Leeds set for controversial £30m off-pitch windfall as Paraag Marathe sets budget

Leeds United are set to bank a £30m windfall thanks in part to a controversial new step taken by the club’s decision makers.

Despite Archie Gray’s departure to Tottenham and their failure to win promotion at the first time of asking last season, there are plenty of reasons for Leeds fans to be optimistic ahead of 2024-25.

The club are in a better position with regards to Financial Fair Play than was feared at one point and the arrival of Red Bull as minority investors will buttress their ambitions next season.

From a financial perspective, the West Yorkshire side are still the envy of every other club in the Championship.

Leeds’ new front-of-shirt deal with Red Bull is believed to be worth in excess of £8m per season, which is a record for a club outside the top tier.

And the repurchase of Elland Road from former owner Andrea Radrizzani has opened the door for the club to continue plans to upgrade the historic stadium.

Now, a divisive new measure is set to improve the amount of cash Leeds can expect to earn from their loyal fanbase in 2024-25.

Leeds fans take exception to new ticketing policy

Leeds earned £29.9m in matchday income in 2022-23 and are expected to rake in a similar amount in the upcoming season.

However, in the latest move to extract more cash from fans, the club has removed its ‘Super Away Attendees’ category from ticket sales going forward.

To keep their away credits, Super Away Attendees (fans who went to more than 80 per cent of away matches last term), fans have been asked to pay £850 for an away season ticket.

Although this option guarantees these supporters an away ticket for each match, it works out as more expensive than purchasing an individual ticket for each match based on last season’s ticket prices.

This will generated more matchday income for the club as part of their wider strategy to surpass £30m in this category, but will do so at the risk of frustrating their bedrock support.

As quoted by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Paraag Marathe has revealed that cash has been set aside for upgrades to Elland Road which they hope will further improve that figure and the matchday experience.

“We have earmarked a certain amount of investment to make some improvements at Elland Road, things that I know supporters have been asking for,” the Leeds chairman and 49ers president said.

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TBR Analysis: How much can Leeds spend this summer?

The £40m fee received for Archie Gray has given Leeds room to manoeuvre in the transfer market this summer.

What’s more, the departures of Luis Sinisterra and Tyler Adams came in the 2023-24 financial year and will ease the daunting headline figure of £70m Leeds owe in transfer instalments over the next 12 months.

They will be further bolstered by improvements to the EFL’s TV deal, which will be worth more than £9m to Leeds in 2024-25.

The club also has commercial income, which is peerless in the Championship and higher than more than half of Premier League clubs totals, and parachute payments to rely on.

That is not to say Leeds will not have to find efficiencies and the legacy costs of having recently been a Premier League club in the coming weeks and months.

But the club are still in a position to be able to add to the playing squad this summer and remain compliant with Financial Fair Play.