Portsmouth owner Michael Eisner says the English football pyramid is a “financial disaster” for clubs at Championship level – but says the introduction of an independent regulator offers hope “extraordinary losses” will be a thing of the past.
The 83-year-old American billionaire and former Disney chief executive completed a takeover of Pompey in 2017 but, in rare public comments, has said running a Championship club is a “very difficult business”.
Eisner said a restructure of the media rights arrangement between the English Football League (EFL) and Premier League was cause for hope for Championship clubs in the next 18 months.
After Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Millwall ended a six-match winless streak, Eisner recorded a message for the Pompey Supporters’ Trust meeting on Monday.
In the 14-minute video, he restated his long-term vision to return Pompey to the Premier League, claiming it would be “financially catastrophic” were they not to be promoted in the next eight years.
“We have the same ambition we’ve had since 2017, we want to be in the Premier League – that is our goal,” he said. “We have patience, we had patience getting from League One to the Championship.”
Portsmouth, FA Cup winners in 2008, finished 16th last season on their return to the second tier, having spent the previous 12 campaigns in the bottom two divisions of the EFL, a downturn sparked by a string of financial problems.
Eisner said Pompey, who are 19th this season after 16 games, would be active in the January transfer window but vowed to continue “the path” of buying young players with a view to enhancing the team before being sold on to help offset losses.
On the topic of backing head coach John Mousinho with big-money buys, Eisner referenced the cautionary tale of the expensive signing of Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star first baseman Mo Vaughn in 1999, during Eisner’s time overseeing the Anaheim Angels as part of his role with Disney.
“I know there’s a lot of talk about how we don’t have the most expensive squad, but let me tell you, we owned a baseball team, the first year I had all the pressure from the fans and we bought a $100m first baseman,” Eisner said.
“The first pitch of the first game of the year he fell into the dugout and was out for the season, the second season he had an accident, then he gained 40lbs.
“We decided we were going to go to new, young, aggressive players and it worked, we won the World Series (in 2002). It’s going to work for us eventually on the pitch in Portsmouth.”