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£450m spent on owning a football club

The authoritative Swiss Ramble takes a look at Championship finances. He notes, ' 2017/18 revenue in the Championship was £729m (TV £400m, commercial £177m and match day £152m), but there were hefty £572m operating losses, mainly due to £773m wages (wages to turnover ratio 106%) plus £264m player amortisation/depreciation and £259m other expenses.'

It is clear is that the Championship is a highly unprofitable division – and it is getting worse. Despite revenue growth of just £24m (3%) in 2017/18, wages shot up £113m, while player amortisation/impairment rose £64m, leading to operating losses widening from £400m to £572m.

'Leaving aside any issues with the Championship’s Profitability and Sustainability regulations, a business model where the owner finances a football club’s losses can work fine – right up to the point when the owner stops providing funds for whatever reason. That’s the danger.'

'Amongst other things, this analysis has shown that Championship clubs are only kept afloat by massive funding provided by their owners: £343m in 2017/18 alone. If we add £108m from stadium sales to the owners, they spent a cool £450m for the privilege of owning a football club.'

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