[DeepBlue]

Interesting article on on interesting new website, quoting Eisner's answer to the question 'Where do you see the club in five years time?' at the Guildhall. 

I'd agree with the assessment that the biggest failure has been in building up the academy, but maybe the training ground offsets some of that, as that was not mentioned. 

https://the1898.co.uk/eisner-q-and-a-fro...dt4Y-tzOgY

[Pedalo_menders]

Depends on if the Eisners start taking their role as owners seriously or not. If we continue on the same path I would imagine we will be in League 1, Fan boycotts, protests and it all getting a bit nasty.

[Hammie]

An update on what is being done at ROKO would be helpful. I'm assuming the decrepit pitches are being or have been relaid, or a major redesign is under way. Which would seem to open the door to at least an U23 tea,.

[DeepBlue]

Depends on if the Eisners start taking their role as owners seriously or not. If we continue on the same path I would imagine we will be in League 1, Fan boycotts, protests and it all getting a bit nasty.

Pedalo ... I think you've missed the point that this was asked 5 years ago.

[scumslayer]

Must admit I read the headline and mistook the post, as Pedalo did.

Greet thread and link though. We are at the review point in the relationship and we are well short of expectations.

[Pangus]

Barry, Thanks for introducing this topic, and a much needed discussion.

The word that jumps out at me from Eisner's speech is 'conservative' which is defined dictiornary wise as "averse to change and innovation".

Also sorry Barry but I for one am not prepared to take up your suggestion that we  "wait another two years to see what that brings"

For me there must be change now, the Cowleys are clearly not up to managing the expectations of a 15000 crowd. Its not too late to get an experienced manager in and aim for the play offs.  But unfortunately there's nothing conservative about that.

[briefcase_wanchor]

I remember being completely underwhelmed by the Eisners 5 years ago and now I've re-read his words it just reinforces my initial feelings. In hindsight, none of us should be at all surprised that we are where we are today. The "Academy" certainly hasn't moved forwards and we have lost decent coaches along the way. All the while, clubs smaller or of a similar size to Pompey have moved on from this frustrating league, without hint of difficulty - look at Cov and the ground issues they had for example; Wycombe/Luton etc on their limited income.

[Smirnoffexpress]

Shit owners and shit manager, and for the first time in fifty years loving this club I cannot see any hope that it will improve dramatically. Without hope the whole thing falls to bits.

[scumslayer]

I understand off the pitch that major surgery is taking place on the infrastructure, but your bread and better is on the pitch. We are on life support there. It really isn't acceptable.

[DeepBlue]

I remember being completely underwhelmed by the Eisners 5 years ago and now I've re-read his words it just reinforces my initial feelings.  In hindsight, none of us should be at all surprised that we are where we are today.  The "Academy" certainly hasn't moved forwards and we have lost decent coaches along the way. All the while, clubs smaller or of a similar size to Pompey have moved on from this frustrating league, without hint of difficulty - look at Cov and the ground issues they had for example; Wycombe/Luton etc on their limited income.

One encouraging thing about those three clubs is that they proved you do not need to splash the cash to get out of this league.  Which might be handy, cos I can't see the Eisner's changing their approach to spending on the team in the near future. 

Out of interest, I'd be interested to know who on this board will own up to voting for the Eisners.  I'll admit I did despite also being underwhelmed because it was clear the PST had gone as far as it could and could not afford to fix the ground.  And I still believe sorting the ground out should be a higher priority than the team, because of the criminal neglect of every owner we've had since Jim Gregory (especially Mandaric) created a genuine threat to the future of the club and we were rapidly running out of time before the Eisners arrived.  In that respect you can blame the ones who failed to spend on the ground for the fact that so much needs to be spent now at the expense of the team.

[Cressers]

Where do I see the club in five years? Where it is now, treading water.

[bluetagagain]

I see ground improvements mostly completed ( some major). I also see us in L1 having got promoted but unable to afford to stay in the Championship.
So to answer the OP, I see us still in L1 with a better refurbished FP and maybe up for sale.

[Jizbag]

Barry, Thanks for introducing this topic, and a much needed discussion.

The word that jumps out at me from Eisner's speech is 'conservative' which is defined dictiornary wise as "averse to change and innovation".

Also sorry Barry but I for one am not prepared to take up your suggestion that we  "wait another two years to see what that brings"

For me there must be change now, the Cowleys are clearly not up to managing the expectations of a 15000 crowd. Its not too late to get an experienced manager in and aim for the play offs.  But unfortunately there's nothing conservative about that.

“Barry”?? Is Deep a Barry? I had him down as a Trevor!

