Geeky? Probably, but it’s something I enjoy doing so there. Suck on that!
Anyway, the latest Deloitte Football Richlist has been released which details the top twenty richest clubs in Europe. If you wish to download the 44 page report, free of charge, you can do so from here although the nuts of it is that Newcastle United currently sit outside of the top twenty in 25th place.
The figures show that Newcastle brought in €98m (note the Euro symbol!) last season, but what are the figures? How do Deloitte come up with this? Well if you download the report for yourself you will see why, but the short answer is that income is split into three categories – commercial, matchday and broadcast. Please note that transfer fees are NOT included as this report is to measure financial strength of a club, which one off transfer fees don’t come under. It is purely the money generated from the day to day running of the club.
The first thing to do is discount an awful lot of those clubs. Quite simply we cannot compete with them in terms of finances. I’m talking about the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, the Milan clubs, Bayern Munich, in fact you can discount everyone else apart from Liverpool and Tottenham.
Why? Simple really. They are the teams at the level we are competing with at the moment and I just want to illustrate the gulf in finance between ourselves and those two clubs. First let’s take a look at Tottenham, who are often used as an example of how to keep hold of players after the Luka Modric affair.
Their income is pretty much double ours as they raked in a total of €181m (again, Euros!) largely thanks to their participation in the Champions League and the increased prize money, broadcast revenue and matchday income from having more home games at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool are the other team I want to focus on. They brought in more than Tottenham and more than double what we did (€203.3m) in the 2010-2011 season despite a lack of Champions League football. Their main driver is commercial revenue which totalled €85.7m – just €12.3m short of what Newcastle earned in total!
Unfortunately, as Newcastle are out of the fabled top twenty, there aren’t any detailed figures for them, but we do have the headline figure of €98m, which puts us just behind Aston Villa who raked in €99.3m. I think it’s fairly obvious to see why we can’t really compete in terms of wages with those above us…
So what does the future hold?
Well the important thing to remember is that these figures are from last season – our return to the Premier League. How is the trend from there though? Is it up or down? Can we expect our income to grow when the next set come out in 12 months time?
In short yes, but not because of player sales – remember they aren’t counted for this particular report. The first reason why I believe our income is growing is because of the match attendance. We currently have a higher average attendance than last season, and with gates staying high that average looks set to continue for the remainder of the season, especially if we carry on doing what we are doing on the pitch!
The second reason is that we have a new sponsorship deal with Virgin Money. Last season we still had the not so lucrative deal with Northern Rock which was signed when we were in the Championship. The Virgin Money deal is worth more to us and could be worth £10m a season providing certain targets are reached which will of course tilt the figures upwards.
The third reason is TV money. We’ve been on the box more often this season which brings about an increase in TV revenue of course.
The final reason is prize money. Erring on the side of caution, if we finished 7th for example, the club would pocket an extra £3m in Premier League prize money when compared to what we picked up last season.
Conclusion
The gap between us and the next highest financial rival is huge. In terms of finances we are on the same level as Aston Villa, Everton and Sunderland based on this report. However the trending is up and come this time next year I expect us to be sitting in 21st place, or even inside the top twenty should we manage to qualify for Europe.
A new TV deal kicks in next season so all Premier League clubs will benefit from it, not just us, but that combined with everything else I’ve pointed out might be enough to get us back into the top twenty although that depends on what other clubs are doing aswell.
What do you make of it all? Has it given you a clearer indication of our ability to compete with other clubs?
Does put in to context the divide between ourselves and the elite. It’ll be interesting to see where we fall in terms of profits, rather than revenue. Player trading comes into the mix then and I wager we’re looking slightly profitable.
blip(Quote)
Bit depressing really when you consider the gap has got huge over the last 6/7 years.
Stuart79(Quote)
Good article:
To me personally, I think if we soldier on like we are doing, nice and calmly and edging forward season on season, then we will definitely move up into that top 20 easy.
Naturally, success brings in revenue as you stated and all of it combined does make one massive difference because it puts clubs in the limelight and so they gain the spoils of anything going.
If we manage to hit the champions league either this season or in the next few seasons and keep the nucleus of what we have built whilst adding to it as we have been doing, I think we can catapult right into the middle of that lot easily revenue wise, whilst a good few of them take a nose dive.
