Phil Hay predicts £21m move by Radrizzani as Leeds United document revealed - MOT Leeds News
By Craig Scott
Phil Hay predicts Andrea Radrizzani to have written off
£21million worth of loans after Leeds United revealed their accounts for
2020/21.
On 6 April, Leeds uploaded their financial results to
Companies House with the Yorkshire club one of the few football teams to post
an operating profit on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Promotion to the Premier League certainly helped and The
Athletic journalist Hay has shared how he feels about the vast difference in
cash available in the top-flight and the Championship.
“Even though Leeds said they lost £23million through COVID,
as an estimate, they still posted an operating profit of £5million and an
overall profit of £26million,” said Hay on the latest episode of the Phil Hay
Show podcast [8 April, 14m30s].
“It should be said that part of that was a shareholder – I
assume Radrizzani, although I don’t know that for certain – writing off loans
of £21million.
“But essentially, you’ve gone from a loss of almost £63million
in the last Championship season to a profit, which is something very few
football clubs posted and Leeds have only done twice in the last decade. One of
those under [Massimo] Cellino and one of those going back to Ken Bates.
“It just shows the absolutely ridiculous gulf between the
EFL and the Premier League.
“You’ll remember that there was a period where Leeds were
chipping away at the EFL and complaining publicly about the EFL’s TV deal and
the fact it wasn’t worth the money and clubs didn’t draw enough money from it.
“And you go from TV money of less than £2million and central
revenue of £7million in the Championship to central revenue of £110million and
TV money of about £22million. The difference is absolutely enormous and it
explains why there’s been such a turnaround in the accounts.”
The financial difference between the Premier League and the
Championship is sickening, really.
Leeds dealt with it for years, which is why it’s so tough to
get out of the Championship because you’re only going to get promotion if your
club is a well-oiled financial machine or has recently benefitted from the
Premier League’s riches.
Look at the Championship right now, the two clubs with the
most expensively-assembled squads and have spent the most on agents are in the
top two.
They have wealthy owners too but they’re not the only team
in the Championship who have big-money backers.
Promotion is made easier for teams dropping out of the
Premier League in more ways than one and eventually, we’re just going to see
the bottom three dropping down and coming back up every year.
Let’s face it, two of the three who went down last term are
set to come back up already.
Leeds fans know this all too well, which is why the EFL
really isn’t fit for purpose as they undersell their product and, therefore,
under-value the teams that make the organisation up.