Football finance expert's Portsmouth wage bill claim after accounts are published

That’s according to football finance expert, Kieran Maguire, after the Blues released their latest accounts this week.

Maguire is known as one of the most respected figures on the subject of accountancy in the game, as a broadcaster and author.

He has dissected the accounts registered with Companies House this week, as Pompey lost nearly £4m through the Covid pandemic.

And in a detailed thread on Twitter, he has broken down what can be garnered from the information published.

Maguire has outlined the key take-home information as income dropping 35 per cent for the 2020-21 accounts to £7.4m with a three per cent drop in wages to £7.9m, while operating losses went up 82 per cent to £87,000 per week as the pinch was felt from a lack of matchday revenue.

He also highlighted the £2m injected by the Eisners on top of the £4m from the £10m share capital, when they bought Pompey in 2017.

In a series of posts illustrated by graphs, Maguire pinpointed the cost of Pompey’s squad last June was £3m while wages averaged £3,600 - a sizeable third-tier figure - and £107 for every £100 of income.

And he gave context over the losses and how it underlines how important matchday income is for the club.

He wrote of the accounts: ‘Overall income down to lowest since 2015 partly due to Pompey usually generating more than 50% of revenue from ticket sales.

‘As fans could not attend matches, many watched Pompey using the @EFL iFollow service, which meant that broadcast income more than doubled compared to pre Covid levels.

‘Commercial income down a third as unable to use stadium for other uses as a result of lockdown

‘Matchday income down 97% as a result of matches being played BCD (behind closed doors). Hit of about £6m compared to pre-Covid.

‘Pompey wage bill reasonably high by League One standards, averages £3,600 a week. Wages £107 for every £100 of income

‘Amortisation cost (transfers spread over contract life) over £1m.

‘Pompey day to day (EBIT) losses, excluding one off items, were £4.5m in 2021. Furlough reduced these losses by £648k, player sale profits were negligible at just £9k

‘Pompey bought players for £140k and had sales of £42k in 2020/21

‘Total cost of Pompey's squad at 30 June 2021 was just under £3m.’

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