Attended:

 

Andrew Cullen, Rich Hughes, Tony Brown, Mark Judges & Johnny Moore (PFC)

Abbie Richardson (Portsmouth Women Supporters’ Club), Andrew Plenty (Armed Forces & Services Club), Barry Dewing (Pompey Independent Supporters’ Association), Donald Vass (TGFC Secretary & Chichester Portsmouth Supporters’ Club), Gemma Raggett (London Supporters’ Club), Graham Price (Pompey 808), Ian Marshall (Chimes Lounge), Kev Ryan (Central Branch Supporters’ Club), Leon Tricker (Social Media), Martin Callahan (South West Supporters’ Club), Mike Whittle (Pompey History Society), Nick Paul (Northern Blues), Pam Wilkins (Pompey Disabled Supporters’ Association), Peter House (Pompey Independent Supporters’ Association), Roy Gregory (Central Branch Supporters’ Club), Simon Colebrook (Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust) & Steve Heaven-Gandy (Isle Of Wight Supporters’ Club).

 

Apologies: 

Mike Fulcher (TGFC Chair & Social Media Groups) & Vicky Lamb (Her Game Too).

 

1. Football

 

Q: How do you assess the summer transfer window, and the team’s start to the season? 

RH: We had to make some tough decisions at the back end of last season, allowing some players to leave who had played with distinguished service with us. That was hard to do, but the Championship is a tough, physical, aggressive league, and we had to make some ruthless decisions.

We’ve brought 14 players in, lowered the average age of the group, reduced the number of loan signings, spent fees, and cast our net further afield to pick up exciting talents. The issue with Colby, which we’ll come to later, changed the dynamic of the window for us.

We’d prepared for lots of different eventualities, but losing a player in those circumstances changed things significantly.

Overall, we’re really pleased – we feel we’re stronger, younger, own a greater percentage of the squad, and feel very positive moving forward. 

 The start of the season has shown how tough the Championship is. We’ve had good spells in games without having a complete performance yet. We were good against West Brom for long spells and were in control at Burnley, and those games coincided with us having more solidity back in the spine of team.

Due to an unfortunate set of events, we were having to create brand new backlines against some of the more prominent attacks in league prior to those games. We’re hoping to build on the positive performance against Burnley and take that into today’s game [Sheffield United].

 

Q: Some fans believe we’ve had an unusually high number of injuries, particularly to new signings. Is that a fair assessment, and what do the club attribute this to if so?

RH: We analyse everything carefully. Of the 14 players we signed, 4 have suffered injuries. Mark O’Mahony and Jacob Farrell were both contact injuries. The Championship is a tough, physical division, and so it’s important that we train as we want to play – that means intense training sessions, which will naturally lead to more contact injuries.

Ibane Bowat is the really disappointing one, but we completed a thorough medical, and he played 32 out of 34 games for his club last year – sometimes you just get unlucky. 

 It can always feel like your club is disproportionately affected, but injuries do impact other clubs too. I watched Luton against Plymouth yesterday – they appeared to have 4 players go off injured.

When we had three of our four centre backs out – plus Jacob Farrell, which meant Connor Ogilvie couldn’t slot in and play there – that perhaps made our injury situation feel worse than it was. We’re moving towards the back end of our injuries now, and the strength of the team is improving. 

 

Q: The Fans’ Conference wishes Colby Bishop all the best in his recovery. How is he getting on, and is there a chance he could be re-registered to the squad in January?

RH: It’s possible he could play again this season, yes. The squad list is locked until January, but from January 1st onwards there’s no squad cap until we need to re-register our squad again at the end of the winter transfer window.

Colby will be eligible from January onwards if he’s fit. He’s making positive progress and we’re all really pleased with where he is. But unlike with, for example, a broken leg – which has clearly defined markers in recovery – there have been very few surgeries like this done in this country, so we have very little to compare and contrast against.

