24 Sep 2026 06:56:19
Two items worsened our financial position
• The £69.6 million net finance costs went straight through the P&L and were a major reason the club reported an overall loss of £43.0 million for the year (despite an operating profit of £22.6 million).
Land purchase for the new stadium
• The £63.5 million was a capital expenditure. It does not appear as an expense in the P&L, so it did not directly increase the reported loss.
• However, it still worsened the overall position because:
• It was a large cash outflow.
• It was largely funded by increasing borrowings (part of the $125 million / ~£94 million addition to senior debt via refinancing).
• Non-current borrowings therefore rose to £577.6 million (from £471.9 million the prior year), and total debt (including the revolving credit facility and transfer payables) remained over £1 billion.
Summary
-£69.6m, let's call that a top player, a top midfield player instead of a bargain or left back. Cost of Glazers annually. Every year that has affected us.
-Land purchase £63.5m shows they had to put this purchase through the club because the vehicle to build the new stadium is not yet in place. let's call it a top class midfield player.
-Total debt is over a Billion, it looks very unlikely they can fund a £2Bn new stadium through the club.
24 Sep 2026 14:39:10
69 million don't get you a top midfielder we just spent 50 odd on a Chelsea player who could not get in Chelsea team or even ours!
24 Sep 2026 14:57:55
Ok let's be clearer 69m extra on top of the 50 gets one
I made my points on the bargain hunting in midfield a few weeks ago. I think we still lack the No6 destroyer but some think we "rebuilt" our midfield, I think we fudged it and still to see how Baleba does. I thought Alex Scott was the right fit.
24 Sep 2026 16:10:07
I'm with you on midfield I think since day one Tielemans and Santos were awful bargain basement signings. If I'm honest I'm not convinced on Baleba either but give him the benefit till he is fit and playing .
I am not even convinced on the attackers purchased last year all to hit and miss for me.
This is a terrible team & Squad.
24 Sep 2026 16:37:27
Most of the interest charge swing was as a result of foreign exchange translation. In the previous year the charge was artificially lower for the same reason. This is because the long term debt is denominated in $s but the companies accounts are shown in £s. If the £ weakens the $ debt and the $ interest payment on it become more expensive. Depending on when the long term debt has to be repaid, If there was a sustained collapse of the £ it could be quite a serious issue, or it could be beneficial. If the £ went back to its pre-Brexit levels of c.$1.50 it would be beneficial.
As I mentioned below, it looks to me that the club's +ve cash flow having been extracted to fund the initial purchase by the Glazers is now being used to fund real estate speculation and non-football activities. As much as it pains me to say it, there's only one reasonable course of action and that's to stop funding them by giving up season tickets, TV streaming costs, and eschewing merchandise. If the owners of the club aren't putting football itself as their prime goal, then why should we?