Demotion may cost United up to £50m
May 26 2009 By Dan Warburton, The Journal
A top football finance expert also predicted the club would have to slash jobs to cope with the huge drop in revenue facing the Tyneside outfit.
Liverpool University’s Professor Tom Cannon said the massive cut in TV money would be added to by drops in season ticket sales, a fall in sales of merchandise and a collapse in money coming from corporate entertainment and sponsorship.
Prof Cannon predicted a fall of up to 25% in the club’s revenue overall. He said the recession could cut ticket sales in the Premiership by up to 15%, but that the drop further down the leagues would be even greater.
And he predicted the hole in Newcastle finances could reach an eye-watering £50m overall.
Games at St James’s Park against Manchester, Liverpool and Arsenal will be replaced by Peterborough, Scunthorpe and Barnsley next season.
Prof Cannon, an expert in football finance and professor of strategic development at Liverpool University, said: "Most of my research suggests that even for teams staying in the Premier League, there will be a 10-15% decline in season ticket renewals next season because of the financial situation.
"Now Newcastle have gone down, there’s no doubt in my mind there will be a sharp reduction in the number of season tickets.
"That could be a reduction of as much as 15-20%, which obviously translates as a significant amount of money lost.
"The money generated through season ticket sales is extremely important to football clubs because it’s money in the bank before the transfer window closes."
