Portsmouth chief Andy Cullen issues fresh apology to fans after ticketing chaos - and reveals My Pompey Hub regrets

And the Blues’ chief executive conceded it was ‘not a great time’ to last month also launch the much-maligned online My Pompey Hub.

Just 11,470 were present against Crewe in August after restrictions were lifted to allow supporters back for the first time in 18 months.

That represented the lowest league crowd at Fratton Park for eight-and-a-half years.

Matters had improved the following game, with 14,471 in attendance for the midweek visit of Shrewsbury.

However, the club faced much criticism, prompting a full review conducted by Cullen.

And, at Thursday night’s Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference, he admitted Pompey’s culpability.

Cullen told the conference: ‘First of all, I’d like to apologise to all those people affected for the first two matches, the first game against Crewe in particular. There were a number of different issues to contend with.

‘Firstly, we received notice from the EFL in July that we could return to full crowds, just three weeks prior to the first game.

‘That was very welcome news, but previous indications had been to prepare for a staggered return and not to presume that full crowds would be allowed.

‘We knew we would need to put the first three games on general sale in order to give us enough time to sort out season tickets. With hindsight, the decision to allow people to buy their own seat for these first three games may have been the wrong one.

‘The original plan was to allow supporters to choose any seat for a flexi game and that their usual seats would not be reserved for them. To me this did not seem quite right, as I thought it was only right that season ticket holders should have the right to buy their seats from where they had watched games from over several seasons.

‘We therefore had a determination to go back to the ticketing company and find a solution where flexi season ticket holders could secure their own seat for these fixtures.

‘That was successful, but added complications to the process, though I still think it was the right thing to do.

‘We then had the biggest problem, the reconfiguration of the stadium. Many people were needing to relocate.

‘That became a long, complicated process, particularly at the ticket office counter as people wanted to take their time to choose the right seats. We wanted as many people as possible to be with their family and friends. We recognise that’s a massive part of the match-day experience.

‘Another big issue was Covid. We had a high number of staff needing to isolate, either with symptoms themselves or having been pinged in July.

‘Previously, we’ve been able to lean on Ticketmaster for their telephone operation when selling big events, but they closed this facility down during the pandemic so that wasn’t available to us. We’ll be more lined up with them in the future and involve them more in what we’re planning.

‘The website crashing was a difficult one to resolve. We needed the telephone lines to support online queries. When we launch big things on site we should insist on Ticketmaster support on site.

‘If we’d had the time again, we’d do things on a stand by stand basis on pre-allocated days. We can potentially take this forward when moves occur in the South Stand and North Lower on a smaller scale. It was upsetting seeing people in long queues, particularly lots of disabled and elderly fans. We need to do better.

‘We hold our hands up – things were incredibly difficult. The staff left at the ticket office and those from other departments who supported them all, who had not being “pinged” or affected by Covid during this period, did an amazing job.

‘But there were a lot of problems and it was not an easy process.’

According to Cullen, Pompey have sold 11,337 season tickets, having previously had 12,795 flex-season ticket holders.

In addition, the club’s drive to increase membership has taken them to 1,725 adults and 264 junior members.

That measures favourably in comparison to 700 members in the ‘season before last’.

Elsewhere, Cullen admits mistakes have been made in rolling out the online My Pompey Hub last month to deal with ticketing, the club shop and Pompey rewards.

Cullen added: ‘We did too much too soon – it was not a great time to launch it.

‘We had too many projects on the go and trying to shoe-horn that in alongside a complicated season ticket process was an impossible task.

‘Keenness overtook delivery in what was an unusual and unprecedented set of circumstances.

‘We want to be a digitally well-connected club in the future. We’ll use focus groups to test all new applications in advance from now on.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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