The dramatic change at Fratton Park as Portsmouth start work on exciting new 'Premier League-ready' feature: gallery

Those celebrations spilled over into Saturday, when Blues captain Marlon Pack was handed the League One trophy in front of a packed-out PO4.

But days on from those joyous, historic scenes on the pitch, the look of Pompey’s famous old home has already changed dramatically. The pitch has been stripped back and scaffolding has been erected for the latest piece redevelopment work.

Blues owners Tornante have spent circa £12m on the current phase of Fratton Park’s makeover. But the final piece of the jigsaw still has to be put in place – a 20-metre ‘Premier League-ready’ TV gantry that will sit proudly on top of the South Stand.

Work on that project began immediately after Saturday’s trophy celebrations – and it’s understandable why. Work has to be completed before the 2024-25 season starts the weekend of August 10, with a 30-tonne crane to be built on the pitch crucial to the success of the latest work.

Talking through what will happen in the coming weeks at Fratton Park, Steve Cripps, managing director of PMC Construction, said: ‘The timeline is quite tight. The pitch work will finish phase one this comng Sunday. Our crane mats are placed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and then on Friday the crane arrives.

‘The crane will take three days to erect and then we’ve got to the first week of June to erect the TV gantry, before the crane has to be removed and then phase two of the pitch carries on, which is the seeding, so we have a surface for the start of the season.

‘While that’s ongoing, scaffolding will remain and we’ll fit out the gantry, which is about another three to four weeks. So all things going well, we hould be finished by the end of July.’

The new TV gantry will be able to house up to eight cameras and will replace the existing three-camera lower gantry that was situated in front of the directors’ box. That space has been earmarked for addition hospitality seats.

Another gantry is also being introduced in the Fratton End, with the platform suspended from the trusses so that it doesn’t impact fans’ views of the pitch.

Fans were provided a preview of how the construction work will proceed and what the final product will look like via the giant screen at Fratton Park on Saturday. Speaking in his programme notes, chief executive Andy Cullen said the gantry represents the last in the current phase of working being carried out on the ground.

He said: ‘After today’s game the pitch will be stripped in preparation for a large 30-tonne crane to start work on the TV gantry. This is the final component of the current phase of the Fratton Park development project and is perhaps the most challenging. The big screen will broadcast a short video showing how the construction will take place and how it will look when completed.’