Derby report £14.2m loss in promotion-winning season

Derby County finished second in the table to earn automatic promotion from League One last season

Derby County have reported an operating loss of £14.2m for their promotion-winning season from League One.

The Rams losses for the 12 months up to June 2024 are £3.6m up on figures they reported last year, and includes £1.2m in bonuses paid to players and coaching staff following the club's return to the Championship.

Debts owed to club owner David Clowes - who is looking to bring in new investors - have also risen to £47.9m, up from £36m from the previous year.

The club's financial report goes on to say: "It is the intention that some of the amount owed to the parent company will be capitalised into equity."

The club's financial report states the increase in Derby's net liabilities - stated at £33.6m and up from £19.5m - "predominantly" relates to "owner funding injections for the day-to-day running of the club."

Derby's wages for their second successive season in League One rose to £22m - an increase of £4.8m.

Although, the club says player salaries accounted for less than half of that total, with a wage bill of £10.2m for the 68 players - across the first-team and academy - on their books last season.

The cost of non-playing staff is said to be down to the 20 new staff members who were appointed as the Rams restructured the academy and recruitment departments following Clowes' takeover.

From the £19.4m that the club generated in turnover, 53% of it was spent on player wages.

Ticket sales of £7.6m made up the largest portion of the East Midlands club's revenues, but the club also made £4.6m in transfers.

That includes the sales of Jason Knight and Max Bird to Bristol City, Krystian Bielik's permanent move to Birmingham City and sell-on fees generated in Omari Kellyman's switch from Aston Villa to Chelsea and and Morgan Whittaker's transfer from Swansea City to Plymouth Argyle.

A further £3.4m is due to the club over the coming years from those sales.

Derby have also revealed that £2.9m was spent on players - including midfielders Kenzo Goudmijn and Ebou Adams and goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom - ahead of their return to the Championship this season and after the accounting period they have reported on.

Training ground revalued

A independent valuation of the Derby's training base at Moor Farm, which had not taken place when Clowes pushed ahead with his takeover in the summer of 2022, has led to a readjustment of headline figures reported last year.

Clowes takeover, which cost the local property developer £55m, led to pre-tax losses of £30m being reported in his first season of ownership.

That loss, however, also included a £19.7m "impairment of purchased goodwill" - defined as the difference a company pays for an asset and its book value.

That figure has since been adjusted to £9.3m because the training ground increased in value as an asset.

That has seen the pre-tax profit for the 12 months up to June 2023 restated as £20m, and it is that figure which will be used when the club's compliance with the English Football League's spending rules in future years will be based on.