After a relatively calm season, Fulham can look forward to a third consecutive year in the Premier League, which will go a long way to losing their tag as a “yo-yo” club. On the previous two occasions that they had been promoted to the top flight, they had immediately dropped back to the Championship, so there have clearly been signs of progress under Marco Silva.
Things also look a little better off the pitch, considering
the club’s most recent accounts from the 2022/23 season, when they finished in
a very creditable 10th place in their first season back in the Premier League.
In 2022/23 Fulham’s pre-tax loss more than halved from £57m
to £26m, as revenue shot up £110m from £72m to a club record £182m following
promotion to the Premier League, though profit from player sales dropped from
£12m to £9m.
Much of the revenue increase was eaten up by operating
expenses rising £76m (54%) from £141m to £217m, as the club increased its
budget in order to compete in the top flight.
The main driver of Fulham’s revenue growth was broadcasting
(79% of total income, one of the highest in the Premier League), which almost
tripled, rising £94m from £51m to £145m, thanks to the far more lucrative
Premier League TV deal. However, there was also good growth in the other
revenue streams, especially match day, which more than doubled from £6.8m to
£15.2m, while commercial increased £8.7m (62%) from £14.0m to £22.7m.
Player sales
Fulham opted to hang on to their talent, so the bottom line
was only boosted by £9m profit from player sales, which was even lower than the
£12m they made in the Championship. This was mainly from the sale of Fabio
Carvalho to Liverpool. Fulham have not made much money from player sales,
generating a profit of just £21m in the last three seasons. They made £12m in
2021/22, mainly from the sale of Frank Anguissa to Napoli, while the gain in
the season before that was only £146k.
This season will be a lot better after the club record sale
of Serbian striker Aleksander Mitrovic to Saudi club Al-Hilal. The fee has been
widely reported in the media as £45-50m, but the accounts noted that the total
profit from player sales after the year-end was only £30m.
The club has largely bought older players with Premier
League experience, which helps prospects in the short-term, but is not
conducive to large player trading profits in the future.
Fulham have spent £334m on player purchases in the last five
years, which is around three times as much as the £110m outlay in the preceding
5-year period, so they have really ramped up their activity in the transfer
market. Looking at gross spend for the
last five years, Fulham only spent more than four other Premier League clubs,
namely Crystal Palace, Brentford, Sheffield United and Luton Town.
Losses are nothing new for Fulham, as the last time they
made a profit was way back in 2011. Since Shahid Khan bought the club in July
2013, they have posted £384m of losses, averaging £38m a year. This includes
£225m in the last four years alone, when the owner twice absorbed huge losses
in a bid to return to the Premier League as soon as possible. That said,
Fulham’s loss has now fallen two years in a row from the horrific £94m in
2020/21.
Fulham’s 23,800 attendance was one of the smallest in the
top flight, only above Crystal Palace, Brentford and Bournemouth.
The expanded Riverside Stand will increase capacity by
around 4,000 to 29,600, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first
class facilities”. The club has described this as a “game changer”, as it will
also include new restaurants, cafés, bars, corporate hospitality and event
space.
The total cost of the project has risen to £200m, with more
than £160m already incurred, so significant funding from the owner will be
required to complete the development.
Fulham’s wage bill rose £49m (54%) from £90m to £139m, which
was another club record. In fact, their wages in 2022/23 were £25m (22%) higher
than the last time they were in the Premier League two years previously. To highlight the magnitude of the challenge
for clubs like Fulham, it was more than £200m below the top three clubs:
Manchester City £423m, Chelsea £404m and Liverpool £373m.
In the last decade virtually all of Fulham’s £620m available
cash has come from the owners’ pockets. Most of this was spent on player
purchases with £285m (net), but also a significant amount went on
infrastructure (£201m) with another £80m used to cover operating losses. Khan has essentially signed a cheque for
around £1.4m a week ever since he arrived, which is a great deal of money by
almost anyone’s standards.
In fact, in the five years up to 2023 Khan’s £456m funding
was the second highest in the Premier League, only surpassed by Everton. Put
another way, Fulham have received more from their owner than the likes of
Chelsea and Manchester City plus aspirational clubs like Aston Villa and
Newcastle United.
Whether Fulham can turn a profit for the first time since
2011 is more debatable, but the direction of travel is positive. In the
meantime, the club is fortunate that owner Shahid Khan continues to provide
significant financial support.
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