Kenny Jackett details exact level of Portsmouth spending after Plymouth boss’ big budget claims

And the Blues boss has revealed the exact level of spending at Fratton Park this season, in the face of talk he’s being backed with a huge kitty compared to his League One rivals.

Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe was the latest to suggest Pompey’s financial muscle outstrips third tier sides last week.

Lowe stated the Blues budget ‘blows everyone out of the water’, in the wake of the 2-2 draw at Fratton Park on Saturday.

But Jackett explained that of the six summer arrivals and four January additions at PO4, only Callum Johnson cost a fee - with Accrington paid £75,000 for his services.

Pompey, of course, along with the rest of League One were operating under a £2.5m wage cap this season, until Tuesday’s landmark arbitration ruling saw it scrapped.

The club’s most recent accounts show spending of £940,078 players on six players, but that figure was more than offset by player sales, sell-on clauses and cup runs as the club announced a £2m profit.

Those accounts don’t factor in sizeable fees believed to be around the £1m mark for Marcus Harness and John Marquis, but nor Jamal Lowe’s £2.5m exit to Wigan.

The club have a billionaire owner in Michael Eisner, but the American has not been bankrolling the operation as Pompey operate a sustainable approach.

Jackett pointed to the numbers which show a very different picture to the one being painted.

He said: ‘There’s been a wage cap this season.

‘And there hasn’t been money spent (since last summer). We spent around and about £75,000.

‘You can look at transfer fees, but if you do that you’d probably need to look at what you’ve sold as well.

‘So income and outcome over an amount of time - a period of years.

‘In the end it’s about league position, definitely, but I think in terms of income and outcome it’s buyin, selling and also cup runs.

‘They are the big contributing factors.

‘For us, do we have a healthy budget? Yes we do, but there has been a salary cap.

‘Since coming out of administration eight years ago this has been a very well-ran club.

‘It shows now because that is still the case even when supporters haven’t been in for a year.

‘In different times in the past these events would have given the club greater problems than it has.

‘In terms of sustainability and levelness this is a very well-run club at the moment. Long may that continue.’

Jackett made it clear he has no issue with Plymouth or Lowe, after his recent comments on Pompey’s spending power.

It’s not a new scenario with the likes of Charlton manager Lee Bowyer and former Fleetwood boss Joey Barton making similar statements in the past.

Jackett believes such words normally arise from rival bosses seeing things through the prism of their own financial conditions.

He added: ‘I don’t know where Plymouth’s finances are necessarily, but generally any manager is angling it from their own situation.

‘So you’d need to ask him or know what Plymouth’s financial situation is coming into this division after their promotion.

‘You’d have to ask Ryan and know a little bit more in-depth the finances of that club. That’s usually where most managers are talking from.’

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