Huddersfield Town Finances 2021/22

New Rose

Huddersfield Town’s 2021/22 accounts covered a “fantastic” season when Carlos Corberan’s team finished 3rd in the Championship, thus securing a place in the play-offs before losing to Nottingham Forest in the final.

However, the following season proved to be very different, as they finished in a lowly 18th place, though they did at least manage to avoid relegation, which had seemed a distinct possibility at one stage.

It was a season of much upheaval after head coach Corberan left in July, believing that the club would not match his ambitions. The Spaniard was replaced by Danny Schofield, but the new man only survived three months.

He was in turn succeeded as permanent manager by Mark Fotheringham, who did not last much longer, before Neil Warnock was tempted out of retirement in February. The veteran manager successfully guided Town to safety in the and has accepted a one-year contract for the forthcoming season.

Ownership

There has also been a great deal of change in the club’s ownership in the past few years.

Dean Hoyle had sold a 75% stake in Huddersfield Town to Phil Hodgkinson’s Pure Sports Consultancy Ltd in 2019, but the main business interests of the new owner were placed into administration in November 2021, Although this did not directly affect the club, it did lead to the return of the former custodian.

So Hoyle stepped back in to oversee the day to day running of the club and “provide urgent financial support”, even though he was still the minority shareholder. Unfortunately, due to poor health, he had to once again take a step back in October 2022.

The transfer of Hodgkinson’s 75% stake was finally completed in March 2023, so Hoyle once again held 100% of the shares.

At this point, Hoyle immediately sold his 100% shareholding to Kevin Nagle, an American businessman, investor and owner of Sacramento Republic football club, though the acquisition was only ratified by the English football authorities last month.

It was reported that the takeover had been needed to avoid the club entering administration, which would have meant an automatic 12 points deduction and consequent relegation to League One.

The good news is that Hoyle has written-off £40m of debt owed to him as part of the deal.

There has clearly been much change at Huddersfield Town in the last 12 months, but the recently published accounts for 2021/22 are still of much interest.

Profit/(Loss) 2021/22

Town swung from a £2.6m pre-tax profit to a £3.8m loss in 2021/22, as revenue dropped by nearly a third (£14m) from £45m to £31m, exacerbated by profit from player sales falling £9m from £10m to less than £1m.

This was partially offset by a £16m (32%) reduction in operating expenses, while net interest payable decreased from £1.9m to £1.1m.

The main reason for Town’s £14m revenue decrease was broadcasting, which almost halved from £40m to £21m, due to a lower parachute payment in the third (and final) year.

However, the return of fans to the stadium, after COVID restrictions were lifted, led to increases in both match day, up from £1.7m to £5.2m, and commercial, up £1.8m (76%) from £2.3m to £4.1m.

To compensate for the revenue decline, Town reduced staff costs, especially player amortisation, which massively decreased from £15.2m to £1.1m. The wage bill was also cut by £4.4m (18%) to £20.3m.

However, other expenses rose £2.4m (27%) to £11.5m, mainly due to the higher cost of staging games with fans.