Time will tell but it’s looking good so far. 😀
wolfie(Quote)
Can’tbelieve that we were in the top 10 not so long ago, or maybe it just doesn’t seem that long ago.
I can’t wait for the club accounts to come out when is it April ??
Big Dave(Quote)
These figures underline just how canny this whole strategy has been, and how much credit has to go to everyone involved. Extraordinary stuff, especially when you do take into account player spend – a table I think we probably top.
To go from the fizzy league to 5th while making a hyawge profit on players? To quote Timmy Cool: unbelievable.
Whumpie(Quote)
Stuart – Indeed. It could have been so different had we carried on going the right way after Keegan walked out in 1997. Unfortunately we went backwards at a time when money was starting to flow through the game.
Same after Sir Bobby. If we’d have qualified for the Champions League again we’d have been in it when it got really lucrative.
Now were in a position where we have to double our income to even compete, even with a huge ground and fanbase 🙁
toonsy(Quote)
Alas, under Fat Fred, only our spending was at the top of the league. 🙄
Whumpie(Quote)
Dave – We were only in the top ten due to the weakness of other lwages and clubs. Its almost like we’re starting from scratch again.
toonsy(Quote)
Think it just goes to show how tough it is for us to compete and it backs up things Pardew was saying about been unable to compete with clubs in terms of financial clout. Its a masisve gap but if we got into Europe it would certainly help. Hopefully we can get a few more commerical contracts in , Or slim can start paying for the name change os the staduim and his other advertising around St James Park
Johno Toon(Quote)
Very interesting Toonsy.
I can’t believe we are on par with Villa who have a smaller fan base. Off the top of my head I can’t recall if they played in Europa last season which would explain it.
The CL is absolutely massive and can propel the club right up there. It’s not just the competition but the pluses that go with it, particulary sponsor deals and corporate boxes being sold on the back of it.
I was surprised to hear that only half the corporate boxes are sold at the minute. Do we know if that’s accurate or is it a guess?
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Toonsy -Did the report not state we were a constant in the top twenty untill our relegation ? .What do you know about this . If that’s true we should get back in it easy enough if we can qualify for europe and maintain our PL status.
kimtoon(Quote)
If only SBR came in after KK 👿 but then thats just could have should have would have
Johno ‘slim’ 😆 😆 yeah he has lost a right bit of weight maybe that was all the FCB chants that helped him, so maybe he will start shedding the £ to repay us for helping him shed some pounds 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
well we are in the top 30 😀 😀 😀
icedog(Quote)
HaHa Big Dave just gave me an idea , might get 50,000 Geordies to come around to my house and ‘ motivate ‘ my wife in losing abit of weight like Mike 😆 😆 😆 Im glad she doesnt read on this site
Johno Toon(Quote)
Ice in my day it was all about getting in the top 40 with a chance of making it on top of the pops 😆
Big Dave(Quote)
HA ha Johno you would be dead if she heard you say that 😉
Big Dave(Quote)
Is 25th really that bad considering this is the whole of Europe were talking here?
I suppose this explains the thought behind looking to rename SJP a bit better like.
Crowd numbers were down at the start of the season which would contribute.
I suppose he has to look at getting into one of these pre season tournaments like the Emirates Cup which is televised, or consider stadium concerts as the scum do.
But as has already been said, success brings reward, we continue to do well and the fans return to match days and more matches on tv. Europe of course will provide extra revenue and if we get some decent teams to SJP for pre season games…
But what is really required… and am talking to you lot that get to go to all the home games here –
BUY PUKKA PIES!!!!
Just one per game from you all should do it, I’ll do my bit, I’ll buy 2 to make up for the games I miss.
Well race back up that table before you know it people… **** Jamie Olivers health eating ****, this is about saving our club!!!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Dave Im prob dead for even thinking it 🙂
Johno Toon(Quote)
Reet back to do a bit, catch you’s later 🙄
Big Dave(Quote)
DAVE 😀 😀
icedog(Quote)
Interesting article. I think this is good news. Good run in to nick 6th-ish this season, add the Virgin Money deal and maybe finally a new name for St. James’ Park and we could very well be back in that top 20 next season.
