LAST SEASONS ACCOUNTS CCFC/ STAGGERING FOR

CCFC LAST SEASON IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP/ ABSOLUTELY STAGGERING / BAD MANAGEMENT AT THE TOP AND NOT ONLY RELEGATED / BUT CCFC FINISHED BOTTOM:

Thankfully all those who we kept had to take a 50% Wage Cut this Season and 19 players were released:

Ramsey and Robinson were on over £25,000 a week.

Cardiff had 3 Different Managers

The recruitment department wasted fortunes.



This seasons wages are quarter of last seasons.




Cardiff City submit 2024/25 accounts, a season where they finished 24th in Championship:


Revenue £25.8m 11%

Wages £39m 39%


Wages 151% of revenue (was 120%)


Average first team weekly wage £17,480


Underlying loss £34.2m 20%

Player sale profits £6.1m

Pre tax loss £35.1m 193%


Player purchases £12.5m


Player sales £6.1m

Borrowings £134.3m 15%

Total losses over the years £284.9m

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We were run like an absolute circus. They’ve got very lucky this season in that it looks like BBM has saved the day with only 3 signings but I doubt they will ever learn their lesson

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Trust chair Keith Morgan provides a breakdown of the latest Cardiff City accounts for the year ended May 31, 2025.

Introduction

As has been the case for a number of years I have had the opportunity to read, review and comment on the audited accounts on the understanding that the commentary is held under strict embargo until the accounts are formally published on the Companies House register.



It should be stressed that, although the commentary has been discussed with the club at a senior level to check for any factual errors that it might otherwise have contained.


It is a report which has been created and the opinions expressed on it are both entirely independent of the club.



The audited accounts were signed off by the independent auditors and the club’s board of directors on January 16, 2026.

Key Matters

The reported operating loss of £28.1m compares to that of £27.7m reported in the previous year. However, the net loss after tax rose very significantly to £35.1m from the far lower figure of £12.0m in the previous year.

The main reason for this is that the 2024 figures included a very large exceptional “one-off” figure of £18.4m which included £12.0m from the sale of a part share of any successful recovery from the ongoing legal case against FC Nantes and £5.7m from a settlement of a contractual dispute. Without those exceptional items, the net loss for 2024 would have been £30.4m.

Clearly, the level of net losses being incurred is not sustainable over time going forward and is a matter of urgency to be dealt with by the club owner and directors.

In the current season some evidence of how this has started to be dealt with is referred to in the accounts with a substantial reduction in squad numbers and consequent reduction in player salary costs. The requirement for this became even more necessary following the clubs relegation from the Championship last season as media and other income dropped by around £10m. Savings to recover some of this lost income were made by relegation clauses included in existing player contracts.

Promotion back to the Championship as soon as possible is therefore a key financial priority as well as a footballing one.

Despite the very negative financial figures there are a few other more positive factors :

1. The club has remained compliant with the EFL Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) requirements whilst a Championship club and remains compliant with the Salary Cap Management Protocol (SCMP ) which is the alternative requirement as a League 1 club.

2.It is hugely important the club continues to receive the financial backing of its majority shareholder Tan Sri Vincent Tan. While he has received a lot of criticism from registered fan groups and individual fans (in many cases justifiably) the unavoidable fact is that, without that financial support, there is a strong likelihood that we fans would not have a club to support at this level as it probably would have “gone bust” without such support.

3. The independent auditors have agreed that the club remains a “going concern” with the above financial support, which has been committed to for at least until January 2027.

Balance Sheet Debts

Total net current liabilities as at May 31, 2025 were £161.5m, a worryingly high figure in normal circumstances.
However, £97m of this is due to Tan Sri Vincent Tan and a further £37.3m due to a business in which club Chair Mehmet Dalman has a significant interest. Other liabilities are relatively small in comparison.

Between the balance sheet date of May 31, 2025 and the date the accounts were signed off £19.1m of new cash was put in to the club as a cash injection, such amounts being neither interest bearing or with any requirement to repay.


Prior Year Adjustments

There are several references in the accounts to adjustments made to the previously reported accounts which were approved at the time by the Independent Auditors.

These are primarily changes to the way some transactions were disclosed which have now been amended by the same audit firm that previously certified them as being correct but have now been adjusted by a different audit partner to the previous ones.

I have no access to correspondence on this but I have a strong personal opinion that the late change of audit partner taking a different view to her predecessors and requiring lots of adjustments to the accounts may well have been a significant factor in the club submitting its accounts slightly late after the December 31, deadline.

