Upbeat Thomas confident of a positive future for Cobblers

The club’s accounts for the 2018/19 season were released on Tuesday and detailed reduced losses of £1.67million, down from £2.2m​ the previous year despite relegation from Sky Bet League One.

But it is still a significant loss for a League Two outfit and with the debt now standing at £5.5m, it would be understandable if some supporters were concerned about the club’s long-term outlook, all the more so given the problems caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

However, Thomas insists the Cobblers are in good shape going forward and that will be reflected when the current year’s results are revealed.

“I think the signs are good, especially with the landscape of the fact it was a relegation season and if you look at the accounts, our income dropped drastically,” he said.

“We see it more positively because we know what the numbers are going to be like this year, prior to COVID-19, and I think they will be much, much improved on the results that were released on Tuesday.

“This year has been even better but we know what happened with the relegation season and the increased spend that season which didn’t really work out.

“We understand that and as owners we took responsibility for that and we paid for it but, as we’ve always said, the decisions we make are based around trying to improve the football club.”

Clubs all across the country have been hit hard in the pocket by the suspension of the current season but while the Cobblers are not immune, Thomas is confident they’re in a better position than many.

The club confirmed earlier this week that a ‘significant number of staff’ have been placed on furlough leave but they will ‘top up’ salaries to ensure all employees are paid the full amount while the season is on hold.

Thomas added: “Running a football club is not easy but we always look to make improvements and prior to COVID-19, the club was secure and safe and I think we’ll come through this and we’ll continue to make improvements.

“It might make it a little bit more difficult in the short and medium term but in the long term we feel the club is in a decent shape.”

The FA Cup run generated over £600,000 of income this season but CEO James Whiting was keen to stress the club were in a strong position even prior to that windfall.

He said: “The accounts only covered the period up to June 30, 2019, but it’s important to say for the year after that, up to June 2020, the financial position was going to be vastly improved regardless of the cup run.

“COVID-19 will obviously have an impact on it but the FA Cup run had a good and positive financial impact.

“But even taking that to one side, the club was going to be in a much-improved position anyway.”