BBC journalist Adam Pope has been talking about Leeds United’s finances by providing some insight into the club’s financial situation.
Pope appeared as a guest on the latest episode of Off The Ball’s ‘The Football Show’ podcast and talked about many things involving Leeds United. The journalist spoke about the club’s financial situation ahead of a potential promotion to the Premier League.
The Whites were later promoted to the Premier League on Friday after West Brom failed to beat Huddersfield in their penultimate game.
When asked about Leeds’ financial state, Pope revealed that even though the club still loses money and that they have a higher wage bill, their promotion to the Premier League would help them ease their finances.
He said: “They were on the cusp [of Profit and Sustainability limits], but they’ve handled it quite well. The club still loses money; [Andrea] Radrizzani, the owner, still has to write a cheque out to keep funding the losses, despite having £50 million revenues – or that’s what it will be next time around.
Can Leeds face financial troubles with Radrizzani as the owner
Never!
You can never be sure about it
“The wage bill’s gone up massively. It’s gone up from [Massimo] Cellino’s days, that was like £12/£13 million a year. Now, all things considered, you’re up near £40 million. And that is what they felt that they needed to do if they were to compete right at the top end of the Championship. So, it does lose money. However, you think if they go up, then the revenues that come with the broadcast rights, the commercial rights [and] everything else will soon see Leeds into a profit.
“So they are a pretty clean club these days compared to where they were a long time ago. They were saddled with huge debts for a long, long time but Radrizzani’s whittled them down, to be fair.”
TIF Thoughts…
Radrizzani had initially purchased 50% of the club’s shares back in January 2017, completing a full takeover of the Yorkshire club a few months later. With him as the owner, the Whites finished 13th in the 2017/18 season and then finished as in third place in the 2018/19 campaign.
Their promotion reflects the progress Leeds have made with Radrizzani at the helm. While the wage bill might have increased, as Pope says, promotion can really help the club tide over any financial issues that they might have – and Radrizzani would probably deserve credit for helping the club progress both on the pitch and in a financial sense, too.