[Bluebob]

[i]Well, I would like to say, I think we have to be conservative. Our strategy would be to obviously immediately fix our safety problems in the stadium, to begin to enhance the Academy, to give Mark enough to play competitively in League One and be solid in League One for a number of years. We don’t need to get to the Championship in 2, 3 or 4 years. And again, as I said before, have our Academy to begin to pay off.[/i]

[i]“Our strategy is not to get to the Premier League tomorrow. But our strategy is to get there some day, but not to spend ourselves into a hole that forces leverage, that forces anxiety and that forces instant gratification for long-term disappointment. Other than that, we’ve not done our due diligence on exactly A, B and C of what has to be done.[/i]

[i]“As for Fratton Park, I think when Arsenal built this big thing it was more fun at Highbury. I think being at Fratton Park as long as we can would be great. I was a big NY Giant baseball fan growing up and listened to every game on the radio. They moved to San Francisco and I’m still depressed about it. I am not interested in moving, but we have to have the ability within a decent confines and as close as we can to where we are.[/i]

[i]“We’re developing our strategy but it’s to hopefully do the right thing and listen to the fans.”[/i]



Well Deep I voted for the takeover and after reading this I wished I hadn’t. The part where he says “We don’t need to get to the Championship in 2,3 or 4 yrs is shocking. What is the point for a club our size playing in a  league with no ambition to get promoted. It makes the conspiracy that the first playoff under Jackett when Lowe and Curtis did not play was that they didn’t want us to get promoted  giving some substance also the underwhelming January windows when a couple of good new additions would have pushed us on.
 
I honestly do not believe they were the only interest in buying the club. Without doubt we had time on our side not to rush in at the first interest. Don’t get me wrong I do not want to go back to the bad days of the shysters we have had in charge but to have no ambition to get promoted for several years is in my opinion disgraceful.

[DeepBlue]

But that is what people voted for.   An acceptance that the infrastructure was/is a crisis, being top half or mid-table in the league was/is not a crisis, however much we don't like it. 


And I should probably protect Barry from this 1898 website, who may not appreciate people thinking he is me, by making absolutely clear that I am not him.

[Cunninglinguist]

£20 million investment later.
Ground improvements like we only dreamt of five years ago.
Our own training ground.
After an unprecedented, in our lifetime, pandemic thingy, a club as stable, if not more so than most in the lower leagues.

I'm actually quite happy with the overall situation at PO4.

Things I'm not happy with:-

We lost on Monday night.
Our training pitch needs sorting out (never had our own to sort out before).
The academy needs improving.
We can't score.


The things I'm not happy with will likely be resolved, eventually.
Eventually, we will go up and just as eventually (from whatever league) we will come back down again.
Eventually, we will likely have new owners and lots of fans will moan about them.

All the above, means I have a club to support.

That makes me happy.

[briefcase_wanchor]

My firm belief is that the Eisners due diligence was woefully short of where it should have been, especially with regard to the state of the ground. Yes they knew there were issues but not the full extent and for that we can add extra years into their timeframe for on-field progress. I’ve seen dd into a football club purchase first hand and these issues would have been identified if it had been carried out to the right standard.

[Pompeyloyal]

Championship with a new North Stand upper becoming closer

[Pompeyloyal]

Championship with a new North Stand upper becoming closer

The ground would be shrinking under the PST - unless additional funding was found 

Tornante are addressing ‘major’  ground issues without loading debt against the club - should be thanked for that I feel - if they had bought the club 30 years ago I think we’d be in great shape on & off the pitch

[exgaffer]

I think there is a bit of history rewriting going on here.

Yes we are all disappointed with the way things are going on the field but I think laying all the blame at the Eisners’ door is a bit rich.

I was one of the people with a share in the club and the fact was we didn’t have the money required to make the ground safe, thereby retaining a decent capacity, let alone buy the training ground and finance a decent team.

I keep hearing that we should have sold to someone else and that the Eisners got the club for a ‘bargain’ price. If it was such a bargain, why weren’t they queuing round the block to buy it?

As I recall there wasn’t a long list of people eager to take us on.

We are being run prudently and look to have a future. 

Am I satisfied with the fare being served up on the pitch? No it’s piss poor.

We are, however, a big club and I’m sure it will turn around soon, either under the current management team or another. I suspect it will be another.

In 5 years I see us playing in the Championship in a much improved Fratton Park.

Let’s all lighten up a bit lads, we don’t want to sound like Sunderland fans do we? 

PUP

[Pompeyloyal]

I think there is a bit of history rewriting going on here.

Yes we are all disappointed with the way things are going on the field but I think laying all the blame at the Eisners’ door is a bit rich.

I was one of the people with a share in the club and the fact was we didn’t have the money required to make the ground safe, thereby retaining a decent capacity, let alone buy the training ground and finance a decent team.

I keep hearing that we should have sold to someone else and that the Eisners got the club for a ‘bargain’ price. If it was such a bargain, why weren’t they queuing round the block to buy it?

As I recall there wasn’t a long list of people eager to take us on.

We are being run prudently and look to have a future. 

Am I satisfied with the fare being served up on the pitch? No it’s piss poor.

