MATCHWATCH : Portsmouth (a)

[AthleticoSpizz]

Iirc, it was voted through by the fan-owners at a meeting with the American. Promises were made, which (as an outsider) seem to be getting delivered.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

You had the best owner it was possible to have, after so much hard work and dedication from so many fans - and then you voted to sell to an outsider.

I find that decision absolutely astounding and so very short-sighted.

We had no future as fan owned. FP was falling apart, we couldnt finance a decent squad. The numbers just dont add up. We wouldnt have just sold to anyone, they had to be particularly trust worthy

I see the dilemma. Fan ownership is romantic, but it has a clear ceiling even for bigger clubs at this level (which both Pompey and Reading are). You're competing with rich benefactors and will always find it hard to get promotion.

That being said, the new owner won't be with you forever. He could take you to the premier league, even do a Leicester, but what if he falls ill and has to sell unexpectedly? How can you control who comes next? You can't. Fan ownership is almost an iron clad guarantee that you won't be where we are now (and where you used to be) and you gave it away. And if Exeter can hold their own in L1, perhaps Pompey and Reading can in the Championship.

[Clyde1998]

Tbf, wasn't it just because they have recently finished a redevelopment and so they had a bigger capacity? They're top of the league after a horror decade, of course they're going to sell out.

They've had a capacity to get over 20,000 for matches - as they exceeded it in the Premier League.

Some of it will be the away following - we're one of three teams so far to take a full allocation to Portsmouth (along with Charlton and Bristol Rovers); Charlton got slightly more tickets than us and Bristol Rovers. There won't be too many sides in the bottom two divisions who'll take 2,000 to Portsmouth. They've still got to play Derby and Oxford - who'll likely take decent numbers there.

I know they've been limited in the past couple of seasons due to the work they've been doing, but would've thought they would've had 20,100+ at least once since they were in the Premier League. I think the next highest in that time was 20,040 against Leeds in 2011. I know they've played Southampton a few times since then, but it's likely the capacity is restricted due to increased need for segregation.

I can clear this up.

Saturday was the first match where we have been able to use the entire newly refurbished milton end since it was restricted capacity due to safety reasons in 2012. This was announced in the stadium as our owners where at the game (they come from LA). It was a remarkable moment as it marked the first game where capacity has been at 21200k with enough away fans to actually utilise some of it. Quite a milestone following years of neglect, worthy of celebration. As I am sure you are aware home sell outs are most weeks and have been most weeks for the last 12 years in these lower divisions. Expect any game between now and the end of the season with a decent away following to match/surpass this.

Next step is a new north stand that will further increase capacity by circa 8k.

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

Thank you. Hadn't realised you'd had a restricted capacity for as long as that and certainly explains why you've not had any 20,000+ crowds since the Premier League. The home sell outs were why I was surprised by you not having any 20,000+ crowds. I imagine your game against Derby will no doubt have a higher attendance than Saturday.

Good to hear there is progress with the stadium. There's clearly demand for an expansion and it's appeared from afar the ground has needed some work for a while now. It's come at a good time for you as well, as you'll almost certainly be playing Championship football next season.

In the away end, I'd say the rail seating (safe standing) worked well. A large amount of people stand at away matches anyway, so it was good to have facilities that reflects that. I note you've got it at the back of the opposite stand too. It's something I'd like to see at Reading once there's the money to pursue that.

I think Portsmouth are an interesting case study into how teams can recover from financial issues with stable ownership and a long term strategy. You're clearly on an upward trajectory now and there's a much better atmosphere around the place when compared to a decade or so ago.

[Millsy]

Tbf, wasn't it just because they have recently finished a redevelopment and so they had a bigger capacity? They're top of the league after a horror decade, of course they're going to sell out.

They've had a capacity to get over 20,000 for matches - as they exceeded it in the Premier League.

Some of it will be the away following - we're one of three teams so far to take a full allocation to Portsmouth (along with Charlton and Bristol Rovers); Charlton got slightly more tickets than us and Bristol Rovers. There won't be too many sides in the bottom two divisions who'll take 2,000 to Portsmouth. They've still got to play Derby and Oxford - who'll likely take decent numbers there.