Conclusions

The club needs to take urgent and significant action to stem the rate of financial losses being incurred.Promotion back to the Championship is vital financially as well as from a football aspect.


And Finally..

Please note: The commentary does not comprise a line by line analysis of the accounts but is intendeed to over the key issues. Should Trust members have detailed queries they can raise them through members@ or face to face at the event on Thursday evening (February 26th).

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Pre-tax loss going up by 193% and wages up 39% shows you how badly they have been running the club.

We had a top six wage bill and ended up relegated, that has to be the board's fault.

Thankfully, relegation did allow us to move on players who weren't needed and on big money.

But it shows why we must get promoted this season, if we don't then the problems will grow. Wage bill will be a lot lower this season obviously but broadcast revenue will be down significantly this season.

I do think in the long term on the pitch relegation will turn out to be a blessing in disguise, because it's allowed a reset and thankfully we do look like getting promoted - more through luck than judgment from the board.

But that's on the pitch, they have to either sell the club or learn from the mistakes. Mismanagement like this is financially unsustainable and highlights to everyone how badly the club is run at board room level.

The accounts of about 85% of EFL Clubs show they are losing money and rely on the owners putting in money to keep them afloat.So we are not in a unique situation.
I'm hoping that Tan will rely on us getting promoted and sell up at a higher price than when we were relegated. It makes no financial sense to carry on sustaining these losses Maybe it's a matter of his personal pride that he doesn't want to be seen as a failure in his ownership of the club.There are prospective buyers out there ,so hopefully he will realise that he can't recover his financial outlay over the years and cuts his losses.

The accounts of about 85% of EFL Clubs show they are losing money and rely on the owners putting in money to keep them afloat.So we are not in a unique situation.

It's about 58%. No where near 85%.

We're also in the wrong end of the desired grouping of size of debt. The large chunk of clubs operating in debt are in the £0-100Million range. We are just shy of £300Mill, and then spending more than we make.

It's not good.

This is where I got the information

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HOW BADLY RUN ARE CARDIFF CITY



Cardiff City made a £35.1m loss in the season they were relegated from the Championship, according to the club’s latest set of accounts

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Right, there’s a lot in that statement, so if you strip the emotion out and just look at the numbers and context, there are clear pros and cons.
First, the pros.
The big one is we’re still compliant. We met the Championship P&S rules and now the League One SCMP rules. That matters. Clubs like Derby County and Reading have shown what happens when you don’t. Points deductions, embargoes, chaos. We’ve avoided some of that.
The auditors signing off that the club is viable — with backing committed until January 2027 — is significant. Without Tan’s funding, we’re not operating at this level. That’s just reality, however people feel about him.
Relegation has forced wage cuts, squad trimming and the use of relegation clauses. Financially painful in the short term (lost £10m+ income), but structurally it may stop the wage bloat that built up in the Championship.
And finally, the £19.1m injected post year-end — non-interest bearing and not repayable. That’s effectively Tan underwriting.
Now the cons— and they’re serious.
£35.1m net loss. You can dress it up with “exceptionals” all you like, but we’re still burning around £30m a year in real terms. That is not sustainable without permanent owner subsidy.
Wages up 39% in a relegation season is indefensible from a performance point of view. Top six wage bill and relegated? That’s not bad luck — that’s strategic failure.
The debt level is the elephant in the room. £161.5m net current liabilities, with roughly £97m owed to Tan and £37.3m linked to Dalman interests. Yes, much of it is “soft debt”, but it’s still debt. We’re structurally reliant on one man’s willingness to keep covering losses.
And the prior-year audit adjustments don’t look great optically. Even if they’re technical disclosure changes, late submissions and changing audit views don’t scream stability.
As for the forum replies that I have read so far
Worcester’s point about mismanagement is fair. If you’re spending top-six money and going down, accountability sits in the boardroom as much as the dugout. Even though the man in the dugout was not up to the job, but selected by the people who are responsible for thie debt
Quakerman is right that many EFL clubs lose money — that’s the model. But we shouldn’t normalise it. Not all losses are equal. There’s a difference between controlled risk and £30m annual black holes.
SB 1927 is also right to challenge the “85%” stat. And he’s right that scale matters — debt near £300m gross over time (depending how you count historic shareholder loans) puts us at the heavier end.
The reality is this — the club is being propped up by Tan. Without him we’re not arguing about promotion, we’re arguing about administration.
That said, losing £30m+ a year while running a top-six wage bill into relegation is absolute mismanagement. Both things can be true.
Relegation might prove to be a reset on the pitch, but financially we’ve been reckless. You can’t keep banking on one owner covering mistakes forever.
Promotion isn’t just nice to have — it’s essential. Another year in League One and even with lower wages, the gap makes the hole bigger.
Long term? Either the model changes, or ownership does. Because this one only works while Tan feels like writing cheques.

