Express & Star

Walsall ‘working to cut £742k losses’

Walsall are hoping to turn around the financial position which saw them lose £742,000 last year.

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Co-chairman Leigh Pomlett told a Walsall FC Fans Focus meeting the loss was 'disappointing' but not as much as many other teams in the division and that the club remains well run

He said the loss was mainly borne out of COVID-19 where there was nobody in the stadium watching games or using it on non match days. He also blamed the cost of living increase.

Pomlett said the club was put in financial 'life support' during the pandemic but things were looking a lot brighter now and after a meeting last week to assess the current situation he said he was confident the club would go back to its previous state.

He said: "As well as the increase in costs generally the club has had to restart many aspects of the business from scratch when Covid-restrictions were lifted.

"We faced the year with just a fraction of the government support we had previously enjoyed and as a result instead of turning a profit as we had done for 16 years previously, it turned into a loss, but not one that wasn't expected.

"And as a straw pool of other clubs and the owners I speak to there we are not doing so bad because on average it would appear many club's losses are between £1.5 and £3 million."

Chief Executive Stefan Gamble said conferencing events had gone from an average of £1.5m turnover a year to zero for 18 months.

He said: "The revenues have and still will take time to recover – in the year of the loss we didn't receive any government or local authority support

"But we are confident it was a blip on the landscape because we run the club on a model of sustainability.

Pomlett's co-chairman Benjamin Boycott assured fans his Trivela group were there for the long term and the club was back on the road to financial stability.

He said: "We are not quick buck merchants that may have been seen elsewhere with foreign investors, we are looking to be here for 20 years or more and are aiming to make the correct decisions to put the club back on a firm financial footing."