Pompey paid £139,520 in transfer fees as coronavirus crippled their spending power last season.

While failure to sell any players also significantly impacted upon their recruitment.

Accounts yesterday filed at Companies House for the year ending June 30, 2021, detail the full impact of Covid on the Blues’ finances last term.

Having registered a £259,950 profit in 2019-20, latest figures show losses of £3,860,477m for the financial year.

As a consequence of Covid, Pompey’s transfer activity was inevitably affected, along with the vast majority of Football League clubs.

Just two players were purchased in the year ending June 30, 2021 – Callum Johnson and Liam Vincent.

Johnson arrived in September 2020 from Accrington for a fee in excess of £100,000, signing a two-year deal.

He made 46 appearances and scored once during his maiden Fratton Park season, while was voted as runner-up in The News/Sports Mail’s Player of the Year.

Pompey paid £139,520 in transfer fees according to accounts filed at Companies House for the year ending June 30, 2021. Picture: Graham Hunt/ProSportsImages

placeholder image — Pompey paid £139,520 in transfer fees according to accounts filed at Companies House for the year ending June 30, 2021. Picture: Graham Hunt/ProSportsImages

The right-back was subsequently sent on a season-long loan to Fleetwood by Danny Cowley in August 2021 and is out of contract in the summer.

In the case of Vincent, the 18-year-old arrived from non-league Bromley for an undisclosed fee in June 2021.

Seen as one for the future, his campaign has been devastated by injury and the left-back has still to make a first-team appearance.

However, he appeared for the Academy last Saturday having recovered from a stress fracture to his shin, and is contracted to Fratton Park until the summer of 2024.

That’s in contrast to the £2.31m spent by Pompey in 2019-20, although that was chiefly driven by the sale of Jamal Lowe to Wigan.

During that period, John Marquis, Marcus Harness and Reeco Hackett arrived on the south coast to bolster Kenny Jackett’s promotion ambition.

That was possible following £2.23m brought into Fratton Park, primarily from Lowe’s August 2019 departure.

In addition, there was a £75,000 sell-on received for Conor Chaplin, the sale of Anton Walkes to Atlanta United and minimum fees for Louis Dennis and Leon Maloney.

Crucially, however, there were no sales in 2020-21, thereby also impacting upon Pompey's ability to recruit.

As it stands, there have been no players sold this season, with Marcus Harness and Ronan Curtis the most saleable assets.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can support our local team of expert Pompey writers by subscribing here for all the latest news from Fratton Park for 9p a day, thanks to our 30%-off transfer window deal.