‘There needs to be...’ - the Portsmouth verdict as frustrations grow at Fratton Park

That’s the view of The News’ chief sports writer, Neil Allen, who believes growing frustrations amid the fans and owners could see Pompey’s playing budget increase ahead of the 2022-23 season.

The Blues were recently condemned to a seventh consecutive campaign in League One after missing out on this term’s play-offs.

After their 1-1 draw against Oxford United in April, Eisner voiced his disappointment in a rare tweet. That was later followed by a comment on Instagram last weekend, when he insisted more will be done in the upcoming transfer window.

And more investment is needed if Pompey want to reach their Championship goal, according to Allen on the latest Pompey Q&A.

He said: ‘There needs to be a change in stance. There needs to be more investment into the playing side. Everyone agrees on that.

‘It’s not been good on the playing side for a number of years, they’ve not even qualified for the play-offs for the last three successive seasons.

‘They’ve changed the fabric of the football club by bringing in a sporting director in Rich Hughes. John Mousinho has come in with a lot less experience than his predecessors, but it didn’t work with those predecessors.

‘They need to do something. They’ve promised to rely less on loanees, less on Championship players reaching the end of their career and focusing on young upcoming players as well as established players.

‘We all want to see them invest more. We all want to see more of the likes of Ryley Towler and Paddy Lane, who they’ve invested in.

‘That’s the way they want to go forward and they’re quite right because the model they’ve used before Rich Hughes didn’t worked. It hasn’t worked for a number of years.

‘It didn’t work under Danny Cowley, it worked to a point under Kenny Jackett before it fizzled out - but at least they got into the play-offs at that period!

‘It’s been a really poor two years and they need to revitalise it somehow and there has to be more investment into the playing side. I’m not saying putting the club in debt but we all acknowledge that there needs to be an increased investment in the playing side - in terms of the budget and signing players.

‘You would think so (that there is growing frustration from Michael Eisner that they’re still in League One).

‘We’re told that they watch every game and I completely understand why they don’t come across for every match.

‘They must be disappointed, they have to be disappointed. We’ve watched these games, we’ve watched these performances, we’ve watched Pompey drift, the lack of progress and we can all see that. It’s obvious.

‘You just hope that this disappointment will manifest into an increased expenditure on the pitch. They’ve done a phenomenal job off the pitch and a lot of money has been put into that but more is needed on the pitch because we’re here for the football.

‘Hopefully they can do something about that, starting this summer.’