Wolves boosted by £9.1m Premier League profit
Thursday 24th February 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
Wolves today offered a clear financial reminder of the price of Premier League status after confirming a £9.1m profit on their first season back in the top flight.
The news comes as the team are once again locked in a tooth-and-nail battle to stay in the most lucrative domestic division in world football.
The headline detail from the annual accounts covering the 2009-2010 campaign spell out an impressive balance between major investment in the team to meet the Premier League challenge and the rising rewards of staying there.
Wolves’ £9.1m profit contrasts sharply with the £4.9m loss in the previous year during which the club was striving to win promotion from the Championship.
But the stand-out figure — one which underlines the significance of winning this season’s survival fight — is the turnover. Wolves enjoyed a £60.6m turnover last season which obliterates the £18.3m of their last Championship campaign.
This means that despite breaking the club transfer record to sign £6.5m Kevin Doyle as well as recruiting Nenad Milijas, Ronald Zubar and loanee Michael Mancienne, and facing a hefty rise in the wage bill, Wolves were still able to post the profit after finishing 15th.
The Premier League’s core commercial deals, a bump in the sponsorship agreement with sportingbet.com and higher ticket revenue from an average attendance which rose to 28,366 from 24,153 were at the heart of the big increase in earnings.
It also enabled Wolves to absorb the cost of securing key young players, including Wayne Hennessey, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Kevin Foley, on longer term deals.
With the club showing a “very strong” balance sheet with net assets at £70.5m, the accounts would appear to put the club in robust shape as it prepares to launch ‘Operation Molineux,’ the stadium’s ambitious rebuild.
The importance of staying in the Premier League has never been more vividly outlined although chief executive Jez Moxey insists the steady policies of this era under the ’3Ms’ will remain.
“Our results reflect the successful balance the club struck between sound financial management and continuing investment in players and off the pitch infrastructure,” said Moxey.
“We will not be irresponsible and fall into the dangerous trap of over-stretching the club.”
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Well done to the management; these are excellent numbers and show that we have people with sound business sense running the club.
Now lets see the players put in some decent consistent performances over the next 11 matches.
Come on you Wolves!!!!!
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Before the expected moans that would suggest outgoings of £51.5m against £23.2m in the Championship, a near doubling of expenditure.
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Sensible house-keeping from Moxey.
See,Sunderland are now the next team to feel the strain.
Having already sold Darren Bent,it now looks like they will have to sell Asamoah Gyan in the summer,just to balance the books.
Dont live beyhond your means.
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Any chance you could knock 10p off the price of the balti pies then? My two-pies-a-match habit doesn’t pay for itself.
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and all within the second lowest wage budget in the Premier League, top earner 25k a week
Fantastic achievement but we have to stay up now!!!
COME ON YOU WOLVES
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If you add on the 12 million spent on players in the first year that equates to a 21 million profit.Its a pity we didnt shore up the defence in January it may cost us our premiership status its looks like we had the money to do it.The books will show a very different picture should we drop down to the Championship.
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Laughingwolf
Not sure where you get your figures mate, but no way those players are on 2mill a year trust me.
Good accounting from the Wolves board
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If we stay up this year I will be impressed now we are where we are.
Blackpool is a must win game. No excuses, 3 points required. Play terrible and get a lucky deflection, makes no difference just win.
Staying up this season is worth so much to this club and the future. Im glad we made a profit, but 2 years in the champiosnip back losing £4mil a season would soon wipe it out.
Ill be there as always Saturday, time for the players to stand up and be counted.
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This demonstrates how well the club is being run financially but also acts as a timely reminder as to how important it is for us to stay up again this season!
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Add this to the Parachute payment we get for dropping into the Championship plus selling Doyle and Jarvis it could add up nicely for a DECENT manager to buy decent players to get us BACK to the Premiership in 2013. Don’t forget Mr Moxey it is a FOOTBALL CLUB NOT A MONEY MAKING MACHINE. What is the saying “have to Speculate to Accumulate”
No 6 Well said!!
