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The cost of promotion for Cardiff

Cardiff City lost £654,000 a week last season in the Championship whilst securing promotion to the Premier League or £175m to 31st May 2018. Cardiff were reliant on the final year of parachute payments in 2017/18 which represented over 62% of income. The Bluebirds paid £137 in wages for every £100 of income in 2017/18 as the wage bill increased by 67%.

60 per cent of revenue came from broadcasting, 26 per cent was commercial and 14 per cent match day.

Cardiff bought players for £14 million and had sales of about the same amount in 2017/18. The club spent £35 million in the summer 2018 window on players and borrowed £28 million from a new lender.

Cardiff have outstanding loans, mainly to Vincent Tan, of £74 million. Interest is due on the loans at 7% but was waived last year. Vincent Tan effectively wrote off £79 million of loans to Cardiff City by converting them into shares.

Championship losses likely to top £400 million in 2017/18 and this is with the 'benefits' of FFP supposedly restricting excess spending so Cardiff are not alone in racking up the red ink.

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