NEWCASTLE United are back in the black and that has nothing to do with a new third strip, European kit or fancy training gear put out by the club shop.
No, in what is becoming a spring-time tradition, United are set to take the wraps off their latest set of financial figures this week – and The Journal understands the news is good.
Not only have they turned in an operating profit for 2011/12, they have also recorded an overall profit which reverses the trend of losses which reached its nadir two years ago with a £33.5m deficit.
Expect United to quite rightly trumpet their sound financials over the course of the week, which seem to support the Mike Ashley approach the club embarked on following their unseemly relegation in 2009.
Down the road at Sunderland, the trend is similarly upwards (to an extent) – although they have a lot less to shout about.
The club posted £26.9m losses this year, which was £4.3m less than last year but still something that needs to be worked on.
Factor in the way the squad was restructured – players paid off, key men retained on big contracts – and it is more understandable, although chief executive Margaret Byrne pointed out a "structured financial plan" is on its way to sandpaper those losses in the future.
A windfall of £5bn will be filtered into club accounts over the summer thanks to record-breaking TV deals, and The Journal can reveal today it is already being viewed as a potential "game-changer" in the wider football world.
From next year, even the worst club in the Premier League will be guaranteed £60m for simply taking part in English football's elite league. West Ham owner David Gold reckons that could even be as much as £100m a year if certain other ducks fall into the row.
Compare and contrast to the money received in 2011, which was a mere £15m for the bottom club, and you are already getting an idea of why some are already hailing this as the Premier League's golden summer.
Byrne told The Journal last month the cash injection will enable Sunderland to eat into their operating loss while also keeping hold of their best players and investing in the squad.
Expect Derek Llambias to be a bit more circumspect this week but, make no mistake, the signings of Moussa Sissoko and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa were fast-tracked with one eye on the summer bonanza.
United, we can reveal, are set to begin early negotiations with a crop of targets and hope the cash injection enables them to make quicker progress than they did last year.
The same is true of the rest of the league. Look at Norwich City, for example, who have just lavished £8.5m on Sporting Lisbon's Ricky van Wolfswinkel – a potential Dutch international.
No comments:
Post a Comment