I know they've been limited in the past couple of seasons due to the work they've been doing, but would've thought they would've had 20,100+ at least once since they were in the Premier League. I think the next highest in that time was 20,040 against Leeds in 2011. I know they've played Southampton a few times since then, but it's likely the capacity is restricted due to increased need for segregation.

I can clear this up.

Saturday was the first match where we have been able to use the entire newly refurbished milton end since it was restricted capacity due to safety reasons in 2012. This was announced in the stadium as our owners where at the game (they come from LA). It was a remarkable moment as it marked the first game where capacity has been at 21200k with enough away fans to actually utilise some of it. Quite a milestone following years of neglect, worthy of celebration. As I am sure you are aware home sell outs are most weeks and have been most weeks for the last 12 years in these lower divisions. Expect any game between now and the end of the season with a decent away following to match/surpass this.

Next step is a new north stand that will further increase capacity by circa 8k.

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

My comment was hopefully obviously tongue in cheek re: us being big club Congrats, a cracking place from what I can see and a decent team to match. All the best!

[Dirk Gently]

I hope you manage to find yourselves owners as decent as ours.

You had the best owner it was possible to have, after so much hard work and dedication from so many fans - and then you voted to sell to an outsider.

I find that decision absolutely astounding and so very short-sighted.

We had no future as fan owned. FP was falling apart, we couldnt finance a decent squad. The numbers just dont add up. We wouldnt have just sold to anyone, they had to be particularly trust worthy

And what guarantee do you have for the future? The current owner might be fine, but what of the future? When he dies/gets taken ill/loses interest etc, etc?

It just strikes me as a real tragedy that PST struggled for so long and it dominated the lives of some of the individuals concerned for so long, and it was such a massive achievement for them to achieve the impossible and rescue the club for their supporters - who for many years had feared they'd have no club at all in the future - and more or less as soon as it'd done the supporters say "Thanks for keeping us alive, but we're going back to the same "take it all on trust, sugar-daddy" ownership model that so very nearly killed us.

PFC could have been the flag-bearer that proved that it could work, with a little imagination and effort - they'd come so far and done so much that people thought was impossible - and there were ways to make it work while still retaining supporter control. But there wasn't that imagination or drive among the fanbase - just a thirst for immediate success paid for by someone else.

Ungrateful, short-sighted and a betrayal of the supporter ownership movement.

[kieran]

And what guarantee do you have for the future? The current owner might be fine, but what of the future? When he dies/gets taken ill/loses interest etc, etc?

It just strikes me as a real tragedy that PST struggled for so long and it dominated the lives of some of the individuals concerned for so long, and it was such a massive achievement for them to achieve the impossible and rescue the club for their supporters - who for many years had feared they'd have no club at all in the future - and more or less as soon as it'd done the supporters say "Thanks for keeping us alive, but we're going back to the same "take it all on trust, sugar-daddy" ownership model that so very nearly killed us.

PFC could have been the flag-bearer that proved that it could work, with a little imagination and effort - they'd come so far and done so much that people thought was impossible - and there were ways to make it work while still retaining supporter control. But there wasn't that imagination or drive among the fanbase - just a thirst for immediate success paid for by someone else.

Ungrateful, short-sighted and a betrayal of the supporter ownership movement.

The current owner is the Eisner Family and they have said they want to be custodians for the very long term. Of course, we cant be sure that they wont sell. If they do they will at least be selling us in a much better position than when they found us. We will therefore be more sustainable. FP was falling down, now look at it and once the new north stand is built it will be 28/29k and it will still be fratton, not somewhere new and off the island where no one can get too and there's no soul. They are making sure the club stays at the heart of the community. These are the sort of owners we sold to, not just any old buyer. The difference they made to Disney tells us all we need to know.

You make it sound like it was the PST alone that bought the club. Yes it was, but, with all our money on our behalf. We all owned the club and sold it. Ungrateful? we cant be ungrateful to ourselves.

