The Athletic’s recent Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) calculations for West Ham don’t appear to add up.
The difficulty in producing an accurate and meaningful PSR table lies in the fact it requires a lot of guesswork—no Premier League club has yet announced their full accounts for last season.
West Ham’s financial year-end closed just nine days ago, and the official figures won’t be published until December. Most other Premier League clubs are in a similar position.
What we do know is this: West Ham made a profit of £57m two seasons ago, and a loss of £18m three seasons ago—leaving an overall profit of £39m across those two years.
The tricky bit is estimating the loss from last season and forecasting the loss for the coming season.
The Athletic’s article on the matter estimates that West Ham can lose up to £95m last season. However, our senior club sources suggest the actual figure was closer to £85m.
Using The Athletic’s maximum numbers, West Ham could have posted a £56m loss over the three-year PSR cycle. By our figures, it’s closer to a £46m loss over that three year period.
Either way, clubs are only permitted to lose £15m over three years unless shareholders inject more cash. In West Ham’s case, the last shareholder cash injection came in 2021, which is now outside the current three-year window and no longer counts.
If cash had been injected, West Ham would be allowed losses of up to £105m over three years. That would, in theory, give them an extra £49m of allowable losses using The Athletic’s table. But without any fresh shareholder cash injections, that option is off the table.
West Ham owners have made no new cash injection
To make matters more complicated, West Ham are forecasting another loss of around £85m for the current season. That means the club needs to take a long-term view—not just spending this summer, but making sure next year doesn’t lead to a breach next year.
West Ham set to curb spending
There’s also the shadow of the incoming Squad Cost Rules (SCR) to consider. These will limit spending on transfers, wages, and agents’ fees to 85% of club income. These new rules will run alongside PSR regulations.
The absence of European football last season hit West Ham’s revenue hard. Prize money, ticket sales, retail income, and sponsorship have all taken a hit—resulting in a four-year low for club revenue.
The real reason West Ham are in this financial bind is years of transfer overspending under multiple managers, which has led to a record amortisation figure of around £100m and the largest wage bill in the club’s history. Most of that investment has been lost, with players sold for a fraction of what they were originally bought for.
But amortisation and wages aren’t the only issues. Cash flow is also a major challenge. While we are still paying for players signed over the last three to four years, the club sold off all future incoming transfer instalments owed by other clubs to a bank last summer—just to release some ready cash.
On top of that, West Ham continue to borrow money from Barclays each summer to keep the operation moving.
I implore you to go on the Six Foot Two website and watch “At the circus” although it claims “These videos are false and completely made with AI. It’s just a bit of fun for WHU fans and not meant as a dig at the club or excellent Hammers content providers” you can’t help thinking there’s a certain bit of truth in them.
Astonishing levels of incompetence from the owners to get to this position. Only 2 people at West Ham make decisions, Sullivan and Brady, they sanction all expenditure, the buck stops there. Of course Sullivan could inject capital, increase equity and cover the position, but he wont or cant, and Kretinsky can just sit back and wait for the cash flow problems to strangle us then buy the club on the cheap, lets hope thats before relegation. Total shambles, owners out of their depth, and the club being overtaken by likes of Brentford Bournemouth Brighton and Palace. The regression since Prague is a breathtaking exercise in vanity, bungling incompetence and sheer megalomania from our chairman and his sidekick.
Sullivan does not hold a majority share of the club. The only way that he and Brady can make any decision is if the Board as a whole devolve that power to them.
The fact you say years of overspending by managers instead of overspending by the club or by Sullivan makes it obvious who is feeding the story. Let’s blame overspending on the managers. Nothing to do with the club or Sullivan you’re saying. If you ask me I’d have said Moyes was a classic tight Scotsman as well, particularly careful with us owners money. We even made a 195 million profit out of Rice and academy player.
Ignore everything! We’re skint!
We have to sell everyone!
We can only sign Josh Brownhill!
We’re doomed! Doomed I tell you! Mr Sullivan TRIED!
Unfortunately , a very old Sullivan only understands the old archaic ways of running a football club . Westham have been left behind and may be surpassed by teams like Wrexham by the end of next season . Sullivan and Potter on holiday , wow , perhaps Westham will dump all the seniors and play with a mostly academy side to bring down the average age , wage costs and transfer fees . Westham would show a profit next season , however it might be short lived with reduced revenues in the Championship .
It seems obvious to me that the club is not going forward and it seems strange why? The stadium is virtually free! We have 62,500 at every home game! We have sky tv money and premier league prize money plus sponsorship fees and merchandising money and matchday income. I am staggered at Sullivan and Brady’s incompetence that west ham aren’t competing in the champions league every season? It poor decisions bad management bad recruitment and appointing poor managers that have put west ham in this position?
Exactly what all us season ticket holders knew all along Sullivan treats west ham as his cash cow! No capital investment just skim the profits of the top! Makes me and my fellow hammers so annoyed that the guy can’t see with some investment WEST HAM could be in the champions league and earn Sullivan more money!!!
I get the dislike of Sullivan but let’s not venture into some made up fantasy land.
Would you like to explain how West Ham actually functions as Sullivan’s personal “cash cow”? It doesn’t show in the accounts so are you suggesting fraud? Also, knowing how think these profits are being skimmed off the top would be interesting.
Your anti Sullivan slant would be all the more credible if you didn’t resort to ridiculous unfounded statements.
Steve1, I think you may be bringing reason and logic to a place that does not seem to require it.
Of course there’s no ‘cash-cow’ use of West Ham funds, utter bollox.
This space is for angry, ill-informed vitriol to be aimed at the ownership. Of more specifically Sullivan, he’s become the devil in some peoples eyes.
Like Sullivan needs a cash-cow? LoL
What’s the obsession with broadcasting how much money we’ve got to spend? Keep it close to your chest and make sensible offers. Tell the world what you’ve got to spend and they’ll just raise asking prices accordingly.
That’ll probably work the other way .. Clubs will make lowball offers for our players knowing we need the money and we need it fast ..
So we definitely are skint then!!
If Sullivan and co bring in sub par over the hill has beens they’ll have more worrying things than PSR breaches to deal with sean, they’ll have a side in the championship in a stadium that is half full and fans that will be mutinous. Just in the last sentence I wonder if it’s gross incompetence at the top that sees us in a home that we basically pay a peppercorn rent for and no running costs yet we have to go to the bank to “keep the operation moving” I’m bewildered by the mess we appear to be in and I’m astonished that nobody in a multi million pound organisation didn’t see this coming and take appropriate action to avoid this ongoing situation