Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club Ltd

The club was founded in 1901 and played initially in the Southern League. They were elected to the Football League in 1920. In 1998 Brighton were almost relegated out of the football league, had lost their ground and were playing in a stadium over an hour’s drive away from Brighton itself, average home attendances had dropped below 3,000 (the club attracted up to 30,000 in the 1970s) and fans ended up paying the players wages directly.

The club was founded in 1901 and played initially in the Southern League. They were elected to the Football League in 1920. In 1998 Brighton were almost relegated out of the football league, had lost their ground and were playing in a stadium over an hour’s drive away from Brighton itself, average home attendances had dropped below 3,000 (the club attracted up to 30,000 in the 1970s) and fans ended up paying the players wages directly. An initial club recovery was based on the action of a core group of die-hard fans, including Superstar DJ and record producer Norman Cook who bought 11% of the club for £500,000 in July 2002 (he claims it was only so he could guarantee a car-parking spot). Cook’s record label, Skint Records, has been shirt sponsor since 2000.

In 2004, the club had an accumulated deficit of £9.5 million which was eventually paid off by the board of directors (£7 million) and the other £2.5 million had to be raised from the operations of the club.

The turnaround was partially completed in October 2005, when Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ruled that Brighton and Hove Albion could build a new stadium at Falmer on the city’s outskirts. After a judicial review, work on the stadium was finally started in 2008 and is due to be completed for 2011.

Turnover and pre-tax profit figures are in millions.

Financial Overiew

Year
Turnover
Pre-tax profit
Wages / Turnover ratio (%)
Employees

2007/08

4.056

0.877

95.9

85

2006/07

4.222

-2.827

87.2

82

2005/06

5.336

-0.253

76.4

88

2004/05

5.534

-1.074

64.2

86

2003/04

4.619

-0.912

69.0

70

2002/03

4.772

-2.235

65.4

70

2001/02

4.885

-0.733

49.6

64

2000/01

3.736

-0.873

51.5

59

1999/00

1.320

-1.387

 

51

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1994/95

1.289

-0.726

92.7

48