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Woohoo. A £9M profit and bottom of the league. This is cause to celebrate.
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Not correct laughingwolf. Wolves wage bill is third lowest. Albion’s is second lowest.
Probably why both clubs will go down!
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BobHazelisgod
Not sure where you get your figures mate, but no way those players are on 2mill a year trust me.
Good accounting from the Wolves board
Bob – Not sure whether it is your maths that is bad or the grammar.
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Firstly this is very commendable in terms of how many teams are in trouble with excessive debt etc but Mr Moxey will be very well rewarded with bonus related salary etc .
Now plea to the two M’s could you please invest some of that money in a proven tactically astute Manager who can unlock the potential in our great club.
Nb – MM has done great job for this club in terms of where we were & where we are now , i just firmly believe we need next level of Manager up who could sustain a season on season Mid Table position .
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This report shows us exactly why the players need to focus on their game for 95 minutes – I have added Man Utd time. These silly last minute errors have cost us dearly and perhaps we can cause some retribution on that score and we might even get a league penalty???
Survival is in our own hands. Apart from Blackburn, every team we have got to play, we either have taken points off them or indeed should of/deserved to ie Blackpool, Spurs, Villa and Fulham.
We need to secure our status to sign the likes of O’Hara and to continue with our long term vision of Molineux. If we do go, we must utilise our young talent next season though and not just rely on the current first teamers!
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TIME TO ALL STICK TOGETHER NOW,ANY MOANING LEAVE TILL THE END OF THE SEASON WHEN WE SEE WHICH LEAGUE WE END UP IN.
WE HAVE A GOOD RUN IN UNLIKE OTHERS, SO LET’S BE OUR 12TH MAN AND ROCK THE HOUSE.
Few tickets remain for the game against Blackpool..
Gold and Proud!!
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Brilliant figures from Moxey,Now what do we do?Have you noticed, while Moxey has been doing all this brilliant bookwork,that we are bottom of the league and looking certain for the drop.If we had bought a couple more players and spent the 9mil.don`t you think that the coffers would have grown with extra fans through the gate on the basis that some ambition was being shown?
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i guess the £1.50 booking fee per ticket, no matter how many ticketrs are in the envelope helped
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Great to see some positivity for a change. This ofcourse will be terible news for some as they would want us £100m in debt and have Messi playing for us ! Its a football CLUB not a football TEAM. If there is no club there is no team….
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‘Well Thats the Gamble’ as they used to say on Bullseye
Moxey has chosen a specific policy in January, of great caution in the LOAN Market (no one sensible was after big money permanent signings)
Other Clubs in a similar plight took a braver stance
Time will tell whetehr we should have risked £2-£3 million of that £9m Profit (no more)and competed harder in January.
Our league position says we should have.
The Premier League is awash with money from Sky. Therefore:-
Any Premier League CEO can make a £9mill profit (and bank a huge personal bonus in the process)
Any Premier League CEO can risk the lot and make a huge loss
The shrewd and clever CEO’s are the ones who strike the right balance and make the right decisions at the right time
Our CEO is running a club who are bottom of the Premiership, and long odds on for relegation. He chose to keep the purse strings very tight in January, and not risk 2 or 3 extra million as a one off
Shrewd CEO’s ? Bolton, Stoke perhaps
But Hey …That’s the Gamble
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Well done, Wolves. Keep your feet firmly on the ground. Though it would be really good to stay in the premiership too. Relegation wouldn’t be the end of the world as long as we can retain our young talent.
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FOR GOD SAKE No1 (Blake’s Heaven)
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
MONEY
WE ALL KNOW WE HAVE MONEY,LETS TALK ABOUT BLUDDY
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL
THATS WHAT WE PAY TO WATCH!!!!!
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Very good job done financially, feels good to know our club is well on its feet.
I hope we really stays up in the prem cause we have a very very good young team in the making..
Bring on blackpool now..
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Why is this so fantastic?
