Detailed: Portsmouth chief talks in depth about new £2m Fratton Park project - and when it will start

Andy Cullen has provided further details on the new £2m project to upgrade Fratton Park and the Blues’ Hilsea training ground.

During a video message to the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust, Michael Eisner last week revealed more infrastructure work is on the agenda.

That includes addressing North Stand congestion issues, redeveloping the Victory Lounge, installing a new TV gantry, and relocating players and staff into overhauled facilities at the Pompey Health & Fitness Club.

Now Pompey’s chief executive has provided an in-depth look at the plans, with work set to begin in 2024.

Cullen told The News: ‘This is a massive vote of confidence from the owners.

‘They have already invested the best part of £15-16m into Fratton Park improvements since they’ve been here. Now they’re going to invest well over £2m into these various projects because they believe in it and want to be here for a long time.

‘With all of these projects, we’re hoping to get them underway in 2024. Combined, that will cost in excess of £2m of capital investment and, in a lot of them, we will see a good return.

‘The TV gantry, for example, won't be a huge return, although it will provide a really good facility for broadcast companies and, importantly, that gantry will be Premier League-ready in terms of size and everything else we need. With the club’s aspirations to get back to the very top level at some point, it’s going to be vital.

‘The mezzanines in the North Stand will improve supporter experience, the Victory Lounge work will show a good return on the investment, and the training ground plans are really important in selling the message to players, coaches and staff.

‘We can’t do everything at once, I don’t want all the work going on in the summer, otherwise there'll be contractors everywhere, but it will start in 2024.

‘Michael is really keen to invest in projects which will benefit supporters and benefit the football club in the long-run. That's whether it’s a good capital return or offers really good experiences, good service and being assets of the community of Portsmouth.’

Pompey are almost at the end of the current £12m re-development programme for Fratton Park, which began in June 2021.

The Milton End is pencilled in for completion in December, with attention then turning to fresh infrastructure investment in 2024.

And, in Cullen’s words, he details each of the four planned projects...

TV gantry

‘The TV gantry virtually finishes off this current phase at Fratton Park, which is important because it actually leads to a number of different things.

‘The gantry is very ancient now and we currently have a temporary gantry in front of the directors’ box. Once that is removed, we will actually create more seats, probably between 60-70 in that South Stand section.

‘We will also remove the cat ladder, which is going to improve sightlines for a number of supporters.

‘Elsewhere, Marie Stedman (head of safety and stadium operations) and her operations team are currently housed in a room in the southern section of the Milton End on a temporary basis while work continues on their box.

‘Once that is complete, it allows us to look at that as an executive room facility, which will help generate a bit more match-day revenue, so that's really exciting.

‘Work on the gantry will take place this summer. We need to bring in a crane, but it won’t run across the pitch. We will assemble it on the halfway line in front of the dug-outs.’

Training ground

‘The next big project at the training ground is moving the first-team out of the Portakabins and into the Pompey Health & Fitness Club building.

‘There will be analysis suites, recruitment, another gym, medical facilities, offices and a common room for the players, while bringing the Academy and first-team closer together to help create the conditions for success.

‘We will probably start work on that in the spring, which means it will be ready for pre-season ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.

‘We have loads of space in the former Roko building, even though there is a gym up there already, and that will allow us to remove the Portakabins. In turn, that can create more space for pitches, which is all part of the long-term plan.’

North Stand

‘We have a real problem in the North Stand with queuing at half-time.

‘Piglet's Pantry have done a fantastic job in terms of the revenue on match-days, tripling it, so there’s now well over a million pounds on match-days coming from that.

‘However, although the North Stand is the biggest stand in the stadium and we have put more bars in there, we have seen huge queues and lots of congestion, even going outside. There’s also a conflict with people queuing for toilets at half-time.

‘When we did the North Stand, we created two mezzanine levels in the upper tear, providing concrete floors which people can then flood out onto from the two upstairs bars. We also created a new bar area, which alleviated some of the pressure.

‘What we must do is create more of those mezzanines and more toilets, then hopefully it will create a much better experience for supporters in the North Stand - and will enable us to continue growing revenue as well.

‘With that project, we’re looking for it to take place over the summer.’

Victory Lounge

‘We are not blessed with great facilities compared to our competitors for non-match days and the Victory Lounge has been around for a long time.

‘We want to make this room really, really special so it can become one of the best venues in Portsmouth to hold a meeting, an event, a function, but we also want to look at the outside of it as well.

‘It’s about rethinking the room, investing in a decent AV system, toilets, and creating an area to go outside also. Yet we will retain it for match-days because it’s important for supporters.

‘It will help us grow revenue and take us to the next level. Delia Smith invested quite heavily at Norwich in such facilities when I was there, it was hugely successful and continues to be so, although MK Dons was purpose-built with a hotel and conference facilities.

‘If we can get the Victory Lounge going so it becomes a very popular venue, then it really helps us facilitate the case for the North Stand in terms of what we can do on non-match days, having bigger rooms and more events, turning it into a really good venue.

‘People are coming back to work, the meeting and events business remains really big, they still want birthdays, they still want meetings, it’s huge.

‘We are still looking at when work could start, but I expect it to be within the next year to 18 months. We’ve got some functions booked this summer, including a couple of weddings, so just need to fulfil those commitments.

‘It’s about causing minimal disruption during the football season, but I’d like to get it up and running because I think it's a huge opportunity the football club can benefit from.’