Portsmouth chief's admission over £1.5m Fratton Park pitch project after final friendly switched to Darmstadt
Pompey still have a blank date of Saturday, July 18 in their pre-season schedule
Fratton Park’s £1.5m pitch project is ‘ahead of schedule’, despite the decision not to hold a pre-season friendly on the new surface.
That’s the message from Andy Cullen, who is adamant the extensive renovation of their playing surface is progressing encouragingly since work began days after the end of the 2025-26 season.
Pompey had pencilled in a possible home fixture on August 1, representing their final friendly ahead of the 2026-27 campaign kicking off.
However, contingency plans for a potential away game were also drawn up, offering an alternative should the new Fratton Park pitch require additional time to bed in.
Now John Mousinho’s men are booked in for a trip to Bundesliga 2 side Darmstadt on August 1, after a widely-anticipated match in Germany was announced.
And while Cullen insists Fratton Park could have staged such a fixture, he believes erring on the side of caution and allowing the new playing surface more time to settle is the sensible course of action.
’We are actually a little ahead of schedule’
He told The News: ‘We wanted to keep all our options open for that final game of the season on August 1, not least because a new pitch is being laid this year, and this makes sense.
‘We have looked very hard at what other clubs have done when they’ve had new pitches laid and the lessons which seem to have been learnt are to give the pitch as much time.
‘It should be ready that weekend, we are actually a little ahead of schedule in terms of work at the moment, but you only need inclement weather to impact that.
‘Our Championship season starts on August 15 and we haven’t made any application for the first league game to be played away from home. With the Carabao Cup starting on August 8, we could be in a situation where we don’t get a home fixture then either.
‘In terms of opposition, we looked abroad and in the UK and we had the opposition put to us to go to Germany, which we’re looking forward to playing.
‘The pitch is undergoing drainage work at the moment, so it’s all the boring stuff at present. Then, in a couple of weeks, the sand goes in and then the grass seed goes in.
‘It’s a six-week growth period which takes us through comfortably until August 1, but that extra week now gives our groundstaff a bit of comfort and a bit of leeway.’
Vacancy in Portsmouth’s pre-season calendar
Pompey’s pre-season schedule opens with a trip to Jermain Defoe’s Woking on Tuesday, July 14 (7pm), followed by visiting National League Aldershot the next night (Wednesday, July 15).
Mousinho’s troops will be at Wycombe on Saturday, July 25 (4pm) and then it’s a fixture at National League South side Farnborough on Wednesday, July 29 (7pm).
A fifth pre-season match will be Darmstadt on August 1 (2pm German time) - but there is still a vacancy in Pompey’s summer calendar.
Cullen added: ‘Darmstadt fits well into our schedule. Pre-season starts off against non-league opposition and then steps up against Wycombe.
‘We probably still have another game we are looking to deliver on Saturday, July 18 as well, so that has still to come into the framework.’