We’ve connected Colby with guys who have had similar injuries and spoken to their medical teams for advice. It’s testament to the club that he’s been able to get best in class treatment. Colby really appreciates the love and support of the fans too. It’s a serious issue, but he’s making good progress, and we all hope to see him again this year. 

 

Q: Do you already have specific players you want to bring in in January?

RH: We’ve not got specific targets in mind at this stage. We’ll home in on targets after we see where the group is at, and what the emerging needs are. There are some targets from the summer we’ll keep on top of.

We’ve watched a huge number of clubs and U18 sides already this year, as scouting is a constant evolution of work. We’ve changed some of our reporting systems and mechanisms this year and built our own bespoke platform to capture everything. That’s been a welcome addition for the football club. There is lots of work going on behind the scenes so we can react in January. 

 

Q: It was nice to see the John Mousinho and Richard Hughes both given contract extensions. Is it important that the club builds its reputation for giving Head Coaches time in post? You don’t often see that in football. 

AC: Football is a very short-term industry. We want to have staff here who are fully aligned to our strategy, and to keep them here for the long term.

Rich and John are both very aligned with each other and with the club’s objectives – that’s essential, otherwise you risk lurching and employing a somewhat muddled and knee jerk approach both to football operations matters and player recruitment strategy.

We’re really pleased with the new deals for both and are delighted they have both committed themselves to the football club. 

 

Q: Please can the club advertise fixtures such as Bashley (Hampshire Senior Cup) and Meon Milton (Portsmouth Senior Cup) earlier on the club website, to give those wishing to attend more notice? 

AC: Yes, we can. With the Meon Milton game on Tuesday, we received fairly late confirmation for the date and venue, but we will advertise our next round fixture in the Portsmouth Senior Cup once it’s confirmed. 

 

2. Ticketing

 

Q: We appear to have had a very high renewal rate of season tickets this summer following promotion to the Championship. How many supporters remain on the waiting list?

MJ: It’s a live waiting list, not static. There are currently around 2,000 people on the season ticket waiting list – some were on prior to the summer; some have joined following the season starting. That’s a really good pipeline for the football club.

From our point of view, the season ticket waiting list has been a very positive addition and has given the process some clarity. Only 400 people on the waiting list were able to buy a season ticket this summer as so many existing holders chose to renew their seat.

We have data going back to 2018, and in that time, we had a usual churn of around 1,000 – 2,000 each year – having only 400 is very low and shows the appetite among fans for Championship football. 

This group fed back to us about the season ticket purchase journey last year, and we made a pledge to produce step-by-step guides on how to renew online.

As a result, the percentage of online renewals went up from 48% to 73%. To get that customer behaviour shift is virtually unheard of. Thank you to the fans who helped us on that. It allowed us to give better customer service to those who did wish to renew by phone or in person. 

 Our biggest growth area this summer was in membership. A key part of that is the priority access to home tickets it provides, alongside Season Ticket Holders before general sale. The significant increase here comes in part from the scarcity of match tickets – membership has become a more attractive product for fans as a result.

 

Q: If people on the season ticket waiting list didn’t get a ticket this summer, do they get their deposit back?

MJ: The season ticket waiting list isn’t for a specific season – it’s ongoing. They remain on the waiting list and will have their deposit amount deducted from their eventual purchase when they get the opportunity to buy. If they opt not to get a season ticket, they don’t get the deposit back – it’s non-refundable, as advertised. 

 

Q: After the recent controversy surrounding ‘dynamic pricing’ of Oasis concert tickets, is this something we’re likely to see more of in football? 

MJ: I can’t comment for wider football, but we have no plans to introduce this at Portsmouth. To be transparent, we do already operate preferential pricing – tickets are £2 cheaper before matchdays and rise if you buy on the day, though in practice we very rarely do have tickets left to sell by then.

 

Q: Please can the Club confirm that 30% of away tickets are allocated to recognised supporter groups? Which groups are these divided between, and what’s the process for establishing a recognised supporter group that would be eligible for a share of the 30% of away tickets?

