We would also like to place on record our thanks to Guy Whittingham and Stuart Gray for allowing the PFC Board the time to conduct this managerial appointment process as well as thanking the loyal Pompey fans for their patience over the last three weeks.

As a Board we set out a number of criteria against which to assess the calibre of manager required to progress the club. We received well over fifty applications for the job which we reduced to a shortlist of fewer than ten managers from the UK and further afield who we interviewed and analysed in depth.

We did not deviate  from our initial shortlist and criteria, and it was the ambition and motivation of Mr Appleton which shone through during every stage of the process.

Mr Appleton began his coaching career at West Brom in 2003 after the former Manchester United and Preston midfielder suffered a training ground injury.  The highly regarded coach worked his way up at West Brom from the academy to the reserves, then as first team coach under Roberto Di Matteo, and finally as assistant manager to Roy Hodgson, with a brief spell as caretaker manager in between.

Pompey fans will know that CSI’s intention is to build a stable, well run, football club. We have shown our willingness to invest over the summer when needed but our main aim continues to be the long term future of the Club.

Our five year plan is to create an effective and stable structure for PFC, enabling development and year on year improvement. By appointing Mr Appleton as the new first-team manager, we believe we have identified someone who has proven himself to be a top quality coach and demonstrated his potential to be a top class manager who will help build the football infrastructure at Pompey in the long term.

We are sure that Mr Appleton’s approach to the game, along with our shared desire to develop players, will make him a firm favourite with Pompey fans. We know that our passionate and loyal fans will give their full backing to Michael and that together we can build on the work done by Guy and Stuart in getting us back up the League.

North One Sport is the rights holder of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Isle of Man TT, Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and Velux 5 Oceans Race.

FIA World Rally Championship

One of the most significant developments has been the innovation of WRC TV, with the introduction of the Championship’s first ever made-for-TV live “Power Stages”. Each rally has seen its final stage broadcast live around the globe via a major outside broadcast operation funded by NOS and CSI.

More TV content has been developed in response to requests from broadcasters and viewers. NOS, in partnership with CSI, has increased its programme output by 100% in 2011. This has seen the WRC TV audience grow by 6.3% during the first half of 2011 to 251 million viewers, and has been boosted by the completion of 14 new broadcast agreements.

More digital content has been created following increased investment in the official Championship website (www.wrc.com) with 25% more video clips being made available. Since recruiting additional editorial staff at the start of this season, the amount of news and feature content on wrc.com has also increased by a quarter. The WRC Newsletter has grown to 6,532 recipients and social media audiences are up 25%.

NOS and CSI have made a major investment in a pioneering outside broadcast operation to provide the first ever Live Internet TV pilot on WRC.com at Rallye de France. This featured 14 hours of live stage action and interviews with drivers and team management. Online viewers from 66 different countries tuned in to follow the action and this technology will be used for some or all of the 13 rounds in 2012.

In October, NOS hosted a high profile stand at Sportel, the leading Sports Media Rights market, where Prince Albert II of Monaco officially opened the WRC stand. Plans for a new, more global calendar, were announced and NOS met with over 60 different media owners to unveil a new multi-media WRC content offering for 2012.
The new season will be launched in January at the Championship’s most iconic rally location, Monte Carlo. This will be followed in the New Year by the launch of the new calendar for 2013, which will see the sport visiting new destinations.

In partnership with the FIA, NOS launched the inaugural WRC Academy featuring 23 young drivers aged between 18 and 24 from 5 continents representing 16 different nationalities. The winner will receive a €500,000 cash prize towards a WRC programme in 2012.

Isle of Man TT

Isle of Man TT television audience figures have hit new highs in 2011 with a territory reach of over 80 countries and a total cumulative audience of 15.9 million, a 96% increase on 2010 (8.1 million). Broadcasters of the event include; ITV4, Discovery Turbo, Sport1, Viasat, Servus TV, Sport 5, Abu Dhabi Sports, SuperSport, One HD, Sky Sport, ESPN and Speed HD.

Clipper Round The World Yacht Race

Successful distribution of the 2009/10 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race has resulted in NOS being awarded a renewal of the TV distribution rights for the 2011/12 race, which is currently underway. Broadcasters for the 2009/10 Series include; the Discovery Network, ESPN Star Sports, SuperSport, Viasat, Fox Sports and Band Sports

Velux 5 Oceans Race

With the conclusion of the 2010/11 edition earlier this year, production of the documentary series has proved a success with broadcast deals already agreed with many worldwide broadcasters including; the Discovery Network, Viasat, Sport Klub, SuperSport, Fox Sports, Ten Sports, ESPN Star Sports and Band Sports, ahead of delivery in November.

