'Supporters are dissatisfied' - PST announces result of Portsmouth fans' survey which they'll take directly to Eisners
The Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust has revealed the findings of their 2026 fans’ survey
The Pompey Supporters’ Trust (PST) has announced the results of their 2026 fans’ survey.
And the outcome is clear - the Fratton faithfil aren’t happy with the club’s overall strategic direction under owners Tornante, and the level of investment afforded to John Mousinho first-team ranks.
Indeed, 87% of the 1,226 supporters surveyed said they wanted to see a higher playing budget in place in order to make the Blues more competitive in the Championship.
The survey reveals fans are happy with Fratton Park, their safety within the ground, and the whole match-day experience.
However, dissatisfaction with the club’s strategic vision and spending, plus the youth academy, are areas of concern that will be raised when the PST next meets the Heritage & Advisory Board.
Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust statement
A statement from PST chairman Donald Vass read: ‘We run these surveys every year to ensure we can accurately represent the views of the wider fanbase in the discussions we have with the club’s owners and key staff.
‘The results this year speak loudly and clearly: supporters are dissatisfied with the club’s performance in several key areas. In particular, fans have told us that they lack confidence in the club’s overall strategic direction, and feel that greater investment in the playing squad is required in order for Portsmouth to compete at the level fans expect.
‘This marks a notable shift in sentiment. In last year’s survey, only 32% of fans told us that they would “like to see more owner investment, even if this means the club becoming increasingly dependent on continual injections of cash from the owners”. Now, fans overwhelmingly do expect to see more spent on the pitch - 87% of supporters say they wanted to see a higher playing budget, even if that would result in bigger losses for the club.
‘The playing budget came up again and again in fans’ written responses throughout the survey - it’s the key issue driving unhappiness with the club’s overall direction. Concerns around player recruitment and first-team performance stem directly from this central problem.
‘The club recently announced losses of £4.36m for last season. While significant, this figure is relatively modest in comparison to other clubs in the division, where average annual losses are around £13m a year. Against such heavy spending, many feel that Portsmouth have fallen behind similar clubs.
‘Portsmouth fans know better than most the dangers of spending beyond your means in football. However, this survey suggests that our fanbase is less cautious about spending than in previous years. There now appears to be fewer fans who see “financial sustainability” as a fundamental principle of the club.
‘It ranked in supporters’ top-three priorities in our last two surveys, but this year saw the biggest drop in perceived importance among fans.
‘This growing tension within the fanbase between long-term sustainability and short-term competitiveness is an enormously challenging problem facing the football club and the owners.
‘There appears to be little appetite among fans to see ticket price rises to generate more income, with only 7% of supporters polled in favour of season ticket price rises.
‘ Fans also told us they would be extremely uncomfortable about the club taking on loans secured against the club’s assets.
‘One area supporters do highlight as an opportunity to grow revenue is the club’s youth academy. Some fans view this as a key pillar missing from the club’s ‘develop and sell’ player trading model, which could be used to generate income and supplement the playing budget.
‘The club’s youth academy has consistently polled poorly in our three surveys to date, and once again came out as the area of lowest satisfaction for supporters.
‘A number of respondents referenced the prominence this was given as part of Tornante’s initial pitch to buy the club at the Guildhall 9 years ago, and expressed frustration at the perceived lack of progress since. For some fans, this feels like an unfulfilled promise.
‘More positively, there was strong support for Pompey’s handling of the ‘club managed travel’ arrangements for the south-coast derby fixtures.
‘While opinion remains divided on the principle of enforced travel (51% in favour, 49% against), 81% of respondents felt the arrangements themselves were well executed.
‘I know this was a particularly time-consuming operational challenge for the club’s staff, so full credit to them for delivering it successfully.
‘There was also strong support for the club’s decision to agree a large, reciprocal away ticketing allocation for both games.
Thank you to everyone who took part – we really appreciate your time. We take our role seriously and want to represent you as best we can.
We’ll present the results of this survey directly to Tornante at the next Heritage & Advisory Board meeting, and the themes identified in this report will form the basis of our ongoing dialogue with both the owners and club staff in the coming months.
‘John Mousinho and the team have done brilliantly in recent weeks to secure Championship football for another year – supporters now want to know that they’ll be backed to push on again next season.’
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