Posts Tagged ‘west ham united’

Premier league club accounts: how in debt are they?

The Premier League clubs collectively lost close to half a billion pounds in 2009-10 but how in debt are they? Find their income and expenditure by club
• Get the data

The premier league season has drawn to a close for the season, with Manchester United winning a historic, 19th league title but how are the clubs operating financially?

Despite a record income, the 20 premier league clubs collectively lost nearly half a billion pounds. Rises in revenue saw a £2.1bn total revenue for the premier league clubs in 2009-10 but large debts and interest rates have stopped the income from soaring as 16 out of the 20 clubs recorded losses.

David Conn has written:

Across Manchester, United made £286m turnover, more than any other club if Arsenal’s property income is discounted – yet the costs and interest on the debts the owners, the Glazer family, have loaded on to the club, pushed United into a losing £79m.

Double-winners in 2009-10 Chelsea, whose owner, the Russian oil oligarch Roman Abramovich, is always cited as a supporter of Uefa’s break-even “financial fair play” principles, made the next biggest loss, £78m. Tottenham’s successful push for Champions League qualification was achieved with a £7m loss and £15m investment from the owners, principally Bahamas-based currency speculator, Joe Lewis.

The table below shows turnover plus income from things such as gate/matchday and tv and broadcasting as well as net debt for each club and wages as a percentage of turnover. The spreadsheet to download includes additional accounts details such as losses, profits and which money put in by the owners.

There’s a pdf of the accounts too. What can you do with the data?

Data summary

Download the data

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

More data

Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian

World government data

• Search the world’s government data with our gateway

Development and aid data

• Search the world’s global development data with our gateway

Can you do something with this data?

Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group
• Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk

• Get the A-Z of data
• More at the Datastore directory

• Follow us on Twitter
• Like us on Facebook

Premier LeagueArsenalAston VillaBirmingham CityBlackburn RoversBlackpoolBolton WanderersChelseaEvertonFulhamLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedStoke CitySunderlandTottenham HotspurWest BromWest Ham UnitedWigan AthleticWolverhampton WanderersAmi SedghiDavid Connguardian.co.uk

Fear of failure adds worth and wonder to winter buys | Kevin McCarra

The recent January transfer window provided some intriguing signings, especially for clubs battling to avoid relegation

No one expects lush growth in mid-winter, but Chelsea have blossomed since the January transfer window. They have a fine signing who has scored twice in four starts for the club. This apparent predator at Stamford Bridge happens to be the centre-half David Luiz, rather than the £50m Fernando Torres, who is still without a goal since leaving Liverpool.

It is an unexpected turn of events but when a side is winning the struggles of a particular footballer, such as the Spaniard, are more quirk than crisis. Chelsea, mindful of David Luiz, will look back fondly on their work at the start of the year. Supporters were enraptured long before the opener from the Brazilian in Sunday’s victory over Manchester City and the cfcuk fanzine had a 4-3-3 formation on the cover, with a picture of David Luiz filling every place in the line-up.

He is a rarity, and not just for his energy or impact. The deals done at the start of the year are struck under pressure. Liverpool would not necessarily have envisaged losing Torres, but when it became unfeasible to hold him against his will they were ready to recruit. It says everything about Luis Suárez’s talent that there has been calm over the convalescence of Andy Carroll, who was bought injured from Newcastle United for £35m.

Suárez’s disciplinary record was already noteworthy before the attacker bit an opponent while playing for Ajax against PSV Eindhoven last year, yet there has been a relative restraint so far to his time in England, where he has two goals and a single yellow card. With Torres gone, Liverpool had to back their judgment that the Uruguayan’s volatility was behind him.

That type of decision-making under pressure ensures that people are engrossed even in the middle of so prolonged a campaign. An examination of the weekend’s starting line-ups shows, as anticipated, that the prominent sides did least in the January marketplace. Manchester United recruited Anders Lindegaard, a goalkeeper who has featured only in the FA Cup ties with Southampton and Crawley Town. Arsenal did not make any additions to the first-team either.

Such serenity is all very well, but it is more gripping to witness crisis management. West Ham have reacted quite well to the danger of relegation and if they squint the club can almost make out a place of safety in the distance. The real clarity of vision, though, has lain with Demba Ba, the Senegal striker who has four goals from half-a-dozen League appearances since moving from Hoffenheim.

He is one of a quartet of noteworthy recruits bought for Avram Grant’s team in January. All would have been on the field against Tottenham on Saturday had the rules not prevented Robbie Keane from facing his parent club. By the same token, Arsenal knew that Carlos Vela would not be embarrassing them, even if two goals were still scored against them in the draw at West Bromwich.

The threat of relegation is a great trial of judgment that can make the Premier League riveting even when the competition for the title lacks intrigue. It causes stress in the boardroom as much as the dugout. How much extra is to be spent on wages or transfer fees when a club might still wind up dragging a weight of debt behind them in the Championship?

Extreme measures are adopted in the hope of ducking such a fate and it would seem nearly sensible, say, for a manager to call in a poacher and a central midfielder in January for a combined cost of £24m. Gérard Houllier did that, but while the £18m Darren Bent has three goals for Aston Villa that include a winner over Manchester City, Jean Makoun caused disruption by bringing a ban on himself for a two-footed tackle on Blackpool’s DJ Campbell.

