Skip to main content

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.’


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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/
Post a Comment
Read more