Yes, we could have been the flag bearer, but it wouldnt have been a very good flag. It would have been a crumbling stadium, with further reduced capacity slogging it out in L1 and L2. If there had been a watershed and other clubs had quickly followed suite then possibly as it would have been an even playing field, but that didnt happen. We had to watch clubs like Swansea, Millwall and your good selves getting 13/14k in the championship whilst we were still getting 19k week in week in a sold out stadium but watching us lose at home to Newport in L2. Its not a great advert.

I really feel that the future of Pompey is as safe as it could be now, given the circumstances, and the future is bright and thats because we rose up, not in spite of it.

[kieran]

My comment was hopefully obviously tongue in cheek re: us being big club Congrats, a cracking place from what I can see and a decent team to match. All the best!

It wont be long until you are sorted and we will be back locking horns, hopefully in the Champ and who knows maybe the Prem.

It might feel like its never going to end but it will, like covid, it will.

[kieran]

Thank you. Hadn't realised you'd had a restricted capacity for as long as that and certainly explains why you've not had any 20,000+ crowds since the Premier League. The home sell outs were why I was surprised by you not having any 20,000+ crowds. I imagine your game against Derby will no doubt have a higher attendance than Saturday.

Good to hear there is progress with the stadium. There's clearly demand for an expansion and it's appeared from afar the ground has needed some work for a while now. It's come at a good time for you as well, as you'll almost certainly be playing Championship football next season.

In the away end, I'd say the rail seating (safe standing) worked well. A large amount of people stand at away matches anyway, so it was good to have facilities that reflects that. I note you've got it at the back of the opposite stand too. It's something I'd like to see at Reading once there's the money to pursue that.

I think Portsmouth are an interesting case study into how teams can recover from financial issues with stable ownership and a long term strategy. You're clearly on an upward trajectory now and there's a much better atmosphere around the place when compared to a decade or so ago.

It has come at the right time but its not all fortune. The recruitments across the board from CEO to Director of Football have all been carefully planned with total alignment and a club ethos that must be maintained from top to bottom. e,.g We wont buy players that wont be able to play in front of a rather fervent crowd. We have a certain way we will play and everyone at the club is on board. Fratton has been refurbed over a number of years whilst the squad and the younger players steadily built with a continuing style of play year in year out.

The rail seats are popular. They are at the top of the Fratton end as well but there are no plans to increase that. I think we are the first club to have safe standing.

The atmosphere around the place is superb. The whole city lives and breathes Pompey, it always has and always will. My entire family and my in laws and their entire family all support Pompey and so on. It now feels like the club is set up to harness that power at last.

[Sutekh]

Thank you. Hadn't realised you'd had a restricted capacity for as long as that and certainly explains why you've not had any 20,000+ crowds since the Premier League. The home sell outs were why I was surprised by you not having any 20,000+ crowds. I imagine your game against Derby will no doubt have a higher attendance than Saturday.

Good to hear there is progress with the stadium. There's clearly demand for an expansion and it's appeared from afar the ground has needed some work for a while now. It's come at a good time for you as well, as you'll almost certainly be playing Championship football next season.

In the away end, I'd say the rail seating (safe standing) worked well. A large amount of people stand at away matches anyway, so it was good to have facilities that reflects that. I note you've got it at the back of the opposite stand too. It's something I'd like to see at Reading once there's the money to pursue that.

I think Portsmouth are an interesting case study into how teams can recover from financial issues with stable ownership and a long term strategy. You're clearly on an upward trajectory now and there's a much better atmosphere around the place when compared to a decade or so ago.

It has come at the right time but its not all fortune. The recruitments across the board from CEO to Director of Football have all been carefully planned with total alignment and a club ethos that must be maintained from top to bottom. e,.g We wont buy players that wont be able to play in front of a rather fervent crowd. We have a certain way we will play and everyone at the club is on board. Fratton has been refurbed over a number of years whilst the squad and the younger players steadily built with a continuing style of play year in year out.

The rail seats are popular. They are at the top of the Fratton end as well but there are no plans to increase that. I think we are the first club to have safe standing.

