Derby County financial concerns revealed as David Clowes debt piles up | OneFootball

County didn't have the best money-making season last time out, despite their league success.

Derby County made an operating loss of £14.2 million in their promotion-winning 2023/24 season, and now owe their owner David Clowes close to £48 million.

No matter what the cost of promotion was, it seemed like Clowes and the rest of the Rams hierarchy were going to do whatever it took to re-climb the mountain and get back to the Championship, and by the looks of it, they pretty much did.

A win against Carlisle United secured their return to the English second tier for the first time since Wayne Rooney was in charge in the 2021/22 campaign.

But, as with all things, this luxury came with a price. Not only do they now possess one of the smaller budgets in their league, something that the owner is trying to address by getting new investors on board, to help him shoulder the costs, Derby had to spend heavily in order to win automatic promotion, and the figures surrounding the season have now been revealed.

Derby County's financial hits revealed following 2023-24 promotion season

The Rams' latest set of accounts, which covers the period up until June 2024, revealed that they made a £14.2 million pre-tax loss in the 23/24 season. On top of that, the debt that the club now owes to Clowes, who saved them from administration in July 2022, has gone up from £36 million to £47.9 million.

The seasonal losses jumped to the £14.2 million figure from £10.6 million in the prior campaign. This was, in part, because of one-off payments like promotion bonuses that were paid to the players and the coaching staff, which amounted to £1.2 million.

As much as these numbers may be a bit scary, the accounts revealed some positives.

The club's profits from player sales went up by 193% to £4.6 million. This came from moving on the likes of Max Bird, Jason Knight and Krystian Bielik, plus money earned from sell-on clauses relating to deals for Omari Kellyman and Morgan Whittaker.

Derby haven't received the full payment for Bielik or Knight from Birmingham City or Bristol City, respectively, according to the Derby Telegraph, plus the Robins could owe County even more money if they trigger a contract clause in Bird's deal which relates to appearances.

The long and short of it is they made less money - revenue down by five per cent to £19.4 million - and they are paying more in wages. You can understand, based on these figures, why Clowes is willing to give up a majority of his shares in the club in order to make sure it can be properly financed at this level.

The businessman is said to have had global interest in investing in the Rams, as per the Derby Telegraph, and talks have been held.

Derby County need to stay up this season in order to continue to boost their revenue

It's as simple as this: Derby will need more and more money to keep operating at this level, and being in a higher division gets you more money.

According to The Athletic, as of October 2023, the EFL gave £3.92 million to every Championship club, compared to £950,000 for League One teams and £640,000 for those in League Two.

There's a bigger discrepancy when it comes to the solidarity money paid by Premier League teams into the EFL. It goes from £5.19 million to £780,000 to £520,000 as you work your way down the tiers.

Having another year of Championship money under their belt will give the Rams a slightly bigger base to work off, and some of the burden should be taken off Clowes, at least a little bit.