Villa post 99.2 million pounds loss due to COVID-19 impact [Reuters]

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r00fie1

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The level of overspending on wages and players, coupled with contraction in revenue from fans and sales has resulted in clubs - even in the "big" boys league - shackled with huge debts.

By Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Screenshot from 2021-04-10 06-39-10.jpg
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Aston Villa v Fulham - Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain - April 4, 2021 General view of an Aston Villa crest on a flag flying atop the stadium before the match Pool via REUTERS/Richard Heathcote
(Reuters) - Aston Villa suffered losses of 99.2 million pounds ($136.23 million) in the 2019-20 season as the COVID-19 pandemic hit their finances, the Premier League club said on Friday.

The club spent 155.9 million pounds in new recruits after they were promoted in 2019 in a bid to stay in the top flight beyond the 2019-20 season and the club finished 17th on the final day to survive.

Every club’s matchday income has taken a hit with games being held behind closed doors. A return of fans in small numbers this season has been planned only for the League Cup final and FA Cup.

"Although turnover for the year was 112.6 million pounds, substantially up from 54.3 million pounds in the previous year, the unexpected cost of the pandemic contributed to a total loss of 99.2 million compared to 68.9 million pounds in 2018-19," the club said in a statement here.

“Thanks to the unwavering support of our owners, the operating loss and all capital investment has been funded by shareholder equity. Aston Villa remains debt free.”

Other clubs who announced losses include Manchester City (126 million pounds) and Arsenal (47.8 million pounds) but Chelsea recorded a profit of 32.5 million pounds in the last financial year.

Leeds also reported a loss almost 65 million in the last financial year - with Premier League debts in the last year totalling well over 400 million pounds in the last financial year.
www.skysports.com

Leeds report £64.6m losses on Premier League return

For the financial year ending July 2020, the clubs accounts, published on Companies House, show their operating losses had increased from £36.1m the previous year; turnover increased from £48.9m to £54.2m as they stormed to the Championship title.
www.skysports.com www.skysports.com

Add wages and running costs - how long can some clubs endure without huge financial support from their owners (?) or hoping to regularly sell players on to "big" clubs? [See Southampton].
 
That's massive. Amazing the losses that can still be made by clubs in the richest league in the world even though TV money was unaffected.

Summer transfer window spending and reality check contracts will be really interesting. Though I suspect you can't put the genie back in the bottle, someone will still find a way to spend 150 million on a Haaland.
 
When we compare the Championship, with income from broadcasting being a drop in the ocean [compared to the prem] and clubs like Reading reportedly spending 110% of their total income (!0 how can that carry on?
 
Villa will want people to think it's all Covid related but they've got a history of overspending and lurching from the brink of insolvency to big spenders.
 
Professional football has become like a toy stolen by big corporate business.
Once they have broken it they will move on and play with something else.
But I wonder how badly damaged will it be when that inevitably happens.
Will we be able to fix it or will it be damaged beyond repair?
 
I thought gate money and associated income on match days was classed as a pittance these days compared to TV money and in fact the premier league has had even more matches on TV with the heavy Sat and Sun schedules???
 
I think a couple of big clubs will do a 1980s Wolves and plummet down to League Two in a financial crisis, while a couple of well run little Wimbledons could emerge.
 
junos_boots said:
Remember this set of figures only has no match day income for about 1.5 months. The next set of results will be horrific in comparison.
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Never even though of that! It's going to get much worse then.

I just can't see a stop to it and if the Saudis get hold of Newcastle as could well still happen, will it take it to the next level again, similar to what happened with Man City?
 
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