NEWCASTLE UNITED are on the road to financial stability after the club filed its latest accounts.
The club today published its annual results which highlight the impact of relegation to the Championship in 2009.
And although relegation hit the club hard with TV revenue falling by 57% and leaving the club short of millions, the Chronicle understands that United expect to break even this year - before the £35m fee generated by the sale of Andy Carroll is introduced to the equation and providing the club retains Premier League status.
Managing director Derek Llambias said: "Our over-riding aim in 2009/10 was to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
"With such a marked reduction in turnover, largely due to reduced TV and media revenue, we needed to cut our operating costs accordingly without jeopardising our ability to return to top flight straight away.
"We succeeded in reducing our wage bill considerably whilst maintaining the basis of a Premier League squad.
"It has been significant achievement to keep our overall loss at a level similar to the year before despite the impact of relegation, and our ability to do this has been helped immeasurably by the continued financial support of Mike Ashley who injected a further £42m into the club last year, interest free."
The Magpies’ one-year stay out of the Premier League resulted in an operating loss of £33.5m compared to £37m in the 2008/09 campaign.
It means that the overall loss for the year after player trading was £17.1m compared to the previous 12 months which was £15.2m.
Relegation resulted in a 39% reduction in turnover from £86.1m in 2008/09 to 52.4m in 2009/10.
Clashes with Swansea and Reading rather than Man United and Arsenal meant that TV revenue fell from £37.6m to £16m.
Unlike former Premier League clubs like Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Southampton, the nine-month term in the Championship and subsequent title romp, which saw the club pick up 102 points, meant that gate receipts improved with more than one million fans visiting St James’ Park and the average attendance of 43,388 the fourth highest in England.
United also secured sponsorship deals with Puma and Northern Rock and operating costs dropped from £98m to £74.4m over the 12-month period.
United’s operating loss of £33.5m last season was still better than Premier League Bolton (£35m) while West Ham lost around £21m and Sunderland £27m.
One fan Jamie Hall, a telecommunications worker from Heaton, Newcastle, said the accounts were to be expected.
The 27-year-old added: "Getting relegated was always going to hit the club hard in the pocket but it should be seen as a positive that relegation didn’t take us into really serious financial trouble. Other smaller clubs have hit rock bottom after losing their place in the Premier League.
"When we are an established top flight team we can really push on .Losing the TV money and other spin-offs from being in one of the best leagues in the world really hits a club and that should be a huge incentive to stay up."
Source: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk
The club today published its annual results which highlight the impact of relegation to the Championship in 2009.
And although relegation hit the club hard with TV revenue falling by 57% and leaving the club short of millions, the Chronicle understands that United expect to break even this year - before the £35m fee generated by the sale of Andy Carroll is introduced to the equation and providing the club retains Premier League status.
Managing director Derek Llambias said: "Our over-riding aim in 2009/10 was to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
"With such a marked reduction in turnover, largely due to reduced TV and media revenue, we needed to cut our operating costs accordingly without jeopardising our ability to return to top flight straight away.
"We succeeded in reducing our wage bill considerably whilst maintaining the basis of a Premier League squad.
"It has been significant achievement to keep our overall loss at a level similar to the year before despite the impact of relegation, and our ability to do this has been helped immeasurably by the continued financial support of Mike Ashley who injected a further £42m into the club last year, interest free."
The Magpies’ one-year stay out of the Premier League resulted in an operating loss of £33.5m compared to £37m in the 2008/09 campaign.
It means that the overall loss for the year after player trading was £17.1m compared to the previous 12 months which was £15.2m.
Relegation resulted in a 39% reduction in turnover from £86.1m in 2008/09 to 52.4m in 2009/10.
Clashes with Swansea and Reading rather than Man United and Arsenal meant that TV revenue fell from £37.6m to £16m.
Unlike former Premier League clubs like Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Southampton, the nine-month term in the Championship and subsequent title romp, which saw the club pick up 102 points, meant that gate receipts improved with more than one million fans visiting St James’ Park and the average attendance of 43,388 the fourth highest in England.
United also secured sponsorship deals with Puma and Northern Rock and operating costs dropped from £98m to £74.4m over the 12-month period.
United’s operating loss of £33.5m last season was still better than Premier League Bolton (£35m) while West Ham lost around £21m and Sunderland £27m.
One fan Jamie Hall, a telecommunications worker from Heaton, Newcastle, said the accounts were to be expected.
The 27-year-old added: "Getting relegated was always going to hit the club hard in the pocket but it should be seen as a positive that relegation didn’t take us into really serious financial trouble. Other smaller clubs have hit rock bottom after losing their place in the Premier League.
"When we are an established top flight team we can really push on .Losing the TV money and other spin-offs from being in one of the best leagues in the world really hits a club and that should be a huge incentive to stay up."
Source: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk
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