Recently reported the current two top teams in the Championship - Wolves and Cardiff have massive debts. £23 million for Wolves and over £100 for the sheep shearers marshalled by the chiropodist. I am glad Barnsley has a sustainable business model and is more or less solvent...
Whatever debt Wolves have will be wiped out very soon, when they get promoted. So they if they choose to be, they can be debt free and playing top flight football. Doesn't sound bad to me.
A bit of research shows this is not a definite figure, but estimated share of broadcasting revenue.....however I take the point
So if we're watching a particularly bad game, we can look at each other and say "Yes! But look at how solvent we are!"
No, of course not. However, the club went into administration with debts of less than £4 million. We lost ownership of the ground, and there was a period of turmoil for quite a few years. At the time clubs like Sheffield Wednesday had debts of over £23 million but continued to be offered credit. Now we have clubs owned as toys by overseas billionaire owners - some of whom want to tinker with tradition like at Hull and Cardiff. Patrick Cryne was indeed our saviour - I don't think it's an over-statement and the deal he brokered now with the consortium of investors, seems to me to be a solid foundation for the club to progress without having to go into too much debt....
Will be interesting to see how long we can persist without the owners burdening the club with a bit of debt. Spending money seems to be the only way for most clubs. Here's a bit from the Burton forum. This guy asks if Brentford are the Burton of the future. He mentions their squad worth, how many players they have that cost over a million quid and that they have internationals in the squad. He obviously sees their small crowds and that gives him hope for his own club. What he hasn't factored in though, is their debt which a year or so ago was over £35million. With their small crowds they'll only ever get on top of that debt if they go to the prem.