'Astoundingly good': Kieran Maguire's verdict on Portsmouth accounts - and Michael Eisner's loan
The football finance expert has assessed the Blues’ latest accounts
Pompey’s latest accounts have been described as ‘astounding, astoundingly good’ by football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
And he has shrugged off concerns over Tornante loaning the Blues money, comparing the situation to ‘the Bank of Mum and Dad’.
Pompey posted losses of £4.3m for their first season back in the Championship, according to accounts filed at Companies House for the year ending June 30, 2025.
Turnover was £24,568,000, an increase of £10.95m, while there were also rises in match-day revenue (by £1.39m) commercial and sponsorship revenue (by £464,000) and broadcasting revenue (by £9.07m).
It represents a change in funding from Michael Eisner, with £37m of equity previously put in since the Eisner family became Pompey owners in August 2017.
And Maguire, a hugely-respected author and broadcaster on the subject and University of Liverpool associate professor of football finance, has explained why owner loans as debt shouldn’t be feared.
‘You can see that is an achievement’
He told The News: ‘I think, by the standards of this Championship, these accounts are astounding, astoundingly good.
‘It’s crazy for me to say that for a business which lost more than £80,000 a week, but, where the average losses are about £500,000 a week, you can see that it is an achievement.
‘You need some form of funding in a loss-making industry and I absolutely appreciate what Pompey fans have been through with rogue owners, but I am very, very relaxed about their owners loaning them money.
‘We’ve all got loans, we have all got mortgages, they don’t keep everyone awake at night. Debt is part of business and debt is certainly part of the football business.
‘If you take a look at the Premier League and what we refer to as football debt, which is money owed to other clubs for unpaid transfer instalments as well as the traditional borrowings. You're probably talking about 7-8 billion pounds, yet the Premier League goes on its own sweet way.
‘Debt is only a problem if you can’t make the repayments on the due dates and the lender has the rights, which can cause you problems. The rights to send in the bailiffs, the right to appoint an administrator and so on.
‘But I don’t think this is the case with Pompey because the funding has come from the owner. It’s not in the owner’s interests to send the bailiffs round, so therefore I didn't see that as an issue.
‘We focus on things from the perspective of the club itself, but it could be that there are tax benefits in lending money rather than putting it in the form of equity.
‘It’s the equivalent of the Bank of Mum and Dad’
‘Individual tax codes of individual countries are quite complex and, certainly as far as the United States is concerned, they have a very lenient approach towards debt. That could be part of the driving force behind this switch of strategy at the club.
‘It’s the equivalent of the Bank of Mum and Dad. When our kid passed their driving test and 2-3 months later told us “I don’t want to drive mum’s car, it’s a Nissan Micra”, I get that.
‘Then there’s the look, the pause in the conversation, you know it’s coming: “Will you lend me £15k to buy myself a car?”.
‘They know that I’m dad, so I’ll never ask for the money back. And I know that, with student debt, the ridiculous cost of rent and so on, they are permanently skint. From a legal point of view, in theory it’s a loan, but it is actually glorified equity.
‘Your mum is never going to ask for the £20 she lent you last week, is she?’
According to page seven of Pompey’s accounts, ‘no loan capital or interest have been paid to date’, while the loan is unsecured, with no repayment schedule in place.
Meanwhile, the change in funding format arrives at a time when Michael Eisner has implemented succession planning in terms of Pompey ownership.
The 84-year-old, who owns Tornante, has transferred 73.5 per cent of his shares in the club to his sons - Breck, Eric and Anders.
Each of the three now own 24.5 per cent in the club, with Michael having 26.5 per cent, yet maintaining his position as chairman, keeping all voting rights.
‘There could be concerns in terms of his long-term tax strategy’
Maguire added: ‘Owner loans vary from club to club. If you take a look at Preston, their owners put in around about £1m a month via equity, but they are based in the Isle of Man and have a different tax code. There are different drivers of how you put money into clubs.
‘If you take a look at Steve Lansdown at Bristol City, he has put in 10s and 10s of millions via a company called Pula, which is in the form of a loan.
‘However, it's a loan he is never going to call in for two reasons - the club doesn't have the cash and he is a Bristol City fan.
‘You have to look at the individual tax circumstances. There were complications at Preston when their owner Trevor Hemmings sadly passed away in 2021 and the investment effectively transferred to his children, which can cause succession planning issues.
‘It could be Michael Eisner has similar concerns in terms of his long-term tax strategy if he wants to pass the club on to the rest of his family.
‘And, of course, it can be converted into equity further down the line.’