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Things look good off the pitch for West Ham

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews West Ham's finances: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/west-ham-finances-202122

Off the pitch things look pretty good: they returned to profit, club record revenue, significantly lower debt and a large cash injection.  West Ham swung from a £27m pre-tax loss to £12m profit, a “notable” £39m improvement, as revenue rose £60m (31%) from £193m to a club record £253m, partly offset by profit from player sales falling £17m to less than £1m.

West Ham’s £12m pre-tax profit is a fine achievement. Five Premier League clubs have so far published accounts for 2021/22, and Manchester City are the only other one to post a profit. Others have made big losses, especially Manchester United £150m and Arsenal £46m.

West Ham now have the 7th highest revenue in the Premier League, so are the next best outside the Big Six. That said, the gap is still somewhat of an abyss, e.g. it is less than half of Manchester City £613m and Manchester United £583m.

West Ham’s wages to turnover ratio improved from 67% to 54%, which is the club’s lowest since 52% in 2017 and its second best in the last 10 years.  This is one of the lowest (best) ratios in the Premier League, even better than Arsenal and Manchester City, both 58% in 2021/22.

West Ham’s owners had provided £82m funding in the 10 years up to 2021. This was unsurprisingly miles below Manchester City £684m and Chelsea £516m, but also less than a few other clubs with more generous owners, e.g. Aston Villa £506m, Fulham £453m and Everton £448m.

If they do manage to avoid relegation, they should be well set from a financial perspective to make progress.


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