Forest's Accounts 2025:
Progress, Perspective —
And Why The Rules Still Don't Feel Fair
A Supporters' Trust commentary on the year ended 30 June 2025, published at the close of the 2025/26 season.
Forest's turnovers keep rising, the squad investment is real — but the Premier League remains a financial two-tier system. Here's what the numbers say, what they don't say, and why PSR still needs fixing.
Club record
Up from £12.2m in 2022
Less than a single top-six season
The Story In Six Lines
- Forest are moving forward fast: from 17th in the Championship (2021) to a European semi-final run within four years.
- Turnover hit a club record: £221.7m, up from £29.7m in the promotion season.
- Broadcast money drives everything: £158.6m last season.
- Matchday income is rising, but it's a smaller slice of the total than it used to be.
- The gap is still huge: several clubs generate £600m–£700m+ in a single season.
- PSR/FFP still looks inconsistent when some clubs can post extraordinary losses with limited transparency.
A Season To Remember, And A Moment To Zoom Out
As the 2025/26 season closes, Forest supporters have had plenty to celebrate: another year in the Premier League and a European adventure that reached the semi-final stage.
It's worth pausing to remember just how quickly things have changed. In May 2021 we finished 17th in the Championship, behind closed doors. Four years later we're talking about Europe.
That on-pitch story matters — but so does the off-pitch reality:
Forest are improving financially, yet we're still competing in a league where the biggest clubs operate on a completely different scale.The Premier League Isn't One Race — It's Two
If you ever wonder why staying up matters so much, the answer is in the turnovers.
Forest's growth since promotion is meaningful, but the Premier League remains a two-speed competition financially. A handful of clubs generate more turnover in one season than Forest have earned across the first three seasons back in the top flight.
Below is a simple comparison of turnovers, profit/loss, and the book value of squad investment (player registration costs). It's not the whole story, but it shows the shape of the league.
Total revenue, £m. Forest highlighted. The chart tells the two-tier story at a glance.
| Club | Turnover (£'000) | Profit/(Loss) (£'000) | Squad Cost (£'000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 702,722 | 15,212 | 806,507 |
| Manchester City | 694,094 | 64,420 | 1,329,679 |
| Arsenal | 642,839 | 25,198 | 922,676 |
| Manchester United | 600,652 | (26,270) | 1,100,673 |
| Tottenham | 446,866 | (104,512) | 696,339 |
| Chelsea | 442,466 | (256,700) | 1,509,704 |
| Newcastle | 323,124 | 18,740 | 580,951 |
| Aston Villa | 310,082 | (22,587) | 539,989 |
| West Ham | 226,058 | (108,261) | 481,044 |
| Nottingham Forest | 221,746 | (78,921) | 313,966 |
| Brighton | 221,063 | (31,305) | 441,584 |
| Everton | 196,697 | (8,609) | 233,019 |
| Crystal Palace | 195,304 | 8,070 | 316,878 |
| Fulham | 194,790 | (39,012) | 294,070 |
| Leicester | 186,504 | (71,233) | 255,215 |
| Bournemouth | 181,716 | 14,887 | 398,331 |
| Brentford | 173,076 | (20,527) | 294,438 |
| Wolves | 171,975 | (11,631) | 315,815 |
| Southampton | 157,520 | 45 | 225,020 |
| Ipswich | 155,418 | 4 | 136,457 |
| Leeds | 136,989 | 49,177 | 219,604 |
| Burnley | 71,746 | (29,061) | 177,346 |
| Sunderland | 40,294 | (4,010) | 162,627 |
| Derby County | 31,868 | (11,070) | 11,220 |
Forest's Turnover Growth: Real Progress, Not Headlines
A lot of coverage of accounts focuses on one number in isolation (turnover) and one headline (losses), without acknowledging the trajectory.
Forest's turnover has grown strongly every season since promotion.