The atmosphere around the place is superb. The whole city lives and breathes Pompey, it always has and always will. My entire family and my in laws and their entire family all support Pompey and so on. It now feels like the club is set up to harness that power at last.

Would love to find owners like the Eisners, they do exist, just hope there's some around at the moment thinking about buying an English third division football club.

You just knew there was something "iffy" and that Reading would eventually crash and burn as soon as it was known Dai wouldn't make the effort to talk or communicate to anyone outside, or pretty much even in, the club. Like that is normal behaviour for the owner of a business.

[Snowflake Royal]

Thank you. Hadn't realised you'd had a restricted capacity for as long as that and certainly explains why you've not had any 20,000+ crowds since the Premier League. The home sell outs were why I was surprised by you not having any 20,000+ crowds. I imagine your game against Derby will no doubt have a higher attendance than Saturday.

Good to hear there is progress with the stadium. There's clearly demand for an expansion and it's appeared from afar the ground has needed some work for a while now. It's come at a good time for you as well, as you'll almost certainly be playing Championship football next season.

In the away end, I'd say the rail seating (safe standing) worked well. A large amount of people stand at away matches anyway, so it was good to have facilities that reflects that. I note you've got it at the back of the opposite stand too. It's something I'd like to see at Reading once there's the money to pursue that.

I think Portsmouth are an interesting case study into how teams can recover from financial issues with stable ownership and a long term strategy. You're clearly on an upward trajectory now and there's a much better atmosphere around the place when compared to a decade or so ago.

It has come at the right time but its not all fortune. The recruitments across the board from CEO to Director of Football have all been carefully planned with total alignment and a club ethos that must be maintained from top to bottom. e,.g We wont buy players that wont be able to play in front of a rather fervent crowd. We have a certain way we will play and everyone at the club is on board. Fratton has been refurbed over a number of years whilst the squad and the younger players steadily built with a continuing style of play year in year out.

The rail seats are popular. They are at the top of the Fratton end as well but there are no plans to increase that. I think we are the first club to have safe standing.

The atmosphere around the place is superb. The whole city lives and breathes Pompey, it always has and always will. My entire family and my in laws and their entire family all support Pompey and so on. It now feels like the club is set up to harness that power at last.

Would love to find owners like the Eisners, they do exist, just hope there's some around at the moment thinking about buying an English third division football club.

You just knew there was something "iffy" and that Reading would eventually crash and burn as soon as it was known Dai wouldn't make the effort to talk or communicate to anyone outside, or pretty much even in, the club. Like that is normal behaviour for the owner of a business.

It was obvious the second he bought Sone Aluko for allegedly £7m and refused to sell Moore, putting him £35k a week for four years instead. And then spunked £10m on two strikers the second our first soft embargo was eased.

[stealthpapes]

Telly's a fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmrGSqteGo

Spent the Sunday having a wander around, decided to catch ferry over to Ryde and back, then a slow train home. The little stretch of raiwlay line from Harbour to & Southsea is a treasure - overlooks the historical, the great and also Dave sat in his vest having a cheeky fag on a Sunday afternoon.

[leon]

Telly's a fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmrGSqteGo

Spent the Sunday having a wander around, decided to catch ferry over to Ryde and back, then a slow train home. The little stretch of raiwlay line from Harbour to & Southsea is a treasure - overlooks the historical, the great and also Dave sat in his vest having a cheeky fag on a Sunday afternoon.

too many recent trips with mrs leon's family to the IoW has tempered the allure of the Ryde ferry. Although the feeling when it leaves the harbour on the way back to Portsmouth (and home) is unsurpassable.

[Uke]

Telly's a fan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmrGSqteGo

Spent the Sunday having a wander around, decided to catch ferry over to Ryde and back, then a slow train home. The little stretch of raiwlay line from Harbour to & Southsea is a treasure - overlooks the historical, the great and also Dave sat in his vest having a cheeky fag on a Sunday afternoon.

Is synchronised mast climbing still a "thing" as at 6:00 into that video? https://youtu.be/6EmrGSqteGo?t=363