Yahoo News How Cardiff City and Swansea City's financial losses compare to rivals including staggering Leicester City and Leeds United sums
Cardiff City and Swansea City have both recorded significant financial losses for the year of 2022/23.
Unfortunately, it's the norm in modern-day football. Even in the second tier of the game in this country, multi-million-pound losses are par for the course.
The two Welsh clubs will perhaps have slightly different perspectives on what their full-year financial reports reveal. Cardiff recorded losses of £11.09m, however that was a significant reduction from the £29.03m losses from the previous season, with much of the saving coming from the club slashing their wage bill by £8m.
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Swansea, meanwhile, saw their losses jump from £13m to £17.9m for year ending July 31, 2023. Crucially, though, that number does not include the significant sale of Joel Piroe to Leeds United last summer in a deal believed to have been around the £12million mark.
So, where do Cardiff and Swansea sit among the 22 other teams in the Championship? Well, there are caveats which must be considered. For example, the likes of Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton were all in the Premier League for the season these reports account for.
Leicester have recorded an eye-watering loss of almost £90m for the season they were relegated from the Premier League. It could see them start next season — again in the top flight after earning promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking — with a points deduction if they are found to have breached Profit and Sustainability rules.
Southampton, similarly, have recorded a whopping pre-tax loss of £87m. Should they miss out on promotion this season then next year's accounts will make for interesting reading. Leeds United, the other relegated team from last year's top flight, also saw a pre-tax loss of £33.7m, despite player transfers — notably Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips — earning them £73m. The deficit was largely down to their increased operating loss of £105m.
At the other end of the scale, three of the five teams with the healthiest pre-tax profit/loss played their football in League One that season. The pre-tax losses from Sheffield Wednesday (£6.5m), Plymouth Argyle (£3.4m) and Rotherham United (£1.1m) prove the huge financial leaps which come as you progress through the leagues.
The outlier in all of this is Watford, who proved the only team to record a profit for the year. The £24m is £25m better than the next-best team, Rotherham, in purely financial terms. The club cut expenses from £152m to £94m and raked in cash from player sales, earning £59m from selling their footballing assets. Without those player sales — such as Hassane Kamara to Udinese and Emmanuel Dennis to Nottingham Forest — the club would have made a £28m loss.
Championship clubs' 2022/23 pre-tax losses in full
Leicester City – £89.7m*
Southampton – £87m*
Leeds United – £33.7m*
Norwich City – £27.2m
Birmingham City – £25.4m
Bristol City – £22.2m
Hull City – £21m
Blackburn Rovers – £21m
QPR – £20.3m
Ipswich Town – £18.2m
Swansea City – £17.9m
Millwall – £13.7m
Preston North End – £12.2m
Cardiff City – £11.09m
West Brom – £11m
Stoke City – £11m
Sunderland – £9m
Middlesbrough – £6.7m
Huddersfield Town – £6.6m
Sheffield Wednesday – £6.5m**
Coventry City – £4.9m
Plymouth Argyle – £3.4m**
Rotherham United – £1.1m**
Watford – £24m (profit)
*Denotes accounts from teams relegated from Premier League
***Denotes accounts from teams promoted from League One