With all the money coming in from Sky it’s easy to make a profit if you don’t invest in a team to keep you up – and you can bag yourself an nice big bonus to boot!!!!
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On the surface the result looks good but the simple truth is that two centre halves costing £6 million each on three year contracts would reduce these profits by around £7 million (annually including wages), leaving a healthy profit of £2 million pounds and the opportunity of continued occupation in the Premier League. We are using the Premier League as a money making excursion not as a required standard of achievement. These figures sadden me because they prove beyond doubt that the club has an agenda which is light years away from that of the supporters. It is clear that the club needs to pay it’s way and that the reckless spending of ordinary clubs will finally come back to bite them but if we gleefully announce profits like these, when we are in such trouble, I despair.
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so according to some posters the premier league is awash with money and its easy to make a profit if you dont invest in the team?
so here is one question for the financial whizz kids on here, if it is that easy why are so many clubs in debt?
petenuts, im sure you can get cheaper balti pies from netto.
sneaking them in to the ground is a different matter.
time for the players to stop talking and beat blackpool,utw
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9mil jezzzzzza that would of got us a couple of good defenders and we wouldn’t be where we are now…. ow well you wont be hob knobin it with the chairman in the prem league next season….
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It will only be good news and sensible financial management if we stay up,..if we go down you would have say it was bad overall management as we desperately needed strengthening in certain areas in the tranfer window and we didnt address this..and if we were sensible about it the rewards would far outweigh the cost,..yes its always a gamble and nothing is certain,…but the financial rewards for staying in the league make that gamble worth it in my opinion.
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£9 million profit,is this after or before Messrs Morgan and Moxey have had their cut?Depressing news in my view and reinforces my long held view the club have no ambition whatsoever.
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Extremely good news, in my opinion. To the sceptics, this covers the 2009-10 campaign, remember. Since then, we have spent 18-20 M on new players. I am among the sceptics on Mick’s qualities as a manager, but the importance of solid finances cannot be understated.
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Very nice £9m profit, Wolves. Perhaps Jez can now afford to buy a tie -and tie clip, if it’s not too expensive- to go with his shirt. We don’t want our exalted Chief Exec looking like Albert Steptoe, do we? Especially considering Jez’s lowly salary. Dunno how he manages to live on it, the poor bloke.
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Whats the point in wallowing in the glory of generating 9m profit if you will shortly be freezing your kn*%$£^s off at Hull on a tuesday night??????????????
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19 – I think for ‘club’, we should substitute ‘business’ -and therein lies the reason so many people feel short-changed at times. In other words, no (if any) value for money, entertainment-wise.
Another word might be ‘rip-off’.
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Great work Jez, thank god we headhunted you from a lower league team, I bet that team must have really gone down hill after you left??!!!
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Great bookkeeping Jez!
Just need Doyle to get to grips with double entry in terms of goals into the back of the net now and all will be well!
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No way should we (or any club) be living beyond our means – and it’s to the management’s credit this is highly unlikely to happen.
But there’s a big difference between financial prudence and lack of sufficient investment.
We will see which of the two this proves to be in May. Until then, I suggest Moxey keeps a lid on his boasting.
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With internet streams and pubs showing football on foreign channels the sky sports bubble will burst and these teams living beyond their means will collapse. Wolves will be the ones who can pounce on the void that will appear.
Leeds, Sheffield W, Notts forest, Southhampton, Charlton, Coventry, Porstmouth have already feel victim. Liverpool got out of jail in there situation but Sunderland, Wigan, West Ham, Blackburn, Everton are starting to show cracks. Man United might even get in trouble and if the rich boys get bored Chelsea, Man city Fulham will fall as well. If we keep on it 5 or 6 years and the premiership will look completely different and we’ll be there competing for Europe spots. Watch this space
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Very good business but £9.1m that could have bought in another top class player. In this league breaking even would be a fantastic achievement.
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When you look at Everton whos operating costs exceed turnover by £2-3m and have net debt of £45m how can they even buy a player. Sunderland, again their operating costs exceed turnover and they’ve just injected£19m of debt to shares. There’s gambling and there’s a sensible approach. Well done 3M’s.
