Bristol City Losses Increase £14m

Wed 5th Dec 2012 | Money & Finance

Bristol City have posted a loss of £14,406,061 to the year ended May 31st 2012 in its latest annual accounts.

This is compared to a loss of £11,454,525 for the previous financial year.

The results follow a difficult year for the club which Colin Sexstone stepped down as Chairman and now face an uphill struggle to comply with the Football League’s newly introduced Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

“The financial results for the year ended May 31st 2012 once again reflect a disappointing and difficult year for the club,” said Chairman, Keith Dawe.

“The loss of £14.4m illustrates how much work is required to reduce costs and grow our income in order to comply with the new FFP regulations, brought in by the Football League.

During the last financial year the turnover dropped slightly from £11.9m to £11.8m, but staff costs rose from £15.9m to £18.6m.

Dawe added: “It shows how fixed-term contracts for players mean there is no easy or quick solution, but an improvement in recruitment and selection criteria can certainly aid us going forward.

“The ongoing developments of the new stadium (which has now been in fruition for five years) continue to cause us much frustration and cost, however, with the management of the project now in the hands of the owners, this allows us to focus on our core business and push to get results without distractions.

“The year saw another change of manager, from Keith Millen to Derek McInnes, with a struggle towards the end of the season and a battle against relegation. As a club I was very proud of the way in which everyone stuck together to ensure we overcame that battle and secured our npower Championship status for another year.

“The final few games saw Ashton Gate sold out and the management and players responded with an impressive eight-match unbeaten run to end the campaign on a relatively positive note.

“This year also marked Colin Sexstone’s decision to stand down as Chairman. Over 11 years Colin has been an excellent Chief Executive and, latterly, Chairman for the club, providing support and determination on the stadium development, as well as a drive and determination to make us successful.

“I was very honoured to take on the mantle as Chairman in the summer, heading up a new Board of Directors at a time of significant change and development for the club. Whilst it is challenging, it’s also an extremely exciting period.

“We continue to develop strongly the Academy and Community Trust. We see these areas of the club as major stepping stones towards our future.

“We will be working hard to ensure more fresh young talent is recruited into our Academy, and that talent must then be given the opportunity to make its mark in the first team over time. With the new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) youth development scheme now in place, we’ve committed a lot of finance into increasing staffing and improving our facilities to achieve Category 2 status – which would put our Academy up there with some of the best in the country.

“The main challenge facing the Board will be to reduce our losses, achieve FFP, whilst remaining competitive. With good planning and ownership I am confident this can be achieved.

Posted by: Aaron Gourley

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