All 20 Premier League clubs have avoided breaches of Profitability and Sustainability Rules for last season — though at least two were helped by selling their women’s team to a related company.
Clubs had to submit their accounts for 2024-25 by a deadline of December 31 and it is understood that the Premier League’s financial team has found that all have complied with PSR rules, which limits losses to £105million over a rolling three-year period, with some deductions permitted.
Everton and Aston Villa both sold their women’s teams to related companies in June last year, and the Premier League permits such paper profits to be recorded as revenue for PSR purposes even though Uefa does not for its financial calculations.
As previously revealed by The Times, Villa are set to be hit with another heavy fine for breaching Uefa’s squad cost rule, which imposes financial penalties if a club’s spending on player wages, transfers and agents is more than 70 per cent of its revenues.
Despite Villa’s women’s team being sold to a related company, the club will still be fined by Uefa over squad costs
MOLLY DARLINGTON/WSL FOOTBALL VIA GETTY IMAGES
In terms of PSR, however — which carries sanctions of points deductions for breaches — all the top-flight teams are in the clear for last season.
The Premier League will bring in new rules next season similar to Uefa’s squad cost rule, but with a more generous 85 per cent limit of spending on player and agent costs compared to revenues. Clubs will still have to comply with PSR limits for this season, however, with any decisions on possible breaches to be made in a year’s time.
Everton Football Club Women Ltd was transferred to Roundhouse Capital Holdings Ltd, the Everton owner Dan Friedkin’s company, last summer. At the time, club insiders said the move was made to ensure the women’s team is a standalone entity that can attract its own investment from the United States, but also accepted that the profit would help with PSR compliance.
Everton had previously been docked six points for a PSR breach in the 2021-22 season and two points for a breach in 2022-23.
Villa’s PSR compliance was helped by the club being able to register as income the £55million for selling the women’s team to their parent company in June last year.
Chelsea were the first to spot the ability for clubs to sell assets such as hotels and their women’s team to related companies and register that as a profit for PSR calculations.
The Premier League insists it is not a loophole because it carries out rigorous fair value assessments of such “sales”. Nevertheless, it has failed on three occasions to persuade members’ clubs to change the rules to prevent such practices.