Having been as high as fifth at one stage, AFC Bournemouth ended up finishing in a very respectable ninth in this season’s Premier League, which equalled their best ever result under Eddie Howe in 2016/17.

The Cherries played some excellent football, as manager Andoni Iraola’s ideas really began to bring some success in his second season on the south coast.

League Position

It’s strange to think that as recently as 2008/09 Bournemouth finished a lowly 21st in League Two after they were deducted 17 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement.

However, these days the trend is very much their friend, as the club has steadily improved since then. In fact, they have spent no fewer than eight of the last ten years in England’s top flight, including the most recent three seasons after they were promoted from the Championship in 2021/22.

This does raise the question of how a club with such limited financial resources has managed to succeed where so many others have failed?

Their good performance has come, despite having the smallest stadium in the Premier League (by far), while their revenue is also one of the lowest.

Ownership

Much of the recent improvement can be attributed to owner Bill Foley, who bought Maxim Demin’s 100% stake in Bournemouth via his Black Knight group in December 2022 to end the Russian’s 11 years tenure.

Foley has plenty of experience in running a sports club, as he also owns the Vegas Golden Knights, a successful NHL franchise. Various figures have been given for the purchase price, but the most commonly reported is £120-125m.

The American billionaire certainly has big plans, “I want Bournemouth to play in Europe – that’s our goal. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m confident we can get there. Brighton are a great inspiration; they do a terrific job. I certainly think we can be in Europe within five years.”

The club itself was somewhat more circumspect, “Our focus was on improving football performance in the Premier League, while ensuring that the business was on a stable financial footing.”

Let’s take a look at how well Bournemouth have done in achieving those twin objectives, focusing on the most recent available accounts from the 2023/24 season, when they finished 12th in the Premier League, also reaching the 5th round of the FA Cup and 4th round of the EFL Cup.

Profit/(Loss) 2023/24

Bournemouth swung from a £44m pre-tax profit to a £66m loss, a significant deterioration of £110m in the bottom line, mainly because the previous year benefited from an exceptional £71m gain after the write-off of shareholder loans.

Revenue rose £20m (14%) from £141m to a club record £161m, while other operating income more than quadrupled from £2m to £9m, though profit from player sales dropped from £2m to just £251k.

However, this was more than offset by steep growth in operating expenses, which shot up £62m (37%) from £164m to £226m. in addition, net interest payable increased by a third from £7.6m to £10.3m.

The main driver of Bournemouth’s revenue growth was broadcasting, which rose £13m (10%) from £123m to £136m. There was also a significant increase in commercial, which was up £6m (48%) from £13m to £19m, while match day improved by £1.1m (21%) from £5.4m to £6.5m.

All three revenue streams set new highs for the club.

Bournemouth continued to invest in the squad to boost their chances of surviving (and thriving) in the Premier League, so wages climbed £36m (36%) from £100m to £136m, while player amortisation increased £21m (49%) from £41m to £62m.

Other expenses also grew £5m (21%) from £21m to £26m.

Bournemouth’s £66m pre-tax loss was the third worst in the Premier League last season, only better than Manchester United £131m and Aston Villa £86m.