Portsmouth FC v Southampton FC: Owners wealth, wage bill, highest paid player compared | OneFootball

This is how the two south coast teams compare, fiscally.

The promotions of both Portsmouth and Southampton this summer meant that we missed out on getting to see another installment of the South Coast Derby.

It's been over five years since Pompey and the Saints came face to face with each other. That one was a result that the day's hosts at Fratton Park will want to get - a 4-0 loss to their bitter rivals.

The chances of getting to see this contest be played out for the first time in the 2020s was looking very good once Portsmouth's promotion to the Championship had been secured. With the Saints in the play-offs, Pompey supporters had even more reasons to not want their nemesis to succeed. Unfortunately for the Fratton faithful, they did.

Even though it's been a number of years since they last played each other, the bragging rights over that time have gone to Southampton. They've spent most of their time in the Premier League since that last meeting, while Pompey have been in the third tier.

With that better ranking in the English football pyramid comes more money, and what follows is more money being spent.

Football League World has compared the owners' wealth, wage bills and highest paid players between Portsmouth and Southampton to see which one comes out on top.

Note: all wage figures are estimations taken from Capology.

Owners' wealth

£2.7b v £1.4b

Considering the years of Premier League revenue that Southampton have collected over the years, the answer to the question of which owner from the South Coast Derby is the wealthiest may come as a surprise to some.

Portsmouth are owned by American business person Michael Eisner, who took over in August 2017. The former Disney CEO has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion (£2.7 billion), according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Southampton are owned by a billionaire too. Dragan Solak took over the club in January 2022. The Serbian media mogul is credited with a £1.4 billion wealth by The Guardian - nearly half that of Eisner. 1-0 Pompey.

Wage bills

£56m-per-year v £7m-per-year

From here, it's pretty obvious, given the leagues that the clubs are in, who is going to be the more dominant financial force.

Southampton's payroll is significantly higher than that of their south coast rivals. They are estimated to be paying over £1 million per week in wages to their players - a figure which dwarfs the £138,500 per week that Pompey are said to pay.

That latter figure puts Portsmouth's estimated yearly spending on wages to £7.2 million. It takes the Saints less than two months to send that out to their playing staff.

At just over £56 million, their yearly wage bill is much bigger. Southampton have levelled the scores.

Highest paid players

£120k-per-week v £15k-per-week

The theme from the last category carries on into this one, too. There are similarities between the two clubs in this regard, though: both of their highest paid players joined from Premier League teams this summer.

For the Saints, it'll be no surprise that their England international goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, is their highest earner at an estimated £120,000 per week.

That number is eight times larger than the £15,000 per weekPortsmouth.

That makes it 2-1 to the Saints in this fiscal South Coast Derby battle.