Dons paid club record transfer fee for Charlton striker – as they outline playing budget approach for 2022-23 League Two season

AFC Wimbledon paid a club record transfer fee to sign Josh Davison from Charlton Athletic this summer.

The 22-year-old striker has scored three goals in nine appearances for the League Two club.

The Dons raised funds with the sale of Jack Rudoni to Huddersfield – their biggest sale since the club reformed – as well as Luke McCormick joining Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee.

The Dons Trust have released an overview of how the club’s playing budget for the 2022-23 season was achieved. They added that money received from outgoing player transactions has helped bridge the gap caused by the loss of central funding and an anticipated reduction in attendances as well as player signings which involved a fee.

“For this season, based on the payments received this summer, we have exceeded our initial line item assumption for income from player sales. This allowed us to make several signings where we paid a cash sum for players. This includes the likes of Josh Davison, who became our record signing of the AFC Wimbledon era and, more recently, Harry Pell.

“In short, this strategy has allowed us to produce a playing budget for this season in League Two that is slightly bigger than the playing budget we started last season (in League One) with. Based on the EFL 21-22 figures this should probably place us in the second quartile – of course, we do not yet know how other clubs set their budgets but it is a reasonable assumption.

“We all want to make the most money possible available for the playing budget, every year. But it’s important the club is sustainable and prudent with its spending. We’ll always want (and sometimes need) to invest in maintaining and then improving our stadium. And we may need external finance in the future to do that, so a track record of financial success is vital.

“There are other potential upsides for the club’s budget. A good cup run, especially one with a home televised game, could add significant funds. And the club always seeks to include potential “add-ons” when selling a player, be that based on appearances or success for the new side, or a sell-on fee whereby we benefit from the player’s next move.

“For the last few seasons, while we were struggling in League One, the club was charged with preparing two draft budgets – one for League One and one for League Two. During the season, clubs are given a list by the EFL of playing budgets. Each club name is hidden but we obviously know where we are placed. While the EFL doesn’t allow us to share details of all the other clubs’ budgets, as we announced back in June 2021, in League One terms, we had a budget that placed us 21st out of the 24 clubs in 2020-21. We also had a budget that ranked in the bottom four last year.

“When relegation was confirmed, the Dons Trust Board and PLC board wanted the club to provide a playing budget that was competitive enough to challenge at the top of the table, and push for an immediate return to League One, while of course living within our means.

“Budget data from the EFL for the 21/22 season showed that in order to be in the second quartile of League Two (i.e. to rank between 7th and 12th), the club would need to match the same playing budget as we had in League One.

“This presented several challenges. First, we had set a high attendance budgeted figure of approximately 7,500 for League One. Thanks to fantastic support in our first season back at Plough Lane in front of fans we achieved this. However, when preparing assumptions for a League Two budget, it wouldn’t have been prudent to do the same due to the loss of some very big away attendances. We have therefore budgeted for an average attendance of approximately 6,500 this season. We have been encouraged by the high uptake of season tickets, and consider the 6,500 figure achievable. Nonetheless, this attendance figure would see about £400,000 less available to spend on the team compared to last season. This is not just lower gate money, but also reduced income from bars and catering.

“Additionally, as a League Two club, the club gets much less central funding from the EFL – this equates to a drop of approximately £500,000. This means the club had to find around £900,000 in additional income, just to keep our playing budget at the same level as we had last season in League One.

“To bridge the majority of this gap, the boards agreed to have a high assumption in the budgeted line for player sales, knowing there was interest in and would be bids for some of our players. This is what enabled us to be confident and publicly state a plan to have a competitive League Two budget. To be crystal clear, if we hadn’t included this player sales budget line, we would likely have had a below-average budget for League Two.

“Things aren’t always that straightforward however when it comes to budgeting revenue from player sales. For instance, the selling club will often not receive all the money from the transfer upfront. In fact, the transfer fee is often staggered over the course of the player’s contract. This means that the club must be careful with its cash flow.

“Similarly, there will be different parts to players’ contracts that could significantly affect the budget. This could be clean-sheet or goal bonuses or incremental increases in salary for the lifetime of the contract based on a number of benchmarks being hit – such as appearances

“We have produced this update to coincide with the closing of the summer transfer window – we didn’t feel it would be prudent to share too much information with agents or rival clubs while active in the recruitment market. But we hope that this overview has provided answers to many of the questions we have seen or received over the close season.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD