Daniel Lewis

Tue 16 January 2024 11:40, UK

West Ham were well within the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) margin, according to details shared by Sean Whetstone.

United recorded losses in two of the past three seasons, but big-money player sales ensured they comfortably avoided punishment.

However, had Daniel Kretinsky not bought shares in the club in 2021, it could have been a different matter for the Irons.

Writing on his West Ham Football Twitter account [16 January], Whetstone said: “West Ham announced losses of £26.9m for the 2020/2021 season and a £12.2m profit for the 2021/2022 season with a further loss of £18m last season in 2022/2023.

“The Premier League FFP rolling three-year monitoring period equates to a combined loss of £32.7m for the Hammers which is well within the £105m permitted losses when directors buy shares as Daniel Kretinsky did in 2021 when he paid £125m for 20% buying 7% from other directors.

“Without that £125m rights issue West Ham would have been limited to £15m losses over three years so would have been in breach.

“In 2020, West Ham directors injected another £30m in a rights issue during the pandemic which allowed them to make £45m of losses over three years in the run up to Kretinsky’s 2021 cash injection.

“With losses of £32.7m over three years West Ham have a healthy margin of safety of £72.3m in Premier League profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR) or FFP as most people call it.

“This current season West Ham are able to book the sale Declan Rice £100m sale as straight profit for this season which almost definitely led to the Hammers declaring a massive profit on the books after the season ends.”

Well done

Taking away all the ifs and buts, West Ham were not even close to following Everton and Nottingham Forest in being charged with breaching the Premier League’s PSR rules.

Clubs are permitted to lose £105m over a three-year period – a contentious figure given inflation since that was set in stone – but they recorded a loss of ‘just’ £32.7m.

Taking last summer into account, the £100m-plus sale of Rice to Arsenal has given the club plenty of room to play with in terms of the finances and strengthening the squad.

It must be noted that, while sales – such as that of Rice to Arsenal – are recorded as a full profit the year they go through, the way incoming transfers are recorded works differently.

Due to amortization – that word made famous by Todd Boehly at Chelsea – clubs can spread the cost of a player’s cost across the length of their contract.

So the signings of Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Mohammed Kudus and Dinos Mavropanos will not be felt in full on the most recent accounts, for example.

All-in-all, United deserve praise for spending – or losing – well within their means while at the same time ensuring the squad remains as competitive as ever.

In other West Ham news, the Hammers are leading the race for “one of the very best” players.