When Lincoln City Show League One How To Do It, Huddersfield Town Show Us How Not To

April 10, 2026 Gary League One, Lincoln City, News 0

Credit Graham Burrell

Huddersfield Town’s latest financial results underline just how costly the chase for success can be, and why the Lincoln City model continues to stand out.

In a week where we’re lauded as a model of responsibility (or as close to responsible as you can be, losing £3m a year), Huddersfield Town’s accounts show a very different picture indeed.

Firstly, may I say that while we are an example of a club being run as close to ‘well’ as possible, we are still a symptom of the broken system, losing money. We do as well as we believe we can, and our success on the field is balanced against losses, manageable, but still losses.

One of my least favourite teams, the Terriers, has published their 2024-25 accounts following a 10th-place finish in League One, revealing significant losses, a sharp revenue drop, and a wage structure that raises serious sustainability questions.

Credit Graham Burrell

Big Spending, Limited Return

The headline figures make for worrying reading for the whole division. Huddersfield reported revenue of £10.6 million, a decline of 41%, while their wage bill still stood at £16.9 million despite a 23% reduction. That leaves wages at 159% of revenue, a level that is just utterly abhorrent and shows a complete lack of responsibility.

The scale of the losses is equally striking. The club posted an underlying loss of £21.5 million, up 14%, with the pre-tax loss reaching £22.4 million, an increase of 49%. Over time, those deficits have accumulated to £69.8 million. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire outlined the key figures on social media, drawing attention to the imbalance between income and expenditure.

Debt Levels and Structural Questions

Beyond the operating losses, borrowing continues to rise, another worrying trend that we don’t have at Sincil Bank. Huddersfield added £15.9 million in new borrowing during the financial year, taking total debt to £82.6 million. That level of funding points to strong backing from ownership, but it also reinforces how dependent the current model is on continued financial support.

The club spent £4.8 million on players, with the total cost of the squad sitting at £11 million. While not excessive compared to some rivals, the overall picture is one of spending beyond the club’s natural means, and to achieve what? Sacking after sacking and a couple of mid-table finishes. They’re currently below Stevenage, who probably haven’t spent £82.6m on wages in their entire history.

What Happens Next?

Promotion would significantly change the outlook, but it would only be a reward for a dangerous gamble. Championship revenues would help rebalance the wage ratio but honestly, from a neutral point of view, it doesn’t feel like they’d deserve it. They might creep into the play-offs, clinging desperately onto the final few games and hoping, but if they did it would feel like an unwarranted reward for driving up wages in the division and achieving very little.

Right now, Huddersfield Town’s accounts show a club taking a sizeable financial gamble, and one that affects the whole landscape. Exeter City and Northampton Town, two sides at the other end of the scale, are symptoms of the spending disease, unable or unwilling to risk their future to keep up with the bloated, excessive attempts to buy victory.

League One, in places, feels a lot like EA FC 26 – where the best players spend a fortune trying to buy success, rather than earning it. Sadly (for Huddersfield, not for us), they’re just as far away from the Championship as they were under Duff, Worthington or Grant, and have nothing to show for it but debt and an unbalanced squad.