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Watford accounts show a mixed picture

Watford chief executive Scott Duxbury is confident about their financial situation, but in reality their accounts for 2016/17 show a mixed picture: Reason for optimism?

Revenue was up from £95m to £124m but, as is the case for most Premiership clubs, this was almost entirely due to increased television income from the Premier League. It is the second lowest revenue figure of the 15 top flight clubs to have reported so far.

88 per cent of their income comes from television, but this is a typical figure for Premiership clubs outside the top six.

There was a modest increase in pre-tax profit from £3.6m to £4m, but there would have been a £18m loss if it had not been for player trading, in particular the £20m sale of Odio Ighalo to Chinese club Changchun Yataiai.

Gino Pozzi's business model is based on discovering rough diamonds and selling them on for profit and either Doucoure (attracting big interest from top clubs) or Richarlison may be sold on in the summer too keep the club in the black.

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