but he did win a lot of his games in charge, leaving the club having managed 211 games and collecting 1.74 points per game.

1 John Mousinho

As previously mentioned, John Mousinho has so far been rather successful in his time at Portsmouth.

The former Oxford United defender was given a chance to go into management by the South Coast side, and the 38-year-old has really grasped it.

He impressed in the second half of last season, and then in his first full season in charge at Fratton Park, Mousinho won the League One title with the club.

Mousinho has managed 76 Portsmouth matches, and he is so far averaging 1.95 points per game, which makes him the best manager at this moment in time in the club’s history based on points per match.