Swansea City's recent heavy investment in its playing squad has been laid bare in the club's latest financial accounts.
As noted by football finance guru Kieran Maguire, the
club's turnover has plummeted from £126.8 m in 2018 to £22.3 m for last season. It was revealed by filings earlier in the
month that the club had posted a loss of £21.6 m for the year ending June 2025 –
a record for the football club. Those
figures are also up from the £14.4 m for the previous 12-month period, and are
£5.3m ahead of the previous record loss of £16.3 m. Swansea have not made a profit since 2020.
Operational costs have also increased from £47m to £51m,
with player wages are up six per cent to £29m.
The club also spent more on transfer fees during that time,
shelling out £10.7m, a whopping increase of 80 per cent on the previous year,
and the highest since the £55.5m spent in 2018.
Gross squad costs also edged up by 17 per cent to £19.9m.
Profit on player trading for the year was £8.1m, down from
£10.5m, with these latest accounts including the sales of Matt Grimes to
Coventry City and Nathan Wood to Southampton.
The figures merely further underline the importance of the
club's current ownership group, which took over back in November 2024 following
the Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan's decision to sell their minority stakes in
the club.
Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen then took over as majority
stakeholders, with these latest accounts coming before the arrivals of
celebrity investors Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart and Luka Modric.
In a statement posted earlier this month, the club said:
"The club invested significantly in its playing squad in the financial
year under review; acquisition costs of player registrations in the financial
period amounted to £6.0m.
"The associated costs contributed to an increase in
operational expenses to £47.0m for the eleven month period compared to £43.0m
for the previous year.
"The Board acknowledges that whilst the magnitude of
the operational loss is a product of the highly competitive environment within
the EFL Championship in which the Club currently competes; the Club will
continue to focus on achieving operational efficiencies in order to maximise
the resources which can be invested into the first team squad.
I have something of a personal interest in the club, as one
of my granddaughters recently started work in Abertawe and is buying a house
nearby, but she has zero interest in football!
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