Worcestershire announce loss for 2009

Worcestershire have announced a pre-tax loss of £118,439 for the year ending 30th September 2009. The deficit compares with a profit of £359,856 in 2008 and epitomises the torrid year the club has had.

They finished bottom of Division One of the Championship, where they failed to win a game and didn't progress to the latter stages of any of the knock-out limited-overs tournaments. The poor on-field performances, combined with the fixture schedule, is what Mark Newton, Worcestershire's chief executive, felt was behind the financial troubles.

"These disappointing figures are the result of a number of issues we faced last year, particularly the recession, the poor fixture schedule and the team's performance," he said. "While the recession will continue to have an impact commercially, we have addressed the fixture schedule which will be a great deal more spectator friendly in 2010."

The upcoming season is already looking challenging for Worcestershire after a glut of senior players left the club, including their most experienced paceman, Kabir Ali, who was released on Thursday after an ongoing contract dispute.

Yet Newton feels the offshoot of players leaving is that the finances will be less stretched and he is confident of returning to a profit next year. "We invested heavily in the team last year but unfortunately performances failed to meet expectations. A number of senior players have since moved on and our cricket budget has been reduced by around £300,000 this year. We expect to return to a surplus position this year."

The overall income of the club remained static in 2009 but only because of a 19% increase in the distribution from the ECB. While membership subscription held up to 2008 levels, income from both commercial and catering fell by 31% and 25% respectively.