I don't really understand the figures but is it not the case that if we are promoted back to the Championship we are then back to the scenario where we can only have losses of £39m in total in any three year period?

How on earth are we going to be able to comply with that whilst trying to remain competitive in a higher division and not being subject to further embargoes and maybe point deductions?

What a shambles they have made of running the club.

Don't worry, we are top of league 1 for atleast another day and the clowns are still here.

I don't really understand the figures but is it not the case that if we are promoted back to the Championship we are then back to the scenario where we can only have losses of £39m in total in any three year period?

How on earth are we going to be able to comply with that whilst trying to remain competitive in a higher division and not being subject to further embargoes and maybe point deductions?

What a shambles they have made of running the club.

I get the concern, but it’s not quite as black and white as that. As I believe that.
Yes, the Championship P&S limit is £39m over three years, but it’s all rolling and depends on what division those losses were made in. A League One year counts differently from a Championship year, and relegation seasons distort the numbers anyway. It’s not just “go up, and we’re instantly doomed”.
Promotion would also bring a big uplift in revenue — TV money alone dwarfs what we’re getting now — so the picture changes pretty quickly.
The real issue isn’t the limit itself, it’s how sensibly we operate within it. Plenty of clubs manage it without falling apart. The key is recruitment, wage control, and not gambling the house chasing the Premier League again.
We’ve made mistakes, no doubt. But going up wouldn’t automatically mean embargoes and points deductions. It would just mean we have to finally run the club properly.
However, I might be wrong on the rules, but at least 80%sure that it is

I don't really understand the figures but is it not the case that if we are promoted back to the Championship we are then back to the scenario where we can only have losses of £39m in total in any three year period?

How on earth are we going to be able to comply with that whilst trying to remain competitive in a higher division and not being subject to further embargoes and maybe point deductions?

What a shambles they have made of running the club.

I get the concern, but it’s not quite as black and white as that. As I believe that.
Yes, the Championship P&S limit is £39m over three years, but it’s all rolling and depends on what division those losses were made in. A League One year counts differently from a Championship year, and relegation seasons distort the numbers anyway. It’s not just “go up, and we’re instantly doomed”.
Promotion would also bring a big uplift in revenue — TV money alone dwarfs what we’re getting now — so the picture changes pretty quickly.
The real issue isn’t the limit itself, it’s how sensibly we operate within it. Plenty of clubs manage it without falling apart. The key is recruitment, wage control, and not gambling the house chasing the Premier League again.
We’ve made mistakes, no doubt. But going up wouldn’t automatically mean embargoes and points deductions. It would just mean we have to finally run the club properly.
However, I might be wrong on the rules, but at least 80%sure that it is

Thanks for that.

I was fine with all of it until I got to the part that said that Tan would have to finally run the club properly!

He hasn't mananged to do that in all the years he's owned the club so it may be a stretch to think he'll suddenly start doing so.

I don't really understand the figures but is it not the case that if we are promoted back to the Championship we are then back to the scenario where we can only have losses of £39m in total in any three year period?

How on earth are we going to be able to comply with that whilst trying to remain competitive in a higher division and not being subject to further embargoes and maybe point deductions?

What a shambles they have made of running the club.

I get the concern, but it’s not quite as black and white as that. As I believe that.
Yes, the Championship P&S limit is £39m over three years, but it’s all rolling and depends on what division those losses were made in. A League One year counts differently from a Championship year, and relegation seasons distort the numbers anyway. It’s not just “go up, and we’re instantly doomed”.
Promotion would also bring a big uplift in revenue — TV money alone dwarfs what we’re getting now — so the picture changes pretty quickly.
The real issue isn’t the limit itself, it’s how sensibly we operate within it. Plenty of clubs manage it without falling apart. The key is recruitment, wage control, and not gambling the house chasing the Premier League again.
We’ve made mistakes, no doubt. But going up wouldn’t automatically mean embargoes and points deductions. It would just mean we have to finally run the club properly.
However, I might be wrong on the rules, but at least 80%sure that it is

Thanks for that.

I was fine with all of it until I got to the part that said that Tan would have to finally run the club properly!

He hasn't mananged to do that in all the years he's owned the club so it may be a stretch to think he'll suddenly start doing so.

Did not mean Tan and the other two,meant someone with Business and Football knowledge, preferably

What happened to being nearly debt free this was said a few seasons back that in a few more years the club will be debt free.?

