Liverpool’s latest accounts suggest we’re in a not perilous, but definitely dangerous financial position.
The club released the numbers yesterday – and it’s fair to say the pandemic has had a real and lasting effect, given the likely £100m-odd we’ve lost in Match Day revenue alone.
Liverpool’s accounts for the year to May 31 2020 show a pre-tax loss of £46 million, largely down to an increased wage bill on top of Anfield generating no profit.
According to James Pearce, the wage hike is largely because of bonus payments the club contracted into deals for players who won silverware – which Liverpool did with the Champions League and Premier League.
“The club’s wage bill continued to rise, from £310 million in 2018-19 to £325 million last season — an increase of 4.8 per cent. Only Manchester City (£351 million) pay more in the Premier League. Liverpool’s wage bill stood at just £263 million for 2017-18, meaning it shot up 23.6 per cent in the space of two years,” he wrote in the Athletic.
“The rise in the wage bill is understood to be heavily linked to bonuses as a result of Liverpool’s on-field success.”
At least there’ll be no bonus payments in this season’s contracts, which is just about the worst silver lining of all time!
The numbers hint that it might not be the kind of summer rebuild many are hoping for in the transfer window – but at EOTK we have it on good authority that the Ibrahima Konate deal is already signed and sealed.
We do however need another striker. A really good one… Who can we afford to come in and take the goal burden off the shoulders of Mo Salah?