Members helping to make academy thrive
Last year, Pompey Lottery members contributed £75,000 towards the running costs of the club’s youth set-up, helping to maintain and improve the standard of young players at the club.
All of this has been achieved through the lottery department’s fundraising campaign and the generosity of the thousands of supporters who are now members of the Pompey Lottery.
On behalf of the lottery department, we would like to say a huge thank you for your support of our fundraising efforts.
For academy manager Mark Kelly, the lottery’s input has been priceless. He said: “The lottery is helping the academy in all sorts of ways.
“It helps contribute to the everyday running of the academy. From transportation and equipment to match kit and facilities – everything that a large organisation such as the academy needs.
“The amount of support we have seen over the last year from fans through the lottery has been absolutely fantastic and the more this can grow, the more it can help us, as an academy, establish what we would all like to see – boys from the local area becoming the Pompey stars of the future.”
As you can imagine, the donation was also well received by under-18s manager Mikey Harris, who added: “The money raised so far has allowed us to enhance the academy programme in terms of upgrading equipment and providing professional training for staff.
“In the recent FA Cup game away at Ipswich, more than a third of the squad were academy products, with one of our most recent graduates, Conor Chaplin, scoring a fantastic goal to give us the lead against a top Championship side. Conor is currently the team’s top scorer – a fantastic achievement for an 18-year-old.
“We are constantly looking to evolve and improve the academy and the money provided by Pompey Lottery subscribers helps us to do that.
“We appreciate the support of all the people involved in the lottery and the more new people we can get to join the Lottery, the better the academy programme we can provide for the players.”
Launched in July 2014, the Pompey Lottery pledges to devote all of its profits to the Pompey Academy and offers fans the chance to win some incredible cash prizes and exclusive Portsmouth FC experiences.
If you’re someone who recognises a fantastic opportunity to win top cash prizes, and would like to support the future of your club, click here to join the Pompey Lottery.