A significant portion of their debt will be owed to Andrew Chalmers: when he 'sold' the club to Wood and Co he said he wouldn't (ever) try to recoup it, but it didn't get written off

Doesn't make sense. There was a dispute between Leeds and the Tax man quite a few years back when certain Leeds players claimed they were self employed as they were selling their image rights rather than working (as a player) thus saving on not paying NI (employee and employer). Needless to say the Tax Man won. Other sports folk also tried it on, even Harry Gration on Look North and the Super League Show! So could be a tpo on the Swinton accounts. I'll dig out employee numbers on other clubs.

The latest club re 2023 accounts - Wigan. They lost £1.6 million and had net liabilities of £10.5 million, which included an asset of £2.2 million re the training ground at Orrell. They owed £9.4 million to ex director Ian Lenagan's company (he resigned last December). They had 119 employees (less than Bradford!).

Sounds as if the game is in rude health

Good job IMG negotiated an improved Sky TV deal to get more money into the game. Jeez. Why can’t our sport find one single good administrator

I thought the sky deal was reduced again last time but IMG are tasked with trying to improve it although it is never going to happen barring a miracle.

The last championship clubs' 2023 accounts I've dug out is Batley, for the time being, so 8 in total so far. They lost £227k and had net assets of £1.3 million because they own their ground included in fixed assets of £1.9 million. Of the other clubs - Barrow, Whitehaven, Featherstone and Doncaster have later filing deadlines (they may have tinkered around with their year end dates to extend the deadline), Toulouse of course being French don't file their accounts at Companies House, and cannot find Wakefield's new company name since Matthew Ellis took over so help appreciated tracking them down.

To summarise the 8 clubs so far in order of balance sheet strength:

Batley - £1.3m net assets; £(227k) loss; 32 employees
Swinton - £75k net assets; £(60k) loss; 6 employees
Widnes - (£34k) net liabilities; (£280k) loss; 34 employees
Sheffield - (£209k) net liabilities; (£283k) loss; 30 employees
Dewsbury - (£345k) net liabilities; (£100k) loss; 42 employees
Halifax - (£540k) net liabilities; (£200k) loss; 33 employees
York - (£580k) net liabilities; (£380k) loss; 36 employees
Bradford - (£863k) net liabilities; £22k profit; 133 employees

So (so far) we're all basically skint. Wouldn't be surprised if Batley sold their ground to keep afloat. Despite it's ridiculous slope that really would be a tragedy.

I will add the others when they become available and finish the Super League clubs later. Might even have a look at League 1.

There is a chance that Wakey is Spirit of 1873.

Yes, good call Greg, I should have seen that as the old Wakefield Trinity company sold its assets to Spirit of 1873 before it got dissolved.

Wakefield's accounts obviously relate to when they were Super League in 2023 showing them making a profit of £2.7 million, but that included a grant from Wakefield Council for £1.6 million ans a shareholder loan write of of £1,275 million, so stripping them 2 out would show a small loss. They have net assets of £3.5 million but this includes nearly £14 million for the ground and other facilities but creditors include loans building the stuff. They're deferring some further council funding whilst the stadium has/is being constructed, but they look pretty strong nevertheless, that's what we've been competing against, not a cat in hell's chance!

Thanks for this. Very interesting. Those clubs that have “squad builder” type support from the fans, how would that be shown in the accounts? If it’s shown at all? The only reason I’m asking is that the last few players Bradford have signed have all had the line “ and thanks must go to bullbuilder without which this signing would t happen “ . I don’t know how much they actually help in % terms, but it’s obviously helpful

Not 100% certain on this but they normally tend to be separate companies don't they? I presume money then handed over as donations may avoid tax implications.

On the contrary, the SKY deal was revised down as from (and including) 2023. According to Leeds 2023 accounts their annual income from central funding went down from £1.9 million to £1.5 million. Incidentally Leeds lost £1.5m
in 2023 but have a healthy balance sheet at £11.4m net assets because they own the ground from which they make loads of additional revenue - catering, hotel, rental etc. The directors even get paid (£439k in total).

Fax's financial performance over the last 10 years is as follows:

2023 - Loss (£191,974)
2022 - Loss (£316,827)
2021 - Loss (£83,255)
2020 - Profit £171,077
2019 - Profit £56,191
2018 - Profit £463
2017 - Loss (£7,187)
2016 - Profit £80,343
2015 - Loss (£39,173)
2014 - Loss (£135,685)

I think the lucrative "qualifiers" didn't start until 2015, but I stand to be corrected. I just remember 2014 as the season Karl Harrison was sacked and we lost a play off match 29-0 against Dewsbury at the Shay with Muzza as interim coach.

The big profit in 2020 was during covid when the players were furloughed (so claimed back their wages) and many fans didn't ask for season ticket refunds despite the lock down.

The CC semi against Saints probably contributed to a 2019 profit.

Quite obvious though that the loss of central funding (or significant decrease - I've no idea how it's distributed to the Championship clubs, if at all, since the SL pigs have their snouts in the trough) is a killer. Desperately need the Championship to get some big sponsor but very unlikely without some sort of TV coverage - even a "scrumdown" type programme with Channel 4 would help, not too much to ask!