On the subject, one article I think would be excellent to see would be an analysis of the costs vs benefits of being in the Europa League.
What I mean by this is, people frequently say ‘it’s not worth qualifying, only get a few mil for winning the **** thing, never mind qualifying’ etc.
Do we know if this is genuinely the case? And if so, does that figure include things like TV revenue, gate receipts, increased sponsorship?
Add to that the intangibles like international exposure, pride in the club and the region, bragging rights over the speed of our recovery from relegation.
Against that would weigh the travel, risk of injuries, lost games due to ‘continental hangover’ and lower league place as a result etc.
Just an idea!
John T(Quote)
Bobby @10- I agree with you there.
Becoming a consistent CL qualifier is the only way to grow revenues high enough to break into that top 10-15 range. And not just from the prize money/gate reciepts/TV/etc but also from the exposure. As others have said we missed a massive opportunity once KK left the first time and now its an uphill climb again- though to be fair the club has come farther in a short period of time than I ever thought possible
MDS(Quote)
Not related to the article, but just a thought:
I’ve watched a few reserve matches this season, not many but a few, and they’ve played multiple different formations in the games I’ve seen. Additionally, these formations don’t really resemble much of the same tactics and general setup of the first team.
In my opinion this is a clear breakdown in philosophy from an organizational point of view. The goal of the reserves should be to help players prepare to slot comfortably in the first team when their time comes. I think Pards and the reserve team manager need to sit down and bang out Pardew’s long term playing philosophy together and implement that exact strategy at the reserve level, much like Barcelona and Barca B does. Results at the reserve level are pretty much irrelevant and, to me, it seems like playing a different system makes it that much more difficult for young players to adjust in the long run.
It’s a strategy that is consistent with many other sports, particularly hockey in the US where the most consistently successful organizations have their second level teams playing with the same philosophy as the big club’s.
Thoughts?
Toon in Boston(Quote)
One thing I would like to mention, and nobody else seems to have picked up on this is that bar a and real are way out at he front, which I think could be mostly due to them selling their own tv rights.
I think that if the big clubs over here (man scum, liverfool, Chelski et al) want to compete still then eventually it will happen over here as well. It will be a massive shame as now it’s a fair ground, and shared evenly, but there is no doubt the top teams will generate a lot more revenue that way and the smaller teams will only get paid when hey play a big team. Maybe not that extreme but you get he jist of where Im going.
Good article thoug toonsy, and I too can’t wait for the next set of accounts could be very interesting . . .
rambo87(Quote)
@RAMB
I don’t ever see the Premier League switching to individually sold TV rights. It’s a prehistoric methodology and the FA would never allow it to happen. I could see there being a bit more lopsided swing in terms of percentage of TV revenue for league placement as the TV revenue grows exponentially, both from local coverage and, more importantly, growing international coverage, but never an all out free for all because overall league competitiveness is essential to revenue growth.
Additionally, only the big clubs, like Manchester and Chelsea can have their own TV networks, which is a huge revenue boost internationally as well.
Toon in Boston(Quote)
Even qualifying for the Europa league frequently has to make the club more fashionable for sponsors.
It would be madness to suggest its best not to qualify than to do so.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Toonsy, great stuff displaying figures like these. Is there any info on what our advertising revenue is, compared to other prem clubs. It would reveal how much SD are paying us for the saturation coverage of SJP.
B1GSTEVE(Quote)
It will be interesting to see all the figures including transfer fees. We might make it into the top 10! 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Howay Toonsy, there’s questions to be answered man! 😉
Troy Stavers(Quote)
@ TIB – I agree with u that it wouldn’t be good for the game, but what would they prefer the so called big teams threaten to break away and form the euro super league or let them have their own bigger slice of the tv pie?!
rambo87(Quote)
Sharpy: I was four years old when I got my first Newcastle shirt
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Kim – Yeah that’s about right. I think we dropped out for the first time upon relegation. I wrote about it here
https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2011/02/10/newcastle-lose-place-in-rich-list-elite/
John T – Funny you mention that. Keep your eyes peeled 😉
B1GSTEVE – They will be in the accounts which are due in March.
