By David Owen
April 27 – European Super League rebels Liverpool have added to the torrent of red ink gushing over the Premier League, posting a pre-tax loss of £46 million for the year to end-May 2020.
The announcement on the club’s website contained little further information but for a turnover breakdown. The covid-disrupted season eventually saw the Reds crowned runaway champions, their 19th English top-flight title in all but their first for 30 years.
Overall revenue for the latest period dipped by £43 million, falling back below the half a billion pounds mark to £490 million. A hefty £59 million drop in media revenue saw commercial take over as the club’s biggest revenue stream, at £217 million against £202 million.
Matchday revenue fell £13 million to £71 million.]
Other than a wodge of positive social media statistics that was pretty much that in terms of the hard information released today.
The Merseysiders, along with Tottenham, have been the Premier League pacemakers in recent seasons in terms of profitability, with a series of highly lucrative transfers supplementing the rewards of their improved on-field performance under Jürgen Klopp.
With the fairly ignominious and astonishingly rapid apparent collapse of the Super League project, however, the short-term future looks a lot more challenging. With five games to go, the club lies only sixth in the Premier League, having lost its way in the second half of an injury-ravaged season, and appears more than likely to miss out on a Champions League place for 2021-22.
Andy Hughes, managing director, stated with some justification that the club had been in a “solid financial position prior to the pandemic”. He added: “It’s no secret that supporters have been greatly missed at Anfield over the past year and we look forward to having them back.” The detailed reaction of fans such as Liverpool’s ,if and when crowds do revert to normal, will be fascinating to observe.
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