Europe and player sales key for Aberdeen finances

Aberdeen’s 2023/24 accounts covered a season that was a bit of a mixed bag. As chief executive Alan Burrows said, “The 2023/24 campaign wasn’t without its challenges. We finished seventh in the Scottish Premiership and had to change managers mid-season, which is not where any club ever wants to be.”

On the other hand, the club played in a European group stage for the first time in fifteen years, though they did not progress to the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League.

In 2019 Dave Cormack, an Aberdonian and lifelong Dons fan, replaced Stewart Milne as chairman after 22 years. Major League Soccer side Atlanta United acquired a minority stake (less than 10%) as part of a strategic alliance between the two clubs.

This group provided £5m, which helped finance development of the training ground, and significant funding since the initial investment.

Largely due to the European group stage football and domestic cup runs, Aberdeen’s revenue shot up by £7.8m (50%) from £15.8m to a club record £23.6m.

However, they still swung from a £1.1m profit to a £0.9m loss, mainly because profit from player sales dropped from £7.5m to £1.3m. In addition, operating expenses increased by £3.8m (17%) from £22.0m to £25.8m.

All three of Aberdeen’s revenue streams increased, in fact rising to all-time highs. Broadcasting was the star of the show, more than doubling from £3.3m to £7.4m, but gate receipts also rose £2.7m (66%) from £4.1m to £6.8m. Commercial was up £1.0m (12%) from £8.4m to £9.4m.

Although it’s never great to lose money, Aberdeen’s £0.9m loss was actually one of the better results in the Scottish Premiership, though not all clubs have published their accounts for 2023/24 yet.

Most Scottish clubs run a tight ship, so their deficits are on the low side, with the notable exception of Rangers, who posted a fairly horrific £17.3m loss last season. This was in stark contrast to Celtic, who made a £17.8m profit.  Aberdeen have only been profitable twice in the last decade, though most of the losses in this period have been quite small, so the aggregate deficit in this period was just £8.9m.   Next season’s figures will be adversely impacted by the lack of European football, but will be boosted by Miovski’s club record sale to Girona.

Player trading and development

Aberdeen’s focus on player trading has started to bear fruit in the last few years, as the club has made some decent gains from player trading, especially the club record £7m sale of Miovski after these accounts closed.   In the last five years, Aberdeen’s £12.5m profit from player sales was six times as much as Hearts’ £2.1m.

Where home grown talent is not thought to be available in particular positions, Aberdeen have also continued to supplement their professional squads by scouting young players from other clubs and bringing them to Pittodrie.  Aberdeen now have the advantage of being able to demonstrate that they can provide a good platform and environment in which young players can develop and then move to a bigger club when the time is right.

As it stands, Aberdeen’s £23.6m revenue is the third highest in Scotland, which Burrows pointed out was “a record not only for Aberdeen, but to date the highest of any club in Scotland outside Rangers and Celtic.”

However, their significant competitive challenge is highlighted by the veritable abyss between their revenue and the huge sums generated by the big two Glasgow clubs. In fact, they are over £100m below Celtic’s £125m, while Rangers’ £88m is nearly four times as much.

Broadcasting revenue

The Big Two in Scotland dominate the broadcasting revenue stream, so Celtic earned £36m last season, followed by Rangers’ £24m. Aberdeen’s £7.4m was more than Hearts’ £5.6m, as their rivals were eliminated in the Europa Conference play-offs.

The SPFL has a long-term TV rights contract with Sky Sports, extended to 2029. Even after an increase in the payment, this deal is only worth around £36m a year (including sponsorship).   That is obviously far below the Big Five leagues, especially the Premier League’s massive £3.9 bln, but it is also less than the likes of Belgium’s Pro League £103m and Poland’s Ekstraklasa £67m.

Aberdeen’s €7.9m Europe TV money in the last five years is less than a tenth of Celtic and Rangers, who received €99m and €85m respectively. They were slightly ahead of Hearts’ €6.5m with the rest of the Scottish clubs nowhere.

Aberdeen’s average attendance increased from 15,636 to 16,055, as the club benefited from its focus on fan engagement and experience. Initiatives such as Group Ticketing and the Family Zone continued to support growth, while the free AberDNA Under 12 scheme has around 11,000 members, nurturing the next generation of fans.  However, this was still only fifth highest in Scotland: obviously miles below Celtic 58,867 and Rangers 49,106, but also lower than Hearts 18,402 and Hibernian 16,933.

Aberdeen have been looking for a new stadium since 2009, but plans have been put on hold with the club instead looking to upgrade Pittodrie.

Aberdeen’s wage bill rose £0.8m (7%) from £11.9m to a new club record £12.7m, due to continued investment in the first team squad and higher bonuses for the achievements in the Europa Conference League.   Aberdeen’s £12.7m wage bill is still a fair way below Hearts’ £16.5m, so it remains the fourth highest in Scotland.

In the past, Aberdeen have pointed out the difficulties of maintaining a competitive squad, particularly with rising wages in the English market, perhaps best evidenced when Adam Rooney moved to Salford City in 2018 for a higher salary, even though they were playing in England’s fifth tier at the time.

Signings in the last few seasons have highlighted the need for Aberdeen to look for talent in less well-known markets, where they can get more bang for their buck. As a result, players have arrived from smaller European countries, such as Hungary, Finland, Poland, Slovenia and Serbia.

Aberdeen’s £5.3m debt was the third highest in Scotland, though a fair way behind Rangers £27.8m and Dundee United £11.5m (which included £10.1m owned to owner Mark Ogren).

Aberdeen’s owners have provided around £20m of funding in the last decade, though almost all of this has come in the last six years with £19.1m and only £1.2m in the preceding 5-year period. That said, most of this was injected in 2018/19 and 2019/20 with £14.9m, essentially to finance the new training facility. They also put in around £3m to cover losses during the pandemic.

The financials are pretty good, but it is worth noting that even after setting records for every revenue stream, the club still made a loss, though in fairness this was only £0.9m.   This highlights the importance of player trading to Aberdeen’s business model, so the club record sale of Bojan Miovski to Girona, which will be booked in the 2024/25 accounts is very welcome (at least from a financial perspective).

The board remains confident that Aberdeen can again qualify for European competition, which is also very important for their finances.   They are currently 3^rd in the table.