NOS and CSI want to continue the progression of the business during 2012 with particular focus on reaching new audiences and maximising the ‘fan’ experience as much as possible. We look forward to the launch of another successful season for WRC and we’re excited to announce plans for the 2013 calendar. We are also encouraged about the year ahead for the Isle of Man TT and the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race which culminates in July, and we remain dedicated to providing an unrivalled experience for the viewer, whether that be live or watching from home.

After the takeover, the immediate priority was to strengthen the playing squad and this included the permanent signings of Luke Varney, Greg Halford, Erik Huseklepp, Jason Pearce, David Norris, Stephen Henderson and Benjani, who are all now key first team players.  Only Leicester City had a higher net spend than PFC in the summer transfer window outside the Premier League.  The average age of the playing squad has dramatically reduced since our arrival and working alongside David Lampitt and, in due course, the new manager, we will seek to ensure that team matters continue to progress.  We are also investing in the future, and the club has made great strides in improving the Academy, in particular increasing the coaching resources available to our young players.

The facilities at PFC have been neglected for some time and we recognise the need to make some improvements. These changes started with the training ground, where we invested in enhancing the quality and size of our training pitch facilities.

You may also have noticed many enhancements around Fratton Park, which include moving the big screen, tidying up the surrounding areas of the pitch and improving corporate match day areas.  Fans will be pleased to know that the Fratton End clock has been taken down for repair. We will soon install a new digital clock and scoreboard.  Funds have been set aside for the improvement of many of the toilets and this work has now begun.  Some of the changes have not been quite so visible but are equally important, with important improvement work to guttering as well as an overhaul of the heating and plumbing services to the team dressing rooms.

We have also re-floored the Victory Suite and added a partition to allow greater flexibility for usage on match and non-match days.  This allowed a new Kidzone to be launched at the Doncaster game, which was a great way to engage with some of our fans of the future. We will continue to look for ways in which we can make the most of our space and create opportunities to enhance the club’s commercial activity.

Off the pitch, we have seen very strong retention of our commercial partners and a number of new partnerships being created.  This reflects the continuing strength of the PFC  brand.  We have also seen 10 additional sponsorship partners for PFC introduced from the CSI group.  We are delighted with the appointment of the new Commercial Director, Nick Byrom, who we know will continue to improve all the commercial and matchday operations at the club.

We inherited a ticket pricing structure for the 2011/2012 season from the previous ownership but, working together with the staff at PFC, have introduced a number of ticket initiatives, including ‘Four for £44’ and the ‘Super Six’ promotion, which have both proved immensely popular.

We also inherited a number of other legacy issues that the management team have continued to work on over the last five months.  This has meant that certain long running disputes, such as those with Tal Ben Haim and Tottenham Hotspur (regarding the Begovic matter) have now been successfully resolved ensuring the club’s position is protected. Of course we recognised that there would always be certain difficult matters to deal with when taking over a company recently out of financial distress, but we are pleased that the legacy issues are being dealt with effectively.

A charity game against FC Rostov was held at Fratton Park to raise money for the families of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team who tragically lost their lives in an air crash. The event raised £15,000 for charity and we would like to thank everyone who attended or donated.

There are number of key priorities for both CSI and PFC over the next few months, not least to start climbing the league.  We hope that the appointment of a new manager will provide the base from which we can get our season back on track, and we should thank Guy Whittingham and Stuart Gray for holding the fort during the selection process.

Away from the pitch we will be investing further in the commercial side of the business.  We are soon to launch a new-look website and a matchday programme app that we hope will prove popular with fans.

We are only five months into our ownership of Portsmouth Football Club and are certainly looking to the future with optimism.  We will soon have our five-year strategy in place, which involves improvements across all areas of the club’s business and infrastructure, from our footballing facilities to our approach to customer service. We’re not going to make any grand statements about the ground, but we recognise the fact that the development of a more modern stadium has to be part of a successful future for the club. In the first instance this means engaging with Mr Gaydamak in relation to the land surrounding Fratton Park and that process is already under way.

