Cobblers face more record losses as Kelvin Thomas labels EFL finances a 'disaster'

The club lost over £2million for the year ending June 2024, a significant increase on the previous 12 months, and that figure is set to rise again when next year’s accounts are published, although it still pales into insignificance compared to many of their League One rivals.

Earlier this week, Eisner said the English football pyramid is a ‘financial disaster’ for many clubs, especially at Championship level, but he believes the imminent introduction of an independent regulator offers hope that those ‘extraordinary losses’ will be a thing of the past.

Speaking on Wednesday, Thomas said: "We’re exceptionally proud of the fact that six of our 10 years have been spent in League One and and I think people underestimate the scale of that achievement, especially when you look at the budgets we’ve been going up against in the last few years.

"Football finances are a mess, there’s no two ways about it, Michael Eisner said it this week – EFL finances are a disaster. Not the league itself, the clubs, and there are a lot of conversations going on right now about cost control, regulators, money coming down from the Premier League, television deals etc etc.

"But there’s no hiding from the fact that it now costs a lot more money to be pretty much in the same place. That’s the reality of the situation and as owners we recognise we have to spend that money just to compete.

"We're losing £2.5million on an annual basis and that's just purely down to inflation and how much costs have gone up. We're further away from the top three now than 10 years ago but we're still losing £2.5million. It’s a commitment from myself, David (Bower) and Nigel (Le Quesne) to cover that and we’re very proud of the fact we have managed to stay in League One for three straight years.”

Speaking in the week he celebrates 10 years as Cobblers chairman, Thomas reflected on his best achievements, saying: "There’s a lot of areas that I think we’ve improved and the statistics back that up. Attendances are up, the capacity is up.

"I’m tremendously proud of the club’s community work and the awards tell you that we have one of the best community trusts in the country. We have wonderful staff and I thank every one of them because the club couldn’t function without them.

"We walked in with no seats in the East Stand but now we have a fully functioning stand with pitch-facing hospitality. It makes me immensely proud to see how accessible the new stand is and being able to come to games and see wheelchair fans watch from that raised area.”