If Aberdeen sign a player we generally know how much has been paid in transfer fees, the figures from www.soccerbase.com are a good source.
The club has to pay the transfer fee to the selling club. In the club accounts it then has to report how much it views each player's worth has declined each year. So for example Steve Lovell joining for £250,000 on a three year contract costs the club £83,000 per year. This is what is reported as 'amortisation' in the club accounts. At the end of the contract the player can just leave on a 'free' so he is viewed as potentially no worth to the business after that.
This only covers the costs for players bought in. So Darren Mackie, for example, does not have any effect on the amortisation costs of the club, as he was never bought from another club. Also once a player has finished his initial contract he stops being counted. So if Scott Severin was signed on a three-year contract for example, he now has no effect on amortisation
The annual amount the club are paying out for players looks to have settled down at about £200,000 per season. Comparing with Hibs who have a figure of under £100,000 for the last two seasons this shows the different level of investment. For both clubs amortisation may increase this year if they spend some of the money from the sales of home-grown players.
The 2008 figures show that a slight rise.
If a player is sold when he has no worth on the books the club see this as pure profit. So Russell Anderson for example hit the books as a £689,000 profit.
