Chairman: Blues still 'in the red'
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has revealed the club are to announce further huge financial losses tomorrow.
The club bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich announced a record pre-tax loss of £88million 12 months ago and the figures for the past year will again show a “significant” deficit.
Abramovich’s vast personal fortune means the debt is far from a problem for the Premiership champions but the club still intend to become a profitable operation.
Chelsea are following a business plan initiated after Abramovich’s arrival in 2003 by Buck, chief executive Peter Kenyon and managing director Paul Smith and they are confident they are still on course.
Buck told BBC Radio Five Live: “We sat down and said we wanted this club to be profitable. Peter and Paul were directed to put together a business plan that would make us profitable.
“Having said that Roman has a reasonably long-term view and the business plan that was put together was a five-year business plan.
“We are doing a lot of things to make the club more efficient and towards profit-making in five years time.
“Having said that we announced a significant loss last year and we are going to announce a significant loss tomorrow, but that loss doesn’t take into account our Samsung relationship or our adidas contract, so we think we are moving in the right direction.”
Chelsea have spent £240million on players since Abramovich’s takeover and won the Premiership, their first title for 50 years, last season.
