Still no Portsmouth pressure to sell prized assets despite fan return blow

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson shelved plans for the reintroduction of supporters to elite sporting events from October 1.

Pompey had hoped to use Saturday’s League One clash against Wigan as a fans pilot scheme.

One-thousand spectators assigned seats at Fratton Park was in the offing ahead of a proposal to allow 25-35 per cent of the ground’s capacity to be occupied from next month.

But with Covid-19 cases in England rising exponentially once again, fans might not return to stadia until March 2021.

Chief executive Mark Catlin has admitted the Blues are haemorrhaging circa £700,000 a month because of a loss of match-day revenue. He also confessed that he’s starting to worry about football’s future.

Yet before last season’s play-off defeat to Oxford, manager Kenny Jackett insisted he would not have to sell valuable commodities such as Ronan Curtis or Alex Bass to ease the financial burden on Pompey.

The Blues have planned accordingly following the introduction of a salary cap and squad size limits (22) for leagues One and Two.

And while Jackett continues to tinker with his set-up ahead of the transfer window closing on October 16 – with Gareth Evans set to complete a move away – he reaffirmed the stance that he's not been told to flog any of his key players.

The Pompey boss told The News: ‘We have very, very good owners and they have been taking into consideration the rules and regulations of the salary cap.

‘Squad planning has been around the designated 22 players and we've been working towards that.

'The salary cap has come in at £2.5m and there is a squad-number maximum of 22.

‘We've been working with that internally. How that affects clubs and our club down the line, we will see.

‘The owners have been very consistent and working away behind the scenes.

‘The salary cap and the numbers have dictated to us early on and I've been told nothing different (about not having to sell assets).

‘We've been very stable and consistent towards working that number and that maximum number of players.’

Over the summer Ronan Curtis, the Blues’ joint-top scorer last season was linked with Championship Brentford. Meanwhile Alex Bass was reportedly interesting both Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough.

Despite the government’s announcement on Tuesday that fans would continue to be locked out of elite-level grounds, Pompey announced the loan signing of Rasmus Nicoliasen from FC Midtjylland 24 hours later – their fifth new arrival since that Oxford defeat at the end of last season.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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