Below is our profit and loss statement up until May 2024. With this being a part-year, the advice from the Football Supporters Association is that we don’t officially file these accounts until after the first full season, ending May 31st 2025. However, we wanted to share the club’s financial position, in with our commitment to financial transparency. Alongside this, we email our owners every week, covering every penny into and out of the club.
We have got off to a solid start, with a healthy bank balance for a new club, but there is a long way to go as we attempt to match our ambition of taking the club back to the Isthmian League North (tier 8), the division that East Thurrock United was a member of when it folded.
To provide a perspective of the kind of budget required, even just 3 or 4 divisions above where we will be playing, there was a team in the Essex Senior League (tier 9) that is reported to have had a player budget of over £100,000 last season.
We are aiming to use our time in the Essex Olympian League to build the club’s bank balance for when we will need to start paying players. Please consider spreading the word among family, friends to become an owner, as this is an absolutely fundamental part of the club’s model. If you know any potential businesses that might be interested in sponsoring the club, we have several exciting packages still available.
Here is an explanation of a couple terms from the published Profit & Loss.
Transfer to Deferred Income – Deferred income refers to income that you have received or not earned yet. Usually, this is because a customer or client has made an advance payment for services that have not yet been rendered or goods that have not yet been delivered. In the case of the club, we have reported sponsorship for the upcoming season as Deferred Income because, whilst the income for the sponsorship has been received, it has been paid in advance for sponsorship that will be in effect post end May 2024, for the 24/25 season.
Ownership Reserve – As a Community Benefit Society (like a company) (1) it is a legal entity in its own right, independent of the owners and (2) the liability of owners is limited to the value of their nominal £1 shareholding (which will be taken at the time of joining out of the Ownership payment). “Any claim arising from the activities of the Society will therefore be a claim against the Society not the owners. If the Society were to become insolvent, the owners would lose their £1 stakes but could not be called upon to contribute further.”
If you have any additional questions on the accounts below, please email EastThurrockCFC@gmail.com.
