Portsmouth to stop season-ticket sales after incredible Fratton faithful response

Fratton Park season-ticket numbers are to be capped at 14,500 following excellent summer sales. Picture: Joe Pepler

Pompey have been forced to introduce a season-ticket sale cap as demand soars.

With the club already comfortably outstripping last year’s tally of 14,011, they have now put in place a ceiling of 14,500.

That maximum allocation will prevent selling out Fratton Park with season tickets – thereby enabling match-by-match sales to continue.

With the ground’s present capacity at 19,669, there will still be room to accommodate those who pick and choose their fixtures to attend.

However, with demand so high, the issue of the stadium’s expansion clearly remains pivotal to Pompey’s future.

In the meantime, commercial director Anna Mitchell is delighted with the season-ticket response ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.

She said: ‘We are really happy with the season-ticket sales, however we will be capping them at 14,500.

‘We wouldn’t want to sell a whole stadium out with season tickets and then not be able to accommodate the people wanting to come on a match-by-match basis.

‘It’s important for us in terms of growing the fan base that we have match-by-match tickets so people can come in and enjoy Fratton Park without having the commitment of a season ticket.

‘We are already limited on seats, especially those games where the away team take the whole of the Milton end.

‘So we wouldn’t want to be in a position where there are no tickets in the South stand or the North stand to sell on a match-by-match basis.

‘We know not all Pompey fans can commit to a season ticket, so it’s important fans and children can still come, while through our relationship with the University of Portsmouth we can encourage students too.

‘I think it helps build our fan base and, hopefully, in future years when we are looking at stadium development and increasing capacity, we are building a good foundation for that.

‘The current sales figures demonstrate that, off the back of last season and winning a trophy at Wembley, the fans are engaged and have high hopes for the forthcoming season.’

Fratton Park last season operated at 92.65 per cent of capacity (19,669), with an 18,223 average League One attendance.