'Always had ambition and always had a plan': Portsmouth chief's tribute to Michael Eisner after League One title glory

Andy Cullen saluted Pompey’s owners and insisted: There has always been ambition and always been a plan.

Club directors Eric and Breck Eisner were present at Fratton Park on Saturday to watch John Mousinho’s title winners receive the League One trophy on a memorable afternoon.

With Tornante having taken over from the Pompey Supporters’ Trust and fan ownership in August 2017, the wait for a Championship return had been a long and often frustrating one.

Nonetheless, the September 2022 appointment of Rich Hughes as sporting director and John Mousinho’s subsequent arrival as head coach four-and-a-half months later has transformed the Blues’ fortunes.

And Cullen applauded Michael Eisner and his family’s ongoing financial commitment, which has seen an additional £25m ploughed into a club since they arrived - with it remaining debt-free.

Pompey’s chief executive told The News: ‘I want to especially thank the owners because they have supported us throughout this season, particularly with the recommendations made to them by Rich, John, Tony (Brown) and myself in terms of players we wanted to sign.

‘They gave us the funds to do that - and to go again in January to reinforce positions where unfortunately we had suffered injuries. They backed it 100 per cent.

‘They have also made us ready for the Championship in terms of stadium capacity and infrastructure at the training ground. Again it has been a not insignificant capital investment which has gone into those facilities.

‘They have resolutely stuck to their plan, to their principles of making sure the club is financially sustainable. They’ve given us the extra cash when we have needed it and we aren’t saddled with any debt.

‘We are one of the few debt-free clubs in English football, everything has been funded by equity, and that demonstrates their long-term commitment to Portsmouth Football Club - and we are incredibly grateful they have allowed us to build and grow.

‘There has always been ambition, there has always been a plan, you can see the plan in terms of it being delivered from day one when I walked into the club. By then the training ground had already been purchased and the work at the stadium was committed to.

‘The strategic plan in terms of player recruitment was already in place before John’s arrival (January 2023). We were working with Danny Cowley on it, that’s how we were trying to transform things, and the investment had been there for the previous two years.

‘We can’t achieve everything at once and I have scores of capital projects I look at. We must do it in a sensible way, we have to phase all our capital projects for the longer term and will continue to do that.

‘I am so pleased for the owners. They’ve been rewarded for that support and have achieved promotion.’

Cullen points to January’s transfer window as a pivotal moment in Pompey’s title-winning campaign.

While Matt Macey arrived on a free transfer and Myles Peart-Harris joined on loan from Brentford, the Blues paid fees for Callum Lang, Tom McIntyre and Owen Moxon.

And certainly Lang and Moxon played huge parts in the 17-match unbeaten run which would secure a return to the Championship after 12 years away.

Cyllen added: ‘I am never going to talk about budgets, but what I will say is we have been given the resources in line with the strategy - and everybody can now see what that has been in terms of recruitment.

‘January was a big window and we probably went into it slightly differently than originally planned. We had to maybe tweak our strategy a little because of injuries in key positions and needing a bit of extra pace and dynamism.’