Lincoln City report financial losses of £2.9m

Lincoln City are in their sixth successive season in League One

League One side Lincoln City have recorded financial losses of £2.9m for the year covering the 2023-24 season.

The figures for the 12 months up to June 2024 - a period in which they generated just under £7m in revenue - is the fourth time in as many years that the club has reported an increase in losses.

The latest deficit, for a season in which they finished just outside the play-off spots in seventh, is more than double the £1.4m lost in the 2020-21 campaign when they finished fifth in the table and were beaten in the League One play-off final.

Lincoln chief executive Liam Scully has told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that projected losses for the current campaign are expected to be similar, but said Imps supporters should "not be concerned for the health of their football club".

"This is the market we operate in, this is the landscape that we operate in," Scully said.

"These are known losses, controlled. Do we want them to go on at this level forever or get worse? Absolutely not, but we also have to be respectful and realistic and understanding of the market we are operating in."

By comparison, last season's League One title winners Portsmouth reported a loss of £5.6m over the same period of time while runners-up Derby County made an operating loss of £14.2m.

"We are a football club that want to compete in League One and hopefully one day, and soon in the future, look up as well," Scully said.

"It's a balance and we are dancing on a pinhead at times - we are trying to do absolutely everything."

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that the Imps' losses would be "mid-table" when compared to figures already published and expected to come from other League One rivals.

Lincoln's financial report also confirmed that £3.9m of investment was put into the club last season - of which a majority came from its largest shareholder Harvey Jabara - "in order to fund the operating losses, player signings and capital expenditure".

Staff costs at Lincoln were up more than £1m, to £6.9m, while average league attendances were down for the fifth successive season - not including the pandemic-affected campaign of 2020-21 when matches were played behind closed doors.

The increase in the club's wage bill was up because of compensation paid to Mark Kennedy and his coaching team when he was sacked last season, as well as greater amounts put into the playing budget and off-field staffing.