IT’S that time of year again when Wanderers fans start crunching numbers and assessing the club’s financial accounts.
This year’s comprehensive breakdown took some digesting – but we have analysed some of the key components here, and put them into some historical context.
According to the accounts, Wanderers’ wage bill stands at £12.6m, although it is not divulged whether this is purely for football staff or across the group.
In this chart, all other values are for the Burnden Leisure Group as a whole – and the current figure is less than a quarter of its 2011 high of £56million.
Wanderers released 20 players in total after being relegated from the Championship, although they later re-signed David Wheater.
After bouncing straight back, it is thought they now have one of the lowest budgets in the second tier.
Wanderers dipped into the third tier for the first time in 23 years during the 2016/17 season, and the impact on turnover was considerable. With significantly reduced broadcasting revenues and a drop in sponsorship, the figure of £8m was the lowest since the turn of the millennium.
With no parachute payments, the club was more reliant on gate receipts, which held up well. There was an increase in season ticket holders, up to 10,257, and only a minimal fall in money made on the turnstiles – which totalled £3.1m compared with £3.3m the previous season.
Merchandising also dropped to £700,000 from £1.1m.
Ken Anderson has recently said relegation to League One would now cast an instant £7m in lost gate receipts, broadcasting and sponsorship.
While there may still be some concern over ‘hard debts’ the accounts do show the club is cutting its cloth accordingly, bringing its wage bill into line with turnover during the season in League One.
Wanderers’ wages-to-turnover ratio, assuming the wage bill to be £12.6m, is at 63.4 per cent. Figures supplied by the Swiss Ramble blog estimates that to be lower than 15 Championship teams in the 2016/17 campaign including Nottingham Forest (137 per cent) and Birmingham City (128 per cent).
Debt has been a hot topic for Wanderers for many years – and with no net debt figure on the current accounts we can only list the loans which have been disclosed, which total £22.3m, including the £10m left in by Eddie Davies. Here’s how the net debt levels have fallen and dropped over the years.
The 2016 accounts included reference to Davies waiving £170m, although the figure is now close to £200m, which include £5.2m in payments due last season.
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