Seagulls post big loss

The cost of chasing a place in the Premier League has been emphasised yet again after Brighton and Hove Albion posted a loss of £14.7m for last season, an increase of over £6m on the previous year’s deficit, despite boasting the highest average attendance in the Championship.

The cost of chasing a place in the Premier League has been emphasised yet again after Brighton and Hove Albion posted a loss of £14.7m for last season, an increase of over £6m on the previous year’s deficit, despite boasting the highest average attendance in the Championship.

The Seagulls, with their excellent new Amex stadium, are viewed as one of the best run clubs in the division and are making a concerted effort to fulfil the Football League’s new financial fair play regulations, based on new Uefa rules. In that context, they must reduce their losses to £8m by December this year or technically face penalties.

“This set of results shows the reality of football in the Championship in recent years and demonstrates the very high cost of being competitive – with no guarantee of promotion to the Premier League,” said the Albion chief executive, Paul Barber. “We had the highest average crowd in the Football League last season and we continued to grow revenues we can control. But in order to compete at the top end of the Championship, we had to once again rely on another considerable investment from our chairman, Tony Bloom.”

Turnover was up £1m to £23.3m. Ticketing and commercial revenues increased. However, the increase in wages and transfer fees, together with a fall in television revenue, saw the deficit increase from £8.6m the previous year. Football costs rose from £14.8m to £20.9m, though those figures should be eased next season. The club sold three players – Liam Bridcutt (to Sunderland for £2.5m), Ashley Barnes and Adam El-Abd – in January.

“We simply cannot sit back and rely on Tony’s continued generosity alone,” added Barber. “The new rules do not allow this. Not only has Tony provided interest-free funding to build the Amex Stadium and the new training ground project, he has also covered the club’s losses to date and is committed to funding future losses.” If you are a football benefactor, you need patience and deep pockets.