Abbreviations like PSR, FFP and now ATP mean football fans have to be well versed on accountancy nowadays but West Ham are in fine fettle.
Balancing the books has perhaps never been as important as it is right now and West Ham have been big spenders in recent years.
Premier League clubs are under the microscope regarding spending, turnover and wages like never before.
Clubs are being hit with fines and points deductions while cases and investigations are ongoing against West Ham’s Premier League rivals such as Chelsea and Man City.
West Ham are officially the fifth biggest spenders in the top flight since 2022.
The Hammers laid out over £155m on nine players in the summer.
But West Ham struggled to get any real significant money in sales.
And that has become just as key as shrewd recruitment against the backdrop of Profit and Sustainability Rules, Associated Party Transactions and Financial Fair Play.
West Ham technical director Tim Steidten sees the club as a five-year project. That means he plans on being here for another four years.
Some of the German’s signings in the first 12 months have been outstanding.
From Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez to Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Crysencio Summerville.
But there’s still plenty of work to do.
Will Steidten have funds to see through West Ham project?
Many Hammers fans feel the club got the striker situation wrong in the summer. And with two of their three ageing current striker options likely in their final season, that will need to be addressed soon.
A new left-back will be needed while central midfield is also missing a powerful and mobile box-to-box player.
Steidten has proved what he is capable of with his work at Bayer Leverkusen. And Rome wasn’t built in a day.
The start has been hugely encouraging. But will West Ham have the funds to continue to invest in the coming windows.
In short the answer would appear to be yes.
The top spokesman inside the club exclusively told Hammers News at the weekend that West Ham may look to sign a striker in January if one or two players can be shipped out.
Now West Ham are set for a £365m boost and the club is well insulated from new APT rules unlike many rivals.
Hammers News has spoken to football finance expert Kieran Maguire about West Ham’s situation.
It comes after Maguire – the author of the Price of Football books and co-host of the podcast of the same name – published a detailed breakdown on the position of each club in respect of APT rules.
The charts showed West Ham are among the clubs in the best position in that regard.
It comes ahead of what is expected to be record ever turnover for the Hammers being announced in the next month or so.
Club insider Sean Whetstone told Claret and Hugh West Ham are likely to publish a turnover of £365m for last season.
Whetstone says that will be thanks to a good European run, a ninth-place finish in the Premier League and the sale of Declan Rice in the latest financial year which finishes at the end of May each year.
Whetstone says the accounts could be published as soon as December.
West Ham set for £365m boost and well insulated from rules
Maguire has been speaking exclusively to Hammers News about West Ham’s financial situation in light of the data he published.
He backed up Whetstone’s claim and says the club has no concerns at all regarding the various financial rules within football.
“I suspect West Ham will be recording record turnover for the 2023-24 season,” Maguire told Hammers News.
“It was £237m for the 2022-23 season which was the second highest in the history of the club.
“There’s certainly scope to increase that with the participation in the Europa League.
“The sale of Declan Rice really shouldn’t be treated as turnover as such but it’s likely to provide a £100m plus profit which will certainly assist the club in respect of PSR.
“West Ham have no concerns with regards to this even if assuming that the wages have gone up modestly – and West Ham have kept tight control over wages. There’s effectively been no increase since 2019 to 2023.
“So putting all those things together I think there’s certainly scope to spend more money. We did see that of course in the summer and it will be interesting to see what the club’s strategy is when it comes to the next window.”
Hammers books in fine fettle
Whetstone went on to add further detail, stating recent tribunal findings in the case of Man City vs the Premier League will not impact the Hammers.
“West Ham will NOT be affected by the recent tribunal findings after Manchester City launched legal action against the Premier League earlier this year over associated party transaction (APT) rules, on the grounds they were anti-competitive,” Whetstone said on X.
“Manchester City successfully argued that shareholder loans which were often charged at zero percentage interest should also be regarded as associated party transactions like sponsorship deals. West Ham has no outstanding shareholder loans as they were all paid off when Daniel Kretinsky invested in West Ham in 2021.
“Tripp Smith had loaned West Ham £9.5m interest-free but a clause in his loan agreement meant he was paid back in full when another investor came in so he was paid off in 2022. David Sullivan and the late David Gold’s long-term shareholder loans of £58.1m between 2011-2014 were paid back to them before Daniel Kretinsky bought 27% of West Ham.
“The total interest earned over 10 years paid to Gold and Sullivan totalled £23.3m at interest rates between 4% and 7%. West Ham is one of seven clubs with no shareholder loans including Manchester City who bought the legal case. The 13 Premier League clubs with current shareholder loans which could soon count as associated party transactions are: Fulham: £1m, Aston Villa: £10m, Nottingham Forest: £23m, Crystal Palace: £38m, Brentford: £61m, Wolves: £65m, Liverpool: £71m, Bournemouth: £115m, Leicester: £132m, Chelsea: £146m, Arsenal: £259m, Brighton: £373m and Everton: £451m.”
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