Derby County have published their accounts for the past financial year, which covers the 2022/23 League One season.
Derby County supporters have been given a glimpse into how owner David Clowes has run the club in his first year at the helm. Labelled a somewhat reluctant saviour, the Rams fan turned custodian in 2022 to save the side from nine months of administration.
Since then, plenty of work has continued behind the scenes to get the football club back to a stable footing. The first season saw the arrival of Paul Warne and a crop of new players, though promotion back to the Championship was missed out on with a seventh-placed finish.
A place in the automatic places this campaign remains the aim, with ten games left to secure that. On the financial side though, Derby fans have been given a first look into how things will be run with the financial accounts for the year ending June 2023.
Derby County finances
Operating costs
Derby’s financial accounts for the year ending June 2023 comes with headline figure of a £30million operating loss. However, £19.75million of that is written down as “impairment of goodwill”, which is the price of the business compared to the market value of the assets and liabilities.
The accounts show that Clowes bought the club for £33million, while the book value was only £19.7million. £13.2million was also paid to administrators Quantuma for their nine months at the club. It all means an actual operating loss of £10million for the year.
Turnover
In terms of money into the club, the headline figure for turnover is £20.4million. Most of that is fuelled by ticketing, making up £8.3million of that, while hospitality and events made up £5.3million. At League One level, it can be considered a competitive income.
Broadcasting revenue came in at £3.7million, while sponsorship was worth £1.4million – which would have been impacted by the Rams not having a front of shirt sponsor for the campaign.
Derby County wage bill
The wage bill comes in at £17.2million for the year, though that includes all staff from those on the pitch to anyone behind the scenes. According to a report from BBC Radio Derby, the wages from the playing squad was worth £7.3million – which is a wages to turnover ratio of 36% when rounded up.
The maximum Derby could spend in their first year in League One is 75% of their turnover, which is reduced to 60% for the years after. The reduction from Clowes suggests a desire to continue running the club in a sustainable fashion.
Comparisons
There are few comparisons that can be made at this stage between Derby’s finances and their past findings. That will be partially because there have been no updated records on the club’s behalf since 2018.
As for how they stack up compared to their League One rivals, that will also be seen in due course as more accounts drop. Read the Derby County financial accounts for 2022/23, here.