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QPR finally turn a financial corner after Fernandes’ £225m losses

Sky Bet Championship club Queens Park Rangers have been through challenging financial times in recent years which is a big reason to why the Hoops have spent hardly any money on players since 2018.
In fact, they spent less than £2 million on new additions from 2018 to 2020.
The club’s finances have been in some state in recent years. Their operating profit went from £8m in 2017 to an astonishing loss of £42 in 2018, which is a staggering loss of £50m. In fact, since Tony Fernandes took over at Loftus Road in August 2011, the club have lost an unwanted total of £225 million.
In the 2019/2020 season, the Hoops only spent £55,000 on new players which was unsurprisingly, the lowest in the second-tier.


In a 2020 interview, Les Ferdinand, the club’s Director of Football highlighted the importance of the club trading players moving forward. He said: “The simple fact is that every single one of our players is up for sale. That is where the club is at this moment in time. If we receive the right offer, then they will go.”
It is now hard to believe that in the 2013/2014 season, the club had a £75 million wage bill, which is the fourth highest in Championship history.
Also, from 2019 to 2020, they lost £16 million in revenue. This was mainly due to the loss of broadcasting revenue, which feel from £22 million to £8 million meaning the lost £14 million (62%) in total. In fact, since they were last relegated from the Premier League back in 2015, the club’s revenue has reduced nearly 80%, from £86 million to £18 million.
Due to the loss in revenue in the 2019/20 campaign, the club decided to reduce other things such as their wage bill from £24 million to £20 million (16%), player amortisation went from £4.4 million to only £0.6 million (87%), and other payments from £16.6 million to £13.2 million (20%).
Their gross debt also went up from £45 million in 2019 to £53 million in 2020 which at the time, was the 10th-highest in the Championship.
The Lee Hoos, club’s CEO admitted they are currently trying to move stadium and insists the finances will get even worse if they remain at Loftus Road. He said: “This club is not financially sustainable in the long-term while we remain at Loftus Road.”
However, there are some positives worth noting. The Hoops’ profit in terms of player sales more than doubled going from £2.5 up to £6 million which was a huge improvement as well as their transfer debt only being £0.6 million which is much better than when it was £23 million five years ago.
Despite the fact the club have had trouble with FFP in recent years, this is no longer the case much to the delight of CEO Hoos.
In a May 2021 interview he said: “There are a number of clubs flirting with FFP limitations and I am pleased to say that we are not one of them. We are in a strong position in that respect.”
He added the club were now in a good position after a lot of hard work in the last five years.
So, despite their money struggles, there now seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel for the Hoops financially.

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