QPR finances improve, but club is still driven through the hoops

Having spent three out of the four seasons between 2011/12 and 2014/15 in the Premier League, QPR are now in their tenth consecutive season in the Championship. During this period, they have spent most of the time in the bottom half of the table with their best finish being ninth in 2020/21, while the last two seasons involved battles against relegation.

There was another disappointing start to this season’s campaign, when the Hoops only won one of their opening 16 games, leaving them bottom of the Championship, but results have picked up since then, so they are currently in a respectable 14th place.

QPR’s pre-tax loss reduced in 2923/4 from £20.3m to £13.5 m, as revenue rose £2.6m (11%) from £23.3m to £25.9m, while profit from player sales more than doubled from £1.0m to £2.2m.   In addition, operating expenses were cut by £4.4m (10%) to £41.1m, but net interest swung from £0.8m receivable to £0.6m payable.

All three revenue streams were higher, led by gate receipts, which increased £1.2m (22%) from £5.7m to £6.9m. There was also good growth in commercial, up £1.0m (11%) from £8.7m to £9.7m, and broadcasting, up £0.5m (5%) from £8.8m to £9.3m.

Loss is around mid-table

QPR’s £13.5m pre-tax loss is around mid-table in the Championship, which is a division where very few clubs manage to make money. In fact, of the clubs that have published accounts to date for last season, only Watford are in the black.

QPR’s loss has fallen two years in a row from a sizeable £24.7m in 2021/22, when they gambled on reaching the play-offs (like many clubs in the Championship).  Rangers are no strangers to losing money with the total loss in the last ten years adding up to £190m, though the size of the deficit has significantly reduced from past excesses, such as £65m in 2012/13, £46m in 2014/15 and £38m in 2017/18, especially when they only lost £4m in 2020/21.

Although QPR have improved their profit from player sales two years in succession, this is still very low, which means that they have only made £3.5m in the last three seasons put together.   Hoos has acknowledged the importance of player trading, which he described as “one of the cornerstones of our financial planning going forward”, but the transfer market has become much more competitive these days, so this is not an easy ask.

Relegation from the Premier League in 2014/15 is the root cause of QPR’s steep revenue decline, leading to a 70% (£60m) fall from £86m. Equally importantly, the club has missed out on the growth in media rights in this time.    That said, last season is the club’s highest Championship revenue without the benefit of parachutes.

QPR’s £25.9m revenue puts them mid-table in the Championship, but is significantly lower than those in receipt of parachute payments. As an example of the huge disparity, Norwich City’s £73m last season was nearly three times as much.  However, it’s worth noting that Rangers are also a fair way below some other clubs without parachutes, e.g. Bristol City £42m, Stoke City £32m and Middlesbrough £32m last season.

QPR’s gate receipts increased £1.2m (22%) from £5.7m to £6.9m, which is the club’s highest since relegation in 2014/15, partly due to playing two extra home games in the cup competitions.   Except for the pandemic years, this revenue stream had been in a narrow range for the previous eight years, having fallen from an £8.3m peak in the Premier League.

QPR’s average attendance has been increasing since a low in 2019/20, rising 12% last season from 14,977 to 16,718, which is the club’s highest since relegation. Crowds are only down by around 1,000 from the 17,809 peak in the top flight.  QPR’s average attendance has been increasing since a low in 2019/20, rising 12% last season from 14,977 to 16,718, which is the club’s highest since relegation. Crowds are only down by around 1,000 from the 17,809 peak in the top flight.  Two Premier League clubs operate in West London, so the fan base looks loyal in the face of adversity, exemplified by Toby Young recently elevated to the Lords who frequently mentions the club in his Spectator column.

QPR have been looking for a new ground for some time, as the club “is not financially sustainable in the long-term” without a new stadium, but it has been a fruitless search to date. As a result, there has been talk of redeveloping the main stand.

QPR’s wage bill fell £1.6m (6%) from £25.4m to £23.8m, so this has been cut by £3.8m (14%) in the last two years, which is the club’s lowest since 2019/20. Even if players left Loftus Road on free transfers or loans, thus generating little profit, this still helped reduce the payroll.

QPR pushed the boat out (relatively speaking) in the transfer market in 2020/21 with an £8.3m outlay, but they have spent only £3.9m in the three years since then, including £1.1m in 2023/24, as they had to tread carefully with PSR, especially after a transfer embargo in 2019.  Very few clubs in the Championship spend a lot in the transfer market, but QPR’s £1.1m gross spend last season was one of the lowest in the Championship. For example, this was less than a tenth of two other non-parachute clubs, namely Middlesbrough £18.8m and Stoke City £18.2m.QPR have spent more this season. However, the £6.6m outlay (per Transfermarkt) was still considerably lower than Burnley £43m, Leeds United £27m and Hull City £25m.

QPR’s gross financial debt rose £15m from £89m to £104m, mainly £96m provided by the owners (£87m loan plus a £9m convertible bond issued to Ruben Gnanalingham’s wife).    QPR’s £104m gross debt is one of the highest in the Championship, only surpassed by Stoke City £151m, Birmingham City £149m and Blackburn Rovers £142m. That said, QPR’s debt would have been considerably higher if their owners had not converted more than a quarter of a billion of loans into equity, including £5.6m last season.

Owning a football club is an expensive hobby

Although this funding is not as high as in the past, the shareholders have still had to write cheques for a hefty £91m in the last four years, which works out to very nearly £2m a month. It’s also more than twice as much as the preceding 4-year period.

QPR did improve their finances last season, almost halving their pre-tax loss from £24.7m to £13.5m, while increasing their revenue to the club’s highest since parachute payments stopped.  However, the club still lost a lot of money, so again required significant financial support from their owners, despite spending very little on new players and continuing their cost cutting campaign.

This is the constant challenge for Championship clubs like QPR that are struggling to compete with “parachute payment” clubs that enjoy far larger budgets. Rangers are doing better financially than they have for many years, but life is likely to remain difficult in West London for the foreseeable future.