Queens Park Rangers lost £22.6million during their first season back in the Premier League, it was announced today.
Although that figure, published in the accounts for QPR Holdings Limited, was £3m down on their final season in the Championship, turnover soared from £16m to £64m. Debt has increased from £56m to £89m.
The deficit for the 2011-12 season was in part due to spending £25m on new players and the club face another big loss this season having splashed out more than £30m on signings in the last two transfer windows.
In both cases the large outlay was down to the club’s eagerness to maintain their top-flight status. Last term they brought in Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora for £4m each in the January window while this winter Christopher Samba (£12m) and Loic Remy (£8m) arrived at the Premier League’s bottom club.
The accounts for 2011-12 showed the huge gulf between life in the Premier League and the Championship.
QPR’s wage bill — covering all employees ranging from players to administrative staff — almost doubled from £26m to £51m. Ticket revenue per game has also risen from £232,000 to £405,000.
The accounts cover Tony Fernandes’s first as chairman. In his statement with the accounts he said: “When, alongside my business partners, I purchased a majority shareholding in the club in August 2011 my goal was to turn QPR into an established Premier League club.
“This remains my focus and I continue to work closely with Amit Bhatia and other shareholders to make this a reality.
“Under the guidance of our new manager, Harry Redknapp, we are hopeful that the club will secure their Premier League status going forward.
“We are confident that the 2012-13 season will also see the club continue to make progress towards achieving their short, medium and long-term off-pitch targets.”
Fernandes added that the club — who are four points from safety in the Premier League with 10 games to go — are continuing to look for a site for a larger stadium.