MJ: 30% of away tickets are allocated to recognised supporter groups with away ticketing privileges. That’s split equally between 14 groups:  

Andy Walshe, Armed Forces & Services Club, Chichester Supporters’ Club, Central Branch Supporters’ Club, Clan Pompey, Devon Blues, Isle of Wight Supporters’ Club, London Supporters’ Club, Northern Blues, Pompey 808, Pompey Independent Supporters’ Association, Pompey Supporters’ Trust, South Wales Association of Pompey Supporters, and South West Supporters’ Club.

That list hasn’t changed in my tenure, and we’ve no plans to add to the list just mentioned. The last supporter group to join that list was the Armed Forces group in 2018.

We’re privileged with the support we get, and the various groups who regularly travel to support Pompey, but we want to ensure everything is dealt with in a fair manner. That’s why we’ve worked on maturing the loyalty point structure, to make away ticket sales fair for everyone.  

It’s important to note that there are more than 14 different Portsmouth supporter groups, but not all of them are accessing away tickets. There’s a process of setting up a supporter group – we ask for a year of operation before being made official. That way, those involved can get a sense of whether they’re a viable entity. 

JM: We also sometimes get requests from overseas fan groups, like Pompey Exiles Stateside and the Scandinavia Supporters’ Club. 

 

Q: How many tickets do each supporters’ club receive? Unfortunately, we have had to cancel a coach we had booked for QPR as we received fewer tickets than anticipated. 

MJ: The number of tickets available varies depending on our total allocation, but it will be 30% of the total split equally between the 14 groups mentioned above.  

I saw some discussion earlier in the season questioning why the club didn’t get larger allocations for away games – I can assure you; we leverage every club we visit for largest possible allocation, making multiple approaches in the run-up to the fixture. The amount we get is always the absolute maximum we can. 

AC: The EFL regulations are clear – we are entitled to 2,000 tickets or 10% of the stadium capacity, whichever is lower. 

MJ: There will always be significant demand for local games – we saw that with Reading last year and QPR this year for example. Our advice to supporter groups remains the same – if members of your group have enough points to buy in the normal loyalty window, let others in the group have the opportunity to purchase through the supporter group. 

JM: We said after the Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup tie in 2023, please don’t book away travel before we’ve been able to confirm your ticket allocation. 

 

Q: Some supporter groups have discussed sharing their ticket allocations to optimise the number of available tickets for games local to them. Does the club have any objections to this? 

MJ: Geographical weighting for local supporter groups was something we removed some time ago, prior to my time at the Club – we haven’t done that in a number of years.

We can look again at our ticketing policy, but we would want to widen that consultation out to a broader group of supporters – everyone here is a member of a supporter group, and we’d need to speak to the wider fanbase as well before any changes are made to the policy.

 

Q: A wider consultation on away ticketing would be welcome. No system is perfect, but there may be opportunities to tweak and refine the current. In the meantime, is guidance for fans to join existing supporter group?

MJ: Lots of people gravitate to supporter groups for away ticket access – but they’re more than that, they’re communities. 

Some people lose sight of that. There’s a narrative among some on social media that away ticket access has become a ‘closed shop’ and that they can’t get tickets.

Yes, we do see high demand, but last year 14 away games reached general sale. This year, 3 out of 5 away games so far have reached general sale.

There are a small number of fixtures which sell out quickly to fans with a high number of loyalty points, but there’s a reason some people have amassed 100 loyalty points or more – they go to the less appealing fixtures, investing in time, money, petrol, and annual leave. We want to reward fans like that who make these sacrifices. 

 

Q: Some fans aren’t able to travel regularly for legitimate reasons, such as caring commitments. Would the club consider putting a small portion of tickets for each fixture on general sale, so there’s always an opportunity for wider access? 

MJ: It goes back to wider consultation – we’d need to discuss this with a broader group of fans. My concern is that it would become ‘fastest finger first’, which creates other issues. No system is perfect, but we’re always happy to listen and consider changes where needed. 

