Newcastle lose place in rich list elite.

It was about this time last year that I wrote a 'blog on .org revealing how Newcastle had maintained their spot is the top twenty football rich list.

I then spent months telling people who were saying things like "we're still the 20th richest club, even in The Championship" that they were wrong and that we would soon drop out of it once the next (or now the current) set of figures get released.

Well today they have been released, and Newcastle have lost their place in the top twenty for the first time in 17 years. It was to be expected anyway, but it isn't all bad news and Newcastle could quite easily find themselves back in the top twenty when the next set of figures are released around this time next year.

Out in front are Real Madrid with a revenue of £359.1m, followed by Barcelona in second who raked in £325.9m and Manchester United in third with an income of £286.4m. What gives the two Spanish clubs the head start is the fact that they negotiate their own TV rights rather than splitting a collective pot between the clubs like other leagues do.
Next up in terms of English clubs are Arsenal and Chelsea sitting in fifth and sixth respectively, which is about average for them to be fair.

Liverpool sit in eighth place with an income of £184.5m although they are likely to drop down the pecking order next season due to the fact that they didn't qualify for the Champions League.

Manchester City are eleventh, although they will probably gain a bit of ground and may move up the table due to their continued growth (new glory-hunting fans) and their extended participation in the Europa League, but the biggest movers will be Tottenham (£119.8m) in twelfth as they reap the rewards of being in the Champions League this season.

And finally, in terms of English clubs, is Aston Villa who have taken our place in the top twenty and sit in 20th. Their £89.6m income can be matched by us though which could mean a return to the to top twenty for us next year.

The last time we made the list we brought in £86m, in a season where we were relegated. If you add on prize money gained per position in the Premier League it would mean that we would need to finish somewhere around the 11th place mark in the table to overtake Aston Villa again. That is also not taking account of the money generated by new shirts at the start of this season would have brought in.

Now I know that there will be someone, somewhere who will say that the fact that we are bringing in that much money should mean we can spend more or words to that effect. Wrong. It doesn't matter ho much you have coming in, if it's all going back out again. If you earn £300-a-week, and spend it all, you have nothing.

It will be some time before we can see the full of extent of where we are with the accounts as the next set that become available will, much like this rich list, only cover our period in The Championship, but it will give us a better indication of where we could be.

Figures get thrown around all over the place, but it's only through the books that we know what is really going on. People will say that the books are being 'cooked', but that is paranoia at it's finest. Would Ernst & Young - a highly respected firm - risk their reputation by defrauding accounts? Would the Government record of businesses that is Companies House be happy with filing them and signing them off?

So we're out of the top twenty, for now, but we could return this time next year. I personally feel it could be two years before we return to football's elite rich-list though.

No MASSIVE Sunderland though I see?