Football fans in Portsmouth are cheering after their evening paper helped to get season ticket prices pegged.

It was over a cup of tea with Mark Storey, chief football writer for The News, that Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric intervened to reverse an earlier announcement of increased prices.

Fans had been taken by surprise at the club’s Easter Monday match when a flysheet was distributed, announcing price hikes of up to 26 per cent.

The News received a stream of phone calls, faxes and e-mails attacking the decision and reported on fans’ anger the following day.

Mark Storey raised the issue when he turned up for a scheduled chat with Mr Mandaric – and the chairman immediately promised not to increase prices after May 31, as originally expected. He also said he would slash the price of season tickets for pensioners and under-16s.

The announcement made a back-page lead for The News, which has had a stormy relationship with Pompey in the past, having been banned from Fratton Park three times in three years. The article said the chairman’s gesture would have been unthinkable under previous regimes.

Sports editor Dave King said: “The chairman is a very popular guy and he clearly wasn’t happy with what was going on.

“I’m delighted that, as a newspaper, we have been able to provide a voice for the fans and give them a result.”

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