Pompey fans appear encouraged by noises Tornante chiefs are making over improvements planned to Fratton Park.

The club's new owners have revealed that work is well under way behind the scenes to plot the long-term future of the ground - if that is where the Blues' future lies.

They have stressed all options remain on the table.

The News is running a series of exclusive pieces on the owners' behind the scenes work and Tornante president Andy Redman, who is on the club's board, told the paper: ‘The main stuff currently focused on, which is probably seen less publicly, is around the stadium, the training ground and longer-term thinking around players.

'That has gone extremely well and we have met with a number of architectural groups and whittled it down. We are having another set of meetings this week to really hone in our next steps.

‘We still believe it is true what we said in diligence and the lead up to the acquisition — that a ball-park £5m will be spent simply on health and safety. These are what we would call almost absolutely you must do-type of improvements, they are required at some level.

‘Beyond that we are looking towards the stadium masterplan. Really, that is a much-longer process which needs to involve not just architects but also people like Kenny (Jackett) in the thinking about how the club evolves over time.

‘To be fair to the master planners, I don’t think I should say anything more other than our preference is to stay at Fratton Park. The reason I say that is there’s still a lot of diligence required.

‘Fratton Park has a lot of history and we believe a lot of people underestimate how important that history is. So for us, we are likely, highly likely, to stay at Fratton Park — but are open to other considerations. However, people have to tell us whether we can accomplish what we are talking about before we go and spend money.’

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