Kieran Maguire reveals surprise West Ham player news after £18m confirmation
The £18million loss recorded by West Ham in 2022/23 was caused by the contract bonuses paid to players after their Europa Conference League triumph.
That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the latest financial accounts released by the Hammers.
West Ham published their 2022/23 financial report last Friday (29 December) revealing an overall turnover of £236million but a pre-tax loss of £18.3million.
The Irons finished last season by lifting the Europa Conference League trophy, but the Londoners only achieved a 14th-placed finish in the Premier League table.
West Ham also spent heavily in the transfer market with their accounts citing a record-breaking investment of £183.9million into the men’s first team.
Maguire believes West Ham’s poor league finish combined with financial bonuses paid to players after their cup success is the reason behind their losses.
“West Ham’s results for the 2022/23 season were as good as could be expected given that they finished 14th in the Premier League,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“Every position in the Premier League is worth over £2million so had they finished 6th or 7th then they would have broke even.
“Running a football club is expensive – 18 out of 20 Premier League clubs in 2022 lost money in 2022.
“So the loss last year can be put down to paying contract clause bonuses for winning the Europa Conference League and the reduction in prize money for their Premier League finish.
“I think it’s indicative of the precarious nature of football that clubs have to spend to try and qualify for Europe and avoid relegation.
“So it was an exciting season in the sense that they won a trophy and I’m sure West Ham fans have got fantastic memories from that.
“Financially, those losses are not too bad especially as they had valuable assets which they returned a profit from later in the year.“
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