Manchester City Finances 2022/23

Put Me On Top

Manchester City’s 2022/23 accounts covered a hugely successful season when they completed a famous treble, winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League for the first time.

It was little wonder that chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak described the season as one that “saw us scale new heights and set new benchmarks”. Chief executive Ferran Soriano added, “We can certainly say that the 2022-23 season was the best in the history of Manchester City.”

This meant that City have now won the Premier League for the fifth time in six years (and their seventh title in 11 years), which is remarkably consistent by anyone’s standards.

Profit/(Loss) 2022/23

City’s on-pitch success was replicated off the pitch, as they set new club records for both revenue and profit.

City’s pre-tax profit nearly doubled from £42m to £80m, as revenue surged by £100m (16%) from £613m to £713m, which was also the highest ever generated in England, and profit from player sales rose £54m (80%) from £68m to £122m.

However, there was a price to pay for this success, as operating expenses also shot up by £113m (18%) from £641m to £754m.

There was good growth in all three of City’s revenue streams. The largest increase was in broadcasting, which rose £50m (20%) from £249m to £299m, but there were also sizeable uplifts in commercial, up £32m (10%) from £309m to £341m, and match day, up £18m (32%) from £54m to £72m.

However, the treble winning season also drove large increases in the cost base, as City’s wage bill rose £69m (20%) from £354m to another English record of £423m, while other expenses were up by nearly a third from £134m to £173m. Player amortisation also grew, but by only £4m (3%) to £145m.

Only two Premier League clubs have so far published accounts for 2022/23, so comparisons with the others are based on the latest available figures from the 2021/22 season.

However, it is clear that City’s £80m pre-tax profit is an excellent performance, more than twice as much as the highest profit made by anyone in the previous season. This financial strength is very different from the large losses reported elsewhere, e.g. Chelsea £121m, Leicester City £92m and Newcastle United £73m.

Manchester Derby

The relative performance in Manchester’s financial derby is also striking with City’s £80m pre-tax profit a cool £113m better than United’s £33m loss.