Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net

In the six years leading up to the 2019/20 financial year end, which took into account the impact of COVID from late March, Premier League clubs had posted a cumulative profit of £1.1 billion during the period, with just two loss-making seasons.

Article continues below

In 2020, the pre-tax losses among Premier League clubs amounted to a staggering £992 million combined, followed by cumulative losses of £689m in 2021, £592m in 2022 and £711m for 2023.

Not all of the 2024 financial data has arrived yet, but that trend of heavy losses is almost certain to continue given the data that has come out thus far.



READ MORE:Darwin Nunez sends new message to Liverpool critics with puzzling social media postREAD MORE:Liverpool handed new Premier League boost by Arsenal victory over Real Madrid

Liverpool are one of the clubs to have released their full accounts for the 2023/24 period, and while the main theme of the £57m loss was one of a season in the Europa League and a lack of Champions League prize money being the main driving force, the longer-term impact of the pandemic can still be seen when looking at the five years pre-COVID and the five years post.

In the five years leading up to the pandemic hitting during the 2019/20 financial year, Liverpool had posted four periods of operating profit, which excludes interest payments, exceptional items and player sales.

There was one operating loss, in 2016, of £42m.

However, in the five years including 2019/20, when there was a significant £74m operating loss, the cumulative operating losses stand at £240m, a theme across the Premier League, even among the biggest clubs.

Liverpool had been one of the few clubs to have been regularly posting operating profits before the pandemic.

The club’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was £124m in 2019, a season in which they won the Champions League, and had seen previous levels of £95m, £74m, £35m and £73m in the years before.

Liverpool’s interest rate on their bank debt is 6.36%, but for some clubs with heavier debt, or needing to raise debt, the interest repayments, even before principal repayments of the actual debt, it is a major cost to bear.

While the club has the second highest wage bill in the Premier League at £394m, they have managed to keep steady with the wage to turnover ratio throughout.

But since then it has sat at 65%, 62% and, for the last two years, 63%.

The club has managed to continue to grow matchday revenue through the Anfield Road redevelopment, while commercial revenue growth has been impressive and surpassed that of Manchester United, a club that had seemed at one point to have built up an unassailable lead when it came to how much they could generate from that particular revenue stream.

Football finance expert Swiss Ramble estimates that the Reds suffered a loss of some £114m due to the direct impact of the pandemic, with that arriving between 2019/20 and 2020/21 through lost gate revenue of £27m and £87m, respectively.

Article continues below

But the trend among Premier League clubs since shows the wider impact and the additional challenges that COVID created, and continues to create for the football industry.
For more news relating to Manchester United, visit our sister site MUFC Live.