There is much to do, and a lot of hard work ahead, but every decision we make will be carefully considered, with the future success and stability of this great club being our number one priority.

Finally, CSI and PFC would like to thank the fans for their continued and unwavering support.

The first half of 2011 was focused on building towards, and learning from, the launch of the televised professional events.

Proof of the concept was at Celtic Manor on the 30th May:

•    £10m sponsor media value delivered
•    x5 average viewing audience on Sky for the European Tour
•    Watched in more than 120 countries
•    Reached more the 150m households
•    56% viewers ABC1 Adults

Broadcast distribution:

•    51 Africa / Middle East
•    42 North America / South America
•    11 Mainland Europe
•    9 Eastern Europe and Baltic States
•    5 Asia/India/Pakistan
•    2 Australasia

Key feature of Celtic Manor from the industry’s perspective is that PowerPlay Golf has demonstrated it is both “developing the game” through its innovative format and “growing the game” by introducing a new audience to golf.

•    New audience reached – 28% not traditional golf viewers

Other key milestones following Celtic Manor:

80% increase in the number of clubs signed and 100% increase in registered players since the Celtic Manor event.

There has been considerable demand from organisations and individuals to act as PPG agents. The increase in representation since Celtic Manor covers; Spain, Portugal, Germany, Korea, Thailand, Botswana, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic as well as representation across Asia. All told this is a 200% increase in representation which we are continuing to aggressively expand.

Second half of 2011 has focused on developing the PowerPlay Golf proposition to take full advantage of the TV events and get PowerPlay Golf ‘match fit’ for 2012.

We will soon be announcing a series of 5 events for the 2012 season, which will be televised and shown around the world. This will enhance the growth of the amateur game and we expect a dramatic increase in both club and player registration. On the back of this predicted success we will launch the amateur PowerPlay Golf World Championships, an integral part of what is sure to be an exciting year for PPG.

Fourteen hours of live action, captured by two helicopters and onboard cameras, plus service park footage and interviews, was available to view free of charge on a media player on the championship’s official website, wrc.com, as part of a pilot project to investigate future digital opportunities for the FIA-governed series.

The exercise was also the first test of a new partnership between WRC promoter North One Sport and end-to-end streaming specialists, Streamworks.

Despite the enormous technical challenge of capturing live footage from cars as they sped through the mountainous Alsace region the experiment ran largely without a hitch, with tens of thousands of WRC fans logging on to watch the action.

A survey of wrc.com users who viewed the streaming found that 82.5 per cent wanted to watch live stage coverage on the internet. The results also underlined the sport’s worldwide appeal with online viewers from 66 different countries. The most popular were Finland (23.8 per cent), France (20.8 per cent), Spain (17.1 per cent), Germany (10.2 per cent), Poland (7.0 per cent) and United Kingdom (6.91 per cent).

Eighty-nine per cent of viewers were aged 40 or under, with 38.4 per cent aged between 22 and 30. The next largest age group was 14–21 year olds (27.4 per cent) followed by those aged 31–40 (23.1 per cent). Ninety-seven per cent of viewers were car owners, with most driving Fords (16.5 per cent) followed by Citroens (14.2 per cent) and then Opels (12.1 per cent).

The pilot project also proved a big hit with WRC team bosses. “It’s been fantastic and the quality has been superb,” said Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson. “For a first attempt it’s been very good and will take rallying to a different level.” David Richards, who oversees the factory MINI team, added: “When it’s properly up and running it will be a great product for the future. If it’s an indication of what’s to come then it’s superb.”

After a technical review and an analysis of feedback from wrc.com users and industry stakeholders, North One Sport CEO Simon Long said he hoped to offer more live coverage in the future. “The aim of the trial was to determine the technical feasibility of live WRC streaming and to gauge demand from fans. The results in both areas are extremely encouraging. The challenge now is to provide more live coverage from next year.”

Elsewhere on the internet the WRC continues to gain ground with wrc.com monthly page views averaging 10.26 million for the period January-June 2011 compared to 6.98 million in the same period last year. Meanwhile on 29 September the number of fans on the official WRC Facebook page reached half a million.

“The internet gives us an unparalleled opportunity to broaden the reach of the WRC beyond our existing broadcast audience and to provide fans with more content and more variety,” added Long. “The trial was a vital stage in our development plans for the next 12 months.”