West Ham United made a £65million loss for the financial year ending May 2020 as the impact of coronavirus and football’s three-month shutdown struck the East London club hard.
The accounts also revealed that the decision to sack Manuel Pellegrini in December 2019 cost about £3.5million, while the value of their squad has reached £300million.
Overall turnover fell by £51.2million to £139.5million, with the primary cause being broadcast revenue dropping by £44.9million.
The club says it took steps to avoid redundancies and ensured all staff would continue to be paid 100% of their salaries, with first-team players, directors and manager David Moyes all accepting 30% deferrals during the first lockdown.
Joint-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold deferred interest payments and, the club added, “injected a further £30million of funding through a rights issue on July 1, 2020."
The club also agreed a five-year loan facility with MSD Holdings that provides them with the ability to access £120million, with a percentage of that being used to close out short-term loans that were required as a result of the pandemic.
Joint-chairman David Sullivan said: “The 2019/20 season was a unique and unprecedented campaign across the professional game, but I am extremely proud and appreciative of the way everyone at West Ham United came together to help the Club and our community through such a difficult period.
“I would also like to thank our loyal and devoted supporters, many of whom renewed their season ticket for 2020/21, and we hope to see them back at London Stadium as soon as possible to give their fantastic backing to the team at such an exciting and promising time for the club.
“There can be no denying the financial challenges that everyone in the game has faced as a result of the pandemic. However, our absolute priority has always been the wellbeing of everyone within the West Ham United family and those most in need in our local community, and we can all be very proud of how the club has steered its way through the past 12 months.”
