Skip to main content

QPR losses up significantly

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the finances of QPR: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/qpr-finances-202122?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

QPR’s pre-tax loss significantly increased from (restated) £4.1m to £24.7m, mainly because profit on player sales fell £17.4m to just £0.2m. Revenue rose £7.6m (52%) from £14.5m to £22.1m, as a result of COVID restrictions being lifted and business returning to normal.  The revenue growth was eaten up and more by operating expenses increasing £10.8m (30%) to £46.4m. 

QPR’s cost base shot up, as the club appeared to return to the dark days of gambling on promotion. The wage bill increased £3.4m (14%) from £24.2m to £27.6m.   QPR’s £24.7m loss is the second highest reported to date in the 2021/22 Championship, only surpassed by Bristol City £28.5m.

Since Tony Fernandes arrived in August 2011, total losses have amounted to £254m – or £314m if we exclude a £60m loan write-off in 2014.

Since Tony Fernandes arrived at QPR, the owners have put in an incredible £300m, though most of that came in the first five years (£222m). That said, they still stumped up £78m in the last six years. The majority of this funding was used to cover operating losses of £198m with £64m spent on player purchases (net) plus £26m on infrastructure. 

In the 10 years up to 2021, QPR’s owners put in more money than any other club in the Championship. Their £283m contribution in this period was almost £90m more than the closest challengers, namely Stoke City £195m, Cardiff City £194m and Bristol City £181m.

QPR have to compete with clubs with significantly higher wage bills, a number of whom receive tens of millions in parachute payments from the Premier League. As an example, the wage bills at Watford and Norwich City in 2020/21 were £68m and £67m respectively, around £40m more than QPR.

QPR pushed the boat out in 2021/22 in an attempt to reach the play-offs, with a hefty increase in the wage bill, allied with no major player sales, but that gamble clearly failed to pay off.  This yet again highlights the dilemma for owners in the Championship, as they struggle to compete against “parachute payment” clubs with far larger budgets, especially as Rangers could hardly be accused of massive spending.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spurs CEO attacks luxury training base

The Tottenham Hotspur chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has issued a withering assessment of the way the club was run under Daniel Levy, likening the state-of-the-art training centre to a five-star hotel rather than a centre of high performance.  Venkatesham was appointed to his role in April 2025, having stepped down as chief executive at Arsenal the previous summer. However, he has said that some aspects of the club were “in a significantly worse state” than he expected.  “Our training centre is amazing, one of the best, if not the best in the world,” Venkatesham told BBC Sport. “But when you look around, it looks more like a five-star hotel than it does a performance environment. That will change over the summer. I think there are many areas where the club hasn’t got the right level of expertise.”  He explained that the football side of operations was the club’s main downfall when he arrived last year. [One Spurs fan wryly observed that it was like a water company sayi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more