Finance expert shares £250m West Ham United verdict as squad continues to stuggle
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has suggested West Ham United are the “best of the rest” when it comes to clubs’ revenue in the Premier League.
The Hammers have generated over a £250million in revenue, with the move to the London Stadium proving to be a large part of their off-the-field success.
Maguire has highlighted how the new ground has the highest average attendance in London and that has helped bring in £41million in ticket sales over the last year.
“If matters on the pitch were as good as matters off the pitch then West Ham fans would have a pretty broad grin,” said Maguire (21m 25s, Price of Football Podcast, 5 January).
“As far as West Ham are concerned they’re the best of the rest in the Premier League and for the first time in the club’s history, they’ve generated more than a quarter of a billion pound’s worth of revenue and this is partly due to the London Stadium with their new ground having the highest average attendance in London.
“It brought in £41million through ticket sales, it has more seats and they also had more matches last season.”
Impressive
It’s good to see the club in a good place when it comes to finances. Over the years many teams have been caught out for overspending and now languish in the lower echelons of the English game. The move to the London Stadium did raise many eyebrows, to begin with, but the club are now starting to reap the commercial rewards.
Furthermore, it’s hard to argue about the board’s backing of David Moyes in the summer window. With over £150million dished out on players, it’s abundantly clear the club were looking to take the squad to the next level with the increased revenue.
Takeover talk is bound to come to the surface in the coming months. The Times reported that Daniel Kretinsky is set to speed up the process of taking a majority shareholding in the club after the sad passing of David Gold.
2023 does feel like the right year for the Hammers to have some fresh ideas in the boardroom and Kretinsky holding a majority stake could see that scenario take place.