MOT View: £50m Adam Pope Leeds claim is brilliant news after major 18/19 losses posted
The 18/19 Leeds United accounts didn’t make for great reading at first glance, with £21m of losses from an increased turnover of £49m.
However, there was some great news from BBC journalist Adam Pope, who said the club was confident of sticking within the Championship’s Profit & Sustainability levels.
That’s because the club is expecting 19/20 to be better, with “revenues in excess of £50m”.
The 18/19 period only takes into account £15m of player sales from Ronaldo Vieira and Jack Clarke.
That means the sales of Pontus Jansson (£5.4m), Kemar Roofe (£5.5m) and Bailey Peacock Farrell (£2.5m) will drop into the 19/20 accounts.
There was actually good news behind the headline figures on the 18/19 accounts too.
Turnover increased by £8.3m to £49m, gross profit was up to £39m and average attendances up from 31.5k to 34k.
Leeds were even trusted enough to be given an overdraft for the first time in years and have drawn £1m on that.
The reason for the big losses is the wage bill, with Bielsa, his staff and big earners like Kiko Casilla costing a lot.
Total wages are £46m at Leeds and that’s a level that wouldn’t be sustainable at the Championship level for long.
However, Leeds are well aware of the Profit & Sustainability levels and are playing as aggressive a game as they can without risking penalties from the EFL.
That’s the right way to do things and Andrea Radrizzani should be applauded for the way he’s running Leeds.
That’s backed up by a tweet from Leeds Fans Utd director Mike Thornton, who said that the accounts are actually “positive” and that Leeds are well clear of FFP trouble “as at 30th June 2019”.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Bang on’ – Darren Gough delivers verdict as major statement on Leeds 19/20 season drops