13th October 2021

13th October 2021 – Financial Conditions for Football’s European Super League Remain

Measuring Business Performance using Value-Based Metrics and Indices

Financial Conditions For Football’s European Super League Remain

Release of 6th edition of ‘We’re So Rich It’s Unbelievable! The Illusion of Wealth Within Football’ highlights long-term financial deterioration of English football’s senior clubs

Poor club financial health set to continue into foreseeable future. Super League was predictable and will remain a threat to football’s pyramid structure

London. 13th October 2021:  

Financial strategy analysts Vysyble today announce the release of the 6th edition of ‘We’re So Rich It’s Unbelievable! The Illusion of Wealth Within Football’ which covers the years 2009-20 and includes the financial lead-in to Project Big Picture and the European Super League.

Following on from successive record economic losses in pre-Covid 2018-19 (-£559.54m) and 2019-20 (-£1.38bn) for English Premier League clubs, the division faces a continuing threat from a Super League-type competition.

“The 6th  and latest edition of our annual financial review of football runs up to the end of the 2019-20 season with record annual economic losses of almost £1.89bn achieved in a single season by England’s 44 senior clubs (Premier League and the EFL Championship). 73% of this annual loss was achieved by Premier League clubs.

Financial mismanagement resulting in such large and consistent losses coupled with weak regulatory oversight and a series of widely held but deeply mistaken in-going beliefs culminated in the emergence of Project Big Picture and the Super League. Covid-19 merely accelerated an already existing trend that was leading the bigger Premier League clubs towards structural reform as a direct result of increasing losses.

The financial conditions that led to Super League have not changed. Clubs are still incurring huge losses and are struggling to control the relationship between income and expenditure. The arrival of a new and obviously wealthy regime at Newcastle United will only sharpen the focus in those clubs closely associated with the Super League concept. It may indeed lead to a revitalised version in the near-future before Newcastle United has had a chance to reinvigorate itself,” said Vysyble Co-founder Roger Bell.

Since 2010, Premier League clubs have achieved economic losses of £3.5bn from a revenue of £34.25bn with just 35% of Premier League club balance sheets achieving an annual economic profit.

‘Even with the best of intentions, we do not believe that the Fan-led Review will deliver the necessary reforms required to stabilise the financial side of football. Without the required understanding of the fundamental economics of the game, the same mistakes will continue to be made with the same outcomes,’ said Bell.

‘Our data clearly demonstrates that football’s financial and economic model is in disarray yet those running the game are seemingly oblivious and refuse to acknowledge our findings. Given that we have been largely correct in our assumptions and predictions, we do fear for the game if it continues to ignore the fundamental economic situation. In other industries where there are similar levels of economic losses, major structural reform is often the result along with bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions,’  said Bell.

Based on the “economic profit” concept – a much more demanding and intellectually robust measure of performance that incorporates all of the costs of doing business including tax and the cost of equity capital – Premier League clubs have generated a collective revenue of £40.62bn since 2009 but have also produced economic losses totalling £4.10bn.

Since 2009, the Premier League club cohort has produced just two collective economic profits from 12 seasons, in 2016-17 (profit of £224.39m) and in 2017-18 (profit of £31.59m).  

The 6th edition of Vysyble’s annual report on football finance ‘We’re So Rich It’s Unbelievable! The Illusion of Wealth Within Football’ is available via www.vysyble.com.

Vysyble was launched in August 2016 and has gained international recognition in the calculation and examination of companies and market sectors in the achievement of Economic Profit and the creation of fundamental value.

ENDS