Huddersfield Town, who won promotion to the Premier League by beating Reading on penalties, are a much smaller club in financial terms than the Royals. Reading have annual revenues of £26m and Huddersfield £11m. Reading’s wage bill is £31m and that of Huddersfield £13m.
Both clubs, it will be noted, pay out more than 100 per cent of their revenue in wages, but that is not unusual for Championship clubs trying to win promotion. Huddersfield lose £5m a year.
Huddersfield Town, who won promotion to the Premier League by beating Reading on penalties, are a much smaller club in financial terms than the Royals. Reading have annual revenues of £26m and Huddersfield £11m. Reading’s wage bill is £31m and that of Huddersfield £13m.
Both clubs, it will be noted, pay out more than 100 per cent of their revenue in wages, but that is not unusual for Championship clubs trying to win promotion. Huddersfield lose £5m a year.
Huddersfield will no doubt be installed as relegation favourites, but even if that happens parachute payments will raise the club’s earnings to £170m over the next three seasons.
Dean Hoyle bought the club he supported as a boy in 2009. At the start of the season he dropped ticket prices. Attendances have averaged more than 20,000, compared with 13,000 the season before, leading to a net gain in revenue.
Huddersfield Town players will receive a bonus pool of £4m to share between them. The bonus pool is worth over a third of the club’s wage bill for this season and is likely to lead to some players doubling their salaries for the year.
The £4m pot will be distributed according to the number of appearances throughout the campaign. Huddersfield used 25 players in the Championship so, if split equally, they would receive an average of £160,000 a player, although some players will get more. As the club caps wages at £10,000 a week, the average payout will equate to almost four months’ wages for Huddersfield’s highest paid player.
Huddersfield’s bonus scheme is comparable to that of leading Premier League clubs and far more generous considering the size of the club. In comparison, Chelsea’s players shared a pot of £5m for winning the Premier League.