Revealed: Details of Eisners' massive £30m Portsmouth commitment laid bare

The Blues owners will next month plough £5m into the coffers, as their commitment to building strong foundations for the club continues.

The level of spending has been revealed by Pompey’s chief operating officer, Tony Brown, after Michael Eisner and son Eric met with the Tony Goodall Fans’ Conference last week.

The minutes from the meeting have now been released and detail wide-ranging discussions, as the Americans look towards ramping up their communications with supporters.

Brown took the opportunity to detail the level of spending, when asked about the near £11.5m stadium redevelopment of Fratton Park.

That was broken down into £5m already spent on work at the club’s home along with £2.5m on acquiring property around the ground.

Brown stated £3m had been spent on operational costs across the Eisners’ stewardship, and indicated around £3m was required to purchase the club’s Roko training base.

The forthcoming stadium work, covering operation costs this term off the back of the Covid pandemic and further work on the training ground will take the huge investment beyond the £30m landmark - and is a clear riposte to those questioning the commitment of the owners to their club.

Brown said in meeting’s minutes: ‘The investment in infrastructure over the past four years has been substantial – as has been the recent financial commitments in the stadium works and purchase of ROKO.

‘The club has already spent £5m on health and safety stadium works (South Stand cladding and roof, floodlights, North Stand roof). There has been £2.5m spent on property acquisitions around the ground including the new shop, and a similar amount on the purchase of the Roko training ground site.

‘The operational cost of running the club during those four years was £3m – meaning a total spend to date of £13.5m.

‘Now the club has committed to an £11.4m redevelopment of Fratton Park and another £3m to run the club operationally this season due to the effects of the pandemic. With extra works required on the Roko site, the total cost commitment to date will soon be north of £30m.

‘All of the new investment will be via share capital and we remain debt-free.

‘The forms were sent to Michael last week for the next £5m tranche in share capital and will be published next month.’

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