Finance expert gives his verdict on West Ham

Author of Price of Football Kieran Macquire spoke to Hammers Chat last weekend as part of the 24-hour charity stream to raise funds for Isla Caton.

The author claimed the move to the London Stadium has been worth just over £2m per year to the club saying it wasn’t worth it in financial terms while valuing West Ham as an ongoing concern as no more than £300m to potential investors wishing to buy them.

The finance expert said West Ham still have £65m of debt remaining of which £45m is owed to Gold and Sullivan adding that the debt was very manageable in his opinion.

Macquire listed a number of clubs who don’t charge interest on their shareholder loans including Brighton, Huddersfield and Middlesborough but also said he thought it was highly likely that the West Ham shareholders would defer the £45m they are due back in January 2020 to a later date.

Asked about Financial Fair Play Kieran said the main challenge for West Ham was the restriction on increasing the wage bill by no more than £7m per year but added they run a tight ship and their turnover to wage ratio remained around 60% which is seen as acceptable.

You can watch the full one hour interview below.