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Record revenues but a big loss at Forest

The Swiss Ramble provides a forensic analysis of the accounts of Nottingham Forest. Much more detail and analysis is available on his Substack page. Despite the improvement on the pitch, Forest swung from a £12m pre-tax profit to a £79m loss in 2024/25, which represented a £91m decline, largely due to a significant decrease in profit from player sales, which dropped from £101m to just £7m.   Forest’s £79m loss was one of the worst in the Premier League in 2024/25, only surpassed by Chelsea £262m, Tottenham £121m and West Ham £104m. More positively, revenue rose £32m (17%) from £190m to £222m, which was a big new club record, though this was largely offset by a steep increase in operating expenses, which were up £24m (9%) from £263m to £287m, while net interest payable was up £6m (38%) from £15m to £21m. The club has been hit by the double whammy of having to spend more on facilities to meet more stringent standards in the Premier League and the impact of rising inflation on ser...
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Chelsea the big spenders on agent fees

Fees paid to agents by men’s teams in England’s top four divisions raced past the half-billion-pound barrier for the first time this season, according to data disclosed by the Football Association (FA) on Wednesday afternoon. Chelsea spent £65.1million on agent fees, topping the club list for the third season running under the ownership of BlueCo, a consortium led by Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly. In BlueCo’s other season at the helm, Chelsea were the second-highest spenders on agents. In 2025-26, Chelsea accounted for 12 per cent of the agent spend of the 92 clubs in the football league. In all, Chelsea have spent £272million on agent fees in four seasons under their current owners, significantly more than anyone else in that period bar Manchester City (£236.7m). The jump to the next highest spender in that time, Manchester United, at £152.6m, is significant. Indeed, only three other clubs have spent more than £100m on agents over the past four years: Liverpool, Arsenal and As...
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Three clubs benefit from intragroup sales

At Aston Villa and Newcastle United, the internal restructuring of assets by club owners generated combined paper profits of £247million. At Everton, who still posted a loss, similar moves generated £49m. Strip those out and Premier League losses topped a billion pounds. In essence, the moving around of companies or assets within the wider group controlled by each club’s owners created accounting profits. Those profits improved the bottom lines of teams who would otherwise have each posted pre-tax deficits beyond £50million. On Tuesday, it was revealed Newcastle turned an otherwise record loss into a £34.7million profit by ‘selling’ their home stadium St James’ Park and adjacent land to a new company three days before the club’s accounting year-end date last June. The company was set up by Newcastle’s ownership group, headed by Saudi Arabia’s state Public Investment Fund (PIF). The latter point was seemingly enough to obscure, for some, what the actions of last June now mean: New...
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Carlisle look on the bright side of life

Carlisle United are looking on the bright side of life despite their relegation to the National League, seeing many positives:  https://www.carlisleunited.co.uk/news/carlisle-united-share-annual-financial-statements-and-look-ahead-future Perhaps most significantly, the Platak family continues to invest in the club on and off the pitch. The club are in contention for an early return to the EFL, although the fact that only two clubs are promoted makes life challenging.   Many analysts consider that there should be three up and three down, but League Two clubs re understandably reluctant. The north of Cumbria surely deserves representation in the EFL
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Swansea losses not unusual for Championship

Swansea City have announced a loss of £21.6m in their latest accounts:  https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/swansea-city-announce-216m-loss-33700867 Such losses are not unusual in the highly competitive Championship with the Abertawe club keen to return to the Premier League. The increase in operating costs has been seen at many clubs, reflecting such factors as higher energy prices.
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Losses up at Northampton

Losses at Northampton Town increased to nearly £3m in 2024/25 despite record revenues.   The playing budget was up by 20 per cent:  https://www.footballtradedirectory.com/northampton-town-post-2995m-loss-despite-record? Northampton is a 'stand alone' league club in its county (since the collapse of Rushden & Diamonds).  Nevertheless, its finances illustrate the challenges faced by lower league EFL clubs.
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Chelsea makes record pre-tax loss for a top flight team

Chelsea Football Club’s holding company has posted a record pre-tax loss for a Premier League team, underlining the scale of the task at hand for its US owners and the wider struggles of English top-flight clubs to report profits. Chelsea FC Holdings reported a pre-tax loss of £262.4mn in the financial year ended June 2025 despite revenues increasing to £490.9mn from £468.5mn a year earlier, according to a statement by the club on Wednesday.    This was the club’s second-highest revenue figure in history, boosted by higher broadcasting income thanks to finishing fourth in the league. The losses are a blow for private capital firm Clearlake Capital and US financier Todd Boehly, who led the £2.5bn takeover of Chelsea from Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich in 2022. “This is a record pre-tax loss for a Premier League football club,” football finance guru Kieran Maguire, told the Financial Times .“That’s significant in an era when clubs are trying to prove they are not just tro...
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