The Rangers pre-season friendly that never was - why Pompey have no 125th Anniversary opposition this summer

Now there won’t be a showpiece Fratton Park match this summer – and Andy Cullen has explained why.

Championship club Bristol City are scheduled to visit the south coast on July 29, a slot initially pencilled in to welcome Rangers.

It is understood the Scottish giants were among a number of clubs approached by the Blues to serve as prestigious opposition during year-long festivities – and were encouragingly receptive.

However, the exciting fixture couldn’t be finalised, with Rangers ultimately preferring to focus on other opposition ahead of their third qualifying round Champions League opener on August 8/9.

And with other possibilities also falling by the wayside, Pompey instead face Nigel Pearson’s City without the 125th Anniversary fanfare.

Cullen told The News: ‘One of the objectives of the 125th Anniversary committee was to have a game.

‘We looked at a number of clubs, however the difficulties we’ve had is the Fratton Park pitch is not available until the end of July because of stadium work, which also impacts on the playing surface.

‘Potentially we had a team from outside of England who, from a commercial perspective, were interested in coming to play at Pompey,

‘However, for footballing reasons they couldn’t commit. They were unable to put anything to paper until they knew what their place would be in Europe.

‘As it turns out, their European qualifier is after the first week in August and they want to commit to playing European opposition as a part of their warm-up, which is totally understandable from a football perspective.

‘In terms of attracting top Premier League opposition, it is virtually impossible for the week we were looking at (July 29) – as the majority are either in America, Singapore, Europe or South Korea. Big European clubs are also involved in those tournaments.

‘Allied to that, if you are looking at Scotland and mid-sized European teams, you now have Europa Conference League qualifiers starting from July 13, in addition to qualifiers for the Europa League and Champions League in early August.

‘Meanwhile, the Scottish Premiership season didn’t finish until May 27, so we’d have to wait until then to find out the plans of Hibs, Hearts and Aberdeen, which is just too late.

‘Smaller European clubs are all represented by match agents and they want significant fees and travel costs to come over.

‘So a club in Europe that has no real historical pedigree with Pompey and might be a second-tier league team could cost up to £100,000 and, to be honest, we would get more watching Bristol City, so would be a significant loss.

‘Besides, is that really the right opposition for John before the season starts?’

In addition to their friendly with Bristol City (July 29), the Blues have fixtures lined-up against Bognor (July 11), Gosport (July 14), Hawks (July 15) and AFC Wimbledon (July 25).

They will also face a side out in Spain on Thursday, July 6 during a six-day training camp near Malaga.

Cullen added: ‘The most important thing is we get a pre-season schedule of games which gives us the best preparation - and one John and Rich feel gives us the best chance of kicking on.

‘There are the needs of the first-team and you cannot jeopardise preparations by hanging on and waiting for a club just in case, so we had to move on and Bristol City were very much in a similar position to ourselves.

‘While there isn’t necessarily historical context between Pompey and Bristol City, it gives John the ideal preparation, playing a team of that quality, Championship calibre, in the week before the season starts.’