In January, desperation can stoke the price of a run-of-the-mill player and the dangers rise steeply as well. While Arsenal pose a challenge to United at the head of the table, that struggle is not likely to reek of the fear that characterises the lower reaches.

That area is also a piece of football territory in which some individuals thrive. The Wolves fans, for instance, know the difference Jamie O’Hara has made since he came from Tottenham in January. It is the fifth loan move of his career, yet in his case there is no sign of disillusionment. Instead the realisation that there is a threat to be countered brings out the best in him.

The call-up for the England squad of Wolves’ Matt Jarvis might even suggest that living close to the brink is the making of some footballers. Relegation may be a hideous prospect, but the fear of it galvanises more clubs than the quest for trophies ever can.

ChelseaLiverpoolManchester UnitedWest Ham UnitedKevin McCarraguardian.co.uk

King Kenny is no messiah for Liverpool | Sachin Nakrani

The manager has given the team a needed boost, but big investment will be required for the team to compete at top level

Under the east London rain it was hard to believe that the last time Liverpool were in the capital they had their supporters dreaming of a return to the Champions League. It was Sunday, 6 February and the team had just beaten Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. With Fernando Torres looking on from the home team’s bench following his £50m move from Anfield there was a sense among the travelling Kopites that after a truly grim few months, the immediate future was golden bright. How quickly things change.

A 3-1 defeat to West Ham is some way to come crashing down to earth and that it should happen exactly 50 days after Kenny Dalglish resumed his role as the Liverpool manager was perhaps appropriate. For as well as the Scot has done since replacing Roy Hodgson on a temporary basis ahead of the club’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester United in early January, it is obvious the king is no messiah. There is no quick fix to the malaise that Liverpool continue to find themselves in.

After a run of eight matches without defeat this display was reminiscent of those staged away from home by Liverpool during Rafael Benítez’s final season at the club and in the six months Hodgson was in charge. Liverpool, it should be remembered, collected just two away wins in the whole of 2010. The men in white and black lacked thrust and decisiveness at Upton Park and, having gone behind to Scott Parker’s exquisite 22nd minute goal, became increasingly ragged. The defensive assurance they have shown since Dalglish’s return also deserted them a minute before half-time, allowing Demba Ba to stroll into the area and, unmarked, head in Gary O’Neill’s cross to double West Ham’s lead.

There came a spirited response from Liverpool after the interval and with it a goal from the former West Ham full-back Glen Johnson following excellent work from Luiz Suárez. But it was soon followed by a goal from the substitute Carlton Cole, and Dalglish, looking on in an interchanging state of confusion and anger, had his third defeat since retuning to the club he calls home.

It will pain him that the other losses came against Manchester United (Liverpool’s biggest rivals) and Blackpool, who, like West Ham, are the type of opponents the team he graced as a player were accustomed to overcoming with relative ease. But this is a very different Liverpool and were Dalglish to get the job on a long-term basis, it would require all his energies to get them back challenging for Premier and Champions League titles

This, after all, remains a relatively uncompetitive squad in which only Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Martin Kelly, Raul Meireles, Steven Gerrard, Suárez and the yet-to-feature Andy Carroll can be recognised as strong assets. Some Liverpool supporters will demand Dirk Kuyt and Lucas Leiva are added to that list but, equally, they would not lose much sleep were either to be sold in the summer. Daniel Agger is another fan favourite but the Denmark defender could also leave with little fuss given his injury record.

Major investment from the club’s latest American owners is required. That much was obvious here as a simple cranking-up of the pressure from West Ham caused Liverpool to fold yet again. These players, it appears, lack mental toughness as well as the quality of performance which has seeped out of Merseyside in successive seasons.

Those that have come in have, on the whole, disappointed, no one more so than Joe Cole, who was applauded onto the pitch by the West Ham supporters when he arrived as a 43rd-minute substitute for the injured Kelly and returned the favour by putting in another ineffective display. In fairness to the 29-year-old, his time at Liverpool has been blighted by injury, but a player the club took so much pleasure in capturing during the summer is struggling to match the hype and he too could be moved on before next season.

Whatever decisions Dalglish makes he will undoubtedly maintain the support of the fans. His name was again sung here with gusto and will be when United visit Anfield next Sunday. But as admirable as the backing for ‘King Kenny’ is it also, to some extent, camouflages the truth of Liverpool’s current state. Yes, the win at Chelsea was impressive, but it did not suddenly propel a team that had been fighting relegation into genuine contenders for a top-four place, as was proved by their subsequent home draw with Wigan and this result. In between came the Europa League tie with Sparta Prague, which Liverpool came through but which hardly fuelled the belief that this is a club destined for May’s final in Dublin.

What is for sure is that under Dalglish, Liverpool are playing with more invention than they showed under Hodgson. This game aside, the team is also defending better, due in part to the employment of Steve Clarke as a coach. That move also strengthens the belief that despite a decade away from management, Dalglish remains well in touch with the game.

But as this defeat proves, there remains much work to be done if the 59-year-old is to come anywhere close to replicating what he achieved in his first stint in charge at Anfield. Liverpool leave London with their Champions League dreams shattered and that familiar feeling of despair returning to the fold.

West Ham UnitedLiverpoolPremier LeagueSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk