Portsmouth's iconic Fratton Park pylons to remain - for now
Pompey insist they are unable to put a timeframe on the removal of Fratton Park’s remaining floodlight pylons.
Following the installation of new Championship-quality lighting on the South stand’s roof, summer work was scheduled to remove all four now-defunct towers.
Yet while one was relocated to the North Stand car park, the other three have remained standing at the season’s start, despite not in use.
And Mark Catlin has explained the reasons behind their delayed removal.
Pompey’s chief executive told The News: ‘We have contractual commitments for our floodlights, in regards of 4G, the emergency services and their antennae.
‘We are waiting to finalise new contracts on the new floodlight tower with them. We have to relocate their communications under terms of their existing contract.
‘There are quite in-depth negotiations, as you can imagine, in regards of contracts and who pays for what during the movement.
‘It’s something which seems simple, which isn’t.
‘We are nearing conclusion and, once we can do that, then we can bring down the final three pylons.
‘As always, this is why we don’t like to give timeframes. Privately we were confident it would be done before the season’s start, but, when things get to solicitor stages and you get the experts involved, it can take a lot longer than you think.
‘This is why I can't give a timeframe in this instance or any other instances, because it is out of our control.’