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Have seen a few fans want to match Blackpool up with a 4-3-3 which would make for a cracking game but cannot see this being MM,s style one suggestion I read:
Hennessey
Zubar
Stearman
Berra
Elokobi
Milijas
Foley
O’Hara
Doyle
SEB
Jarvis
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Number 5: Top earner on 25 grand a week? Hunt is on 40k a week.
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most profitable businesses invest their profits back in the business. In football it means buying quality players to keep us up and I dont think we have been ambitious enough to make more funds available to do this when the accounts show we have had enough income to do so.
Before some people talk about bankrupting the club, i would say its a balancing act, and that we lost 5 million last season and were still sound financially.
The question I would ask is how much will we lose financially if we do go down? sky money, sponsorships,lower attendances. Or perhaps the 9 mill is being kept in reserve to cover the loss
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The profits could have been very easily doubled or trebbled if the MANAGER had been changed and the obvious weaknesses of the team had been rectified.
We are facing relegation slap bang straight in the face yet senior management have not seen this,yet our position at the bottom of the table shows things are not right.
We have to BEAT backpool and we will have to get over 40points to be safe.
I will continue to say “MICK OUT”"”"!!!
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First time I’ve seen Moxey with a smile on his face! The balance sheet will take the field against Blackpool and you can all have a good cheer! Next season start paying off the bank loan while the team is in the Championship! Get a life!
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The underlying reason why the club is in such a robust financial state is as much down to Sir Jack Haywards extreme generosity in wiping out the £62+Million owed to him when he sold the club to Steve Morgan for a nominal £10.
OK the club has been sensibly run since then from a financial point of view but this should never be forgotten.
Without Sir Jacks proven love for this club we would not be in the shape we are presently in. After all it has cost him the love and support of his children….
Steve Morgan is a sound businessman who would not have considered buying the club if it meant inheriting £62 Million debts.
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Pleasing news but surely only if we stay in the Premier League, failure to do so will make this all look a lot less appealing.
It is now time for the talking to end and for consistently good results to start and that begins with Blackpool tomorrow.
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Great news we will be a financially sound championship club with this attitude, and getting Jez from Stoke was good news, is it me or are stoke doing much better since he left!!!!
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Well done guys, some good news.
WOLVES AY WE!
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We’re going down,but at least we will have some money in the bank,nothing like a bit of ambition is there?
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Funny how all these ‘new’ posters have appeared or is it just Boggies still excited by their last minute equaliser gifted to them by a mistake?
You going to still be on here Tuesday if your below us?
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I imagine we’ve already used a decent chunk of that profit. Bear in mind that was for the year ending 31 May 2010 and in that time we’ve made several other transfers, plus potentially laid down a deposit for the building work.
The other point about the report is that the club has net assets of £70.5m, which does not include player transfer market valuations. It takes their transfer fees into account instead, meaning we have Jarvis listed at under £600k, Kightly at less than £25k etc. and home-grown players aren’t even listed, possibly leaving our assets in an even better position.
However, we must also bear in mind that the profit of £9.1m is pre-tax, so it will be reduced.
To me, the most important thing is that, no matter what league we are in next season, we will have a club to continue supporting and there is no need to worry about that on the basis of this initial report.
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Initially I would like to know if the £9.1 m will stay in the business or will some,or all, be distributed to the owner.Perhaps Robert Perry and Accountant Wolf will shed some light on this.There is nothing wrong in making a profit,but this should not detract from investment in the team.Some of that £9M could,and in my opinion should ,have been invested in better players than Halford,Maierhofer,Surman etc.Invest properly in the business and this will bring long term rewards,and BETTER FOOTBALL .If we are relegated the future looks difficult.Moxey has confirmed players will be sold and we have a £40million ground redevelopment to be paid for.If we get out of jail this time better player acquisition is needed,but sadly it appears those that own and run our football club have other priorities.
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