Tuesday Fulham Stuff - 16/06/26...

[WhiteJC]

Fulham Finances 2024/25
The announcement that Marco Silva will replace Jose Mourinho as manager of Benfica might well make Fulham fans ask what will happen to the West London club after the departure of their own "special one".

Under Silva, Fulham have established themselves as a solid Premier League club, losing their tag as a "yo-yo" club. Before the arrival of the Portuguese coach, on the previous two occasions that they were promoted to the top flight they had failed to avoid an immediate relegation.

However, next season will be their fifth in a row in the Premier League. Indeed, since Silva led the club to the Championship title in his first campaign, Fulham have finished no lower than 13th, which is a pretty decent record.



Transfers 2025/26
This included 11th place last season, which was particularly impressive, given that Fulham had the lowest gross transfer spend in the Premier League with just £66m.

Indeed, this would have been even smaller without the arrival of Oscar Bobb from Manchester City in the January window. The only major purchase in the summer was Kevin from Shakhtar Donetsk, though Jonah Kusi-Asare and Samuel Chukwieze were signed on loan from Bayern Munich and Milan respectively.

In stark contrast, no fewer than eight clubs splashed out more than £200m, led by Liverpool £420m, Chelsea £263m, Manchester City £261m and Arsenal £256m.



So it's a timely moment to take a look at Fulham's finances, largely based on the latest available accounts from 2024/25. Although these are now a year out-of-date, they are still relevant, as the club's business model has not changed that much – and the Cottagers again finished 11th that season. They also reached the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by the eventual winners Crystal Palace.

The most significant development has been the completion of the shiny, new Riverside Stand, creating "a unique Thameside destination offering first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, and for the wider community throughout the year".

This review of Fulham's finances will help explain why the Riverside development is so important to the club's prospects, though it does also raise some other questions about the strategy, especially with regard to ticket prices.

Profit/(Loss) 2024/25
Fulham's pre-tax loss widened from £32.4m to £44.0m, despite revenue rising £13.2m (7%) from £181.6m to a club record £194.8m, as operating expenses increased by £29.4m (12%) from £251.0m to £280.4m. In addition, there was no repeat of the previous year's £4.6m other operating income.

As a result, the operating loss increased by a third from £64.9m to £85.5m, partially offset by higher profit on player sales, up from £32.7m to £41.0m.

The loss after tax was £44.5m.



There was good growth in commercial, driven by "sustained participation in the EPL", which rose £6.5m (23%) from £28.7m to £35.2m, while broadcasting increased £7.1m (5%) from £134.5m to £141.6m, due to a better finish in the Premier League.

However, gate receipts surprisingly fell £0.4m (2%) from £18.4m to £18.0m.



In order to help survive in the Premier League, Fulham continued to invest in the squad, so wages rose £11.7m (8%) from £154.8m to £166.5m, while player amortisation increased £4.1m (7%) from £57.4m to £61.5m. Both of these established new club records.

Other expenses were also significantly higher, rising £11.4m (31%) from £36.4m to £47.8m, while depreciation almost doubled from £2.5m to £4.6m, though net interest swung from £0.3m payable to £0.5m receivable.




https://swissramble.substack.com/p/fulham-finances-202425

[WhiteJC]

Fulham cost the owner £1.4m a week
Things have changed a lot at Craven Cottage since Tommy Cooper was chairman.  Fulham are arguably London's poshest club.  As their chief executive has said, Fulham supporters turn left on the plane.   I remember going there some years ago and was placed next to home supporters who were wearing suits.   The club also experimented for a while with having a section for 'neutral' fans.

The following analysis draws on the latest report from the Swiss Ramble.  The accounts are now a year old, but as the forensic analyst observes from his Zurich lair, the business model remains much the same. i.e, the amount the owner has to shell put would consume all my non-property assets in five days.

Under Silva, Fulham have established themselves as a solid Premier League club, losing their tag as a "yo-yo" club. Before the arrival of the Portuguese coach, on the previous two occasions that they were promoted to the top flight they had failed to avoid an immediate relegation.

However, next season will be their fifth in a row in the Premier League. Indeed, since Silva led the club to the Championship title in his first campaign, Fulham have finished no lower than 13th, which is a pretty decent record.

This included 11th place last season, which was particularly impressive, given that Fulham had the lowest gross transfer spend in the Premier League with just £66m.

