Portsmouth are now on the brink of returning to the Championship for the first time in 12 years.
The Fratton Faithful have had to endure four seasons in League Two and seven in the third tier. John Mousinho has galvanised the club, and now, just a handful of points separate Pompey from the end goal.
Michael Eisner has always made clear his vision to keep Pompey sustainable regardless of what league the club is in. However, considering the vast finances in the Championship, questions have to be asked.
Portsmouth FC News spoke exclusively to football finance expert Dan Plumley to gain further insight into what to expect next season.
Football finance expert shares what he’s heard Portsmouth will do next season
Plumley said: “Look at the clubs who have gone up, Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth are nowhere near the top six. There are clubs with parachute payments and at least a £100million gap to the Premier League, so there’s a competitive problem that you’ve got to try and solve, and that starts to collide with the sustainability question. It is possible, but it’s how much you gamble on the sporting side of things, and that’s where we’ve seen clubs get things really wrong.
“Ipswich Town really went hard last January and have sustained the momentum. There are exceptions to the rule, but we must remember that they’ve piled a lot of money into it in League One.”
He added: “We also talk about ownership structures. Can the ownership put forward the type of money that is needed, ultimately depends on the objectives of the club? At Ipswich, there was a strategic decision to invest and invest pretty big. It was looking at players to perform in the Championship.
“There is risk in that strategy when you go back to sustainability as you have to land the jackpot.”
Plumley went on to suggest that – from what he’s heard – the Fratton Park decision-makers will be sensible next season.
“There are countless examples we could talk about. It’s risk and reward, having had one or two conversations with the guys at Portsmouth, actually, at the boardroom level, they’re much more sensible than that. They are going to look at growing incrementally and being sustainable as well.”