Yeovil Town has announced a loss of £692k as the club publishes its annual accounts for the year ended June 2015.

Relegation from the Championship had resulted in a substantial drop in Turnover from £7.8m in 2014 to £4m in 2015, a reduction of £3.8m. This was due to reduced support from The Football League and Premier League of £2.9m.

Also, smaller crowds at Huish Park, with an average attendance of 4,300 for League matches equated to a reduction of £0.66m in gate revenue, and further reductions in Commercial and Hospitality of £0.1m.

 

Expenditure incurred in 2015 of £4.7m was £1.6m lower than 2014.

 

Mr Fry said: “Although the Club’s £2.3m squad budget was covered by a reserve fund of £1.4m, and through revenues from the Manchester United FA Cup tie, the cost of keeping Championship high earners under contract – and bringing in 21 emergency loans – was the main cause of the decline in both the financial and footballing performances. 

“These figures demonstrate the true cost of our relegation from the Sky Bet Championship and the size of the job we have in keeping Yeovil Town in the Football League. However, with Darren Way at the helm, we now have our losses under control, and not only does our Football League future look secure, the squad and club is being rebuilt, back to winning ways"

 

The Chairman explained: "We thought we had sufficient quality in both our playing squad and the management team to return the club straight back to the Championship. Instead, right from the start of the 2014/15 season, we were involved in a costly battle to save our League One status. 

“On the pitch it was a very disappointing season, which sadly led to the departure of manager Gary Johnson. The appointment of Paul Sturrock failed to stop the decline in results, with the season ending in a second successive relegation.”

The Chairman said that any business would be disappointed posting a substantial loss, but he added: “With limited resources and small crowds, Yeovil Town has been punching above its weight with amazing results every season since joining the Football League. But despite all our difficulties, we successfully complied with the Football League’s strict Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) and once again, we had no company loans or debts outstanding at the end of the financial year".

 

The Chairman has an upbeat message for fans and partners in the business: "With the help of increased match-day revenues to support manager Darren Way’s squad budget and ambitions for the club next season, I am forecasting a much brighter future for the Glovers. However, our priority now has to be to ensure, we remain competitive at our current level, at least until our proposed stadium development plans come to fruition, and we can then use those as a basis to push the Club forward.

“For the time being though, I would like once again to record my thanks to the Club directors, staff, sponsors and supporters  for their contributions since our relegation from the Championship. Their commitment to our great Club is quite simply fantastic."