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Sunderland: Short Changed
As Sunderland’s new owner Stewart Donald picks up the reigns of the club and former head honcho Ellis Short walks away with the debts of £161 milion (and £40m in instalments from Donald) , the figures for their final season in the Premier League contain some grim reading although are rescued to a degree by the sale of Jordan Pickford in June 2017. Summary of key figures (Sunderland Limited) Income £126.4 million (up 17%) Broadcasting income £95.6 million (up 34%) Wages £84.4 million (up 1%) Loss before player sales £38.9 million (up 30%) Player purchases £47.5 million (£30.7 million in 2016) Player sales £43.1 million (£11.7 million in 2016) Borrowings:…
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West Bromwich Albion: Dazed and Confused.
It’s of little consolation to West Brom fans as their club is facing relegation, but the club’s holding company have just published their financial results for 2016/17 revealing record profits. A few months later though it was the night of the long knives in the boardroom and the club’s boardroom big cheeses were shown the door. Summary of key figures (West Bromwich Albion Holdings Limited) Income £137.9 million (up 40%) Broadcasting income £118.7 million (up 51%) Wages £79.1 million (up 7%) Profit before player sales £26.7 million (Loss of £5.2 million in 2016) Player purchases £37.4 million (£28.2 million in 2016) Player sales £19.8 million (£6.3 million in 2016) Borrowings:…
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Burnley: Your name’s not down, you’re not coming in
As The Notsensibles are one of our favourite bands, it’s time to take a look at the financies of Burnley as the club celebrated their most successful season to date in the Premier League in 2016/17 by finishing six points above the drop and have since used this as a springboard to be presently challenging for a European place. The club, along with manager Sean Dyche and the players, don’t get the credit they deserve for winning matches and playing decent football, with too many critics lazily linking Dyche’s nightclub bouncer dress code, Dalek like voice to a club with the ethos of a slightly upmarket Wimbledon of the Crazy…
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Huddersfield Town: The Model
Must confess to having a huge soft spot for Yorkshire’s leading football club, Huddersfield Town. The locals are friendly, one of their fans runs the funniest football website on t’internet in http://www.htfc-world.com/ , they sell any remaining pies and burgers for £1 at the end of matches to fans, the club is owned by a local lad who clearly loves his club (and isn’t a Billy Bigbollocks), they are not managed by Neil Warnock AND they were promoted last season on merit, relatively under the radar. Did they achieve promotion last season on a shoestring or is that a Yorkshire myth? Let’s look… Summary of key figures (Huddersfield Town Association…
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Derby County: Respectable?
If we have one pet hate here at the Price of Football it’s clubs who announce their results on the club website via a press release, but don’t publish them. Such behaviour usually is accompanied by a greatest hits tour of many impressive increases in some key financial figures, but not all the information is disclosed. The local newspaper writes up the press release in good faith, and the fans swallow the narrative as dictated by the club. The club relies on everyone then losing interest in the finances (and rightly so, we don’t love our clubs because of their balance sheets after all) and later the accounts are sent…
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Leeds United 2017: Cardboard box? You were lucky…
It may seem an unusual thing to say, but we feel a bit sorry for many Leeds fans. They’ve been shafted more times than Linda Lovelace in Deep Throat and were once so desperate for an owner they even cheered when Ken Bates took over the club. 2016/17 proved to Massimo Cellino’s reign of jaw dropping entertainment at Elland Road, as the colourful (crooked) Italian sold initially 50%, then the whole of the club to fellow Italian Andrea Radrizziani. Fans were initially excited about the change of control, as Cellino had been tight with the cash (something that most Yorkshire folk would usually approve of) during his time at the…
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Fulham: Tiger Feet
Fulham 2017 Trying to work out the exact state of Fulham’s finances isn’t easy. You would think that the logical place would be Fulham Football Club Limited, but this company doesn’t appear to own Craven Cottage. A bit of ferreting around leads to Fulham Football Leisure Limited, which owns not just the Football Club Limited but also Fulham Stadium Limited (for Craven Cottage) and FL Property Management Limited (for the training ground) and an Irish based Motspur Park Ltd (also for the training ground). We were just about to analyse these figures when up popped the groovy sounding Cougar Holdco London Ltd, which was created when Fulham Owner Shahid Khan…
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Blackburn Rovers: Look what you could have won
Key Figures Rovers became the first Premier League winners to be relegated to the third tier in May 2017, and their annual accounts aren’t going to put a smile on fans’ faces either. Income £14.9 million (down 32%) Wages £22.0 million (down 13%) Loss before player sales £13.7 million (down 17%) Player purchases £1.3 million Player sales £11.1 million Borrowings £112.8 million The club was acquired by Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt Ltd in October 2010, so this analysis concentrates on the club’s finances under their ownership. Income 2016/17 was the first season Blackburn did not have the benefit of parachute payments. Not all clubs have announced their results for 2016/17 yet,…
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Wolves 2016/17: Far Far Away
Introduction Wolves have been sensational in the EFL Championship this season, and this has prompted critics to question the role of superagent Jorge Mendes, and the owners Fosun International, who acquired the club in 2016. We’ve taken a look at how the club has fared financially in the first year of Fosun’s ownership, and its position in terms of Financial Fair Play (FFP). The club has just announced losses of over £23 million for 2016/17, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped its spending, so are they breaking the rules? Income Not all clubs have announced their results for 2016/17 yet, but most clubs are showing higher income than in…
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QPR: Boys Don’t Cry
Introduction: In Between Days QPR announced their financial results recently for 2016/17, which revealed that they made a loss of over £6 million before tax. Overhanging this is a potential Financial Fair Play (FFP) of somewhere between £40-50 million, which relates to their promotion in 2013/14 in the Championship, which has kept lawyers for both the club and the Football League (EFL) in riches for the last few years. QPR’s accounts are possibly the most WTF figures in football, as large sums seem to appear and disappear at the whim of owner Tony Fernandes (isn’t he a Steve Coogan creation? Ed) and his entourage of billionaire chums who also own…