Backing the Posh promotion bid last season caused big financial losses

Posh recorded a loss of just under £3.5 million mainly because there was a drop in player sale revenue from £4.4 million in the previous year to £556k in the latest accounts.

The reported £10 million sale of Ivan Toney to Brentford in August will be reflected in the June 2021 accounts.

Posh co-owner Dr Jason Neale said: “In a normal season the club would have sold a player during the summer transfer window of 2019 to ensure profitability or near break-even, as per previous years.

“In the summer of 2019, despite multiple offers for the likes of Ivan Toney, the ownership wanted to give Darren the best possible chance of leading us to promotion and therefore elected to run a loss in the 2019-2020 season. A loss that was subsequently exacerbated by COVID-19 which led to the cancelation of both home games and summer concerts.

“We believe it was the right decision and with the form we enjoyed in January-February of 2020, where we consistently and convincingly beat all of our rivals, we believe we would have gained promotion. In fact I personally think we would have won the league in the 2019-2020 season had it been allowed to play out.

“We did not sell Ivan Toney until after the end of year accounts as we were holding out for the optimal price. Had we wanted to simply ‘tick-a-box’ of profitability we could have sold Ivan before the culmination of the financial year, but that decision would not have been in the interests of the business.”

The latest accounts as always make clear Posh are reliant on the backing of their three co-owners Dr Neale, Darragh MacAnthony and Stewart Thompson.

Related; A near £3.5 million loss