'Portsmouth faithful want financial stability - not more spending by owners': Revealing new Pompey Supporters' Trust survey
The majority of Pompey fans value ongoing financial sustainability above being reliant on money from their owners.
That’s among the findings from the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust’s second annual survey, which has been published this evening.
And, according to Trust chairman Donald Vass, it ‘reinforces that fans broadly aren’t clamouring for massively more investment on the pitch.’
A total of 1,010 supporters filled in the recent survey, which asked for views ranging on what Pompey issues are most important to them, thoughts on ticket pricing, and questions they would like to see posed to owners Tornante.
A question addressing financial sustainability in the Championship saw 68 per cent of those voting choose ‘I’d like to see the club continue to operate in a more sustainable way, even if this means a lower playing budget’.
The second option, which was selected by 32 per cent of those who voted, stated ‘I’d like to see more owner investment, even if this means the club becoming increasingly dependent on continual injections of cash from the owners.’
And Vass believes the preference is clear from the ‘majority of the fanbase - but not everyone’.
He told The News: ‘Clearly you're never going to be able to get everyone involved, but we are really thrilled that more than 1,000 gave up their time. I think it’s a really good chunk of fans.
‘It just reinforces that fans broadly aren’t clamouring for massively more investment on the pitch. By no means am I saying everyone, but a majority of the fanbase are comfortable that we are a debt-free club.
‘We are just enjoying debating what’s on the pitch at the moment rather than debating whether the club is going to survive or not, as we’ve done in years gone by.
‘I completely appreciate that the question deliberately gives people a polar choice and, in reality, the club have more options than that. We went for a question which was one or the other in order to get a good steer of where people would put themselves on that spectrum.
‘It’s interesting to see that, in that polar extreme we gave them, they actually value the security of the club over perhaps short-term success.
‘Both years we have done this survey, the financial sustainability of the club was a top-three pick in terms of importance to fans. It’s also actually one of the topics fans have been most pleased with in both years.
‘According to this, fans aren’t clamouring for vastly more money to be made available for transfers at the expense of the club’s security.
‘It’s obvious to me that Pompey fans don’t have short-term memories, we all remember the bad years where we spent beyond our means. Fans value the stability and security of the club and, at the moment, really appreciate where we are at - a debt-free club.
‘The idea of financial sustainability is always a tricky one, I am unsure whether financial stability in a true sense is even achievable in the Championship. The average loss of £13m shows it’s very, very hard for clubs to compete at the top level of the Championship without backing from the owners.
‘To date, Pompey have had backing from the owners, particularly on infrastructure projects. Perhaps now Fratton Park is the best level it has been in many years.
‘I think some of the owners’ investment might now pivot towards the playing squad as well.’
Unhappiness over Pompey’s Academy
The full results of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust survey is available from their website at https://www.pompeytrust.com/
Meanwhile, for consecutive years, the Academy was voted as the topic supporters are least happy with, finishing bottom of the 14 presented options.
Vass added: ‘Not unreasonably, fans will judge the success of the Academy by how many graduates we have on the pitch at Fratton Park - and, at the moment, that is none.
‘The success of an Academy is going to be felt a few years in delay. Fans aren’t necessarily going to be able to see the good work going on right now, but potentially in a few years.
‘So what would be really useful is for fans to hear a bit more about what’s going on at the Academy and for the club to share their vision for that, such as what the pathway for players into the first-team is.
‘There is probably a bit more communication work to be done there from the club.’
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