Premier League Debt Table (For Fat Freddy's Cat!)

[White Noise]

'The Sun' today published a 'Premier League Debt Table' which is not retrievable online so I have copied it out from the paper -

1) Man Utd - £716.5m (June 09)
2) Arsenal - £297.7m 9 (May 09)
3) Liverpool - £237m (June 10)
4) Fulham - £197m (June 08)
5) West Ham - £110m (Jan 10)
6) Aston Villa - £73m (May 08)
7) Sunderland - £69.2m (July 08)
8) Wigan - £66.4m (May 08)
9) Portsmouth - £60m (Jan 10)
10) Birmingham - £57m (Aug 08)
11) Bolton - £53.8m (Jun 08)
12) Tottenham - £45.9m (Jun 09)
13) Everton - £39m (May 08)
14) Wolves - £20.68m (May 08)
15) Blackburn - £14m (Jun 09)
16) Hull - £9m (Nov 09)
17) Stoke - £2.3m (May 08)
18) Bunley - £0 (Jun 09)
19) Chelsea - £0 (Dec 09 ) NB - £701 million debt wiped
20) man City - £0 (Jan 10) - NB £305 million debt wiped

Actually, looking at those figures, I am not sure how reliable they are. If Hull are only £9 million in debt then I'm Jimmy Bullard.

In addition here are some revenue and wages figures from 'The Guardian' last June -

Premier League clubs' turnover, wages and debt 2007-08

David Conn guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 June 2009 00.00

Club     Debt (£ms) Turnover (£ms) Wages (£ms) Wages/turnover 

Arsenal  416  223  101.3  45% 
Aston Villa  73  75.6  50.4  66.6% 
Blackburn Rovers  17  56.4  39.7  70% 
Bolton Wanderers  52  59.1  39  67% 
Chelsea  701  213.6  149  68% 
Everton  39  76  44.5  59% 
Fulham  197  53.7  39.3  73% 
Hull City (2007 figures)  1  9  6.9  77% 
Liverpool  280 (est)  159  80 (est)  50% 
Manchester City  147  82.3  54.2  66% 
Manchester United  699  256.2  121.1  47% 
Middlesbrough  93  48  34.8  73% 
Newcastle United  106.2  100.8  74.6  74% 
Portsmouth  57.7  70.6  54.7  78% 
Stoke City  2.3  11.2  11.9  106% 
Sunderland  69.2  63.6  37.1  58% 
Tottenham Hotspur  65  114.8  52.9  46% 
West Bromwich Albion  8.9  27.2  21.8  80% 
West Ham United  36  57  44.2  76% 
Wigan Athletic  66.4  43  38.4  89% 
Total  3126.7  1800  1095  55% 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/table/2009/jun/03/premier-league-turnover-wages-debt

[Jimpav]

Looks like our wage bill is pretty low compared to other clubs- particularly when you take into account London weighting.

[mike_f]

Thanks for writing that out White Noise.

It looks as though we are fahooked if Mo decides enough is enough.

[Brede Butter Pudding]

I thought Arsenal had no debts? Shows what i know...

[WaneY @ Twitter]

Arsenal didn't really have much debt until they built that new Library of theirs, now with the recession they haven't been able to sell all of the new flats; so a few problems there. However it will be solved once that Russian or American wins the race to take-over them.

It's a bit different with Hull though; they don't have much debt, but their owner is only worth around £10m so any debt or trading in the red (which they currently are.) is dangerous for them.

Crystal Palace went under because the recession finally caught up with Simon Jordan (even though he's worth £40m) and when he was no longer able to personally fund them he borrowed from a Hedge fund who called in the Administrators.

Makes it so much better for us that our debt is pretty much all owed to Mo, who is worth £650m and rising.

[finnster01]

Not to be worried about this (as long as MAF is still alive AND does not split his estate). The way to cancel our debt can easily be done by doing exactly what Chelsea did by converting it to equity, it is perfectly legal, and does not change much in real terms other than having some tax implications for MAF. The debt would be recouped with a sale regardless, so he is not worried about it and also the main reason I believe he hasn't done it already. Should however UEFA and Platini force it on the clubs in the future (and get away with it legally I might add), I am sure he will do it.

The only problem I can see is if his estate gets split or God forbid, the Chairman passes (or accounting laws get changed). Lets all hope that never happens.