Fulham's pre-tax lossi n 2024/25 widened from £32.4m to £44.0m, despite revenue rising £13.2m (7%) from £181.6m to a club record £194.8m, as operating expenses increased by £29.4m (12%) from £251.0m to £280.4m.

Fulham's £44m pre-tax loss was not too bad for the Premier League, as some other clubs did even worse. Chelsea led the way with an incredible £262m deficit, followed by Tottenham £121m, West Ham £104m, Nottingham Forest £79m and Leicester City £71m.

Fulham made £41m from player sales, which is a new club record, mainly thanks to Joao Palhinha's big money transfer to Bayern Munich. In addition, they made £10m from the sale of Academy product Jay Stansfield to Birmingham City, which was a staggering fee, given that the Blues were in League One at the time.   Even after the growth, Fulham were still in the bottom half of the Premier League, far below Wolves £117m, Manchester City £95m, Bournemouth £91m, Arsenal £81m and Crystal Palace £66m.

Of course, losses are nothing new for Fulham, as the last time they made a profit was way back in 2010/11. Since Shahid Khan bought the club in July 2013, they have lost an enormous £461m, averaging £38m a year.   That includes more than £300m in the last six years alone, when the owner twice absorbed large losses in a bid to return to the Premier League as soon as possible, then continued to lose money in a bid to keep the club in the top flight.  Although the Premier League is often portrayed as some kind of nirvana, Fulham's losses have grown two years in a row since the first season after promotion.

Fulham set a new revenue record of £195m, which means this has grown by £57m (41%) in the last six years with sizeable increases in all three revenue streams.  The largest growth was in commercial, which has almost doubled, followed by gate receipts, with a 69% rise. However, broadcasting remains the most important revenue stream (by far), accounting for 73% of total income, with commercial and match day only contributing 18% and 9% respectively.

Despite the steep increase in 2024/25, Fulham's 26,826 attendance was still one of the smallest in the top flight, only above three clubs, namely Crystal Palace 24,389, Brentford 17,185 and Bournemouth 11,200.

Turning left on a plane
This ambitious Riverside Stand project has increased capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club's fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames.  Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, "Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane."

Ticket prices have attracted a lot of attention at Fulham in the past couple of years. These were frozen in 2021/22, but there have been increases every season since then, including a couple of very significant rises, i.e. 10% after promotion in 2022/23, followed by an even bigger 18% in 2023/24.

Increases have been more restrained since then, but the supporters have still had to shell out more each year for their tickets. They were up 4% in 2024/25, followed by 2.8% last season, while the club has just announced a 3.5% rise for next season.

The Supporters' Trust noted, "Match day receipts account for less than 10% of total revenue and that share is falling. A price hike will have no material impact on the club's bottom line, which makes raising ticket prices a choice, not a necessity."

Fulham's wage bill rose £12m (8%) from £155m to £167m, which was another club record. In fact, their wages have increased by £77m (84%) since promotion from the Championship three years ago.   In football, clubs tend to get what they pay for, which was certainly the case with Fulham in 2024/25, as their wages ranking was identical to their position in the league at 11th.

Fulham have been fairly consistent in their player purchases in the last three seasons, averaging £90m. This means that they have spent £270m in this period, which is more than twice as much as the £128m outlay in the preceding 3-year period, so they have really ramped up their activity in the transfer market.

Fulham now have the fifth highest external debt in the Premier League. Their £125m loan is repayable within five years with interest charged at SONIA plus 3.625%, so currently around 7.355%.

Fulham have had to find a lot of cash to pay for the Riverside Stand development, adding up to £329m in the last five years, including a chunky £118m last season.

Looking at Fulham's holding company, Cougar Holdco London Limited, I reckon that Khan has provided Fulham with an incredible £962m of funding, either in the form of debt subsequently converted to equity or a straight capital injection, including £77m since the 2024/25 year-end. The accounts noted £63m, but a further £14m has been provided since the date of publication.  This works out to £74m a year since he bought the club, so he has essentially signed a cheque for around £1.4m a week ever since he arrived, which is a great deal of money by anyone's standards.

They now face the challenge of replacing Marco Silva, who has managed to keep Fulham in the top flight with relative ease, but Khan is optimistic about the future.



https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2026/06/fulham-cost-owner-14m-week.html#google_vignette

[WhiteJC]

Why have Fulham opted for Alvaro Arbeloa?
Jack Stroudley looks at our incoming new manager.

