Bantams report £1.1 million profit thanks to McBurnie

The club today released details of their accounts for the year ending June 30, 2020 and revealed that revenue had risen by 18 per cent to £7.8 million.

A third of that came from transfer income – chiefly the £2 million plus they received from the 15 per cent sell-on clause and various add-ons that were written into the deal following the striker’s departure from Valley Parade in 2015.

The Bantams cashed in from McBurnie’s subsequent move from Swansea to Sheffield United – a timely financial injection for owner Stefan Rupp when football was shut down by Covid-19.

The figures confirmed that the wage bill dropped from £3.6 million – one of the highest in League One when City finished bottom – to £2.9 million in their first season back in the fourth tier.

“It should also be noted that the club was carrying over heavy wages (long-term contracts) from its grossly-overspending summer of 2018,” said director and club accountant Alan Biggin, who wrote the report.

“The transfer income is substantial and, without this contribution - which, by its nature, is something of a rarity - the club would have reported a substantial loss for the year.

The club's graphic outlines their accounts for the year ending June 30, 2020

“Consequently, as realised by many of the clubs at our level, football costs and wages and salaries have had to be reviewed and will continue to be so, to ensure the club remains commercially viable.

“The pandemic has proven a difficult time for the football industry, and we have been fortunate to weather the storm to some extent, even though income streams have significantly diminished.”

Biggin praised chief executive Ryan Sparks for providing a “renewed, long-term vision at the club at a time when spirits had been low.”

He said: “Not unreasonably, there is a degree of optimism about, but I will refrain from the expression ‘sleeping giant’ as such cliches tend to jaundice opinion and encourage the cynics.”

Writing on Twitter, Sparks said the financial comparison between 2019/2020 and the previous campaign in League One was the "epilogue for arguably the club's worst season in modern history and the most unnecessary relegation."

He added: "It is also a reminder of how successful our model (consistently generating transfer income) is and will continue to be.

"Without 2018’s 'summer of madness', you can clearly see what we would have had at our disposal in 2019/20 - as a League One club.

"It is a bitter pill to swallow but only makes us more determined in terms of our ambitions."