Cost of Portsmouth League One title-winning transfer dealings laid bare in latest accounts
Pompey spent almost £1m in the last financial year to bolster their push for the Championship, according to latest accounts.
The majority of fees involved the recruitment of Callum Lang, Owen Moxon and Tom McIntyre, who were all recruited in January to get the Blues over the line after entering 2024 as League One leaders.
The trio subsequently helped John Mousinho’s men to clinch promotion and the title with two games to spare in a dramatic evening against Barnsley in April.
Accounts filed today at Companies House for the year ending June 30, 2024, detail the cost of the Blues’ transfer dealings over that 12 months.
The only other player signed for a fee during that period was Anthony Scully, who arrived from Wigan for a minimal sum, with overall dealings totalling £1,006,792, which also includes agent fees.
Of the quartet, Lang was the most expensive purchase, costing around £400,000 from Wigan, with Moxon recruited from Carlisle for a lower six-figure fee.
While the Blues snapped up McIntyre from cash-strapped Reading for a reported £75,000 in the final days of the January transfer window.
The summer of 2024 signings of Reuben Swann, Jacob Farrell, Elias Sorensen, Abdoulaye Kamara, Nicolas Schmid, Harvey Blair and Ibane Bowat also involved fees, yet all arrived after June 30. Their costs will be included in the next set of accounts.
In terms of player sales, the figure of £419,913 represents outstanding fees received in the previous year’s departures of Marcus Harness (Ipswich) and Reeco Hackett (Lincoln).
It also includes a £34,000 transfer net profit following Jay Mingi’s move from Colchester to Stockport County, with Pompey benefitting from a sell-on clause.
The accounts do not include the sale of Jack Sparkes to Peterborough and the departures of Academy pair Xander Grieves (Wolves) and CJ Afumuzor (Newcastle). These will be detailed in the next set of accounts.
Meanwhile, the Blues’ drive to reduce their outlay on loan players in recent years saw loan costs drop by 58.9 per cent over the 12-month period.
This amounted to £408,000 spent for 2023-24 on four signings: Abu Kamara (Norwich), Alex Robertson (Manchester City), Tino Anjorin (Chelsea) and Myles Peart-Harris (Brentford).
The previous campaign totalled £994,000 on seven loan recruits including Josh Griffiths, Joe Pigott, Dane Scarlett, Owen Dale, Josh Koroma, Matt Macey and Di’Shon Bernard.
Elsewhere, wages and salaries across the club show £10.57m, up from £8.29m the previous year.
That includes settlements on the contracts of Denver Hume and Josh Oluwayemi, as well as one-off costs in the form of League One promotion bonuses to players and staff. In addition, as part of clauses in transfer deals recruiting from other clubs, some were also entitled to receive payment.
Overall, Pompey posted losses of £5.6m during that period, compared to a £3.09m loss the previous year.
https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/portsmouth-transfer-dealings-laid-bare-as-cost-of-squad-transformation-revealed-4571597The Blues spent £1.52m in transfer fees over 2022-23, spending power bolstered by £773,119 generated from player sales, including Marcus Harness to Ipswich.