Annual Accounts

City's annual accounts are now available online, showing a loss of £14,406,061 on the year ended May 31st 2012.

This is compared to a loss of £11,454,525 for the previous financial year.

Chairman Keith Dawe writes in his chairman's statement:-

“The financial results for the year ended May 31st 2012 once again reflect a disappointing and difficult year for the club. The loss of £14.4m illustrates how much work is required to reduce costs and grow our income in order to comply with the new Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, brought in by the Football League. It also shows how fixed-term contracts for players mean there is no easy or quick solution, but an improvement in recruitment and selection criteria can certainly aid us going forward.

“Manager Derek McInnes has a firm focus on results on the pitch but is equally aware of the financial demands of FFP on the club, and this rounded understanding and determination can only help us in our ultimate aims.

“The ongoing developments of the new stadium (which has now been in fruition for five years) continue to cause us much frustration and cost, however, with the management of the project now in the hands of the owners, this allows us to focus on our core business and push to get results without distractions.

“The year saw another change of manager, from Keith Millen to Derek McInnes, with a struggle towards the end of the season and a battle against relegation. As a club I was very proud of the way in which everyone stuck together to ensure we overcame that battle and secured our npower Championship status for another year. The final few games saw Ashton Gate sold out and the management and players responded with an impressive eight-match unbeaten run to end the campaign on a relatively positive note.

“Derek and his team have worked very hard in the build up to this season to build the new squad, focusing on balance and good support from his team of coaching and medical staff. The team are gelling well and are looking to make progress against the 2011/12 season.

“This year also marked Colin Sexstone’s decision to stand down as Chairman. Over 11 years Colin has been an excellent Chief Executive and, latterly, Chairman for the club, providing support and determination on the stadium development, as well as a drive and determination to make us successful.

“I was very honoured to take on the mantle as Chairman in the summer, heading up a new Board of Directors at a time of significant change and development for the club. Whilst it is challenging, it’s also an extremely exciting period.

“We continue to develop strongly the Academy and Community Trust. We see these areas of the club as major stepping stones towards our future.

“We will be working hard to ensure more fresh young talent is recruited into our Academy, and that talent must then be given the opportunity to make its mark in the first team over time. With the new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) youth development scheme now in place, we’ve committed a lot of finance into increasing staffing and improving our facilities to achieve Category 2 status – which would put our Academy up there with some of the best in the country.

“We must not forget our roots either; Bristol City is a community club and we will look to support the work of the Community Trust wherever possible as they go out to spread our inspirational message to 50,000 youngsters each year.

“The main challenge facing the Board will be to reduce our losses, achieve FFP, whilst remaining competitive. With good planning and ownership I am confident this can be achieved.

“I would like to thank our staff for all their hard work throughout the last 12 months. It has been a difficult time, with the need for the company to carry out redundancies across the business, and this has seen a lot of hard working and dedicated members of the team leaving or transferring to different departments. We were very sorry to see these employees leave and thank them for all their efforts over the years; we wish them and their families the very best for the future.

“Finally, my thanks also go to our supporters, whose continued support through good times and bad is essential for a successful club. I know this will continue throughout the next 12 months.”

During the last financial year the turnover dropped slightly from £11.9m to £11.8m, but staff costs rose from £15.9m to £18.6m.

The club will be holding a Supporters Meeting in the AMC Communications at Ashton Gate on Thursday, December 6th at 7pm. This meeting will be open to all fans on a first-come, first-served basis.

Manager Derek McInnes will take part in a question-and-answer session alongside the club’s football managing director Jon Lansdown.