Cottage POV

To answer the question in the headline, the real answer is no, obviously not. Owner Shahid Khan’s last net worth report by Forbes was earlier this year at 13.5bn USD which makes him a very wealthy man – if he was to donate 1% of his net worth to the capacity of Craven Cottage, each seat would receive near 4.5k (it won’t be too long until each season ticket costs that much). And Shad, if you need somebody to have 1%, just give me a call.

The deeper question is how does football’s current financial regulations affect Fulham’s financial power? The current PSR guidelines (formerly FFP) in the Premier League were implemented in the 2013 season which essentially allowed football clubs to run up to a £105m loss over a rolling 3 year period if the owners of the club covered £90m of those losses (so £15m club allowed losses). Under these regulations, it was estimated by many sources that Fulham were set to be £77m under that £105m which was a pretty secure situation.

With revenues at Fulham rising now they have a fully operational Riverside Stand/Fulham Pier creating extra income outside of matchdays, fans were probably quite right to presume some serious investment was to come. What has played out is another window where Fulham leave the Head Coach going through the majority of pre-season with minimal arrivals whilst the rumours that do crop up have turned in a trend of being “loans with options.” Frustration amongst the fan base is lack of ambition as we see newly promoted sides Burnley, Leeds and Sunderland get active in the window.

When you truly compare elsewhere, little activity has come from some of the established “others” in the Premier League. Newcastle for their billions (and Champions League football) have signed one senior player this summer, Aston Villa have seemingly signed two squad players and Bournemouth have brought in a new goalkeeper and a left back after losing Kepa and Milos Kerkez. Crystal Palace have signed a back up keeper and a new left back; whilst if you exclude loans made permanent, Everton have signed 2 senior players and a backup keeper; Wolves have signed 2 and West Ham have signed 2.

Not to forgive Fulham for dawdling a bit in the window – but it is a trend and one that has seen David Moyes and Oliver Glasner jibe upstairs for a lack of activity so far. The CEOs and Director of Footballs are playing Moneyball – not in the Brad Pitt way – but accountancy, trying to wangle every single pound for the books to be in the desired spot.

The Lingering Wildcard?

What was due to start this season but has been pushed into next, is a shadow trial of Squad Cost Rules (SCR). This is a move towards an alignment of UEFA’s financial regulations. SCR would limit club spending to 85% of their revenue which also has an anchoring element – clubs could only spend a maximum of 5x the bottom club received in broadcast and prizemoney on transfers and player wages.

Fulham in 23/24 spent 86% of their revenue on wages alone – this was an increase from 76% for 22/23 where wages jumped around £15m. The next set of accounts will feature the exits of Joao Palhinha, Jay Stansfield and Tim Ream but the club did bring in Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith Rowe, Joachim Andersen, Sander Berge, Jorge Cuenca and Willian (albeit for a few months). The likelihood is Fulham’s salary bill took another jump, but did revenue jump enough? We’ll find out next June but it may be why the club is looking at loans to trigger next year, to see how these financial regulations shake out and the impact of the new Riverside Stand/Fulham Pier open for an extended period will truly have on club revenue. In short though, a move towards a spend % limit vs revenue is not a good thing for Fulham, we just don’t generate enough cash to compete and it will only lead to the club leaning further into the high value customer.

I don’t really know enough about finances to be charged with this piece but I thought it was good to collect some information from those way more educated than I am. As I type, we are into the 30 days left of the window so there’s plenty to see shake out but I do with the club was perhaps a bit more open to what the club is trying to do.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and got something out of it. It’s difficult, but we probably need to let it play out. Is the club concerned about its financial placing? Or is it playing it cool early on in the window for Tony time in the dying weeks? A strong signing or two in January just gone could have helped the chase for Europe. It’s been a focus of internal business with new contracts given to Kenny Tete, Tom Cairney, Luc de Fougerolles, Josh King and Seth Ridgeon whilst talks are said to be ongoing with Rodrigo Muniz and Harry Wilson.

Apologies for the late ramble, I’ll leave it there.