July 6 – Bournemouth, about to enter their fourth season in the Premier League, have finally settled with the English Football League (EFL) over a breach of financial fair play (FFP) rules when they were in the Championship in 2014/15.
The club will pay £4.75 million as a full and final settlement of any claims against the club or its officers for that season.
For years Bournemouth flirted with insolvency and winding up orders before Russian businessman Maxim Demin took over in 2011, injected his cash and the south coast club began its rise to the Premier League with three promotions in six seasons, having been in League Two in the 2009/10 season.
The dispute over the breach of FFP rules has taken a long time to settle; A statement from the EFL and the club said: “The club was deemed to have breached the EFL’s Championship Financial Fair Play Rules (“the Rules”) at the time, but proceedings were stayed pending the outcome of a legal challenge by Queens Park Rangers against those Rules.
“In reaching a settlement, the EFL acknowledges that the club did not make any deliberate attempt to infringe the Rules or to deceive. All relevant matters were taken into account when determining the quantum of the settlement.”
Bournemouth’s latest financial results to 30 June 2017, show the club more than quadrupled pre-tax profits to £14.6 million in the period to 30 June 2017.
Those results show Premier League income accounted for £124.2 million, or a staggering 91%, of total turnover for the latest period of £136.5 million. By contrast, match and season ticket income dropped from £5.4 million to £5.2 million, while sponsorship and advertising fell from £3.8 million to £3.6 million. Staff costs were £71.5 million.
The club may not have made any deliberate attempt to break the FFP but it was certainly money well spent given the rewards of the Premier League.
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