Sheffield Wednesday’s 2021/22 accounts cover a season when they finished 4th in League One, losing to Sunderland in the play-off semi-final. They had been relegated from the Championship the previous season, due to receiving a 6-point deduction for breaching the EFL’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules.
Despite relegation, Wednesday’s pre-tax loss significantly
decreased from £25.8m to £7.3m, as revenue rose £4.7m (40%) from £11.6m to
£16.4m and profit from player sales increased from £0.6m to £1.0m.
However, the largest improvement was due to operating
expenses being cut £14.2m (37%) from £37.9m to £23.7m.
Despite the impressive reduction in Wednesday’s loss, their
£7.3m was still one of the highest in League One, only surpassed by Ipswich
Town £12.6m, Wigan Athletic £7.7m and Charlton Athletic £7.4m.
Wednesday’s profit from player sales increased from £0.6m to
£1.0m, as most departures were on free transfers. As might be expected, player
trading does not generate huge gains at this level, so this was actually the
8th highest in League One, though a fair way below MK Dons £5.5m and Charlton
Athletic £3.3m.
£94m losses in six
years
Wednesday have consistently lost money, only reporting a
profit once in the last decade, and that was purely thanks to one-offs in
2018/19. In fact, the club has lost £94m in the last six years (£139m excluding
exceptional items). That said, the lower
loss in 2021/22 was a step in the right direction and was the club’s smallest
deficit for eight years.
Wednesday’s £16.4m revenue was the second highest in League
One, only surpassed by Sunderland, though they were almost £10m behind the
Black Cats’ £26.1m, with Ipswich Town not far behind at £14.4m. All three clubs
were effectively big fish in a small pond.
Wednesday’s £6.8m match day income was the second highest in
League One, only behind Sunderland’s £9.5m, but ahead of Ipswich Town £5.7m and
Portsmouth £5.3m.
Attendances
Wednesday’s average attendance of 22,469 was down nearly
5,000 (18%) from the recent peak of 27,306 in 2016/17. Crowds have fallen every
season since then. However, Wednesday
still had the second highest attendance in League One in 2021/22, only behind
Sunderland’s 30,847. Not only was this very impressive for England’s third
tier, but was only surpassed by two clubs in the Championship. Furthermore, it
was actually more than three clubs in the Premier League.
Wages
Wednesday’s wage bill almost halved, falling by £11.9m from
£24.3m to £12.4m, the lowest since 2012/13. This was thanks to the departure of
some players on relatively high wages and contractual reductions for those
remaining due to relegation clauses. Despite
the decrease, Wednesday’s £12.4m wage bill was still the fourth highest in League
One, only below Ipswich Town £16.4m, Sunderland £16.3m and Wigan Athletic
£13.0m.
Wednesday’s wages to turnover ratio decreased from 209% to
76%, though the previous season was obviously badly impacted by COVID revenue
reductions. This was the first time
that this important ratio had fallen below 100% since Chansiri’s first full
season. It was also Wednesday’s lowest for 11 years.
Wednesday only spent £0.3m on new players in 2021/22, though
this is not unusual in League One, where most clubs do their “wheeling and
dealing” via free transfers and loans. In
fact, all but six clubs spent less than a million that season. The largest
outlays by far were Sunderland £5.3m and Ipswich Town £3.4m, followed by
Charlton Athletic £1.7m and Wigan Athletic £1.2m.
The taps have been well and truly turned off at Hillsborough
with less than £4m spent in the transfer market in the last four years, partly
due to a soft transfer embargo imposed by the EFL for a breach of rules. This is in stark contrast to the somewhat
crazy period after Chansiri’s arrival, when the club splashed out £37m in just
three years.
Debt
Wednesday’s gross debt increased by £4m from £59m to £63m,almost
all of which is owed to Chansiri with “no set repayment or interest terms”. The
owner’s debt includes £56.3m owed directly to Chansiri plus £6.5m for which he
acts as a guarantor. The debt would have
been much higher if Chansiri had not converted £44m into share capital and the
former owner had not waived £21m loans. Nevertheless,
Wednesday’s £63m debt was by far the largest in League One, comfortably ahead
of Fleetwood Town £24m, Oxford United £21m and Charlton Athletic £20m.
Benefactor owner
Since Chansiri bought Wednesday from Milan Mandaric in
February 2015, he has provided £135m funding. This has been mainly used to
cover £87m operating losses, while £19m was spent on players (net), £19m paid
off external loans, £5m invested in infrastructure and £2m interest.
So Chansiri has pumped £135m into the club, comprising loans
£64m, share capital £26m and £45m payments for the stadium sale (leaving £15m
of his total £60m commitment still to be paid). As the Strategic Report stated,
Wednesday “remain dependent on the continued financial support from its
shareholder.”
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Sheffield
Wednesday under Chansiri. While the owner has kept the club “in operational
existence” (to quote the auditors), he was also responsible for the club’s
relegation to League One. Wednesday have
done well to bounce back just two years later, especially after the budget cuts
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