Pompey CEO Andy Cullen insists the club's bosses are focused on the need to invest in the squad - and get the Blues moving up the Championship table.

There's been lots of talk from fans - and from John Mousinho - about having a plan that pulls Pompey away from the cycle of relegation battles in the second tier.

Cullen has spoken about it in an interview with The News - and while he has made the right noises, plenty will take the view that they will believe it when they see it - with the owners themselves having been silent on their own outlook over what's needed to push on.

Many fans are worried Mousinho will be tempted away by a more ambitious club if he does need see spending to back genuine ambition at Fratton this summer.

Cullen told The News: '‘We’ve been having discussions on a number of different areas, but first and foremost we discussed the strategy for the football club’s next steps. That wasn’t something which was new, it’s a process we’ve been discussing and had several meetings since about in terms of what that future roadmap looks like, how we can fine-tune and implement it.

‘The resources we have are precious and we have to put everything into Squad Cost Ratio rules. We have to prove to the regulator we’re not putting the football club at risk and we have to balance everything against that. But the focus going forward - and the focus over the next 12 months is going to be: How can we improve everything in the first team to progress the football club?

‘How can we move the club up the league table in the Championship? It’s not like Michael and Eric come for two days and we don’t hear from them or another three months. I spoke to them three times last week, for example, over different areas.

‘That shows the level of commitment, but the focus is fundamentally how do we push forward the progression on the pitch and how do we push forward in the Championship? There’s a list of competing priorities. We’re putting a new pitch down at Fratton Park this summer, we’d like to put new pitches down at the training ground.

'We’d like to go to the next stage in categorisation for the academy, which would mean expanding the facilities for pitches at the training ground. That would be a requirement of Category 2, as would be a dome.

‘We’ve got a stadium we need to continually improve as well. We’re going to be in a position where a fair proportion of that has supported the working capital and going concern of the football club - but a huge amount has gone into infrastructure projects.'

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