The headline number from Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2022-23 accounts was one hundred and twenty two point eight million pounds (£122.8m) profit, setting a new record after-tax for an English football club.
It represents an impressive turnaround after the Albion lost £28 million over the course of their first four seasons in the Premier League and is driven solely by player sales (thanks Chelsea).
The Brighton Model of finding young players with raw potential from across the globe, polishing them into diamonds wanted by the biggest clubs in the world (and Chelsea) and then selling them on for huge sums of money is clearly working.
Whilst most of the focus has quite rightly been pn that one hundred and twenty two point eight million pounds (£122.8m) figure, here is what else we learnt from the 2022-23 accounts.
Brighton could turn an even bigger profit next season
The Albion banked £121.4 million profit in 2022-23 from outgoing transfers, meaning the accounts would actually show a loss had Brighton not sold anyone.
That figure does not included the sales of Moises Caicedo or Robert Sanchez either, both of which took place after June 30th and so will count towards the 2023-24 accounts, where they will show as huge profits.
Caicedo was bought for only £5 million in January 2021, giving him two years of amortisation before his £115 million sale to Chelsea (thanks Chelsea).
Sanchez arrived for an undisclosed amount as an academy player, and so could be banked as £25 million pure profit from his sale to Chelsea (thanks Chelsea).
From just two player sales, Brighton will potentially turn an even bigger profit in their 2023-24 accounts. Have we thanked Chelsea enough yet?
Brighton received £23.5 million in compensation
One of the best bits of the 2021-22 Brighton accounts was the section Post Balance Sheet Events in which the Albion publicly revealed the amount of compensation received for Glow Up Graham and his coaching team, even though it would not officially show until the 2022-23 accounts.
“On 18 September 2022 the Club was delighted to appoint Roberto de Zerbi as its new head coach following the loss of Graham Potter and his team to Chelsea a few days earlier in a deal that saw the club receive a sum of £21.5 million,” it read.
With the 2022-23 accounts showing Brighton received compensation payments of £23.5 million, we can reasonably assume that Chelsea paid a further £2 million to take Albion head of recruitment Paul Winstanley to Stamford Bridge.
Winstanley has at least lasted longer than seven months at Chelsea. Appointing Potter was a pretty expensive cock up on the part of Todd Boehly.
Brighton spent only £41 million on signings for their 2022-23 squad
The Brighton accounts show £62 million was spent on players in 2022-23, but £30 million of that is attributed the purchase of Joao Pedro from Watford for a club-record fee before June 30th.
Likewise, the £9 million paid to Libertad Asuncion for Julio Enciso shows on the 2021-22 accounts. Some quick mental arithmetic of £62 million minus £30 million plus £9 million equals £41 million, giving us a rough total for how much Brighton spent improving their squad for 2022-23.
An outlay of £42 million to jump from ninth to sixth and secure Europa League football is mad. What a job De Zerbi did in rewriting the Albion history books.
For further context, £42 million is almost half the amount the Albion forked out in the highest spending year. Can you guess which season that was?
Take five points if you said 2018-19, when £77.9 million went on the likes of Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Bernardo, David Button, Martin Montoya and the Lion of Judah Percy Tau, amen!
Turns out Brighton have not always been great at this recruitment lark…
Premier League broadcast money accounts for over 75 percent of income
How about as for food for thought next time you lose your mind because Sky Sports have moved Sheffield United (A) to a 2pm kick off on a Sunday when there are no trains running.
Brighton received £155.2 million in broadcasting money during the 2022-23 season, representing over 75 percent of the club’s £204.5 million commercial income.
Matchday income increased by £4 million from £20.6 million in 2021-22 to £24.6 million. This has been attributed to higher ticket prices, bigger attendances and the guy who runs WAB spending £300 every home game since the installation of the pour your own Moretti machine in the West Upper.
With the Albion upping the price of a bag of Starburst to £3.50 and introducing a £5.50 scotch egg, matchday income is certain to grow further when the club’s 2023-24 accounts are released.
Paul Barber is very well paid
For his work in responding to every email no matter how mundane and having to listen to poems written by supporters about mobile ticketing, Paul Barber OBE is very well paid.
The Albion’s CEO took home £2.37 million in 2022-23, which was actually down on the £2.8 million he made in 2021-22.
Along with the publication of Brighton’s accounts came the announcement that Barber had agreed a new contract to remain at the Amex until 2030.
No other football club in England announces their CEO signing a deal as if they are a player, showing the importance Bloom places on Barber.
This is understandable. Barber may have his flaws and WAB might have had a couple of run-ins with him in the past over #ClickBait and Premier League PPV, but there cannot be any doubt he is amongst the best chief executives in England.
Tony Bloom was repaid £33.2 million
Having pumped in half a billion pounds worth of his own cash since becoming Albion chairman in the summer of 2009, the stunning financial success enjoyed by Brighton in 2022-23 meant Bloom could finally be repaid some money.
Bloom took back £33.2 million, reducing the amount the club owed him in loans from £406.5 million to just £373.3 million. A further £90 million has been invested in shares.
That money has gone towards building the Amex, the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre and bankrolling the Albion’s rise from losing 1-0 against nine-man Walsall to playing Europa League football against AEK Athens, Marseille, Ajax and Roma.
As we say at the end of every review of Brighton’s finances, thank God for Tony. In Bloom we trust – because without him, Brighton would be nowhere.
