Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
PL faces financial implosion
ENGLISH Premier League clubs are hurtling towards bankruptcy due to chronic overspending, according to a new report by financial analysts Vysyble.
The report also claims the long-term implications of those losses could be a breakaway by the league’s biggest clubs and t he creation of a European Super League.
Titled ‘We’re so Rich it’s Unbelievable’, the document is based on the accounts of all Premier League clubs between 2008/09 and 2015/16, the last season for which data is available.
Based on the principle of “economic profit” — the difference between revenue and costs, including the so-called “opportunity of cost” of not doing something else with your money — the report claims Premier League clubs lost £2 billion in eight years.
One of the repor t’s co-authors, Roger Bell, said: “Financially, football i s failing. Britain’s biggest football clubs are spending much, much more than they are making.
“The Premier League, and its executive chairman Richard Scudamore, should be very worried.
“Our analysis shows clubs are losing a record £876,700 every single day. Despite TV bringing in huge amounts of cash every year, it does not meet the many millions spent on players’ wages.
“Clubs needs to face reality about their dire financial situation before they can’t afford to pay the bills and some go to the wall.”
“Across t he l eague, clubs are losing £8.80 for every £100 they bring in, and t h a t ’s b a s e d o n 2015-16. I suspect it will be more like £12-13 now.”