Crewe Alexandria have relied heavily on a successful model of selling on Academy graduates they have developed to other clubs, but changes in the youth development system now threaten that way of keeping the club going.
Crewe Alexandria have relied heavily on a successful model of selling on Academy graduates they have developed to other clubs, but changes in the youth development system now threaten that way of keeping the club going.
The club has reported losses of nearly £1m in its latest accounts. Administrative expenses were cut by £778,727 to £3.75m over 2010/11, although turnover fell from £3.5m to £2.31m. With no cash from player sales since John Brayford and James Bailey joined Derby for a combined £1m in May 2010, directors needed to provide interest free loans of more than £500,000 to keep the club running. You have to have quite big pockets even to be involved in a League 2 club.
In all, the Alex recorded a loss of £962,736 for the 12 months up to the end of June last year, up from £821,934 the previous year. The accounts show the Gresty Road wage bill was slashed by £340,000 to £2.16m during the season as the club operated with 40 fewer match-day staff. That figure is likely to be much smaller again for this campaign after top earners such as Clayton Donaldson and Calvin Zola left the club.
Commercial revenue fell from £669,135 to £420,138 and overall football-related income was down to £1.8m from £2.8m. Gate receipts are likely to decline again this season after the average attendance at Gresty Road this year has dropped below 4,000 for the first time this century.
Board members provided unsecured and interest free loans of £525,000 during the year, with £335,000 repaid by the summer and a further £170,000 given back since then. A year previously, directors dipped into their own pockets to lend £495,000 which has all now been repaid.
David Coleman, from the Crewe Alexandra Supporters’ Initiative, admitted the club’s traditional model did not leave much room for manoeuvre. He said: ‘Academies are expensive and small clubs like Morecambe and Rochdale cannot afford to run one, but for Crewe it remains the very essence of the club.’
The implementation of the Elite Player Performance Plan in the Football League, however, could soon hinder the financial potential of Crewe’s conveyor belt of talent. New rules proposed by the Premier League could mean the cash-strapped Railwaymen are stopped from signing boys before they are 12 years old, while fees will drop significantly if they switch to a bigger club before reaching 16.
Coleman said: ‘Our problem is that while Premier League teams are prepared to pay silly money, it is very rare that they will reach into League Two to do that ahead of going abroad. If you look at Arsenal with what, three English players in their squad, or at Manchester City then we are more likely to have to sell into the Championship. That means we are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds for players rather than millions.’