Football finance expert delivers his verdict on Blackpool FC's latest accounts

That’s according to leading football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who has picked apart the club’s latest accounts made up to June 30, 2019.

The period covers the transition from the Oyston ownership to the arrival of the receivers and even the first few weeks of Simon Sadler’s reign.

The headline figure is an overall loss of £2.1m, up from £1.4m the previous year.

The club spent £101 in wages for every £100 of income while the club had cash of £199,000 at the end of the 2018/19 season, down from £369,000.

Gate receipts, however, grew by an impressive 371 per cent thanks to the boycott ending in March 2019 as well as the two cup games against Arsenal.

The accounts also mention how the club had to write off £30m the previous year relating to money owed by the former parent company controlled by Owen Oyston.

A £161,000 loan to former chairman Karl Oyston is also being pursued by the club, although it’s doubtful whether this will ever be repaid.

Maguire, the man behind the Price of Football Twitter account, admits these accounts are tricky to analyse given the “hangover” from the Oyston regime.

He told The Gazette: “Some clubs are breaking even in League One, but it’s a tough league because there’s a lot of clubs looking to get into the Championship and are spending accordingly.

“There’s a big step-up between League One and the Championship in terms of TV money. You go from about £1.5m to £7m, so a few clubs gamble to a certain extent.

“I think in this instance for Blackpool, there’s the hangover to take into account from the Oyston days during the 2018/19 season which would have impacted upon their income.

“It’s quite a difficult year of accounts to analyse really because of the change at boardroom level but I’m hopeful things will improve.

“Had it not been for Covid, things would have been better this season because the goodwill towards the new owner would have been reflected in higher revenues.

“The wage bill exceeding income is always a cause for concern, but I think we can mitigate that to a certain extent because income was down two-thirds of the year when the club was under the control of the Oystons.

“The fans’ campaign was designed to make things awkward for them and that’s exactly what it did.

“While the results weren’t great last year, there were mitigating factors - the main one being fans boycotting because of the Oyston regime.

“The increase in gate receipts was very much driven by the success of the fans’ protests. The supporters were very coordinated and dedicated and clearly they went through a lot of suffering as well because it’s the club they love.

“Issues of that nature should mean that going forward, and I think we have to look at this in a non-Covid world, Blackpool are in a pretty strong position with lots of goodwill from the fans to start making good progress again.”

On how the pandemic will affect clubs financially going forward, Maguire added: “Whether clubs can afford to resume playing or not, we will have to take guidance from central government.

“I don’t think the clubs in League One can probably afford to return to football unless it’s in front of a paying audience due to the nature of the TV deal. However, we have seen the German third division return so fingers crossed.

“But Germany appears to be far more organised in terms of its dealings with Covid than we’ve seen here in the UK.

“If it can return in front of crowds, I think a lot of people will want to go to matches.

“But with four million people potentially being unemployed and the tourism industry and the entertainment industry being hit hard, that will have an impact of course on a town such as Blackpool which is very service sector orientated.”