The stretched finances of Championship clubs

The authoritative Swiss Ramble has taken a look at the finances of the Championship. Of course, the figures are a year out of date, but they still tell us something.

In contrast to the Premier League, only six clubs in the Championship made money, led by Nottingham Forest £32m and Barnsley £13m. Why Barnsley made a profit is unclear, as they only publish abbreviated accounts, but it is most likely to do with player sales.

In this very competitive division most clubs over-extend in a bid to reach the lucrative top flight. Largest losses were at two promoted clubs: Newcastle United £47m and Brighton £39m.

Profit on player sales is on low side in the Championship: below £20m for all but two clubs (and 15 of those were less than £10m). The two clubs to show a significant profit were Aston Villa and Newcastle United.

Newcastle United's £86m revenue was the highest in the Championship in 2016/17 (a record for the division), ahead of the other two relegated clubs (Norwich City £75m and Aston Villa £74m), then a sizeable gap to QPR £48m and Reading £37m. Top club not benefiting from parachute payments was Leeds United £34m. Championship revenues are greatly influenced by parachute payments. Even if parachute payments were excluded, the clubs with the highest revenue would still have been the three relegated from the Premier League.

Most Championship clubs receive £7-8m TV money, including £2.3m EFL central distribution and £4.3m Premier League solidarity payment (up from £2.3m in 15/16, thanks to the new three-year deal). Differences mainly due to how many times club is shown live (£100k home game, £10k away).

Newcastle's match day revenue of £23m was more than twice as much as the next highest in the Championship (Aston Villa £11m, Brighton £11m and Leeds United £10m) and was in fact above all but seven Premier League clubs. Half the clubs earned less than £5m from this revenue stream.

Newcastle's attendance of around 51,000 was by far the highest in the Championship, nearly 20,000 more than the closest challenger Aston Villa 32,000, who were followed by Derby County 29,000, Brighton 28,000 and Leeds 28,000.

Only six Championship clubs generated more than £10m commercial income with Leeds United leading the way at £16m, just ahead of Norwich City and Newcastle United (both £15m),

Newcastle United's £80m wage bill was miles above other Championship clubs, even after deducting £10m promotion bonus and £22m onerous contracts provision from the £112m reported by the club. Next highest were Aston Villa £61m, Norwich City £55m and Fulham £37m (also clubs benefiting from parachute payments). Over half of the Championship clubs pay more in wages than they earn.

Wolves get raw deal from FFP

I used to see a lifelong Wolves fan for lunch once a month. He was approaching ninety, but still went to games. Sadly he passed away the other week. As football finance guru Kieran Maguire has noted, Wolves continue to be constrained by financial fair play rules. Radio 4 this morning described them as this year's 'crisis club' and the pessimists have certainly been piling in. Martin Samuel wrote sympathetically in the Sunday Times yesterday, saying that the Premier League drives talent away with regulatory red tape: 'Why could Al-Hilal sign Neves? Because Wolves needed the money. And why did Wolves need the money? Because the club had to comply with an artificial construct known as financial fair play. So Wolves are going skint, yes? No. There is no suggestion that Wolves are in financial trouble, only that they are failing to meet the rigours of FFP. Wolves’ owners appear to have the money to run the club, and invest in the club, and in fact came up with a pow

Gold standard ground boosts Tottenham's income

The gold standard in European football grounds is the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in north London, a £1bn construction project completed in 2019. Its impact on the club’s finances has become increasingly clear as the effects of the pandemic have faded. Previously, the average fan would spend less than £2 inside the ground on a typical match day, but now that figure is about £16, thanks to new facilities including the longest bar in Europe and an on-site microbrewery. Capacity has gone up from 36,000 at the club’s previous home of White Hart Lane to 62,000. The new stadium — built on land adjacent to White Hart Lane — has opened the door to a broad range of other events that have helped to push commercial income up from €117mn in 2018 to €215mn in 2022. Last year, Tottenham hosted US singer Beyoncé for five nights on her global Renaissance tour, two NFL matches, as well as rugby games and heavyweight boxing bouts. Money brought in from football has gone up too. Match day income is

Charlton takeover approved

The long awaited takeover of Charlton Athletic by SE7 Partners from Thomas Sandgaard has been approved: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/se7-partners-obtain-efl-approval-for-charlton-athletic-takeover/ Charlton have had unhappy experiences with owners for over a decade, so how this works out will remain to be seen. There is certainly potential there, but will it be realised? This interview with Charlie Methven gives detail not available elsewhere: https://thecharltondossier.com/charlie-methven-on-the-record/

The Political Economy of Football V2

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