Troy – Just an observation on the boxes really. Last time I was at SJP (Everton game) I noticed half of them were empty and they didn’t even have corporate signs on them. Boxes always have either the name or the name of the company who “owns” them on them. My mate has his own name on a box at Birmingham for example. Just putting 2+2 together using that, plus the fact that our corporate revenue has dropped. It’s gone somewhere… and is part of the reason attendances have seemed lower than what they are. I’ve been there before and the ground looked pretty much full all the way round yet the attendance has been something like 49,000…
Hope that covers it all 😕
toonsy(Quote)
I’ve been made to feel old today like 🙁
I was 20 when you got your first toon top 😯
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: Ahahahaha! Plus I can still wear it too!
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Zoé please tell me you are joking
Simon(Quote)
Simon: Nope, I have a picture of me wearing it, if you want to see! 😆
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Another thing to consider for next year is that we have some overpaid players who are set to see their contracts expire. This should benefit us in the long run too.
It does dishearten you slightly to think that we were right amongst the big boys not so long ago, but then again it’s great to know that we still have the potential to get ourselves back up there even after relegation. It could have been so much worse.
The only way is up now, though.
HWTL
Gary Watson(Quote)
Just to put this into perspective, reading soccornomics it used the example of the average out of town tesco having a turnover of £150m per annum. That’s the average across what hundreds of stores. And its 50% bigger than NUFC. Football is not big nusiness from a financial viewpoint.
also I seem to remember or operating costs excluding players wages as around £40m + so that means we can only afford £40 on player wages. Obviously any growth in club turnover directly increases the squad budget.
Finally It is clear what Llambias’s job really is about, corporate growth
Premandup(Quote)
GARY, I agree that we were up there among the big boys and with a stronger chairman mentality wise at the time, we could have stayed among it.
But at least we are getting there again and getting rid of the last overpaid underachievers.
wolfie(Quote)
Lol Zoe, yes even tho feels wrong me saying that to you, have to send it via twitter or just put it on here
Simon(Quote)
Simon 😯
toonsy(Quote)
Simon: Here is the link to the twitter status about it! https://twitter.com/#!/ZoeVicarage/status/156852161945411584
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
european football will boost us back into the top 10,as for extra revenue any1 think its possible to expand the ground with teams like tottenham building new grounds,this in my opion would defo make them a bigger club than us if there gates are bigger just a thought.
TOONARMYELITE(Quote)
Flipping heck Zoe, I could never get into my stufff rom last year never mind 16 years ago
Ha ha Toonsy,
Simon(Quote)
Zoe – how the hell can you still fit in a toon top for a 4yr old??
If only TFI Friday were still aired – perfect freak or unique material!!
I bet you had to be cut back out the ******
Sharpy17(Quote)
I know Shepherd had his huge faults and called the wrong shots eventually, you can’t knock that he had us in the top 10 clubs.
He blew it when he failed to back SBR in the final 18 months of his reign. The only player we got in was Lee Bowyer and ultimately we dropped out the top 4 and SBR was sacked when we were 5th. 🙁
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Sharpy and Simon: Ahaha! I’ve just grown upwards! That’s why I can still fit in it
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Give me some of what you have been taken please, i’ve gone so wrong somewhere
Simon(Quote)
Simon: ahaha!
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
I still have the same bulge out of my Y fronts since I was 4, it’s as if I have the same Y fronts on. 😐
wolfie(Quote)
WOLFIE dont think theres any need for that 👿
icedog(Quote)
Zoe – the daft thing is you couldn’t tell if you hant said – reckon you should wear it to the Wolves game 😆 😆 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy: Aha I might do, but I love wearing my orange shirt whenever we play!
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Wolfie – 😳 😆 😆
Far from pleasant mate – but very funny!!!
Sharpy17(Quote)
Wolfie – I’m trying to eat man 😐
toonsy(Quote)
I remember my granda asking me if he could borrow my Newcastle top when I was 4 and I said ” oh granda, silly, my top won’t fit you” and I giggled like a little kid.
Granda put on my top and I laughed like mad because I was right, it didn’t fit him, it was far too big with him being really frail. 😀
wolfie(Quote)
Sharpy and Toonsy. 😆
wolfie(Quote)
Toonsy – I know nowt about football club finances and that and I have no intention of going through 40 pages but how bad is this really?
