Portsmouth F.C.

Founded in 1898, Portsmouth Football Club are an English association football club, based in the south coast city port of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey, and is currently playing in the Premier League. The club is owned by Serbian-American businessman Milan Mandarić. The best known chant from the Pompey supporters is the "Pompey Chimes" ("Play up Pompey, Pompey play up" sung to the tune of a striking clock), generally reckoned to be the oldest chant in football still sung.

Stadium Information

Portsmouth play their home games at Fratton Park, in Portsmouth.

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• Capacity - 20,220 (all seated)
• Opened - 1898
• Pitch size - 115 x 73 yards

The ground has been home to the club throughout its entire history, and despite improvements is showing signs of age. Therefore at the end of the 2003/04 season, having consolidated their Premier League status, plans to develop a new stadium on the adjacent disused rail-freight depot site were drawn up and approved.

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These plans were superseded by a new plan to redevelop, more or less on the existing site, but realigning the pitch 90 degrees to accommodate a larger capacity, ultimately 35,000, funded in part by a "Pompey Village" luxury residential project on the adjacent site. Work on the stadium is due to commence in summer 2005 and the staged development should have reached the 28,000 stage by season 2006/07.

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