Like the vast majority of football clubs across the globe, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic had a hugely detrimental impact on the finances at Liverpool.
And while the £46m pre-tax loss wasn't as bad as some of their rivals, with Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur all seeing heavier losses as revenues slumped across the board for all but Chelsea, buoyed by their £100m sale of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid in the summer of 2019.
It was the first season of declining revenue since Fenway Sports Group took the helm at Anfield.
Revenues for the end of the 2010/11 season, the first for FSG in charge, stood at £184m. Since then they have risen by 166 per cent to £490m on the back of the growth of the broadcast rights for the Premier League both domestically and internationally, as well as enhanced scope for commercial partnerships.
In 2019, off the back of their Champions League win, Liverpool registered revenues of £533m, returning a pre-tax profit of £42m.
Of course, during the last 10 years of FSG ownership, as well as the rise in revenue streams there has also been a rise in the wage bill at Anfield, which has surged from £129m to £325m, a leap of 151 per cent.
Over the decade that trails the growth in revenues, which is a good thing, although a snap shot over the last year shows that wages rose 4.8 per cent to £325m from £310, largely due to bonus payments from the Champions League win, while revenue has dropped eight per cent.
More pain will be shown in next year's accounts, for the year ending May 2021, as it will show the full extent of a COVID-19 impacted season, rather than just the onset.
The pandemic, when all is said and done, is anticipated to cost the Reds around £120m, although the club's utilisation of a revolving credit facility and the investment of £538m into FSG from RedBird Capital Partners gives them a more secure footing than many.
But had this been a normal season then Liverpool would have been toasting record revenue levels.
Figures from the accounts, presented by Swiss Ramble, suggest a £60m hit directly related to COVID-19 for the latest set of accounts, attributed to the match day revenue hit, Premier League and Champions League rebates as well as the deferral of media payments due to them owing to the season being concluded outside of the accounting period. That figure will show in next year's accounts.
That suggests a potential revenue of £550m, something that would have delivered a £10m profit.
Next year will likely see heavy losses once more, although having the Nike, Expedia and AXA deals all showing for that set of accounts will mitigate the damage somewhat, as will the deferred media payments, although wages will likely rise once more owing to bonus payments related to winning the Champions League.
Quite how rosy the 2022 accounts look will be very much dependent on football getting back to normal and whether or not Liverpool can make the Champions League for next season.
