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Spurs short of cash

As they appoint yet another new coach, Tottenham Hotspur’s 2024-25 accounts detail a worst-ever pre-tax loss and a growing need for cash, even amid record revenues. Spurs’ deficit tumbled to £120.6 million ($160 m), a near-£100 m worsening on a season earlier, though the club’s income statement is subject to several quirks not applicable to other Premier League sides. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (THS) generated a huge £57.6m ($76 m) paper depreciation charge, an accounting concept that writes down the value of fixed assets over a deemed lifespan. At the end of June 2025, the club held just £20.4 m ($26.9 m) in liquid cash, a 10-year low and a reduction of nearly £180 m ($237.8 m) in the last two years. That is just a snapshot in time, and there is reason to doubt the efficacy of holding huge amounts of cash without utilising them, but there are wider signals that Spurs are less self-sustaining than they have been at any other time under ENIC’s quarter-century of ownership, even as th...
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Losses up at Blackpool as auditors issue warning

Relegation threatened Blackpool have reported increased losses compared with the preceding season:  https://www.footballtradedirectory.com/blackpool-report-43m-loss-as-league-one-clubs-face? Auditors have issued a formal warning about the club's ability to continue as a going concern linked to one of the directors facing criminal proceedings in Hong Kong:  https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/25985039.blackpool-fc-finances-losses-deepen-owner-trial/

Record losses at Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderers booked a £15.3 million ($20.2m) loss in their 2024-25 Premier League season, even as they reaped £117m in player-trading profits — by some distance a new club record.  Wolves’ latest books also paint a picture of a club in decline on the pitch, very much setting the scene for their awful 2025-26 campaign. Wolves extended their accounting period, moving their May year-end date to June, and in doing so were able to book the sales of Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri, to Manchester United and Manchester City respectively, into last season’s accounts. Wolves’ revenue fell by £5.7m last season, driven by dropping from finishing 14th in the Premier League in 2023-24 to 16th and also having two fewer games selected for live broadcast (15, against the 17 a year earlier). Those factors reduced broadcast income by £8.4m, and that revenue stream is likely to decline further this term. Like most Premier League clubs outside the ‘Big Six’, Wolves rely on TV money f...

Spurs need to remember that they are a football club

I have a number of friends who are Spurs fans and I have been telling them for some time, think about structure not agency.   Modern football is obsessed with the manager or coach as if he actually controls the players on the pitch. Tottenham Hotspur have a splendid stadium (a relative who was a contractor is full of praise) but they seem to have forgotten that this is a means to the key objective of success on the pitch. Spurs, as one senior figure recently publicly admitted, are a football club who haven’t focused enough on the football. They’re a name, a brand, a venue, an events company. But not primarily a football team. It’s not Igor Tudor’s fault. You don’t blame the erroneously hired admin manager when the FTSE 100 company goes bankrupt. Spurs are just not a serious enough football club. Well, they’re a serious football club when it comes to aesthetics. Their stunning stadium is one of the finest in Europe, their state-of-the-art training ground is the same, th...

Big losses at Forest

Despite record revenue, Nottingham Forest made an operating loss of nearly £65 m in 2024/25, after posting a £24 m profit the previous year:  https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/football-news/nottingham-forest-finances-revealed It's not unusual for insurgent Premier League clubs to make big losses as they try to compete with the big six or seven.   Should Forest be relegated, they would face financial challenges.

Private capital court case affects Olympique Lyonnais

The row between Ares Management and John Textor has escalated to the next level. The private capital group filed an application in London’s High Court to appoint administrators to Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited, which holds a majority stake in Eagle Football Group, the owner of Lyon, as well as clubs in Belgium and Brazil. Eagle is more than a test case for multi-club ownership in football. It is a coming together of sport and institutional capital. The outcome will be closely watched. Private capital firm Ares has appointed administrators to the owner of Olympique Lyonnais after it defaulted on its debts, in a move that puts the future of one of France’s leading football clubs in doubt. Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited holds a majority stake in Eagle Football Group, the owner of Lyon. Eagle Bidco, which also holds controlling stakes in Brazilian football club Botafago and Belgian team RWDM Brussels, is owned by US businessman and prolific football investor John T...

Many Sunderland fans opposed to Farage invitation

After the visit by Reform leader Nigel Farage to Ipswich Town led to an apology from the club, many fans at Sunderland have expressed concern about a similar invitation to the Stadium of Light issued by a Sunderland director:  https://www.itv.com/news/2026-03-27/nigel-farage-offered-sunderland-stadium-of-light-visit-by-club-director Reform has substantial support in Sunderland and there have been predictions that it may make a clean sweep of the forthcoming local elections. Nevertheless, fans of any club have a range of political views and it undermines the unity of supporters if a club identifies with one political party.