Express & Star

Walsall record £742k loss - but co-chairman Leigh Pomlett insists 'future is bright'

Walsall recorded a loss of over £740,000 to the year ending May 2022 – but co-chairman Leigh Pomlett has assured fans the future looks 'much brighter' for the club under the ownership of the Trivela Group.

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Ahead of the club's annual general meeting next month, Pomlett issued a lengthy statement outlining the financial position of the club and the difficulties faced since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his statement, Pomlett explained that after more than decade and a half of recorded profits, the club reported a loss of £742,000 to the year ending May 31, 2022.

He insisted that the scale of the loss was down to escalation in costs facing the club, and the lengthy of time it has taken to re-build revenue streams on the back of the pandemic.

He said: "It is somewhat unusual for us as a club, after 16-years straight of profit, that I write to report a loss for the year of £742,000 (profit of £13,000 – 2021). In my statement last year I warned ‘…the effects of the [Covid-19] pandemic will be felt for many years to come.’ And so it has proven to be the case, although I did not imagine at the time they would be so stark.

"The scale of the loss is a direct result of the staggering escalation in costs the club has faced in having to restart many aspects of the business from scratch when Covid-restrictions were lifted.

"Whilst the cost implications were immediate, income streams were re-established but at a much more gradual pace. We also faced the year with just a fraction of the Government support we had previously enjoyed. We were effectively left on our own to ‘pick up the pieces’.

"Whilst disappointing, I suspect our situation is not unusual amongst our fellow professional football clubs or indeed as being felt no doubt by businesses of all different shapes and sizes and individuals up and down the country. The post-Covid world is certainly presenting us all with challenges that just two-years ago we would have dreamed unimaginable."

However, despite the losses, Pomlett said a 'small ray of light' came from the reduction in the club's net debt from £2,362,000 to £2,344,000.

Pomlett also addressed the takeover of the club by the Trivela Group earlier this year.

The group purchased the majority shareholding and injected additional capital into the club during the first phase over their takeover – and in phase two in December, they acquired additional shares to take their stake in the club to 90 per cent – before acquiring the freehold of the Poundland Bescot Stadium.

On the takeover and stadium purchase, Pomlett added: "This is a monumental achievement.

"This is the dawn of a new era and there is a very exciting future ahead for the Club.

While thanking supporters and sponsors of the club in his statement – Pomlett also praised the job Michael Flynn has done since taking the reigns at the Bescot, and outlined the club's long term ambition of returning to the second tier.

He added: "Our ambition to climb the leagues once again and bring Championship football back to the Poundland Bescot Stadium remains but the immediate priority is a return to League One at the earliest opportunity."

The club's 100th annual general meeting will take place at the Poundland Bescot Stadium on Monday, March 13.