Macclesfield FC can confirm that earlier today, we submitted our financial statements and annual reports to Companies House at the end of our first full year of trading.
As such, the information provided relates to the period ending 31st October 2021.
A synopsis of this is as follows –
FINANCIAL MATTERS
- The Club recorded a loss of £349k at the end of the first year of trading. Embodied within this was a seven-month period where no income could be generated due to ground improvement work being carried out.
- Total investment relating solely to stadium renovations stood at £2.9m during the aforementioned period.
- The Club made no external borrowings.
- All staff were paid in full throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with no remuneration claimed via the furlough scheme.
- The Club employed a total of sixty-two staff at the end of the financial year.
- There have been no drawings by any of the Directors throughout the period.
FOOTBALL AND OPERATIONAL MATTERS
- The Club created a vast array of teams across different age ranges during the financial period. The Men’s First Team would go on to win the NWCFL by a staggering fifteen points and as such, were promoted to Step 4 of the non-league pyramid.
- Initial attendances at the Leasing.com Stadium were limited due to the ongoing renovation work, yet these steadily increased throughout the 2021/22 campaign to the extent where the season’s average was a remarkable 3,388.
- Season Tickets for the 2021/22 campaign stood at c.1000 – with a proportion of these either included within Membership packages or heavily discounted due to the benefits that Members enjoyed. Purchases ahead of the 2022/23 season have already exceeded this number – although it must be noted that Season Tickets are now offered independently of Memberships.
- Membership of the Club’s Academy stood at c.300 at the end of the financial period, having only been unveiled five months prior. With the rapid evolution that we have seen since, numbers continue to rise and now stand at around 600 – incorporating a significantly higher number of male and female teams.
- The Club is enjoying a seemingly exponential rise in numbers across the board, both in terms of support for our First Team and all other elements of the business. It is also critical to note that the significant ground investment and Covid-19 provision which were mitigating factors during the previous financial year should not have a comparable impact during the new period.
DIRECTOR ROBERT SMETHURST STATED THE FOLLOWING:
“I can understand why some supporters may react to the news that the Club is reporting a £349k loss with alarm – however, there were many factors for this which will not be present going forward.
“We had to get what represented a dilapidated Stadium fit for purpose and not only that, this had to be concluded within the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Club also launched our Academy structure during the period and like all other areas of the business, this continues to go from strength to strength.
“As I have stated previously, the Club is now in the position where we are broadly self-sustainable at the end of each month – but we can’t do this alone.
“We need our wonderfully loyal supporters to back us off the pitch just as much as they do on it.
“Whether this is through Season Tickets, Memberships, the Academy, Stealth Gymnasium, or Bar Twenty Seven – I appeal to everyone who has taken this Club into their hearts to help us in any way they can, as we look to move closer to where we all want to be.”
