Portsmouth boss John Mousinho said his players must “face the consequences” if they crossed the finish line celebrating.
The Pompey stars hit town on Tuesday night after a memorable night which saw them secure promotion to the Championship.
Winning the League One title in the process, supporters invaded the Fratton Park pitch as the club celebrated their return to the second tier after a 12-year absence.
With delighted fans, the players were also released to celebrate, but reports claimed police were present in the area after investigating allegations of “theft, criminal damage and racist abuse”, while ransacking an O pub ‘Neill during the celebrations.
No arrests have been made in relation to the reported incidents, but according to head coach Mousinho, the club intends to take it seriously if any offenses have taken place.
Speaking to White & Jordan, Mousinho said: “Obviously we want the guys to celebrate and have fun, but we don’t need to cross any lines.
“This is something we are looking at as a football club and over the next few days we will be working with O’Neill’s and all the other Portsmouth authorities to firstly ensure that everyone has behaved as appropriately as he should and if not, all guys are big boys and will have to face the consequences.
“It’s a really difficult question. I want the boys to have fun and party, I just want them to do it in a reasonable way and sometimes it can be difficult but it’s something we really need to make sure we’re on top of and we are respectful. in the way we treat everything.
These scenes won’t take anything away from the success of securing promotion to the Championship, however, with Mousinho saying they are turning their attention to high-flying Ipswich – who are dominating the Championship after being promoted from League One last season – to get inspired.
He said: “Ipswich have set the bar very high – they have been incredible this season and to be in the hunt for automatic promotion at this stage isn’t really a surprise because of how good they were last year, their quality this year.
“One day if we can do something like that that would be great, but the ambition next year will be to make sure we consolidate our championship and then really go for it to try and get back to the top.”
Asked if the Premier League was a target, Mousinho added: “It’s a definite possibility with the football club.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves and we want to move forward slowly and slowly and next year will be about consolidating the championship.
“It’s a really, really tough league with lots of brilliant teams and ex-Premier League clubs scattered around the league, so we need to make sure we don’t lose a year of hard work to get there.
“Once we move beyond consolidation, it’s certainly a dream that everyone at the football club has and I don’t see why we can’t achieve it.”
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho said his players must “face the consequences” if they crossed the finish line celebrating.
The Pompey stars hit town on Tuesday night after a memorable night which saw them secure promotion to the Championship.
Winning the League One title in the process, supporters invaded the Fratton Park pitch as the club celebrated their return to the second tier after a 12-year absence.
With delighted fans, the players were also released to celebrate, but reports claimed police were present in the area after investigating allegations of “theft, criminal damage and racist abuse”, while ransacking an O pub ‘Neill during the celebrations.
No arrests have been made in relation to the reported incidents, but according to head coach Mousinho, the club intends to take it seriously if any offenses have taken place.
Speaking to White & Jordan, Mousinho said: “Obviously we want the guys to celebrate and have fun, but we don’t need to cross any lines.
“This is something we are looking at as a football club and over the next few days we will be working with O’Neill’s and all the other Portsmouth authorities to firstly ensure that everyone has behaved as appropriately as he should and if not, all guys are big boys and will have to face the consequences.
“It’s a really difficult question. I want the boys to have fun and party, I just want them to do it in a reasonable way and sometimes it can be difficult but it’s something we really need to make sure we’re on top of and we are respectful. in the way we treat everything.
These scenes won’t take anything away from the success of securing promotion to the Championship, however, with Mousinho saying they are turning their attention to high-flying Ipswich – who are dominating the Championship after being promoted from League One last season – to get inspired.
He said: “Ipswich have set the bar very high – they have been incredible this season and to be in the hunt for automatic promotion at this stage isn’t really a surprise because of how good they were last year, their quality this year.
“One day if we can do something like that that would be great, but the ambition next year will be to make sure we consolidate our championship and then really go for it to try and get back to the top.”
Asked if the Premier League was a target, Mousinho added: “It’s a definite possibility with the football club.
“We are not getting ahead of ourselves and we want to move forward slowly and slowly and next year will be about consolidating the championship.
“It’s a really, really tough league with lots of brilliant teams and ex-Premier League clubs scattered around the league, so we need to make sure we don’t lose a year of hard work to get there.
“Once we move beyond consolidation, it’s certainly a dream that everyone at the football club has and I don’t see why we can’t achieve it.”