Well, we seem to have our answer. Fulham look set to appoint Alvaro Arbeloa as manager following Marco Silva's departure to Benfica, with reports of the Spaniard taking a two-year deal with an additional year as an extension.

There's been a real mixed bag of opinions surrounding the former Real Madrid man, but what are the reasons that the Khans have landed at this decision?

Profile
While all that matters is his managerial career, I will quickly go over what he did as a player, with the 43-year-old having some real skin in the game.

The full-back is best known for his two stints at Liverpool and Real Madrid in the late 2000s and early 2010s as well as a good international career for Spain, which included winning the 2010 World Cup as well as the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.

As a manager though, he is yet to have as much credit in the bank. Arbeloa returned to Madrid in 2020, where he was initially appointed as their U14s coach before making a step-up to U19 in 2022. He continued to rise through and took over at the Castilla from Raul in 2025.

The Castilla is Real Madrid's B side, who play in the Segunda Division in Spain, where he was involved from May 2025 to January 2026 before taking over from Xabi Alonso after he was sacked by Madrid.

Arbeloa's stint at Madrid was a mixed bag, which saw a dominant Champions League knockout result over Manchester City, but also saw a defeat to second-division Albacete in the Copa del Rey.

Madrid also finished off the pace in La Liga, six points off FC Barcelona, and Arbeloa announced he would step down after six months in a role which included eight defeats from 28 games.

How will we play?
As I'm sure many of you are, I didn't really know a lot about Arbeloa from a coaching persepctive before having a look at writing this article, so I did some research online following his 5-1 win over Manchester City as well as interviews he did with 'The Coaches Voice' and analysis of his time at Real Madrid U19 to get a better idea of what Fulham fans can expect, here's a summary of all three.

    Arbeloa will play a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 variation most of the time, especially during transition.

    He wants to use width as much as possible and is keen on getting crosses into the box quickly.

    Out of possession during that Manchester City game, Real Madrid dropped a 5-3-2 with one of the CMs (mainly Valverde) dropping in to provide additional support.

    He's often seen screaming from the touchline, demanding his team to press quickly and in numbers to regain possession.

    He has described wanting his teams to be "full throttle".

    Arbeloa credits Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini and Carlo Ancelotti for the learning each of them gave him during his transition from player to manager.

All sounds pretty good in theory right?

It didn't quite work out for him at Real Madrid, and I know there are the sceptics among us (and those scepticisms are completely understandable), but ultimately Arbeloa is a man with pedigree in Europe and while the positives remain that he will try and bring us attacking and exciting football, which tactically doesn't look too dissimilar from Marco Silva, it does feel like one of those appointments that either goes fantastically, or he's gone by November.

Did Fulham "really" want him?
Just to play devil's advocate on this, was this really the plan? Did all roads seriously lead to Alvaro Arbeloa?

I'm not so sure. When speaking to Jack Kelly last week, Tony Khan said that Fulham didn't really have a contingency plan and expected Marco Silva to stay - when he didn't (as you will have known from the articles surrounding replacements), it seemed like there was a scattergun approach (which Khan confirmed in his JK interview, stating there were multiple people they were sounding out).

Ben Jacobs reported that "FFC also spoke to Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank, Kieran McKenna and Frank Lampard with Ruben Amorim also ruling himself out" and with Arne Slot also rejecting the job at the beginning of last week, that makes it seven managers Fulham publicly spoke to.

Now I'm not suggesting that Arbeloa was our seventh choice on that list, but the sheer contrast in names on there, both stylistically as well as what they've done in the game, is staggering.

I want to believe that Fulham really wanted Arbeloa, but I'm struggling. It was reported last week that all of Slot, McKenna and Frank had turned down the job; Ruben Amorim also ruled himself out, and Ange was interviewed alongside Arbeloa - by that logic, he's at least fifth choice.

It all just seems a bit chaotic from Fulham, and with Arbeloa only being given a two-year-deal, it hardly suggests he has the full trust and support of the board.

