March 1, 2023 6.00 am
This story is over 22 months old
Grimsby Town accounts show major owner investment in promotion season
Net loss of nearly £1 million shows up in club accounts
Grimsby Town won promotion to the Football League via the play-offs and will now be given a bus parade to celebrate with the local fans. | Photo: Jon Corken
Grimsby Town’s owners invested £1.5 million into the club over the last year, in what proved to be a successful bid to get the club immediately back into the English Football League.
It has been a tumultuous time for Grimsby Town in recent years, with five consecutive years in the English Football League brought to an end in 2021, as the Mariners were relegated to the National League.
This had a steep impact on the club’s finances, as income from sources such as the Premier League and the EFL were affected due to their relegation out of the football league – reducing from £1.5 million to £720,000.
However, the club’s remarkable and unlikely promotion via the play-offs in the 2021/22 season ensured that the future could be bright for the Mariners, and they currently sit safely in 16th place in League Two.
Grimsby Town’s financial accounts for the year ending May 2022 have now been revealed, showing the financial blow that relegation out of the EFL can provide.
After three steady consecutive years of around £150,000 net turnover per annum, the club recorded an alarming £961,363 net loss for the 2021/22 financial year.
This is largely in part to the immense levels of investment, in the form of loans and funding, from Grimsby’s new owners 1878 Partners, fronted by Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit.
The 1878 Partners took over ownership of the club in May 2021 and invested some £1.5 million of loans into the company during this most recent year.
While some of this funding was used to repay debt in the form of loans from previous principal shareholders at Grimsby, the balance of the money was then used to fund infrastructure within the football club.
These loans from previous shareholders have since been fully repaid, leaving other loan debts of £449,375.
Despite the recognisable loss showing up in the accounts, it seems to have been a case of the new ownership investing heavily into the club to ensure an immediate return to the EFL, which the team duly obliged to on the pitch.
Wages increased to £3 million from last year’s total of £2.8 million, turnover at the club boosted by 26% and match day receipts soared to £1.4 million compared to £680,000 in 2021 – thanks to the highest attendance figures in nearly 20 years.
Football fortune revenue was also generated by performances on the pitch and transfers, including Ben Grist to Leicester City and a sell-on clause included in the deal for Bournemouth winger and former Mariner Siriki Dembele.
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