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Blades sharpen their finances

For the first time since 2008, the 2019/20 accounts of Sheffield United show a working profit.. It is not some minuscule sum, either, with the surplus for the club’s first season back in the Premier League for a dozen years standing at £17.5 million.

The huge increase in turnover that accompanies a place in the world’s richest league helps explain how United have made some money for a change.  Revenue increased by more than sevenfold to £143.1 million in a season that saw Chris Wilder’s side finish ninth, in the process earning a larger chunk of the top flight’s prize money pot.

Outgoings also increased significantly at Bramall Lane in 2019-20, with transfer expenditure up to record levels along with the wage bill.

Broadcast revenue shot up, from £8.3 million in the Championship to £116.8 million. Included in this is Premier League prize money awarded dependent on league position.  Sponsorship, including shirts and ground advertising, also rose sharply to £14.8 million from £2.9 million the previous year, while match-day income also went up.

United’s total transfer spend since winning promotion stands just shy of £130 million. Staff wages also soared to £77.8 million in the first year back in the Premier League. This was almost double the previous year’s salary expenditure (£40.9 million), which had been boosted significantly by promotion bonuses.

Income will be down next year. Not just due to COVID-19 but also United’s lowly league position. On the premise that each place in the league is still worth around £3 million extra in prize money, a fall from ninth in the table to 19th or 20th will be very costly indeed.

What does, though, offer hope is United’s wage-to-turnover ratio. This is usually a good benchmark figure for how sustainable a club is. Anything below 70 per cent is considered fine for a Premier League club, while United’s stands at around 54 per cent.

It is also understood Premier League relegation clauses, whereby salaries will fall substantially next season, are commonplace among the squad.

Kieran Maguire, a lecturer on football finance at the University of Liverpool and the man behind the Price of Football blog, told The Athletic: “These are a really solid set of results. And had it not been for COVID, they would have been spectacularly good.  A near £30 million profit.’


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