By Duncan Mackay
January 6 – Manchester City have reported a loss of £92.6 million up until May 31, 2009, the biggest annual loss in English football history and emphasises the vast amounts of money invested by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan since he bought the Eastlands outfit from Thaksin Shinawatra in September 2008.
Mansour has invested £395 million since taking City over, including the cancellation of £305 million which he had initially put into the club as loans, just as Roman Abramovich had done at Chelsea last week.
According to documents filed at Companies House last month, all £305 million of the loans from Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group were cancelled in return for new shares in the club.
Mansour’s group also bought further shares for £89.6 million, to finance City’s hugely increased wage bill and other expenditure this season.
A statement on the club’s website said: ”The financial year to May 2009 marked the beginning of a period of significant planned investment in all areas of the club; the playing squad, the youth academy, infrastructure, website and technology applications and our people.
“Not surprisingly, this substantial investment has had a significant impact on this year’s financial results.
“This investment is also forecast to similarly impact the financial results of the next several years as the club seeks to achieve success both on and off the field.”
As the figures run only until the end of last May, they do not take into account last summer’s transfer dealings, which included spending £117 million on Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Carlos Tevez (pictured), Roque Santa Cruz and Joleon Lescott..
But it does include the previous year, when City smashed the British transfer record to bring Brazilian superstar Robinho to the club for £32.5 million.
Another Brazilian, Jo, also arrived although he has since joined Everton on loan, while Shay Given and Craig Bellamy were among a clutch of top-name players who joined 12 months ago.
Since then, manager Mark Hughes has lost his job and been replaced by Italian Roberto Mancini.
City’s chief financial and administration officer Graham Wallace said: “The financial results reflect a period of rapid change at the club, the result of long-term planning and investment by the Board and our owners, to create a sustainable business in the future.
“We have always said that this transformation will take a number of years and these figures reflect that.”
On a normal business level, there have been areas of growth.
Turnover increased by six per cent to £87 million, attendances rose to 42,890 from an average of 42,081 in the previous season, with ticketing revenues ahead by £1.8 million, mainly as a result of the extended UEFA Cup run.
Television revenues rose by 12 per cent to £48.3 million, also as a result of UEFA Cup performance.
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