Cardiff City Finances 2022/23

The Cutter

Cardiff City’s 2022/23 financial results covered a season when they finished 21st in the Championship, the club’s lowest league position for over 20 years, just avoiding relegation to League One.

The board understandably described the season as “a roller coaster of emotions with far more lows than highs”, though it noted with some relief that “we eventually succeeded in securing our status as a Championship club”.

Nevertheless, the management team of Sabri Lamouchi and Sol Bamba left at the end of the season after their contracts were not extended with Turkish manager Erol Bulut given the opportunity to restore Cardiff’s fortunes.

Profit/(Loss) 2022/23

However, it was a better season off the pitch, as Cardiff’s pre-tax loss more than halved from £26.6m to £11.4m. Revenue increased by a third from £20.0m to £26.7m, though profit from player sales dropped from £4.2m to £1.7m.

In addition, operating expenses were cut by £11m (22%) from £49m to £38m, while net interest payable reduced by £0.5m to £1.9m.

Cardiff’s revenue increase was almost entirely due to commercial, which more than doubled from £4.7m to £11.1m, though match day also rose £0.6m (12%) from £4.9m to £5.5m. Broadcasting was slightly lower, falling £0.3m (3%) from £10.4m to £10.1m.

Other operating income also dropped £0.3m from £0.4m to £0.1m.

Cardiff dramatically reduced their staff costs, as the wage bill was cut by £6.9m (24%) from £29.2m to £22.3m, while player amortisation more than halved from £7.1m to £3.4m and there was no repeat of prior year’s £0.4m player impairment. Other expenses were also down slightly by £0.4m (4%) to £9.7m.

Nevertheless, even after this improvement, the fact remains that Cardiff still posted an £11.4m pre-tax loss, though this was pretty much par for the course in the Championship, where very few clubs make money.

In fact, in 2022/23 to date only Watford have managed to generate a profit, and their £24m surplus was driven by high player sales following relegation.

Furthermore, many clubs had far bigger losses than Cardiff, with six of them losing more than £20m last season, namely Burnley, Sheffield United, Norwich City, Birmingham City, Bristol City and QPR.

Player Sales 2022/23

Cardiff’s profit from player sales decreased from £4.2m to £1.7m, as most of the departures were due to players being released, which did not generate any money, but did have the benefit of lowering the wage bill.

Unsurprisingly, this was one of the smallest gains from player trading in the Championship, miles below the likes of Watford £59m, Middlesbrough £22m, Stoke City £15m and Hull City £15m.