Portsmouth owner reveals long-term Fratton Park capacity ambition - and extent to which numbers could've been slashed

And the Pompey owner has told how the Blues could’ve ended up with a home with a capacity of as little as 8,000, without the investment they’re ploughing into it.

Eisner is overseeing a £11.4m regeneration of his club’s home, as the latest stage of a £30m-plus commitment to infrastructure.

That will take capacity to north of 20,000, but the key to unlocking signature growth in numbers lies in a massively extended North Stand.

When asked about Fratton Park’s capacity, Eisner told the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference: ‘We analyse it endlessly. We want to get up to 20,000-22,000.

‘The plan for the North Stand is to rebuild it and get us to 30,000 or more.

‘We think that capacity is achievable in the city.

‘We can’t do that until at least the Championship, if not the Premier League.

‘We’ve got extremely good architects. The Milton End will hold 3,200, and that takes us to 20,000.

‘The additional 10,000 will come from the new North Stand.’

Eisner made it clear the work currently taking place at Fratton Park and scheduled moving forward was a necessity, not only to get capacity up to the 20,000 region - but stop it being slashed to potentially just 8,000 because of safety factors.

He added: ‘If we hadn’t done anything, as England became more safety conscious we were going to be pushed down to eight or 10 thousand in that stadium.

‘I love the stadium and I think the fans love the stadium.

‘I think it’s going to be one of the great historic places to go - we’re bringing it back to its glory.’

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