From the Championship promotion year to a club record — £m
| Year | League | Turnover (£'000) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Premier League | 221,746 |
| 2024 | Premier League | 189,552 |
| 2023 | Premier League | 154,758 |
| 2022 | Championship | 29,683 |
Over the first three Premier League seasons back, Forest generated £566m in total turnover. The uncomfortable truth is that several established clubs generate more than this in a single season.
Where The Money Comes From (And Why It Matters)
The Premier League is powered by broadcast income. That's not a moral judgement — it's just the mechanics of the modern game.
Here's Forest's turnover mix.
Where the money comes from — the rise of broadcast income tells the Premier League story
| Source | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gate receipts | 20,251 | 14,408 | 10,992 | 8,227 |
| Media | 158,600 | 130,019 | 124,836 | 12,158 |
| Merchandising | 10,090 | 8,550 | 7,127 | 3,550 |
| Commercial | 28,421 | 21,088 | 11,803 | 5,748 |
| Loan fees | 4,384 | 15,487 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 221,746 | 189,552 | 154,758 | 29,683 |
Fans, Attendance & Ticketing: The Live Issue
Supporters will rightly look at these numbers through the prism of the matchday experience.
Attendances continue to rise — and the mix has changed too, with more "casual" match-going fans than in the Championship years.
Average attendance has crept up — but average spend per attendee has more than doubled since promotion
| Metric | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average attendance | 30,064 | 29,383 | 28,808 | 25,778 |
| Season tickets | 18,240 | 19,814 | 20,029 | 20,757 |
| Avg £ per attendee | 674 | 490 | 382 | 319 |
| Gate receipts as % of turnover | 9.1% | 7.6% | 7.1% | 27.7% |
A couple of pointers worth flagging:
Matchday income is up in total, but as a share of turnover it's much smaller than in the Championship. And spend per attendee has increased sharply since promotion.
Forest Today: A Bigger Organisation Than Many Realise
On the operational side, Forest has grown quickly since promotion — and is now one of the city's larger private employers.
| Category | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playing staff | 83 | 86 | 84 | 69 |
| Non-playing | 254 | 208 | 170 | 142 |
| Temporary | 447 | 416 | 382 | 343 |
| Total headcount | 784 | 710 | 636 | 554 |
Squad Investment: Significant Backing, But Not "Top Tier" Spending
Forest have invested heavily in the playing squad to establish and stabilise Premier League status. Player registration costs reflect transfer fees (and certain related costs) amortised over contracts — they are not a market valuation of the squad.
Book value of squad investment — £m. Steep ramp since promotion, but well below the league's top end.
| Movement | PL 3-Year Total | Championship 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Cost brought forward | 17,448 | 30,778 |
| Additions | 383,096 | 11,933 |
| Disposals | (86,578) | (25,263) |
| Cost carried forward | 313,966 | 17,448 |
The Uncomfortable Bit: PSR Needs Clarity And Consistency
We won't re-litigate every club's position here, but the league-wide picture raises a fair supporter question:
That perception of inconsistency undermines confidence in the rules. The Trust has previously said the system is not fit for purpose, and the wider numbers keep pointing to the same conclusion: financial regulation needs to be applied consistently, and explained clearly.
That debate is also changing shape. From 2026/27, the Premier League says PSR will be replaced by new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) and Sustainability and Systemic Resilience (SSR) rules.
In simple terms, PSR looked mainly at allowable losses over a rolling three-year period. SCR instead focuses on what clubs spend on the squad each season as a share of football income, with more in-season monitoring. SSR is meant to test broader financial resilience.
That may be a cleaner model on paper. But for supporters the real test will be the same: whether the rules are transparent, consistent and applied fairly across the league.
Final Word
Forest's story over the last four years is one of rapid progress: on the pitch, in Europe, and in the accounts.
But the financial gap remains the defining challenge. Staying in the Premier League — and continuing to access Premier League turnovers — is essential to sustain momentum without repeatedly gambling the club's future.
From where we were in 2021 to where we are now: this club has moved forward fast. Keep the faith. COYR.