Sale Sharks' latest accounts make for grim reading

The full accounts for Manchester Sale Rugby Club Limited (Sale Sharks) were published yesterday and are another reminder of the precarious financial state of the Gallagher PREM.

Last year the 10 clubs that make up English club rugby’s elite league lost a combined total of £32 million, and there is a danger of that eye-watering sum being beaten again.

On the same day that Harlequins’ year-end accounts showed an operating loss of £2.72 million – up by a staggering 71% from £1.59 million the year before – the Sharks reported an operating loss treble the size of the Londoners (£8.14 million – a 16.5% increase). Over the last two years Sale Sharks have made an operating loss of circa £15 million.

Sale lean heavily on the largesse of co-owner of Simon Orange, who sold his Corpaq empire for over £1 billion and has vowed to keep bankrolling the club and turn them into a Northern powerhouse.

While Corpaq acquired the naming rights to the Salford Community Stadium, where the Sharks play, the 2006 Premiership champions use the council-owned ground on a long-term licence. Ideally, they would like to build their own stadium, and increase matchday revenue as a result, with nearby Altrincham mooted as a possible location.

Crowds have been down this year – all three league gates have been south of 6,000 – and need to increase, which may prove difficult unless the club can turnaround its indifferent start to the league season.

Even in a relatively successful season in 2024/25, which saw the Sharks reach the play-offs, the club’s average Gallagher PREM attendance was just 7,403. Fewer than 100,000 spectators came through the turnstiles across all competitions.

Even so, Sale Sharks’ turnover for the last financial year went up from £9.15 million to £9.7 million, largely down to an increase in central funding, which can partly be attributed to the club supplying England with a large cohort of internationals and being recompensed accordingly under the new Professional Game Agreement.

Repaying the so-called Covid loans given to PREM clubs by Sport England remains a drain on all PREM club finances. At the end of the financial year, Sale’s debt to Sport England stood at £7.57 million.