Bristol Rovers almost trebled their losses following relegation into League Two with the Gas reporting a record pre-tax loss of £3.7m for the 2021/22 financial year.
That was a dramatic increase on the £1.3m figure for the 2020/21 campaign, with the club declaring in a short summary statement they were “in line with budget, however, contractual bonuses paid on promotion led to an overspend”. The figure eclipses the previous highest of £3.3m for the 2018/19 campaign in League One which had increased from £3.2m the previous season.
Companies House are yet to publish the accounts which means a full breakdown isn’t available yet to assess exactly how the losses have been accrued. In their annual report, Rovers cite “a drop in central revenues, a drop in budgeted attendances, removal of COVID grants and no budgeted transfer income” as the reasons behind the seven-figure sum.
