Eric Eisner unveils Portsmouth owners' next target following Championship return

Eric Eisner has unveiled next season’s Championship target now Pompey’s 12-year exile has finally ended.

And he admits the Premier League remains Tornante’s ultimate ‘goal’ as they bid to maintain encouraging momentum.

For 2024-25, the Blues will line-up in the Championship for the first time since 2012 after claiming the League One title in a magnificent campaign under John Mousinho.

It represents long-awaited success for chairman Michael Eisner, having waited seven years to escape the division, a frustrating period consisting of two play-off semi-final eliminations.

Naturally the Fratton faithful are intrigued to discover next season’s ambition, with focus this summer returning to squad evolution and recruitment under sporting director Rich Hughes.

And Pompey director Eric Eisner insists primarily the aim centres on retaining their hard-earned Championship status.

He told The News: ‘The aim is to stay up - and again we are going to stick with the exact strategy we’ve said the whole time.

‘Now we’ve gone up, it’s stay up, progress up the table. It’s always been about promotions without relegations.

‘We have always said that - when we get to the next level - the goal is to stay up, recalibrate, see where you’re at. Draft a young team, see how far that nucleus can take you, but do it in a sustainable manner.

‘Of course it requires more investment because the players’ salaries are more, but you also get a bigger pay off from the EFL and then the Premier League deal is coming up, so we’ll see what happens there.

‘We’re going to make a lot more money from the EFL, which will allow us to get a lot better players. Plus if Rich chooses wisely, which he will, with a good nucleus of players I am pretty optimistic about next year.

‘You build a team and we already have a very competitive nucleus. You don’t know how far that nucleus can go, but if you get a good one of young players it can go far.

‘Obviously the Premier League is a goal. The analogy I use is we’ve just gone up one peak and come down the other - and the next peak is a big peak, which is the Championship.

‘So we don’t look too far ahead, you need to focus on the here and now, but our goals and end goals are to climb the entire mountain.’

The Eisner family recently returned to England for the last match of their title campaign at Lincoln.

Eric, of course, had been over several times during the promotion run-in, including the visit of Wigan on the day of the League One trophy presentation.

And they basked in the city’s celebrations at a sunny Southsea Common before turning to America.

He added: ‘Sometimes people think we take a back seat with the press, it’s more of an American style.

‘The team on the ground here deserve a lot of the credit and will talk to you, Andy Cullen has done an amazing job, so it’s not that we are avoiding press whatsoever.

‘We just feel that the team on the ground deserve the credit.’