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Newcastle bear the scars of the Ashley era

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the latest accounts of Newcastle United.

This was the last set of accounts under Mike Ashley’s ownership, as the club was acquired in October 2021 by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (80% stake), as well as PCP Capital Partners (10%) and RB Sports & Media (10%).

The pre-tax loss reduced from £26m to £14m, despite revenue falling £13m (8%) from £153m to £140m and profit on player sales dropping £24m to £2m, as operating expenses decreased £51m (25%), mainly due to change in accounting date. Loss after tax narrowed from £23m to £12m.

The Ashley effect

The club posted profits in seven of last 10 years, the only exceptions being 2017 (Championship) plus 2020 and 2021 (COVID), adding up to £48m over this period. That’s impressive from a financial perspective, though the Toon Army would have liked to see more of that money on the pitch.  Ashley’s focus on the bottom line is very well illustrated by Newcastle reporting the 5th highest aggregate profit in England in the last decade of £48m.

Before Ashley’s takeover, they had 14th highest revenue in the world, just £19m lower than 10th placed club, but this gap has soared to £209m in 2021, as Newcastle have been left behind by other clubs. In fact, they had 6th highest revenue in England before the big man arrived.

The club only qualified for Europe once under Ashley, earning just €5m in 14 years. In contrast, they qualified in 10 of the 13 years before he became owner, including 3 times for the Champions League. As an example of what they could have won, Spurs got €313m in last 6 years.

The new owners claimed that the club had not received any sponsorship from Ashley for Sports Direct stadium advertising for the last three seasons, though the accounts state that the club made sales of £253k to the owner’s companies, while purchasing £40k of goods.

Falling revenue

Revenue fell for the 3rd year in a row, so £140m is £38m (21%) lower than £178m club record, largely due to the pandemic. Revenue has grown £53m since Ashley’s arrival in 2007, but £93m is from centrally negotiated TV contracts, with both match day and commercial lower.

Main driver of the revenue fall was COVID, which led to reductions in match day, down £17m (99%) to just £176k, and commercial, down £8m (29%) to £21m. Partly offset by TV money rising £13m (12%) to £119m, mainly due to broadcasters’ rebate in prior year.

Commercial income fell £8m (29%) from £29m to £21m, due to less money from sponsors (11 months) plus lower revenue from events, catering and club shop (COVID). This is firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League.  Ashley did not manage to grow commercial income at all in 14 years. In fact, it has actually decreased, so club has fallen way behind rivals in this revenue stream. Newcastle outsourced catering in 2009, but that was only worth £6m, so does not explain the poor performance.

The club will look to significantly grow commercial income under new ownership in the same way that Man City did when they were bought by Abu Dhabi United Group, increasing revenue from £21m to £272m, though new Premier League rules to assess deals for fair value might hold them back.

Although the £14m loss is not ideal, it is actually one of the better financial results in the 2020/21 Premier League, when football was badly impacted by the pandemic. Only four clubs were profitable, while many reported huge losses, e.g. Chelsea £156m.

Profit from player sales fell from £26m to £2m, partly due to COVID depressing the transfer market, though some clubs did manage to generate good money from player trading.   Until the slowdown in 2020/21, when departures were mainly free transfers, the club had been making some decent money from player sales with £97m in the previous 4 years (annual average £24m). There will also be hardly any profit from player trading this season.

As testament to fans’ loyalty, average attendance has been around 50,000 for last 10 years, including 51,000 in Championship. Fell to 48,248 in 2019/20 (for games played with fans), but this was still 7th highest in Premier League and it is back up over 50,000 this season.

Falling wage bill

The wage bill fell £14m (12%) from £121m to £107m, mainly because the accounting period only covered 11 months in 2020/21 (prior year 13 months). On a like-for-like basis, wages would have actually increased by £5m (4%) from £112m to £117m.

They enjoyed the 5th highest wage bill in England before Ashley bought the club in 2007. Although wages have increased from £60m to £107m since then, other clubs have increased wages by significantly more, e.g. Liverpool quadrupled from £78m to £314m.

As a result, the £107m was 17th highest wage bill in England in 2020/21. If it were adjusted to £117m, based on a 12-month accounting period, it would still only be in 14th place. Either way, this is at least £200m below the top four clubs

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