 

Q: Please can the Club confirm if those fans buying away tickets via a recognised supporter group earn loyalty points for each ticket they purchase? Can fans buying away tickets via a recognised supporter group also use their Client ID to purchase away tickets when they go on sale to the rest of the fanbase? 

MJ: Fans who purchase through a supporter group earn loyalty points for their tickets as usual. They cannot use their client ID to purchase multiple tickets. 

 

Q: Could it ever come to the stage where a football club outsource all ticket sales, with no need for a club ticket office?

MJ: I can’t see how that would work at any football club. We pay a licencing fee to Ticketmaster for use of their software, but ultimately we operate it. They have a call centre function, but we don’t utilise it. I can’t see the benefit to football clubs in removing their ticket office. 

 

[Note from TGFC attendees:] Can we please pass on our thanks to Vish and the rest of the team in the ticket office – we recognise that they do a fantastic job of ensuring fans can access tickets to support the team across the country through the season. 

 

3. Fratton Park

 

Q: There have been a number of improvement projects taking place at the stadium over the summer. Have these begun to have an impact on fans’ matchday experience, for example alleviating congestion in the North Stand?

AC: The North Stand, our biggest stand, has always been our most congested area – CCTV footage last year showed us the problem and many of the changes we’ve made have begun relieving some of the pressure.

The first game back was a little different, as for the Millwall fixture in the League Cup we had many fans who normally sit in other areas in and weren’t regulars in the North stand.

We’re still making improvements, for example changing the signage based on feedback. One of the biggest congestion points was around kiosk 2, the closest to the Fratton End on the upper level. We have added a new snaking queueing system there, to avoid flows of people overlapping.

We are also adding a fast pre-pay token system hatch into that area, to speed up the sale of drinks at half time. So far this season, we’ve seen a 20% increase in North Stand kiosk sales, on already-high takings last year. 

MJ: I sit in on the stewards debriefs after each game and can assure you the stadium safety, operation and steward team work hard to continue to review and rectify pinch points.

 

Q: With the Women’s team scheduled to move to Fratton Park in the next few years, is a new pitch planned for the future?

AC: We will need a new pitch to accommodate our ambition to host our women’s side at Fratton Park. It would also be necessary if we were to hold concerts at Fratton Park.

The existing pitch is approaching the end of its natural life – that will be another capital project which will require more spend on not just the cost of the pitch itself, but drainage and undersoil heating (which is a requirement for Premier League football). 

TB: While the major development works on the North Stand, South Stand and Milton End have now been completed, there remains significant annual health & safety infrastructure works for Fratton Park. 

 

Q: When are the rest of the Fratton End seats due to be replaced?

AC: When I arrived, they were the smartest in the stadium! Now, they stand out as perhaps untidy, with some in need of replacement. The top part of the stand has recently had new rail seats fitted. The cost to replace the standard seats on lower rows is around £60 per seat. It’s partly a cosmetic issue, but some will need replacing.  

As a coastal club with a stadium exposed to sea air, everything ages more rapidly here. We’ve not yet decided the timescale for any such works. These will be considered alongside all the other various stadium maintenance and capital works projects.  

Any new seats might be all-blue to match the rest of the stadium, that would make sense – murals are hard to maintain when individual seats need repairing or replacing. 

 

Q: There still appears to be a large segregation area in the Milton End. When this was raised last season, the reason given was that the Club was testing different segregation configurations and was taking a cautious approach to having opposing fans in the same stand. Is this still the case? If so, does this mean we will only be able to reach full capacity when an away team takes the entire Milton End?

AC: There are 24 seats in row of each block. It’s a Safety Advisory Group recommendation, based on the Sports Ground Safety Authority’s Green Guide, that “the positioning of any temporary means of segregation does not result in more than 14 seats in any row being distant from a  gangway at one end only”. That leaves us 10 seats in the block as the segregation marker – We can’t therefore reduce it We’ve actually had pressure on us from home fans in the Milton to have a wider gap between home and away fans, but we will for now keep it as it is. 

 MJ: At West Brom, away fans piled into the segregation netting after one of their goals. That shows why it’s necessary. 

