Little to cheer in club finances

THE TRICKY financial position of Bohemians football club in Phibsboro is clearly illustrated by its latest set of financial accounts…

THE TRICKY financial position of Bohemians football club in Phibsboro is clearly illustrated by its latest set of financial accounts.

The League of Ireland club made a loss for the year to the end of November 2011 of €471,585. This was roughly half the loss recorded in the previous year and reflected significant cost-cutting over the period.

This brought the club’s accumulated losses to just under €4.7 million.

Player wages and salaries were slashed to €338,038 from €1.2 million in 2010. Bohemians’ total income more than halved to just over €1 million last year from €2.2 million previously.

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The bar profit was an anaemic €4,343 compared with almost €70,000 the previous year.

Prize money from the FAI and Uefa declined to €158,536 from €521,720 in 2010 as the club’s on-field performances dipped last season.

Bohs owed Zurich Bank €4.2 million at the end of November 2011. The bank holds a charge over a car park in the northwestern corner of Dalymount Park and the club’s accounts acknowledge that it relies on the support of the financial institution.

Dalymount is valued at €9 million in the accounts, a long way short of the reported €65 million valuation agreed with Liam Carroll’s Danninger in 2006.

At one point last year, it looked like Bohemians might disappear from the league due to its financial woes.

A club spokesman said the club is on target to “break even this year” following further cuts to its overheads.

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock

Ciarán Hancock is Business Editor of The Irish Times