A report from accountants pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) has expressed continuing concern about the financial state of Scottish football. The Scottish Premier League remains in a fragile economic state despite making a modest profit for the fifth time in six seasons. Following a loss of £22m in the previous season, figures for 2009-10 show a profit of £1m.
A report from accountants pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) has expressed continuing concern about the financial state of Scottish football. The Scottish Premier League remains in a fragile economic state despite making a modest profit for the fifth time in six seasons. Following a loss of £22m in the previous season, figures for 2009-10 show a profit of £1m.
However, the underlying condition of the game in Scotland remains precarious, particularly given broader economic conditions. The threat of a double-dip recession, job insecurity and rising unemployment has made the decision whether to renew season tickets a difficult decision for many fans.
There were some special factors in the results. Hearts and Kilmarnock benefitted from one-off debt write offs of £8m and £1m respectively. Rangers made an operating profit of £12.4m compared to a loss the previous season of £8.5m, but that was largely due to a far better performance in Europe which cannot be relied on by any Scottish club. Scottish teams no longer qualify automatically for the group stages, so are largely confined to the Europe League.
The author of the PwC report David Glen reckons that if one takes these special factors into account, there was in fact an underlying loss in the SPL of around £16m. Adjusted turnover was about £156m, representing a fall of six per cent, and the underlying operating loss was £6m. Only the Old Firm clubs and Dundee United produced an operating profit.
Net debt grew marginally to £109m with half of the cloubs seing an increase in their level of debt. Only Hamilton and St.Johnstone were debt free.
Prospects for improved returns are not bright. Attendances fell in the season under review and have continued to go down sibce. The average drop in the 2009-10 season was ten per cent, with Celtic and Aberdeen showing the biggest falls of 21 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Only Hearts (one per cent), Kilmarnock (three per cent) and promoted St.Johnstone (34 per cent) reported improved numbers.
Attendances peaked at 3.7m in 2005 and since then the SPL has effectively been losing 100,000 fans a year. An attractive fixture can bring them back, however: tickets for the Europa League play-off between Hearts and Spurs sold out within hours.
There is no lucrative television deal to fall back on and the one reliable way of producing income is to sell players to bigger clubs, particularly in England. SPL members have raised £53.3m in that way over the last three years.