Morgan in for the long haul at Wolves, despite £33m losses
Wolves owner Steve Morgan will not turn his back on the future despite the £33m losses revealed today.
Morgan is determined to see his vision through and leave a lasting legacy at Molineux – with the youth programme at the heart of his plans.
Costing £8.5m, the development of the new academy at Compton Park is fully supported by Morgan and remains on schedule.
Work will begin early in the new year on a full-size indoor academy arena on the site of the former St Edmund's Catholic School and be completed by September 2014 to give Wolves some of the best facilities in the country.
Wolves successfully gained Category One academy status in July 2012.
And Morgan is fully behind the policy of Wolves developing their young players as the future lifeblood of the club.
"I will have to put money in to ensure the academy project remains on course," said Morgan.
After a second successive relegation, Wolves have factored into their accounts a £27.5m write-off on their playing staff's value, leaving the figures for the year ending in May showing an overall deficit of £33.1m.
These adjustments were considered essential to address the financial blow of consecutive relegations.
As a result, the overall loss was £33.1m from a profit of £2.2m. The player trading surplus reduced the operating loss, before exceptional items and net interest, down to £5.7m.
Reflecting on the losses, Morgan said: "We ran last season with a players' wage bill in excess of £24m. But the club has been well run and we have been spending to get the club back up."
The loss of substantial Premier League funding saw turnover reduced to £32.1m from £60.6m.
Accounts for the year ending May 2013 were announced via the fans' parliament last night.
Attendances fell to an average of 21,789 from 25,670, including a drop in season ticket holders to 15,350 from 18,015, which accounted for £2m of the reduction, while commercial income fell by £2.8m.
Following relegation, total operating costs fell to £42.8m from £51.3m.
Player trading generated an overall net profit of £4.9m – up from a loss of £7.7m - representing sales, mainly from the summer 2012 transfer window when Steven Fletcher, Matt Jarvis and Michael Kightly were sold and Bakary Sako, Razak Boukari, Tongo Doumbia and Bjorn Sigurdarson bought.
Relegation to League One had been confirmed before the end of the financial year in May 2013.
