Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner admits North Stand rethink as Blues change spending priority
The Blues’ chairman has tonight addressed Pompey Supporters’ Trust members in a pre-recorded video
Michael Eisner ruled out Pompey building a new North Stand and insisted: ‘We have diverted from the bricks and mortar’.
Instead the Blues chairman is prioritising financing the strengthening of the playing side, an approach apparent since splashing out £12m last summer.
In an exclusive video for the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust, shown at their annual Q&A at Fratton Park this evening, Eisner addressed fans from his Los Angeles home.
Since Tornante became Pompey owners in August 2017, they have spent around £25m on Fratton Park’s infrastructure, including the training ground.
In August, in an interview with The News, Eisner cast doubts over a new North Stand, when playing down the importance of a new Fratton Station footbridge.
And tonight Eisner has stressed extending the North Stand is presently not on the agenda as they focus on bolstering playing resources.
In a pre-recorded video, he told Trust members: ‘Now what is our strategy going forward? It really is the same strategy.
‘We have diverted from the bricks and mortar’
‘We have to continue to make sure our faculties, our guests and our fans zones, our lounges are doing an update and all that kind of stuff. That was number one while we had to spend the appropriate time and money on the players.
‘But now we have diverted from the bricks and mortar to establishing even a stronger player roster - and we had additional finances this year for that and we will continue doing that.
‘What we probably are not going to do - and I know a lot of fans want it to - is expand now beyond the 21,000 or so fans that have seats.
‘We have a good waiting list, we have a good pressure on the stadium, it all works and I don’t want to divert our finances towards that now when our objective is to continually strengthen.
‘Now it’s the players and all the other things associated with what goes on in making a winning team. We are working on improving the medical, we are working on more analytics, we are working on all the technology that can give our players the chance to be the best they can be. So that is in the works.’
Around 150 Trust members were present in the Victory Lounge tonight for the annual Q&A event, attended by John Mousinho, Rich Hughes and Andy Cullen.
The trio took questions from the floor, while Eisner’s nine-minute long video address was also shown.
‘We have got rid of the Junk Emporium’
Eisner also told members: ‘We are looking strongly at all the land - some of which we don’t own, a lot of it we do own - around Fratton Park to continue making it a better place.
‘We have got rid of the Junk Emporium. I don’t know how it got there, but it has now gone. If you are on Rodney Road then you will no longer have a Junk Emporium near us. So all that is going well.
‘So I am happy that we have had a good succession plan, I am happy that our plan with players has improved and look at how well they are doing. Tomorrow may not be as great as today, but I think it will be.’