Portsmouth chief's North Stand warning as Fratton Park season ticket waiting list rockets to 2,000

Andy Cullen surveyed Pompey’s soaring supporter waiting list and warned: We have to be sensible over our North Stand ambition.

More than 2,000 fans are currently in the ever-lengthening queue for Blues season tickets after the existing cap on 15,000 holders was retained.

With the Blues back in the Championship next season and bumper attendances surpassing 20,000 on five occasions during their title-winning campaign, demand is clearly rocketing.

The club’s immense potential isn’t lost on Cullen, who has long spoken of owners Tornante’s desire to construct a new North Stand as part of the Portsmouth Local Plan.

Yet he has stressed the importance of maintaining a ‘balance’ between cost and increasing capacity.

He told The News: ‘We have more than 2,000 on the waiting list. These are prospective season ticket holders and they will have the opportunity later in the summer to take advantage of any tickets which haven’t been renewed by the existing 15,000 season ticket holders.

‘There will always be a churn of season ticket holders. If you’ve got 15,000, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the same 15,000 the year after, even if we got to the Premier League that wouldn’t be the case.

‘It reflects the interest in the football club, which is really, really strong, but, in terms of expanding the ground to cope with that, there is always a balance.

‘You have to balance the cost of the investment in increasing capacity, which is not cheap, and an extra 2,000 people on the gate.

‘That would be an additional £15-16 yield per game, which is what a seat is roughly worth after you take out the VAT and everything else.

‘Say we have an extra 5,000 seats in, you are looking roughly at about £2m extra coming in per season. Then if you look at the number at other new stands being developed or redeveloped at Liverpool, Fulham and Nottingham Forest, you are talking £80m-£100m. There’s quite a long payback on that.

‘The way we have to do it is look at how we create that capacity in a sensible way. We haven’t got somebody to wave £80m-£100m for a £2m return each year, there are other ways of doing it.

‘That’s why the development around the ground is where we need to have that long-term vision - and that comes with the next stage of infrastructure work.

‘We continue to work really, really hard to create those conditions.’

Cullen arrived in May 2021 from MK Dons, where he had spent 12-and-a-half years serving as executive director.

Pompey had just completed a season in which all but three of their League One fixtures had been played behind closed doors, albeit with those particular games restricted to 2,000.

Supporters returned to Fratton Park in August 2021, with 11,470 present against Crewe, although stadium restrictions were in place over safety concerns.

He added: ‘There wasn’t a waiting list when I arrived, but you have to put everything into context.

‘Back then the capacity was around the 16,500 mark and there was a move to reduce it in that first season (2021-22) to a lower capacity because of safety concerns. We were told in no uncertain terms we were probably heading towards a 10,000 capacity if work didn’t start soon or wasn't completed.

‘The good news was even before I arrived, that programme was already in place. So we were able to demonstrate to the licensing authorities that a reduction wasn’t needed and we were able to maintain around 16,500.

‘We had three stands running at 60-70 per cent of their licenced capacity, but the owners’ investment has moved us on.’