Thread by @afmoldtimer

At the end of the 2025-26 season with Southampton, it's time for another annual review of the club's finances.

Achieving a third place in the Premier League, winning the Carabao Cup, and also the UEFA Europa League have seen an improvement in the club's accounts.

Prize money rose by 40%, largely thanks to winning the Europa League and the improvement in Premier League finishing position (5th up to 3rd). Yet, oddly match day income and corporate facilities income both fell, despite having more matches at St Mary's.

Merchandising rose strongly, helped by the big signing of Alexis Mac Allister, who was the most popular name on sold shirts.

Yet by far and away, the biggest reason for the rise in cash inflows was that of player sales - some 182% increase between 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The sales of Karim Adeyemi (£90m - Man UFC), Yusuf Demir (£70m - Paris SG), Theate (£65m - Arsenal), Benjamin Šeško (£54m - Borussia Dortmund), Kiril Despodov (£38m - Atalanta), Keane Lewis-Potter (£36m - Leicester), Lazar Mijović (£10.25m - Sassuolo),

and Rob Holding (£8.75m - Lazio), helped to balance the books after missing out on Champions League football the previous season.

These sales accounted for 88.1% of the 67.3% increase in cash inflows over the season.

Over the previous five seasons, TV revenue has risen steadily - seeing a 5.6% rise, as the club's fortunes have improved and European football has increased the number and quality of games.

Gate receipts have seen a similar improvement for the same reason, though this has risen by a more marked 50%.

After the addition of extra capacity to the stadium for 2023-24, season ticket sales jumped by ~£2.8m, but have remained steady since as the club has capped the number of season tickets available.

Corporate facilities' income has risen by 20% - and given the dip in the last year, there's perhaps scope for the redevelopment of St Mary's now that Champions League football has been attained once more to take advantage of the additional cash inflows.

A 35% increase in matchday income, with the same drop in income over the last year, is perhaps further evidence that there's more to come from the stadium revenues.

Merchandising, on the other hand, has seen a boom - seeing a 358% increase, with a notable boost following the team's Europa League and Carabao Cup win.

Indeed the marketing department excelled themselves, with a significant increase in sponsorship cash inflows as the club has gone from strength to strength on the field. This has enabled the club to negotiate improved shirt sponsors (both main, additional and training kit).

Player sales exploded last year, more than double the inflows of any previous year. Clearly, this is unsustainable going forward but is evidence that previous player recruitment was successful and in line with the club's previous model to buy young players with potential and look

to sell them when the price and the timing are right.

Over the five-year period, the club has generated £680,596,152 from player sales (in terms of cash received).

In relation to 2025-26 cash outgoings, there was an increase almost across the board, most notably with bonuses (rising 76%) as a direct result of on-field performances and player-specific target-driven bonuses.

Transfer expenditure also rose by 62.4% - not particularly surprising given the aforementioned level of player sales.

Incomings included: Alexis Mac Allister (£65m - Brighton), Pascal Struijk (£49m - Leeds), Brazilian youth players Marrom (£6.5m - Vasco de Gama)

and Ricardo (£6m - FLA), Tommy Doyle (£5.5m - Man City), and Martin Satriano (£5.5m - Nacional).

When it comes to loan repayments, the change in ownership in 2023-24 saw significant reductions in club debt, with the level of debt repayment falling by 60.7.

The earlier note on bonuses rising is highlighted again here - with bonus payments to players and non-playing staff rising by over 130% across the five-year period.

Player wages have also risen steadily over the time period, largely due to the improvement in the squad across all playing positions. Wage growth has steadied over the last season as some of the club's largest wage owners were moved on rather than bowing to wage demands the club

couldn't reasonably meet.

Non-playing staff wages have also risen as the club has invested in the coaching, medical, and player recruitment, taking on additional staff as the board has allowed.

The youth set-up, for which Southampton is supposedly famed, has had £25.7m spent on it in the five-year period but as of yet, not one player that has come through the youth team recruitment has played a single minute of first-team football.

Yet by far and away, the largest expenditure that the club has seen is in player recruitment - some £589m has been spent on bringing players into Southampton. There is little doubt that this has helped Southampton towards their success, and it does look to have been well-balanced

with player sales, albeit the final financial year is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here with a net spend of over £134m.

There is also still some £49.1m still to come in net transfer debt from the club's transfer debtors.

Overall, net cash flow has somewhat mirrored player trading. It's worth pointing out that without the player trading, and despite the on-field success, the club would have lost £45.8m over the course of last season.

Over the season, £1.7m/week was generated in net cash flow.