Huddersfield Town FC owner Kevin Nagle predicts further big financial losses but sets out stadium development plans
Owner and chairman Kevin Nagle has informed Insider that Huddersfield Town FC will declare yet another
significant deficit in their upcoming financial quarter.
The League One team’s pre-tax loss for the year ending June 30, 2023, was £6.6 million. When it was owned by
Dean Hoyle and played in the EFL Championship, turnover dropped from £119 million to £18 million during the
season.
“I don’t think there will be anything much different,” Nagle added, referring to the upcoming year. I would say this:
there is no doubt that we will lose a significant amount of money.
We are now investing in the club and its infrastructure, but that cannot continue and is not sustainable. This entails
ensuring that the academy is firmly established. Furthermore, we are investing in the stadium, which required very
little capital investment aside from small sums to make it legal.
Even before we fully take over (John Smith’s Stadium), we are already doing those things. In addition to what we are
doing on the pitch, those are also happening. Three new players have now joined our team. All of that implies that
you will suffer losses.
Self-made Nagle completed his acquisition of the club in 2023 from Hoyle, who reportedly wrote off £40m owed to
him to keep the club out of administration. Asked what state he found the club to be in then he says: “I bought a club
in ten days. I violated every fundamental of due diligence that I have taught people but I am completely comfortable
with what I have.”
Although Nagle, now 70, isn’t shown any signs of wishing to sell the club, does he expect a large number of suitors
when he does make the decision to leave? “I haven’t looked at it, so I’m not sure if there are. One of my buddies is
really excited about the work we are doing at Huddersfield Town in terms of re-engineering the team and interacting
with the public. He is a really talented social media guy who has contacted me a few times asking if he could join the
conversation because he has seen all of our conversations on opportunity. I think there are a few of things, but I
haven’t had an open and official conversation with him about them. Although I am aware that there are people in the
UK, I am also acquainted with.
Californian Nagle and business partners sold Envision Pharmaceutical Holdings in 2015 for $2.3bn. He had
experience as a sports club owner in the US before buying Huddersfield Town, owning the NBA basketball team
Sacramento Kings and football club Sacramento Republic.
How does he compare the sports sector to other industries? “They’re fantastic businesses to own but they tend to be
real labours of love at the beginning. You don’t really do it for the financial benefit, you do it for the love of the sport
and the financial benefit then becomes the exit. Sometimes you have to say to yourself ‘where do you draw the line’
because there are a lot of losses in this business.
“I have handled both my football businesses in the same way. There was a generation of football which I call 1.0,
that’s a traditional model where you have a club, stadium and certain sources for revenues and costs. One of the
things that attracted me to Huddersfield Town was that it was entering a version of 2.0, where you are starting to
monetise other aspects of the business.”
Kirklees council’s 40 per cent share of the John Smith’s Stadium is being given to the football club. The Huddersfield
Giants rugby league club owns the remaining 20 per cent and its owner Ken Davy has said he wants to build the
Giants its own stadium in the next three years.
More than £1bn is being invested across Huddersfield currently. Projects include the TransPennine rail upgrade and
a revamped Huddersfield Railway Station, the £262m Our Cultural Heart town centre regeneration scheme, the
University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus, re-development of the historic George Hotel and
the opening of the Kingsgate Leisure cinema and entertainments complex.
Nagle, who has property development experience in the US, wants a wholesale redevelopment of facilities in and
around the John Smiths too. In the interview with Insider he says: “I have been really candid with the council to say
‘what more are you guys going to do?’. They are coming back saying ‘what can you do, we’ll try to help you however
we can’. I have found them to be very helpful.
“We are considering using our stadium for a variety of purposes outside of football. We might have more time for
events like concerts if the rugby club is established. We have further acreage, you can construct retail chances, maybe
building and development options, there might be housing or other features which are advantageous including hotel.
Additionally, we are updating the stadium’s interior to accommodate a variety of events, such as comedy shows and
weddings.It might be a very exciting place to live, work, and play.
Any potential hotel was thought to be earmarked for a plot of land adjacent to the stadium’s main stand and across
the river, though Nagle says the club has other options on its footprint.
Kirklees Council is particularly keen on the Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor linking a redeveloped train
station, George Hotel and quality public realm of St George’s Square to the stadium via the new National Health
Innovation Campus.
Nagle says he isn’t concerned that the stadium is too far away from the town centre for schemes such as hotels. “It
takes you probably 10 or 12 minutes to walk here from the station. It will be very desirable because building costs are
much more affordable than they are in Leeds.
On a fundamental level, I support the council’s goals. Since the UK and the US have different cultures, I have to be
careful. How can we incorporate the fabric to introduce something fresh? It needs a lot of attention because I stroll
into downtown Huddersfield quite a bit. What I aim to accomplish, and I don’t mean this in a bad or disparaging
way, is to show how vibrant a place like Leeds is, and how sedentary and calm Huddersfield appears, but when you
go into the communities there, you realise that they are stunning.”
And after three straight defeats leaving the team in fifth in League One and 11 points off an automatic promotion
place, how important is the football side of his operation? “You’re always a football club and that’s your core
business. I spend a fair amount of my time on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). I use that one largely because it is the most
negative and I know that everything else will be lighter than that. But we hear so many positive things and when I
come to the stadium we have great comments.
“We didn’t want to lose last night, but we did. “What is going on?” is what we will ask the coach throughout our
conversation. When will all of the additional players that we purchased be integrated? The fan from Britain is quite
knowledgeable and knowledgeable about the sport. As a result, they demand specific things and pose much more
difficult queries. Since I have faced hardship all of my life, I don’t mind at all; in fact, I quite enjoy it. Ultimately,
though, we must also exercise some patience.
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