Michael Eisner: Why we had to change our Portsmouth transfer policy this summer
The Blues chairman is today visiting Fratton Park for the first time since November 2025
Michael Eisner is adamant Pompey’s leap in transfer window spending reflects a change in Tornante’s priorities.
The Blues have spent more on players this summer than any other time since leaving the Premier League in May 2010.
They include the arrivals of Marko Milovanovic, Rocco Shein and Abu Kamara, who are all expected to feature for John Mousinho’s side in their Championship opener against QPR this afternoon.
Eisner, who is attending the fixture along with son Eric, this morning granted his first interview to The News since June 2024.
According to Pompey’s chairman, with capital expenditure projects on Fratton Park and their Copnor Road training ground now at an end, Tornante are focusing investment on the playing side.
As a consequence, the Blues have already signed nine players this summer and enter the 2026-27 with an air of renewed enthusiasm among supporters following successive Championship relegation battles.
‘It’s more investment into the players and not necessarily Fratton Park’
He told The News: ‘We have now reduced our cap-ex, because we have done the training ground, and we can put more resources into the pitch being fixed and the players on the pitch.
‘It’s not really more investment by us because we’ve always had a lot of investment, but it’s more investment into the players and not necessarily Fratton Park and the training ground.
‘The first thing we analysed was if we had to really fix the infrastructure here. The infrastructure is in place for the stadium and training ground and all this stuff - now you can focus on the players and methodically try to go up each division and eventually go to the next division.
‘With the Championship, the first goals were to stay up, we achieved that. Now it’s a kind of rise into the Championship, eventually getting mid-table and play-offs, then eventually going up and one day hopefully getting into the Premier League.
‘We have now been able to not just focus on the pitch - whereas before it was really an infrastructure play.’
£25m spent on Fratton Park since August 2017
Earlier this month, the Eisner family marked nine years since taking over Pompey from fan ownership.
That takes their total spending on the ground’s infrastructure to around £25m since August 2017.
Eisner added: ‘You are not going to get a lot of players that want to come here how the changing rooms used to be, the investment was there, the investment was in the training ground and constantly improving it.
‘You need to have facilities which are Championship ready, so when players come in with the level of expectation they expect, the infrastructure was really the first thing which had to be addressed.
‘That’s improving the training ground year by year and, as you get these higher-level players, they expect a certain level of performance and equipment which we have eventually put in.’