Financial danger signs all over the place for League One clubs reliant on the backing of wealthy owners

The PT has created a table for the 22 clubs to have declared their profit/loss for the year in question and only four showed a profit.

They included Posh whose £2.9 million profit was dwarfed by Luton Town’s £14.4 million. Devon clubs Exeter and Plymouth were the other clubs to register a profit, but the ‘bottom line’ figures only tell a partial story. Many clubs have huge underlying debts.

Posh were heavily reliant on player transfers which are not guaranteed every year, even if chairman Darragh MacAnthony says he could sell two of players for a combined fee of £10 million this summer.

Luton Town still received considerable parachute payments for this accounting period.

Northampton Town managed to generate a record turnover as well as record losses in their accounts.

Cardiff City suffered a colossal loss of over £35 million in their relegation season from the Championship.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire has spoken to the PT’s sister paper the Doncaster Free Press. He said: “everyone is losing more and more money. Stockport and Bolton lost 10 or 11 million each. In Leagues One and Two, even four or five years ago, clubs weren't making profits necessarily but the losses were manageable. We seem now to have moved into a new era whereby club owners are willing to subsidise clubs to a greater extent.

"And that's ok until it's not ok. You only have to have someone having a change of heart or change of circumstances as we've seen at Derby, Chelsea and others. So if the owner has problems then the club has problems and that's the scary thing.

""All fans want to know is 'how much can we spend?' And I guess it's a bit like having a credit card. If you have a limit then it's a target. You don't win a prize when you hit that limit - it's a danger sign! Owners are under pressure from fans to deliver on the pitch and you deliver that, mostly, by spending money. But only three or four teams get promoted regardless of how much is spent.”

The Posh accounts made clear the club are dependent financially on chairman MacAnthony

LEAGUE ONE

No figures were available from Huddersfield Town and Mansfield Town.

Luton +£14.3 million

Posh +£2.9 million

Exeter +£0.3 million

Plymouth +£0.3 million

Wigan -£0.4 million

Stevenage – £1.3 million

AFC Wimbledon -£2.9 million

Lincoln -£2.9 million

Northampton – £2.9 million

Bradford City – £2.99 million

Doncaster – £3.7 million

Reading – £3.9 million

Blackpool – £4.3 million

Leyton Orient -£4.6 million

Rotherham - £4.6 million

Port Vale £-6.1 million

Barnsley -£6.6 million

Burton -£8.3 million

Stockport – £9.2 million

Wycombe -£9.9 million

Bolton – £13.9 million

Cardiff – £35.1 million