The contrast in the business models of the ‘Big Six’ comes out in this comparison by the Swiss Ramble.
Arsenal
In the five years up to the 2021/22 season Arsenal had the
lowest revenue of the Big Six. As a result, their wages and player purchases
lagged behind, being only ahead of Tottenham.
They still had to use £150m of the cash reserve that they
had built up in better times. External loans were replaced by an owner loan.
This will reduce annual interest payments going forward, though this
transaction did incur a once-off £32m, refinancing fee.
Chelsea
This review covered the last five years of the Abramovich
era, when Chelsea benefited the most in the Big Six from owner funding with
£416m, which was made up of share capital £211m and loans £205m. As part of the
sale of the club to Todd Boehly’s consortium, the debt owed to the owner has
reportedly been written-off. However,
the Blues were hit by £132m adverse working capital movements.
Chelsea generated the most cash from player sales with an
impressive £541m, nearly £100m more than the closest challenger. They had the
second highest player purchases of £917m, only just behind Manchester City.
Liverpool
There has been zero owner funding for the Reds in the last
five years. In fact, Liverpool were the only one of the Big Six to make a
repayment of owner loans of £35m, while taking out an additional £14m bank
loan.
In fairness, as outlined earlier, FSG had put in £171m in
the preceding seven years, so the recent repayments are by no means the whole
story.
Three appears to be the magic number for Liverpool, as they
had the third highest revenue, player sales and wages, though supporters would
point out the relatively low player purchases (around £300m less than
Manchester City and Chelsea).
There was just over £100m of capital expenditure, primarily
to fund Anfield expansion.
Manchester City
Manchester City spent the most on wages (£1.6 bn) and player
purchases (£942m) in the last five years. They had the second highest revenue
(behind United) and player sales (behind Chelsea) in this period.
The owners injected £81m capital, while they also benefited
from £116m working capital movements, which helped drive the largest increase
in the cash balance of the Big Six of £59m (from £19m to £78m).
Interestingly, both City and United had almost exactly the
same amount of cash available with around £3.3 b
Manchester United
Manchester United had the highest revenue of the Big Six,
but in stark contrast the lowest player sales in the last five years. Wages
were almost identical to Manchester City, but player purchases (in cash terms)
were a fair bit lower than both City and Chelsea.
United had the highest “cost of ownership”, as they made
interest payments of £94m and they were the only club to pay dividends (£113m).
They took out £91m additional external debt, only surpassed
by Tottenham’s funding for their new stadium. They also had to dip into their
reserves by reducing the cash balance by £186m.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham’s cash flow has been dominated by their new
stadium, which has led to the highest capital expenditure of £1.0 bn, requiring
the highest bank loan of £664m and growing interest payments (£94m).
This probably also impacted the low £377m player purchases,
while their £922m wages were by some distance the lowest of the Big Six. Their
smallish spend was not helped by having the second lowest revenue and player
sales.
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