Mark Catlin: This wonderful football club is stronger united - and the values which make Portsmouth football's envy can see us achieve ambitions

This is a unique football club, special football and one I hold very dear to my heart.

I love this club, I love this area and I love the fans - even the ones who don’t always agree with me!

Maybe that’s why I took the disappointment at the end of last season personally, and I believe I felt that low as much as anyone else.

But after taking stock and reflecting, I do feel energised again and actually very excited for what can be achieved moving forward.

Whatever your opinions of a player, chief exec, manager or whoever it might be, ultimately there wouldn’t be a person who went beyond a couple of days at this club if they didn’t want it to be successful.

We ALL want it to be successful, certainly fans included.

We can all have opinions - and everyone is certainly entitled to those - but on a matchday we need to be together: we’re stronger united.

Division brings failure, so we have to be united and that will give us the best chance of success.

I can’t guarantee that success, no one can, but that united spirit will give us the best chance of delivering what we all want - as we’ve seen here so clearly in the past.

We’ve held a series of meetings with myself, Kenny, his team and the players as a wider group across the summer.

We are only a few per cent away from going up automatically, as you can see from the past two seasons.

As disappointing as it is, it doesn’t lead us to believe we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater: It needs tweaks.

As a club separate from Kenny and the players, we’re always looking to improve and are thinking about what we can do to improve as a club.

The meetings have been more about what we can do as a club. Everyone needs to look at themselves, and I’m not different as a CEO.

It’s minor points: a win here or there. That would have made the difference last season.

It’s not like we have to turn a relegation team into a promotion team. We’re very close and a few key additions can make the difference.

We’ve brought in Cameron Pring to supplement and work with Lee Brown on the left-hand side.

There are a couple of positions which need strengthening, but with those strategic investments we’re hopeful we can get over the line.

I do remain confident given the momentum from last season, that, if we do start the season well, we have the squad and ability to achieve promotion this season.

It’s not as though we're a club on the verge of bankruptcy who’s just been relegated.

We’ve just gone a season unbeaten at home with a manager who has one of the best win percentages in football.

Yes, we have missed out and I’m not trying to gloss over the fact we’ve missed out on promotion - but we’re not that far away.

Fans are entitled to an opinion about style of play, but I’ve watched so much League One and League Two football.

This is where we’re at. Try to think of a club who came here and outplayed us playing attractive football? It doesn’t happen at this level.

It happens when you have a club who have a massive budget at this level, ala Blackburn or Wigan, when they had a budget three or four times that of Portsmouth.

You can go and get those players and get to the Championship – Our budget doesn’t dictate that. However, we’re constantly looking to improve, not just in results but performance and how we play as well.

The sport of football’s what we’re here for and to achieve success, both in the league and cup competitions.

But you can’t get away from the effect of Covid-19 and the effect it’s had on football generally, but in regards of Portsmouth it’s been devastating with regard to loss of revenue.

We can’t dwell on that, though, we have to adjust, adapt and not cry about it. That’s what I feel we’ve done.

The business remains steady, despite the huge losses and we are planning for the future.

It’s important to realise, however, that out of all of the clubs except Sunderland, we’re the most affected in this league by not having fans at games.

Our cost base in regard of supporting a club with larger expectations and bigger infrastructure is a lot more than other clubs.

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Portsmouth are heavily reliant on gate receipts to support its larger cost base, so it’s a difficult one.

At smaller clubs there’s a lot of doubling up of roles, but we have more pressure on our staff and a larger employment base.

So we are maybe adversely affected by loss of gate receipts more than most, but through innovative schemes we're keeping some revenue coming in.

Our overall cost base is something around £10m per year, so we have to keep functioning and keep going, even if that has attracted some criticism.

But it can’t continue indefinitely suffering the losses we currently are, and that’s the same at every club not just Portsmouth.

In terms of the stadium, we won’t hide behind Covid in not pursuing the work going on with the stadium, that’s not the key.

If the set conditions pre-Covid were met we are still ready to go, but there are a lot of issues out of our control.

I speak to Michael on a regular basis, Andy Redman and Eric as well. They’re a group and people who remain loyal and true to their word

When Michael stood up at the Guildhall, fans knew what they were getting - and Michael won’t be changing on that.

He pledges loyalty and a belief you should honour a contract: he expects the same back. You can’t expect that back and then not give it, as a fundamental principle.

Unless there was some drastic event which can happen in football in terms of a breach of trust or conduct, unless that happens we will stay true to our principles and values.

I feel we’re a ship plotting a course to our destination. We will get there, but at times we may have to tack to do so.

We want to be known as one of the most stable, reliable clubs in the land - they are the principles Michael, his family and our ownership group live by.

I’m proud we do the same as a club. And I’m proud this wonderful club is known for the values make us the envy of football - the same values which will ensure we achieve our ambitions together.

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