AC: We have had some reports from home fans who sit in the Milton End who feel too close to away supporters. We have a duty of care to those supporters – they need to feel safe. We also need to consider how best to segregate facilities on the concourse. We have 7 different positions for segregation and can flex it to match demand from the away club. We work hard to maximise every seat possible. 

 

Q: Is the Club aware of any negative feedback from visiting fans about congestion in the Milton End, and the difficulties they have encountered accessing concessions and toilets? If so, is there anything the Club can do to address these concerns?

AC: Previously, away fans had only 1 kiosk and 2 tills serving them. Now they have 3 kiosks and 10 tills. We used to average £900 in sales at that end, and now average £10,000 per game. We’ve found that fans who have just entered the ground naturally gravitate towards the nearest kiosk. So we are now directing early arrivals down to the further third kiosk – that creates a better flow of supporters on the concourse. We’re also now briefing stewards at half time to direct fans to the nearest kiosk to them, so that there’s less crossover on the walkway at the back.

When constructing the Milton End, we decided to increase the width of the stand by building much further back and it replicates the width of the Fratton End concourse. The concourse is now as far back as we can go.

Like all stands, there is inevitable congestion in bars at half time – that’s always likely in a football stadium.  We’ve provided more bathrooms, more tills, more kiosks, and crucially have ensured wheelchair fans can now sit with their own supporters. These things represent significant improvements. But we continue to monitor this, and are always looking to improve wherever we can.

JM: I’m in touch with my opposite number at visiting clubs and have not had any negative feedback on their supporters’ experiences. 

Q: Our disabled fans are very pleased with the new disabled spaces made available because of the Milton End lift. They have reported not being able to go in the lift at the same time as away fans though, which slows down entry into the stadium. Why is this? 

MJ: I believe this will have come out of one of the stewards debriefs. I’ll take this away as an action to look into. 

[POST MEETING] Marie Stedman: It will depend on what else is occurring at that time, so the brief will always be not to mix (not because of the individuals using the lift) because of opening the gates at the bottom but we will look into it to see if we can improve this.

 

Q: Please can the club display the opposition team on the big screen as well as having it read out? It’s not always audible in the stadium. 

AC: That’s a good piece of feedback – we’ve been displaying the away team on the big screen around half an hour from kick-off but will do this closer to kick-off in the future.  

 

4. Stadium, Travel & Local Infrastructure 

 

Q: With improvements in matchday travel a key factor in any proposed capacity increase at Fratton Park, please can we have the usual update on the feasibility study regarding a potential Fratton Footbridge? 

AC: We have made progress on this – the feasibility study is now underway. This is not a club project, but with a Delivery Board led by an independent expert on bridge infrastructure who has good local knowledge and a good grasp of construction matters.

Other stakeholders are Board members with attendance in addition from Network Rail and South Western Railways. The Delivery Board reports back to the Fratton Forum, chaired by Stephen Morgan MP.

There are 4 key issues for the Delivery Board:

1) What’s needed for existing highways to support new routes?

2) Where should a new rail bridge be located, and what route should it take?

3) What is the connectivity to any new development planned by The Pompey Centre?

4) How it will initially link to Fratton Park with consideration to proposed future redevelopment of other amenities- residential development etc. – at Portsmouth Football Club.

The indication is that this is likely to be a 12-month project. By next autumn, we might know if a footbridge is feasible, and if so where a preferred route might be and likely costs. 

 

Q: Until a solution is found for the footbridge, please can the club provide an update on how it is working with other parties to mitigate the safety risk to fans using Goldsmith Avenue on matchdays?

AC: Marie Stedman [Head of Safety & Stadium Operations] and myself attended a Zone X meeting on Thursday, which is a sub-group of the Safety Advisory Group involving the emergency services, highways network, and local travel providers who all look at all possible risks ahead of a matchday.

Marie is in constant communication with them all before fixtures. A good example was the West Brom game. There was a view to place rail replacement buses on Goldsmith Avenue, but this was considered too high a risk and so they were relocated.