We are, however, a big club and I’m sure it will turn around soon, either under the current management team or another. I suspect it will be another.

In 5 years I see us playing in the Championship in a much improved Fratton Park.

Let’s all lighten up a bit lads, we don’t want to sound like Sunderland fans do we? 

PUP

Good post

[Gerry Hatrick]

I think there is a bit of history rewriting going on here.

Yes we are all disappointed with the way things are going on the field but I think laying all the blame at the Eisners’ door is a bit rich.

I was one of the people with a share in the club and the fact was we didn’t have the money required to make the ground safe, thereby retaining a decent capacity, let alone buy the training ground and finance a decent team.

I keep hearing that we should have sold to someone else and that the Eisners got the club for a ‘bargain’ price. If it was such a bargain, why weren’t they queuing round the block to buy it?

As I recall there wasn’t a long list of people eager to take us on.

We are being run prudently and look to have a future. 

Am I satisfied with the fare being served up on the pitch? No it’s piss poor.

We are, however, a big club and I’m sure it will turn around soon, either under the current management team or another. I suspect it will be another.

In 5 years I see us playing in the Championship in a much improved Fratton Park.

Let’s all lighten up a bit lads, we don’t want to sound like Sunderland fans do we? 

PUP

Well said like. Weh-hey, mon.

[scouse]

Out of interest, I'd be interested to know who on this board will own up to voting for the Eisners.

I abstained. I didn't think it should be up to me. I took the money when it was offered though.

[teeftwo]

Exgaffer is, in my opinion, completely correct. If the club was such a bargain with such potential why weren't there billionaires or oil rich states falling over themselves to invest. Some realism is required, apart from a very brief period we have been a basket case of a club for decades.

This slow, infrastructure heavy, investment approach is not exciting but it is long overdue. We have to play the long game to bring this club to the level required to compete in the Championship and beyond. I voted for the Eisners because they were the only game in town offering that long term security.

[Lawrence]

I think there is a bit of history rewriting going on here.

Yes we are all disappointed with the way things are going on the field but I think laying all the blame at the Eisners’ door is a bit rich.

I was one of the people with a share in the club and the fact was we didn’t have the money required to make the ground safe, thereby retaining a decent capacity, let alone buy the training ground and finance a decent team.

I keep hearing that we should have sold to someone else and that the Eisners got the club for a ‘bargain’ price. If it was such a bargain, why weren’t they queuing round the block to buy it?

As I recall there wasn’t a long list of people eager to take us on.

We are being run prudently and look to have a future. 

Am I satisfied with the fare being served up on the pitch? No it’s piss poor.

We are, however, a big club and I’m sure it will turn around soon, either under the current management team or another. I suspect it will be another.

In 5 years I see us playing in the Championship in a much improved Fratton Park.

Let’s all lighten up a bit lads, we don’t want to sound like Sunderland fans do we? 

PUP

Some fair points ExG, but I think you're in danger of going a bit too pro Eisner there.

I really can't put an exact thing on it but I just don't get why there are still here. I think they actively avoided getting out of L1 for a number of years and I still think there was more to that Oxford play off defeat. Up until then I hadn't experienced a Pompey team so dismissively interested in winning a game (little was I too know that this would become quite common). Why buy a club and have no interest in progression? Then there was that January TW when we were top and the money to consolidate our squad disappeared and along with our promotion hopes.

The improvements/renovations they have done to the ground and the training ground also help them. It makes their asset worth selling if they need to get out and even with the current spending they'd still mostly likely make a profit. I think they chose a CEO who shares a similar lack of ambition and fight. Cullins showed his skill set in that first game of the season and hasn't looked back. I think Caitlin could see the minefield such an underwhelming approach to running a club like ours and got out quick. I appreciate the security during Covid but again they were also protecting their investment.

I'm not saying we should be spending billions but why does the current level of krapness feel much worse than the sackful of shit that have owned us over years? Probably because we find ourselves unable to compete with the likes of Shrewsbury for wages, our goals are now sponsored by Dave Lee Travis Builders and our manager is under absolutely no pressure despite being 12th in the division and closer to relegation than the playoffs. I don't want them sacked but what happened to ambition? Whenever the club try to do anything clever on the footballing side it's like trying to turn an ocean liner in a different direction. Other clubs can do deals, we can't. There is no ambition other than not overspending our underwhelming budget. We are starved of any highly rated signings and the ones that we do get are either injury prone or have some connection with Lincoln City. Even our manager was a low-cost option. And we're supposed to say thanks for a first team with half a team of loanees Mr Eisner!

In 5 years time, if they keep on with the publicity shy, long-distance relationship, I see them selling up to somebody. There's no way fans are going to remain patient whilst this small club mentality persists. Despite much darker times being experienced in my 40-odd years supporting Pompey, I think this year is the first time I am thinking "this is our place now".

Ignoring the underlying element of squinnying in this post, I think have a point!