West Brom: Stay-away fans add to Albion woes, new figures reveal
Newly-released figures underline the growing crisis at Albion, with sliding season ticket sales and shrinking attendances as the club faces relegation.
As fewer fans are snapping up Baggies shirts, income from merchandising and from gate receipts has also fallen.
But this was countered by the soaring income from TV money, which helped boost Albion’s figures in the financial year to the end of June, 2017.
Turnover jumped to £137.9 million over the 12 months, from £98.3m the year before, and it has almost doubled since 2013.
The single biggest factor has been Albion’s share of the Premier League’s TV rights deal with broadcasters.
In the 12 months to the end of June last year it soared to £118.7m from £78.9m the year before – a jump of 50 per cent.
That was thanks to a massive new TV deal after Sky and BT Sport agreed to pay a record £5.136 billion for live Premier League TV rights for three seasons from 2016-17.
Although the club – which is facing relegation from the Premier League – made a strong pre-tax profit of £39.8m for the year, it revealed on Monday it was looking for short-term financial support because of a disastrous £40m transfer spending spree last summer that has left the club out of pocket and facing relegation.
For the first time in a decade it is having to negotiate an overdraft from its bank.
Accounts newly filed at Companies House show that after preparing profit and loss forecasts for the current year, the club realised it would need an overdraft or other funding to cover at least part of the period between May and July this year.
The club has sealed a deal with its bank for a short term overdraft from mid-April for three or four months secured against the £100m in TV money it will receive from the Premier League in July.
The accounts also reveal that average match attendances at The Hawthorns fell by another 700 over the 12 months, to 23,900. They have been falling for the last five years.
The number of season ticket holders has also fallen, down to 16,750 – it’s lowest in nearly a decade. Another 1,175 fan gave up their season tickets in 2017. Gate receipts fell by more than £900,000, down to £6.77 million from £7.69m the year before. Merchandising income fell to £2.8 million from £3 million.
The number of staff rose by 31 to 221, largely due to increasing numbers of players and coaching staff.
The accounts also reveal that while the club’s total wage bill increased by the maximum figure allowed, up £7.6m to £79m, directors’ pay over the 12 months was slashed.
From £3.1 million in 2016-17, total directors’ pay was cut to just £1.3m in the 12 months to the end of June last year.
Pay for the unnamed highest paid director fell to just £262,000 compared with £1.952m the year before.
Previous chairman Jeremy Peace quit in August 2016, after the club was bought for an estimated £150m by Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai.
Chairman John Williams was appointed in the August and chief executive Martin Goodman the following January. Both were sacked in February.
That saw Mark Jenkins, who had left the club in December 2016, re-hired as chief executive.
Commenting on the club’s financial state earlier this week, he said: “The club is still financially strong, we do not have to sell players,” he said.
“The club has invested everything and a bit more. It has gone beyond its own financial limits.”