I mean should I be encouraging people to get a cup of bovril with their PUKKA pie or what? 😕
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – It’s not that bad really. Just perhaps it will make people understand that it isn’t a lack of ambition for not paying the same wages as other clubs do as we just can’t afford it when you look at their income compared to ours.
I mean next season we could easily be back in the top twenty without Europe but we’ll wait and see 😉
toonsy(Quote)
For anyone interested, the U18s are 2-1 up at half time in ET after coming from behind. Campbell and Hooper
Dubtoon(Quote)
We would be £300 – £500 richer if Stardust bought a ticket and actually went to the match. 😛
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Ok mate – I’ll encourage the bovril but won’t force it 😉
Seriously though, just shows how damaging that relegation season has been and how poor the last board was IMO, I know they were on charge when we were relegated but they were the ones who negotiated players contracts, and to not have any kind of salary reduction for relegation was just criminal really.
I know the Ashley haters won’t be converted by this but Id hope the work he did and the extra money he put in at the time would at least be acknowledged.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Dubtoon – didn’t even know they were playing tbh but thanks for the update
Good young prospects those lads – particularly Hooper
Sharpy17(Quote)
haha Zoe that pic is amazing, how the hell can you fit into a top from when you were 4? unless you were an American size 4yr old as a kid 😀
I noticed your sleeves r that tight you walk around like a robot 😆
quality pic, I’m gonna keep al my girls toon tops 😀
mark(Quote)
Toon in Boston @ 23
That is an excellent point. Worth writing an article about the different playing styles 💡 I hope you do.
griff(Quote)
Mark – you must be of slight build as well if you have girl toon tops 😕 😯 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
i, myself have to admit that i called Ashley and his mates cockney _ _ _ _s, and the rest, but now after reading the money list, you can see how much of a state our club was in!! yes we missed the boat when the CL paid more money, but what you have to think about is, if Freddy had not sold, would we of done a “leeds” or even worse a “portsmouth”???
if ony ashley or derek came out and told us there plans, am sure they would get more support from the fans.
after all, Mikes a sucessful man in his job, knows how to make money, and we never, know, ten years we could be TOP of the money table!!
Does the tv deals which Barca and Real have in spain, not fall foul of the new UEFA fair (money) play thing? after all, unlike our prem, where we share everthing, they have the monopoly of it in spain!! surely that cant be right!!
toonsoldier9(Quote)
Sharpy – FA youth fifth round. Would play blackburn at home in quarters if they win. Hooper just off the bench, was injured i think. Done very well since he arried
Dubtoon(Quote)
Mark: I was really small when I was born and have been since. I grow upwards instead of outwards aha and that is how I can still fit in it. I couldn’t believe it when I managed to get it on the other day. The sleeves aren’t that tight, its pretty comfortable.
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
@Sharpy17 lol
lol wolfie@50 😆 Im similar but I’ve gone inverted with age, I can wear wor lasses size 8 thongs nu 😯
mark(Quote)
Toonsoldier – Nope. Nothing wrong with it. It’s allowed over there so real and Barca are just taking advantage of it. It’s actually helping them get round the rules as it brings in more money to the club.Their broadcast income alone is the same as Liverpool’s entire income 😯
toonsy(Quote)
@Zoë i know, I was just kidding, Ive seen that pic b4 actually (wasnt perving, honestly 😯 ) and would never of guessed it was a small size, it looks cool.
mark(Quote)
cheers toonsy 😉 keep up the good work mate 🙂 i always look forward to a good read every night 😆
toonsoldier9(Quote)
Mark: Ahaha, I’m considering wearing it up to the Wolves match when I come up!
Zoë Vicarage(Quote)
Toonsoldier9 – great point … what might have been?!
I think it’s a very really possibility that we would have went the way of Leeds or Portsmouth, coz I tell you one think, if Freddy was still in charge when we got relagated the ****** would have sold up to anyone just to jump ship and save his own ****.
I feel it’s only fair to acknowledge Chris Hughton as well while were on. The bloke guided us back to the top flight with a decimated squad of players and did it in style because things would look alot worse had we spent 2 seasons down there.
Sharpy17(Quote)