Aberdeen Finances 2022/23

Advice For The Young At Heart

Aberdeen’s 2022/23 accounts covered a season “of highs and lows”, though there were plenty of good points, as they reached the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup, narrowly losing out to Rangers after extra time, and finished third in the SPFL Premiership.

Importantly, this position guaranteed the club qualification to the Europa Conference League group stage, which was the first time Aberdeen had got to a European group stage in fifteen years. This was a big improvement on the “disappointing” previous season, when they finished 10th, in other words third bottom in the league.

However, there were also some bad moments, including being defeated by sixth-tier Darvel in the Scottish Cup, which led to the departure of manager Jim Goodwin, who was replaced by Barry Robson.

Profit/(Loss) 2022/23

Aberdeen’s better results on the pitch also helped with their finances, as they swung from a £2.2m net loss to a £1.1m profit. Profit from player sales shot up from £1.0m to £7.5m, which more than offset a £6.3m operating loss.

Revenue rose £1.9m (14%) from £13.9m to £15.8m, but operating expenses were up by even more, increasing by £2.8m (15%) from £19.2m to £22.0m.

In addition, there was no repeat of prior year’s £2.2m benefit from a business interruption insurance claim.

Two of Aberdeen’s revenue streams grew: gate receipts were up by more than a third (£1.1m) from £3.0m to £4.1m, while commercial also rose £1.1m (15%) from £7.3m to £8.4m. On the other hand, broadcasting dropped £0.3m (8%) from £3.6m to £3.3m.

Continued investment in the first team squad drove increases in both wages, up £1.7m (17%) from £10.2m to £11.9m, and player amortisation, which increased by a third from £0.9m to £1.1m. Other expenses also rose £0.9m (12%) from £7.7m to £8.6m.

Not all clubs have published accounts for 2022/23, but Aberdeen’s £1.1m profit is currently the second best financial result in Scotland for last season, albeit miles below Celtic’s record-breaking £33m profit.

In general, Scottish clubs tend to run a tight ship, so almost all of them were in a narrow range between £2m profit and £2m loss, i.e. effectively break-even. Rangers were a bit of an outlier with their £4.1m loss.

Player Sales 2022/23

Aberdeen would have made a large loss without the £7.5m gain from player sales, which is easily the club’s best ever performance. To place this into perspective, this was more than the last 15 years put together.

There were three sales for relatively big money, namely Calvin Ramsay to Liverpool, Ross McCrorie to Bristol City and Lewis Ferguson to Bologna.

Even though Aberdeen’s £7.5m profit from player trading was a record for the Dandies, it was still a long way below Rangers and Celtic, who generated £23.6m and £14.4m respectively.