January 31, 2011: Chelsea Announces £70.9m Loss for Previous Season

Chelsea announces a huge loss of £70.9m for the 2009-2010 football season, in which the club won the league and cup double. In the previous season the loss had been £44.4m (see December 30, 2009), although in the two years before that it was around £70m. Chelsea blames the loss on the amortization of player transfer fees, which means how much a player’s value in the accounts decreases over the length of his contract. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck describes the results as “significant progress,” and cites what the club calls a “net cash inflow of £3.8m” as evidence. Buck says, “That the club was cash generative in the year when we recorded a historic Premier League and FA Cup double is a great encouragement and demonstrates significant progress as regards our financial results.” The same day as the loss is announced, Chelsea pays Liverpool a record £48m for Spanish striker Fernando Torres. [Independent, 2/1/2011]