The parties responsible for road closures have again reiterated that shutting Goldsmith Avenue before or after games isn’t possible primarily because Portsmouth is an island city and unlike other cities has little scope for relief roads – local residents would not easily be able to reroute their journeys. Emergency service vehicles would be impeded and there would be a considerable impact on local retailers and businesses in Fratton and around the Pompey Centre.

Please continue to report any near misses on Goldsmith Avenue to the club so that we can continue to highlight the risk and the need for a route to Fratton Station away from Goldsmith Avenue.

 

Q: Fans that travel to games by train have reported that services to Fratton Station are not frequent enough, and do not have enough carriages. This is leading to long waiting times for a train and congestion at Fratton Station. Is the club able to do anything to influence the train operators to improve services on matchday? Will the feasibility study look at the need for extra platforms or longer carriages?

AC: No – that’s not within the feasibility study remit. Fratton Station does need greater capacity for the ingress and egress of passengers, as currently people spill out onto Goldsmith Avenue. How do we get them safely away from traffic remains our overriding focus. I’m quite encouraged by the response of South Western Railways and what has come out of our meetings with them.  

We have asked if we can we have better notice of rail replacement buses and sought to understand the planning and communications processes between Network Rail and the rail operating companies.

 

Q: Does the club have secure cycle parking provision at Fratton Park on matchdays?

MJ: We have three bike lockup points around the stadium, plus the perimeter fence. There’s also cycle parking available outside the Pompey in The Community offices [on Anson Road]. Larger bike stores, like the ones you may see outside of major train stations, are a big investment. 

AC: That’s another infrastructure project we’re looking at – we’re committed to improving the club’s environmental impact.

 

5. Broadcasting

 

Q: Whilst supporters understand the financial benefit of the new EFL TV deal, it has had an adverse impact on match-going fans, with some experiencing difficulty travelling to Leeds (A) and West Brom (H) due to rearranged kick-off times. What’s the club’s stance on it?

AC: Nothing beats the experience of watching live football and we must cherish that. If you’re in the Championship or Premier League, fixtures moving from their traditional Saturday 3pm slot is a fact of life, even prior to the new TV deal.

The EFL achieved a brilliant broadcasting deal in a market which is flatlining, delivering increased revenue for what is a secondary European league. This against a background where in some overseas territories we are seeing TV deals collapsing, causing critical issues and in some cases distress for their member clubs.

The extra revenue delivered by the EFL did provide increased opportunities in the summer transfer window. Although the new deal impacts the club by the loss of iFollow revenue, it’s more than outweighed by the new TV deal with the uplift in revenue especially for Championship clubs, and very beneficial too for clubs in League 1 and 2.

The notice periods given to fans when games are moved for TV is a fundamental change and I feel is a positive step forward for clubs and supporters. Before the season started, clubs and fans had certainty on all fixtures up to January 11th 2025, a significant improvement on the previous notice period of 5 weeks. By November 1st, we’ll have confirmation of all the fixtures up to the 3rd week in March, then it’s a rolling process towards end of the season, with 4 weeks’ notice.

Whilst the 3pm blackout stays in place, (which I personally believe is in the best interests of the football pyramid), there will always be a delicate balance between broadcasters and the preservation of traditional kick off times.

The upside of being on TV is that does put more eyeballs on Portsmouth, enabling a greater audience accessibility to watch the club with extra commercial opportunities. This week, fans will be able to watch our game at Stoke on Sky Sports Plus.

We don’t yet have viewing numbers – that will help us to understand further how successful the new TV deal has been. A review at the end of the season, with input from all stakeholders in the game would be helpful. 

 

6. AOB

MW: Peter Harris was an integral part of the club’s title winning team in 1948/49 and 1949/50 and is the club’s record goalscorer. The Pompey History Society has the opportunity to acquire his two First Division medals from those seasons, and is fundraising in order to buy these medals to put them on display for all supporters. Fans can donate to this project here. 

 

– Minutes by Donald Vass