We hear very little about Financial Fair Play these days from the West Ham board for one very good reason.
Clubs have now been allowed to increased their wage bills by £7m per season – up £4m on the previous three-year scheme.
Last year Premier League clubs quietly voted to continue the self-governing Premier League FFP scheme which will run for a further three years including this season.
The Hammers published a total wage bill of £84.7m in their 2016 accounts for last season but this includes non-playing staff which aren’t included in the FFP cap. That was an increase of £12m on the 2015 wage bill of £72.7m which saw a £9m increase from 2014 when the wage bill was £63.8m
A financial source close to the club told us:
“For 2016-2017, we elected (along with the most other clubs) to take our actual (player wage) spend from 2015-2016 and add our annual allowance of £7.0m plus our Club Own Revenue Uplift (CORU) to give us the maximum amount we can spend on players plus NI. We remain well within this cap and will comply with the STCC rules. We did not go back to the 2013 base year as it was not in our interest to do so as we have generated CORU each year and if we went back to the base year it would limit our spend.”
“For next season, 2107-2018, we will again elect to take our actual (player wage) spend in 2016-2017, and add £7.0m, plus CORU, to give us our maximum spend. We will comply with the STCC limits as we have for the last four years.
“For 2018-2019, we will take our actual spend in 2017-2018, and add £7.0m plus CORU to give us our maximum spend.”
“Rest assured, we know our obligations and we know that the Premier League looks at this closely, and we would never risk breaking the rules.”
“We have complied every year and will continue to do so. Suffice to say we operate within the rules and have sufficient headroom when required.”
A source close to club said on FFP:
“Suffice to say we operate within the rules and have sufficient headroom when required”