Premier League clubs lost a staggering £618million in the 2019-2020 season due to the impact of Covid-19, with Manchester United hit hardest by the pandemic.
New financial figures show United saw a massive £118m drop in revenue when football was brought to a standstill last year. Football was stopped for three months as the UK was plunged into lockdown to combat the rising cases of coronavirus.
When football finally returned in July, supporters were not able to attend and the majority of games in the 2020-2021 campaign also took place behind closed doors.
United usually see crowds of 75,000 at Old Trafford but saw their lucrartive matchday revenue disappear with fans kept away from stadiums.
Each club, aside from the three teams who had been promoted to the top flight for the 2019-2020 season, saw a drop in revenue. The 17 teams lost £618m combined.
Aston Villa, Sheffield United and Norwich, who all benefitted from new lucrative TV deals, were excluded. They recorded respective profits of £59m, £85m and £122m.
Bournemouth and Watford, who were both relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2019-2020 season also reported heavy losses. The Cherries lost £36m while the Hornets lost £28m.
Watford are now back in the Premier League after topping the Championship last season while Bournemouth were defeated in the semi-finals of the play-offs.
According to Swiss Ramble, United were hit the hardest by the pandemic, closely followed by Tottenham, Man City, Arsenal and West Ham.
Spurs reportedly lost £69m, City lost £57m, Arsenal lost £52m and West Ham lost £51m. Liverpool were next on the list with losses of £43m, followed by Chelsea - who lost £40m.
Everton managed to avoid a big drop, with losses of just £2m while Burnley only dropped £4m.
Crystal Palace and Brighton also managed to escape with smaller losses. Palace saw a drop of £13m while the Seagulls lost £15m.
Supporters have now returned to football grounds following the lifting of restrictions in the UK.
Several Premier League clubs have seen sell-out crowds, with United playing Leeds in front of 75,000 fans at Old Trafford.
ELIKEMSAM
431
How was it possible that City too lost £57m why we already know nobody goes to the Emptyard apart from a few children and the away fans...
Lara_Croft_Fan
93
Probably because their stadium has the highest capacity, so most revenues from tickets