Thursday 4 April 2019 21:01, UK
Tottenham posted a world-record annual profit for a football club of £113m in 2017/18, beating the £106m mark announced by Liverpool in February for the same season.
The north London club's bottom line was revealed on Thursday, the morning after their first Premier League game at the new, 62,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs had spent just over £1billion on that stadium and their new training ground as of the end of June 2018, with nearly half of that amount being spent in the 2017/18 financial year.
Much of that has been financed by secured loans from Bank of America, HSBC, Investec and Goldman Sachs, and Spurs owed a total of £461m at the end of the financial year, although the club have since extended their loan from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs by another £100m.
The huge net profit was based on an underlying operating profit of £157m, more than double the figure for the year before, with turnover increasing to £381m, up from £310m.
There are three main factors behind Spurs' impressive growth: a full season of playing at Wembley, which boosted matchday turnover from £45m to £71m, reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League, worth £53m in prize money, and much improved commercial income of £109m.
These improvements made up for a slight dip in the club's broadcast revenue, down £2n to £148m, which was a result of Spurs finishing third in 2018, as opposed to second in 2017.
Spurs remain sixth in the Premier League's revenue table behind Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, but the gap to their north London rivals was just £22m last season. Spurs have also managed to double their income since 2014/15.
United still earned more than £200m more than Spurs, though, which underlines why Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has pushed so hard for the new stadium.
Levy's own pay last season actually fell from £6m to £3m, although the 2016/17 figure was boosted by a significant bonus linked to the stadium project.
The club's overall wage bill rose from £127m to £148m but these numbers are another indication of how well run Spurs are, as the 2017/18 figure is only £3m more than Everton's and half of United's.
Thanks to Levy's deal-making and manager Mauricio Pochettino's ability to bring young talent through from the academy, the total cost of Spurs' squad is less than Everton's and just over a third of City's.
The arrival of Serge Aurier, Lucas Moura and Davinson Sanchez saw Spurs make a rare loss of £32m on player trading in 2017/18 but they still banked instalments from previous big sales, such as Kyle Walker, and they signed nobody during the last two transfer windows while letting a handful of fringe players go to bank another £1.3m.
