Wrexham Football Club unveil another solid set of accounts under fan ownership

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This article is old - Published: Friday, Mar 29th, 2019

Gate receipts, matchday commercial income, football income and retail income are all up year on year for Wrexham Football Club as they publish their latest set of accounts.

The football club is owned by the fans via the Wrexham Supporters Trust, and unlike the vast number of clubs worldwide Wrexham fan-owners get a detailed breakdown of the finances, and a chance to quiz relevant people on the information.

Overall income was down but this is explained as being due to a reduction in transfer fees and prize money, none of which was budgeted for and is in effect a bonus.

With the focus on the pitch performance a note in the accounts show the management team for the season 2017/18 had a budget of £1.1m to use on first team costs.

Club Directors also point the finger at the season drop off in performance directly towards Walsall, “The on field performance of the First Team improved on the previous season with then manager, Dean Keates, leading us top of the table position by the beginning of February. However, the untimely approach of Walsall FC later in March resulted in the departure of the manager and coincided with a down turn in form that resulted in the Club falling short of the play offs by three points.”

Use of the Racecourse as a stadium for large scale events have shown direct benefit to the community club that employs an average of 191 people every month in some way, “The balance sheet shows an improvement in the cash position by £130,000 and this was due to conversion of the prior year-end debtors along with the receipt of income from the successful Stereophonics concert falling in the current financial year.”

The Executive Summary of the review of the period covered comments on the overall trading position, “The overall operating loss (excluding amortisation and depreciation) was £36,201 against an initial budgeted loss of £195,000 that was approved at Wrexham Supporters’ Trust AGM in June 2017. When including the “Build the Budget” initiative of £50,000, that was injected as share capital by Wrexham Supporters Trust, the overall trading position of the Club (excluding amortisation and depreciation) was positive for the second successive season.”

The £1,000,000 mark was also reached in terms of total investment by the fans into the club, although the non-cash input from fans was also noted: “However, this figure does not reflect the significant amount of voluntary work and goodwill undertaken by supporters since 2011 and this positive work allows the Club to maximise the amount of funds available to the First Team manager as we continue to pursue on field success with the aim to return to the Football League.”

The financial information released also included the accounts for WST Assets Ltd, the vehicle that holds the 99 year £100,000 pa lease from Wrexham Glyndwr University.

Although the club is 155 years old, the next Annual General Meeting will be the 7th held under fan ownership.

Back in late 2011 the club was agreed to be sold from ‘businessmen’ Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts for a token £1 as it was saddled with huge debts and overheads and wages were reported at running at 131% of income.

The AGM will be held at the Centenary Club at the Racecourse on Thursday, 11th April 2019 with a start time of 7:30 pm – open to all members of the WST.