Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has given an assessment of Town’s accounts for the year to the end of June 2018 which were published this morning.
The club released their regular Financial Highlights statement to shareholders in December ahead of the AGM but the accounts have now been formally lodged with Companies House.
Although largely a familiar story from December's announcement and previous years, one notable figure quoted in the accounts is the £436,000 Town spent on transfer fees during that year, largely the £250,000 paid to Rangers for Martyn Waghorn plus the smaller sums paid for the likes of Barry Cotter and Aaron Drinan. Joe Garner and Emyr Huws joined late on in the previous financial year.
Ipswich Town published a 'greatest hits' of their accounts in a press release on 4 Dec 2018. The full accounts were published at 6am this morning. A look at the club's transfer policy might explain why some figures weren't originally shown @Benjaminbloom– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Ipswich spent just £436,000 on players in 2017/18 and had player sales of £4.1 million. Total spending in last 7 years is £7.3 million and sales are £22.5 million #ITFC pic.twitter.com/LKThJkYmH5– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Ipswich spent the lowest of any club in the Championship (who have reported to date) on new players in 2017/18, legacy of that strategy perhaps being felt this season? Middlesbrough spent £150.29 on players for every £1 spent by #ITFC #Boro pic.twitter.com/BgMVFaYdgo– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Ipswich were slightly below mid table in 2017/18 in the Championship in terms of player sales #ITFC pic.twitter.com/eKHYZTCFNs– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Marcus Evans lent Ipswich £6.2 million last season. The total due to him is tricky to calculate as funnelled through many companies, some in offshore tax havens #ITFV pic.twitter.com/psCrrw6459– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
In 2017/18 the two clubs with the lowest wage bills were relegated (Sunderland haven't published yet but their demise was due to other reasons). Ipswich consistently in the bottom six wage payers, so would expect to be in a relegation fight each season #ITFC pic.twitter.com/YxjhzamH5B– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
The problem for ME (and other club owners) is that wages usually exceed income, even for clubs deemed unambitious by fans, so it's a case of setting a ceiling on the amount of weekly losses which are deemed to be acceptable to the owner. pic.twitter.com/mSz0SY6YFo– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Ipswich had losses pre player sales of £160,000 a week in 2017/18, compared to the average in the division of £390,000 as owners chase the Premier League TV gold at the end of the rainbow #ITFC pic.twitter.com/8tgcVi1nGy– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Net transfer spend in the Championship was a negative £30 million in 2017/18 as many clubs had to sell players to help cover their trading losses and #ITFC were one of them. pic.twitter.com/sVhwPvI3vA– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
Ipswich's squad at end of 2017/18 cost a total of £2.8 million, which again is one of the lowest in the division. pic.twitter.com/dlsCM6XrBD– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019
One problem is that turnstile income in the Championship contibuted just 20 pence for each £1 paid out in wages, couple this with relatively low TV money and all clubs are making losses.– PriceOfFootball (@KieranMaguire) March 9, 2019