Mental League financially- the most mental! Has been for some while.
We actually made a £12m profit last year- but that was only after selling players for £38m profit on transfers! Your neighbours should take note- our profit on that enabled by the sale of players was very similar to their 'sale' of something quite a bit less honourable. Sell and reinvest some, sell and reinvest some- seems the only real way to run a tightish or at least acceptable ship in the Championship- certainly if towards the top end. Reasonably low running costs help though- some clubs seem to have these- such as Preston and seemingly in 2017/18, yourselves?
Our low running costs were based on a low wage bill - high by League One standards when we came up but bottom 6 by Championship standards. Keeping the nucleus of players from L1 together and not bringing in new signings on silly money allowed us to keep the costs down in 17/18 and 18/19. The figures for 2018/19 (when they come out) will be skewed by any promotion bonuses.
On a separate note:
One thing that's interesting (for me) is that the profile of the players we're signing on permanent deals has changed over the past four years. We've always been about picking up the best players from the league below but this season the average age has dropped and therefore theoretical resale value has risen. Players in
bold made started more at least 50% or appeared in at least 75% of the games in the season they signed and can be considered first team players.
16/17 - average age 26.8 (first team players 27.0)
Synopsis - complete squad overhaul
Summer (average age 26.9):
O'Connell 22, Lavery 24,
Fleck 25, Moore 25, Hussey 27,
Lafferty* 27, Wilson 27,
Wright 30, Clarke 31, Duffy 31
Winter (average age 26):
Carruthers 23,
Hanson 29
*loan made permanent in January
17/18 - average age 26.4 (first team players 25.5)
Synopsis - freshened up for post-promotion season with good young players from the division(s) below but also added some experience
Summer (average age 26.5):
Lundstram 23, Thomas 23,
Baldock 24, Heneghan 24,
Stevens 27, Ched Evans 28,
Stearman 30, Donaldson 33,
January (average age 26):
Lee Evans 24, Leonard 25, Holmes 29
18/19 - average age 27.3 (first team players 28.0)
Synopsis - surgical additions of quality experienced players to secure promotion
Summer: Bryan 22,
Egan 26, Washington 26,
Norwood 27, McGoldrick 31, Cranie 32
January:
no permanent signings
19/20 - average age so far 26.0 (skewed by Jagielka - without whom it's 24.4; first team players 23.3)
Synopsis - building for the future
Summer:
McBurnie 23, Mousset 23, Verrips 23,
Robinson 24, Osborn 25, Morrison 26, Freeman 27, Jagielka 37