The price of Premier League football has cost Huddersfield Town a mere £11.9m, according to the latest figures published by Companies House.
The club’s end of year accounts include the finances up to and including the end of the 2016/17 SkyBet Championship campaign but do not factor in the windfall Premier League football brings.
As such, the figures include the overall costs of top-flight promotion, including player bonuses and extensive stadium and training ground improvements in preparation for the top-flight.
The overall benefits, estimated to be a minimum of £184.9m, will be included in next year’s statement to be released around March 2019.
However, the success of David Wagner’s side has seen turnover increase by around £4.5m from £11.3m to £15.8m due to increases in matchday, commercial and TV and league revenues.
Football wages, cited at £11m, include the aforementioned promotion bonuses and continue to be the largest club expense, with an increase of approximately 73% from the previous season.
Factoring in the £11.9m outlay in readiness for top-flight football, the operating loss increased from £9.6m to £21.9m.
But if the Premier League investment is excluded, the loss is practically the same as the previous 2015/16 figures, when the club finished 19th in the Championship.
The report goes on to further underline the ‘significant progress’ made under Wagner, with the board ready ‘to continue to build on this success to date with further controlled investment.’
It adds that there will be further potential investments, both on and off the pitch, including the next phase of development at PPG Canalside – the club’s training ground.
One final factor to consider is Town spent a total of £6.6m on player signings last term – in comparison to £88m newly-relegated Aston Villa spent to end up finishing 13th in the Championship table.
