Chief executive Peter Storrie will stick by his welcome pledge to keep tickets to just £20 per game for adults.

It's an admirable policy in a competition which is far from money-spinning – regardless of the grandeur surrounding many of its participants.

The Blues have earned just £89,747 for reaching the group stages.
That is on top of the £78,154 they raked in for reaching the first round.

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It's an embarrassing contrast to the money-laden Champions League which attracts a staggering £2.34m for reaching the group stage alone.

On top of that, clubs earn £312,106 per group match they play.

Wins are also rewarded with a bonus of £468,185.

Back to earth with the UEFA Cup, the inevitably high demand for tickets for Milan and Heerenveen could have seen Pompey doubling prices in a bid to maximise their income.

Instead, filling Fratton Park remains the priority, whatever the cost.

And Storrie believes that approach can produce the financial results they are striving for.

He said: 'I promised people I would keep prices as they are and that's what I have done.

'Not a lot of clubs would follow that in the light of drawing out AC Milan.

'But I made the decision pre-season that I wanted to get full capacities for games in Europe so the prices have been kept low.

'Clubs have struggled to sell tickets in Europe in the past.

'We want to make sure we fill the stadium for all the games because we need that money.

'We have to pay for our travelling costs and everything that goes with it.

'That includes air fare, hotel expenses and to bring all our staff out to the matches.

'The prize money is ridiculous until you get to the quarter-finals.

'Let's get it into perspective – there is no money in the UEFA Cup.

'We need to have full houses at Fratton Park to help off-set the travelling expenses. We need everyone to come out and support us.

'It would be very easy for us to double our match-day prices for these UEFA Cup matches, but we aren't going to.

'Instead, they will remain at £20 for adults, with the tickets grouped together so supporters have to go to both group games.

'So for £40 they will get to see AC Milan and a Heerenveen team who just thumped Ajax 5-2.'

The club will announce full tickets details and kick-off times by tomorrow as they thrash out the finer points.

That includes potential dates with television as well as all ticketing arrangements, with Milan themselves believed to want 1,000 seats.

In the meantime, any disappointment over the failure to land a trip to the San Siro are now diminishing.

But, as Storrie revealed, Pompey had no choice in the matter.

He added: 'In theory we could have had AC Milan at the San Siro, but blame the computer.

'After the draw, the next section is handled by UEFA's computer rather than any of us. We are as helpless as the supporters.

'The computer takes into consideration all the various attributes such as weather and what games can be played when – a whole range of different things.

'In the meantime, we have lunch and talk to the representatives from other teams.

'After about an hour you get a sheet with all the details – the computer decides the dates and the venues and that's that.

'Still, I'm certainly not complaining about AC Milan coming to Fratton Park.'

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