'We don’t want a pity party for us': Eric Eisner on the two lost years which impacted Portsmouth progress under Tornante

The Blues have been under the ownership of Michael Eisner since August 2017, taking over on the eve of their League One return.

Almost five years on, Pompey remain in the same division, having lost two play-off campaigns, and are presently positioned ninth.

However, Eric Eisner pinpoints two ‘lost’ years since Covid impacted on the UK from March 2020.

According to accounts last month posted at Companies House, the Blues had losses of £3.86m for the year ending June 30, 2021.

And Eisner is adamant that period applied the handbrake to club advancement.

He told The News: ‘Nobody planned for the pandemic obviously, so it’s really like in a way our third year.

‘It was hard for us, like it's hard for everybody in the community, and we are not here to complain about it, but as far as progress it’s two lost years.

‘This really is our third year. They are two lost years right there, we couldn’t come back over here (England) and be here with everybody and planning. It wasn’t good.

‘We used to come here four times a year and all of a sudden you can't come, I don't know exactly how it equates to what would have happened in those two years, but certainly it threw progress back.

‘We weren’t making any revenue, we had to batten down the hatches and figure out what was going on, we weren’t even sure if we were going to be playing play-off games.

‘They did points per game at the end and we barely made it in. That year, if we had played out that season, we had a good chance of automatic promotion.

‘You can’t complain about the pandemic as far as the football club, look at how much it affected everybody.

‘We don’t want a pity party for us – but it was not good for the club.’

Last season under Covid, ticket sales dropped by more than £5.2m, totalling £144,935, with turnover overall falling from £11.28m to £7.38m.

Although Pompey were boosted by an injection of £6m from Tornante, including he £3m purchase of Roko.

Fellow board member Andy Redman added: ‘2020-21 was the most impacted season, but it also impacted the prior season – and it’s impacting the current season.

‘I think we are proud to still be debt free, while we did a lot of work on the infrastructure.

‘It was a tough time and we are fortunate to be through it in such a strong position, with the obvious exception of the performance on the pitch this season and not making the play-offs or automatic promotion.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can support our local team of expert Pompey writers by subscribing here for all the latest news from Fratton Park for 9p a day, thanks to our 30%-off transfer window deal