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Lansdown assesses financial situation
The club's player costs have spiralled since the side joined the Championship and an annual shareholders report today revealed that the club made losses off around £2million on the year that ended May 31st in comparison to a deficit of just over £800,000 for the previous financial year.
Although turnover is up to £8.8m staff costs rose to 8.5m, a rise of 51% meaning that increased wages and transfer fees were responsible for the large losses.
Responding to early concerns about the figures, City chairman Steve Lansdown said he was 'committed' to bringing in the players necessary to help the Robins battle at the top of the Championship and insisted that he will continue to back his manager in the transfer market.
The chairman admitted that since promotion from league one, costs had risen due to contractual obligments the club had made and even in the worrying economic downturn, he said that running a football club was complicated enough without increased financial pressure,
"Competing in the Championship brings its own problems, in particular, controlling the wage bill."
"Everyone focuses on transfer activity when talking about improving the playing squad, but an equally important element of this is the renegotiating of contracts with existing players.
It is going to be increasingly difficult to keep wages under control if we wish to progress as a football club."
What we will work hard to ensure is that we use every means available to bring in quality players at the best possible price and reward as much as possible on a performance-related basis."