We will all obviously back him come August, but the jury is understandably still out.



https://www.fulhamish.co.uk/p/why-have-fulham-opted-for-alvaro

[WhiteJC]

Everton, Fulham And Leeds United Chase 12-goal Man But Crystal Palace Could Have 'Deciding Factor'
Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham and Leeds United are interested in signing Lassine Sinayoko from French side Auxerre, though the Eagles may have an advantage in the race by just having appointed Pierre Sage.

Ligue 1 club Auxerre finished only two places above the relegation zone in the last campaign, but were comfortably safe from relegation.

Sinayoko played a key role for Les Diplomates, as he scored 12 goals and provided four assists in 32 league starts, putting himself in line for summer interest which has duly arrived.

The Mali international is primarily a striker, but is also comfortable playing wide on the left and right when necessary.

With only one year remaining in his current deal at Stade Abbe Deschamps, a host of Premier League clubs are keen on Sinayoko, but he is paying no attention to the transfer talk.

Last week, it was suggested that as many as four Premier League clubs are 'in talks' to sign the Auxerre hitman this summer, but they were not named.

And now, according to French outlet Media Foot, it is Crystal Palace, Fulham, Leeds United and Everton who are chasing the 26-year-old.

Palace though may find themselves with an advantage due to having just appointed French boss Sage, which 'could be the deciding factor' in tilting Sinayoko towards Selhurst Park.

It is suggested that the presence of the four Premier League teams in the race could serve to drive up the price.

German clubs are also keeping an eye on the versatile forward and could yet rival the Premier League sides for Sinayoko.

Leeds endured a solid season on their return to the Premier League and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 14-league-goal campaign was key; they are keen on bringing in at least one more forward.

Everton splashed big money for Thierno Barry last term, but the French forward took time to get settled, and David Moyes wants more guaranteed goals.

Fulham have lost their highly experienced Raul Jimenez to Wolves on a free transfer and could feel that Sinayoko can be a key addition to the team.

Moving to Crystal Palace would let Sinayoko play for a French boss in the shape of Sage and he is sure to know all about his qualities.

The 26-year-old forward has never played for any clubs except for Auxerre and could be ending his nine-year association with the Ligue 1 outfit this summer.



https://insidefutbol.com/2026/06/15/everton-fulham-and-leeds-united-chase-12-goal-man-but-crystal-palace-could-have-deciding-factor/716946/

[WhiteJC]

Leeds United Lead The Race For 29-Year-Old Winger: Is He The Right Profile For Farke?
The bookies have Leeds United as favourites to snap up Harry Wilson on a free, reports Wales Online. His Fulham contract runs down on June 30, and Marco Silva's sudden departure for Benfica has thrown a massive spanner in the works at Craven Cottage. Tony Khan is trying to tie the 29-year-old winger down to a new deal, but Wilson is stalled. He wants to see who gets the Fulham manager job first.

Leeds United lead Harry Wilson chase, but Daniel Farke must tread carefully
Elland Road bosses wanted him back in January. That deadline-day move fell through because Fulham pulled the plug, a frustration that still lingers in Yorkshire. Wilson then went on to score ten goals and grab seven assists in 36 Premier League games. No wonder Gordon Strachan is shouting from the rooftops about him. The Leeds legend insists the Welshman is now a feared top-flight forward who guarantees goals.

The tactical fit versus the age trap
Unsurprisingly, Villa, Everton, and even Wrexham are sniffing around. It matches exactly what Daniel Farke wants. The Athletic reports that Leeds United are desperate for a left-footed right winger this summer. Wilson fits. Perfectly. But look closer.

Is a bloke turning 30 next year actually a sensible target for a club obsessed with resale value? 49ers Enterprises chief Paraag Marathe loves data and long-term growth. Wilson is at his peak right now. His form also fell off a cliff toward the end of the season, raising red flags over his engine.

Then again, he costs nothing. Zero transfer fee eliminates the risk. If Villa want him, he has a real pedigree. The gamble pays off if he hits the ground running. Farke needs immediate results, not just potential future profits, and Wilson provides instant Premier League quality from the right flank. Paying a bit extra in wages makes total sense when you are saving millions on a transfer fee for a proven goalscorer.



https://the4thofficial.net/2026/06/leeds-united-lead-the-race-for-29-year-old-winger-is-he-the-right-profile-for-farke/

[MikeTheCubed]

Things have changed a lot at Craven Cottage since Tommy Cooper was chairman.

I used to be indecisive but now I am not quite sure.