I don't really understand the figures but is it not the case that if we are promoted back to the Championship we are then back to the scenario where we can only have losses of £39m in total in any three year period?

How on earth are we going to be able to comply with that whilst trying to remain competitive in a higher division and not being subject to further embargoes and maybe point deductions?

What a shambles they have made of running the club.

I get the concern, but it’s not quite as black and white as that. As I believe that.
Yes, the Championship P&S limit is £39m over three years, but it’s all rolling and depends on what division those losses were made in. A League One year counts differently from a Championship year, and relegation seasons distort the numbers anyway. It’s not just “go up, and we’re instantly doomed”.
Promotion would also bring a big uplift in revenue — TV money alone dwarfs what we’re getting now — so the picture changes pretty quickly.
The real issue isn’t the limit itself, it’s how sensibly we operate within it. Plenty of clubs manage it without falling apart. The key is recruitment, wage control, and not gambling the house chasing the Premier League again.
We’ve made mistakes, no doubt. But going up wouldn’t automatically mean embargoes and points deductions. It would just mean we have to finally run the club properly.
However, I might be wrong on the rules, but at least 80%sure that it is

Thanks for that.

I was fine with all of it until I got to the part that said that Tan would have to finally run the club properly!

He hasn't mananged to do that in all the years he's owned the club so it may be a stretch to think he'll suddenly start doing so.

Did not mean Tan and the other two,meant someone with Business and Football knowledge, preferably

Yes that would make a nice change!

So are 85% of clubs run by clowns ?

What stands out is the burden of wage demands players bring , wiith that environment accross football how does an owner manage fans expectations of success and keep costs down especially in our case incomming revenues are lower than outgoing wages,and we still see demands from fans to buy more and increase expenditure?

So are 85% of clubs run by clowns ?

What stands out is the burden of wage demands players bring , wiith that environment accross football how does an owner manage fans expectations of success and keep costs down especially in our case incomming revenues are lower than outgoing wages,and we still see demands from fans to buy more and increase expenditure?

Are 85% of clubs run by clowns? No. They’re run inside a system that rewards risk and punishes caution.
The Championship is basically a casino. If you don’t spend, you drift. If you do spend and fail, you burn millions.
Our problem wasn’t just spending — it was spending badly. The top-six wage bill and relegation is failure of decision-making, not just economics.
But fans also need to be honest with themselves. You can’t demand promotion, moan about lack of ambition, and then be shocked when losses hit £30m.
You either accept a sustainable model and patience, or you accept owner-funded risk.
There isn’t a third way at our level.
That’s the tension in modern football. Emotion vs arithmetic. And arithmetic usually wins eventually.

When was the last time the club was consistently run well
and at a profit?

When was the last time the club was consistently run well
and at a profit?

Certainly not this century.

Difference is this owner can absorb this loss and we aren’t failing to pay people money they are owed.

When was the last time the club was consistently run well
and at a profit?

Certainly not this century.

Difference is this owner can absorb this loss and we aren’t failing to pay people money they are owed.

Profit seasons
Two seasons since 2010
2014–15 Season: A small profit of £4 million (largely attributed to debt write-offs and interest adjustments).
2018–19 Season: A profit of£3 million, primarily driven by £125 million in turnover from competing in the Premier League.

Last time it was run well,

1920s Bartley Wilson days

When was the last time the club was consistently run well
and at a profit?

Certainly not this century.

Difference is this owner can absorb this loss and we aren’t failing to pay people money they are owed.

Profit seasons
Two seasons since 2010
2014–15 Season: A small profit of £4 million (largely attributed to debt write-offs and interest adjustments).
2018–19 Season: A profit of£3 million, primarily driven by £125 million in turnover from competing in the Premier League.

Last time it was run well,

1920s Bartley Wilson days

Ah ok. With Tan as owner?

What happened to being nearly debt free this was said a few seasons back that in a few more years the club will be debt free.?

The old debt free promise I knew at the time fans would buy that bullshit

What happened to being nearly debt free this was said a few seasons back that in a few more years the club will be debt free.?

The old debt free promise I knew at the time fans would buy that bullshit

I am not saying I believed it,
I was poining out that was the mantra from above as an excuse for not spending to much,
as they wanted to rid ourselves of the debt first.

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Surely there is no one who still thinks these clowns are good for cardiff city

I think people have forgotten that Tan also got K V relegated last season too and their fans have been protesting to get Tan out of their club more than we have

That's all the proof needed that Tan shouldn't be anywhere near a football club