"Even higher" - Portsmouth FC urged to make Fratton Park change | OneFootball

The 125-year-old stadium is set for some major work in the coming years

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Fratton Park has rightly earned a reputation as one of the most atmospheric grounds across the EFL, with Portsmouth FC getting the place rocking in recent seasons.

John Mousinho’s side romped to the League One title last season, and there wasn’t a spare seat in the house as Pompey got themselves back into the second tier, with the bell ringing in full flow across the campaign.

It has been a similar story at the start of this year, with the stadium on Frogmore Road once again shaking at the rafters as the best that the Football League has to offer travel south to pit their wits against the division’s new arrivals.

It may be steeped in history and character, but if there was one thing that could be changed about the place, what would it be? We spoke to Football League World’s Pompey fan pundit Miltos Ioannidis to find out more.

Fratton Park redevelopment sees Portsmouth thrive in new surroundings

Portsmouth have plowed plenty of funds into their home of late, with a reported £13 million put aside to redevelop some of the areas that were in need of some TLC over the past few years.

As a result, the Hampshire venue is as glistening as ever as the club return to the second tier, although it is yet to see a first win of the season, as Pompey are yet to secure a victory in their opening nine matches of the campaign.

Despite the current work being carried out, Ioannidis believes the club will be looking to expand the stadium’s capacity in years to come, with an increase on the near 20,000 it can currently hold.

The Pompey fan pundit said: “An increase in capacity is the obvious answer to this question, although the ongoing development of Fratton Park, which has been going on for around three years now, actually helped a lot to get Fratton Park the way it is right now.

“It looks better now with the redevelopment Milton End, South Stand, North Stand and TV gantry, everything around the football club is brand new.

“If we hadn’t have taken these procedures, then because of safety measures it would mean capacity would have to be narrowed down even more than it was before.

“Now Fratton Park’s capacity is well over 20,000, and the goal that has been highlighted from the owners is that they want the capacity to go even higher.”

Portsmouth FC plans for Fratton Park capacity increase

After the hefty investment into the club’s infrastructure of late, the Portsmouth News reported earlier this year that Pompey are still committed to taking the capacity of Fratton Park beyond the 25,000 mark.

That would mark a near 25% increase on the current amount of seats and would be a major step forward for the 2008 FA Cup winners, with extra revenue always welcomed to increase the playing budget.

Ioannidis knows success on the field can lead to growth off of it, and after turning things around following their financial decline, there is every hope that their recent success can be sustained in the future.

He continued: “There is space in the North Stand especially, and a way that we could potentially increase the capacity there, and I think eventually the end goal is to have a stadium that could facilitate more than 25,000 people, which would be brilliant.

“One thing that needs to happen for that to happen, is for us to keep climbing up the divisions and keep climbing up the table.

“I don’t know if it is something that can be done while we are still in the Championship or whether we have to be a Premier League club in order to do that.

“I think that is definitely the goal right now that has also been highlighted by the owners, and certainly one thing that is very visibly in position to improve, and that is an increase in capacity.”