Chelsea Losses Down, But Still Lose £80m - 19/02/2007

Chelsea cut their losses by £60m in the financial year to June 2006, but they still lost £80.2m. However, they still think they are on course to achieve their target of breaking even by 2009/10. Costs have been cut by 42.9 per cent, although players' wages by just 2 per cent, turnover was up and football activities increased income by 6.6 per cent. Public affairs director Simon Greenberg indicated that the days of big spending on players may well be over, with an increasing reliance on the club's academy. Possibly responding to criticism of the cost of watching live football, the club announced that they are freezing prices on all non-corporate tickets for Premiership matches next season, including both season tickets and match day tickets. Tickets for the group stage of the Champions League may be reduced. Chelsea continues to move towards a more self-sustaining financial model that is less reliant on the benefactions of Roman Abramovich, although rumours that he is thinking of walking away from the club clearly have little or no basis in fact.