A close confidant of Hammers majority owner David Sullivan has explained where all of West Ham’s money has gone as fans fume. Fans of West Ham have been up in arms over the club’s summer transfer budget in the last 24 hours. Just last month, it had been claimed that the West Ham’s summer kitty would be around £100m.
Crucially any further funds from sales would be added to the kitty.h That budget in itself was seen as insufficient by many Hammers fans given the number of signings the club needs to make this summer.
One is already in the door for around £20m – with a possible £5m more in add-ons – in the shape of Luis Guilherme.Veteran goalkeeper Wes Foderingham is coming in on a free transfer as homegrown squad-filling back-up.
And that, many believed, left around £80m – before possible sales of players such as Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Danny Ings – for West Ham technical director Tim Steidten to spend on another six additions for new head coach Julen Lopetegui. Not a lavish amount by any stretch of the imagination. But still the potential for some exciting signings with the prospect of sales in the background.
Fans fume at paltry reported transfer kitty
So Hammers supporters were up in arms when West Ham insider Sean Whetstone claimed yesterday that the remaining budget is a paltry £51.5m as things stand.
Fans have been venting on social media, fan forums and WhatsApp chat groups about the lack of money available.
Especially given West Ham are on course to announce record profits of over £360m in their next set of accounts according to Whetstone himself. Not to mention the club’s very healthy wages-to-turnover position – a key factor in adhering to PSR rules.
West Ham’s EBITDA measurement – which stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation and is used to judge a business’ performance – is also among the best around.
In fact prominent football finance expert Kieran Maguire claims West Ham sit third in the Premier League in terms of the best EBITDA ahead of Spurs and behind only Brentford and Arsenal.
So it’s easy to see why supporters are frustrated by the claim that Steidten and Lopetegui have £51.5m to spend on six players as things stand. Sullivan confidant explains where West Ham’s money has gone. Well now the David Sullivan confidant has explained where all of West Ham’s money has gone.
Responding to fan fury on social media – most of which has been directed at Sullivan as majority owner – Whetstone has gone to great lengths to spell out West Ham’s financial position in black and white.
“For those asking where has the money gone, West Ham have lost £95m over the last four years of published accounts (2020=-£65m, 2021= -£23m, 2022= +£10m, 2023= -£17m),” Whetstone said on X alongside pictures of the club accounts.
“Player Trading/amortisation has cost £242m over the last four years of West Ham published accounts.“At some point you have to balance the books if you want to be financially sustainable…
“Don’t get hung up on reported transfer dealings, look at the legal documents filed at companies house for the last four published seasons which show £95m losses and net spend of £242m,” Whetstone adds.
‘At some point you have to balance the books’
“Last season will not be published until next year so not available for comparison…
“The danger with adding up reported inbound and outbound transfers is it doesn’t give you the full or true picture. The player trading recorded figure and the annual accounts are the most accurate indication of the impact of player sales and purchases…
“I know amortisation is how we account for the transfers but at the end of the day we still owed £170.5m to other clubs with £81.5m of that due last season and that was before we signed Kudus, Alvarez, James Ward Prowse, Mavropanos and Irving adding another £100m owed to other clubs.”
Last month YouTube channel Numbers Behind The Net analysed West Ham’s finances in great detail in a video you can see at the bottom of this article.
