Welcome to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust. This is the sixteenth AGM in the Trust’s history, and I think it’s worth reflecting on the journey the Trust and the club have been on in that time, since the PST was first formed in 2009. Back then, supporter engagement barely existed at all at Pompey. It was the initial goal of the group to open up lines of communication between the club and its increasingly-concerned fanbase, with absent owners steering the club towards administration.
Now, sixteen years on, Pompey is widely recognised as one of the best clubs in the country for supporter engagement and serves as a model to others. In December, we were at the FSA Awards to receive the ‘Best Supporter Engagement’ award alongside the club, following an earlier nomination at the EFL Awards in the same category. This recognition reflects the hard work not just of the last season, but of the past sixteen years in establishing meaningful and effective fan engagement channels.
Our core work at the Trust is maintaining this regular dialogue with the club, helping to ensure that supporters’ voices are heard. We meet regularly with the club’s owners and key staff, and bring forward fans’ concerns and questions in order to hold the club to account and help bring about positive change for the benefit of everyone connected to Pompey.
In August, we met with staff at the newly-formed Independent Football Regulator, who commented that Portsmouth FC is a stand-out example of what supporter engagement should look like and can achieve. We’re grateful to the club’s leadership team, led by Andy Cullen, who continue to engage with supporters so positively, putting the club’s fans at the heart of their decision making processes.
Alongside our work on supporter engagement, we were proud to launch our new Away Ticket Scheme this year, designed to widen access for high-demand away fixtures. We remain staunch supporters the club’s loyalty point system – it’s fair and correct that fans who travel regularly to games should get priority access to high-demand fixtures, and that the vast majority of tickets are distributed in this way. But our scheme has enabled around 2% of the club’s total allocation to be made available to supporters on a ballot system, which means those without the necessary points still have an opportunity to attend away games. This has proved really popular, and has grown membership of the Trust by around 10%.
Our second annual supporter survey again provided us with a valuable tool for gauging the views of the wider fanbase. Over 1,000 supporters took part, and the results directly informed our discussions with the club. Two of the most commonly-requested suggestions were to do with ticketing. Fans told us they wanted the loyalty point scheme to be adjusted to make it fairer, and that they wanted to receive more money back from the club when they listed their season ticket seat on the club’s ticket exchange. Following the survey, we took the results to the club, and both of these changes were implemented ahead of the 24/25 season. This was a clear example of how constructive engagement can lead to meaningful policy change that benefits ordinary fans.
The football team’s return to the Championship has meant higher profile fixtures, and the PST has worked constructively with Hampshire Police in connection with several fixtures in the last year, most notably in preparation for the south coast derby. Though we spoke out in opposition to the principle of enforced coach travel, the constructive discussions held ensured the concerns of Pompey fans were heard and acted upon, helping to make the arrangements a success. There were a number of tangible benefits to supporters as a result of supporter engagement, including having multiple pick-up points and a reduction in the cost of the official travel. It was a good demonstration of what can be achieved when supporters, authorities, and the club work together in good faith.
Our AGM will run across two separate events, beginning tonight by staging the formal part of our AGM, where we can give an overview of our activity over the last 12 months, present our financial accounts, and vote on motions put forward by members. We’ve once again opted to host this online, ensuring that PST members can attend regardless of location.
We will follow this up with a members event held in person at Fratton Park, where I’m delighted to say we will be joined by John Mousinho, Richard Hughes and Andy Cullen. This will be an exciting opportunity to meet and speak with the trio leading our club. The event will take place on the evening of Monday 17th November. Tickets are available free to PST members, and can be booked here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pst-invite-to-qa-session-with-john-mousinho-richard-hughes-andy-cullen-tickets-1918809243099
Thank you once again for your continued support, this year and every year.
Play Up Pompey,
Donald Vass
Chair
Pompey Supporters’ Trust