Cod Almighty | Article
by Tony Butcher
1 April 2026
Ah, the absurdity of modern accountancy where numbers seem arbitrary and incomprehensible to the man (or woman) on the Grimsby omnibus. What does it all mean? What does it mean for Town? Follow the man with the swanky umbrella, our resident Numberwanger, for a free guided tour through Town's latest accounts.
Before we even think about thinking about the accounts there is one thing to remember – there are funds which were promised but which have yet to be received – the Premier League's new EFL 'settlement'.
Way back in 2024 Cod Almighty interviewed Jason Stockwood and the explanations for what we have seen in the financial accounts for the last two seasons are all there. Until the Football Regulator forces the Premier League to actually pay the settlement they had offered, then there would be a hole in the budget that 1878 Partners Limited would have to fill.
“Originally we had a whole plan around a number of things we wanted to invest in to fulfil the ambition that I rather vaguely stated earlier about being more successful than we are today. We want to improve the infrastructure of both Blundell Park and a training facility. That's been scuppered this year because we thought that an Independent Regulator would create a fairer distribution. We originally hoped at the start that I would leave the chair after three years with the club fully funded for positive investments with a higher league position embedded in the EFL and, hopefully, a break-even position. We're just not there because part of that needed the Regulator to come in with the money from the Premier League. That will happen, but the distribution won't happen for another year at least, which means we have a hole in our operating budget this year”
Right, keep hold of this thought as you wander through the maze.
Living by numbers
The accounts for last season are out and what do they tell us? What do they mean?
Accounts are just numbers: income and expenditure, assets and liabilities. It's all about categorising things. There are rules which accountants have to follow and if you have the translation book (i.e. the rules of accountancy) to hand you can broadly see patterns and work out what these numbers mean.
During the previous regime the owner funded the club just enough to keep it going by way of loans and, when Town returned to the Football League, those loans started to be repaid. Then he sold the club and asked for all his remaining loans to be paid back.
The present owners have funded the club through 1878 Partners Limited. The accounts for prior years show them loaning moneys to the club then reducing the debt owed to 1878 Partners by converting those loans into shares. That is, put simply, how Town are being supported.
So what actually happened last season?
The headline figures could look alarming, so why are all the so-called 'experts' so chipper and complimentary?
The first and most obvious observation is that these accounts cover 13 months whereas the previous accounts were over 12 months. This slightly inflates costs figures.
YE May 2024 YE June 2025
Yearly Profit/(Loss) (£1,683,456) (£1,901,158)
Overall losses (£4,976,748) (£6,877,906)
Income £5,720,661 £6,042,436
Wages £3,882,625 £4,420,062
New loans £1,330,000 £1,200,000
The losses are increasing, the owners are pumping in loads of money and the income is rising less than wages. A recipe for disaster? Well, no; one has to look at the whole in context. The key is to recognise how companies are funded: sales income, loans or 'equity' (which means shares).
As well as the trading income, the club is funded by 1878 Partners with no external loans. Any long term debt shown in the accounts is owed to them and they have chosen to convert the majority of the loans into shares.
2024 2025
Shares £2,379,000 £5,892,350
This means that, of the accumulated losses incurred by GTFC since it started trading as a limited company in 1931 (£6,877,906 – note 13 in the accounts), 1878 Partners have ensured by 2025 that 86% of the debt (note 12 in the accounts) has been removed from the Balance Sheet. 1878 Partners will only get their money back if someone buys their shares at face value.
In March this year 1878 Partners converted a further £1,297,000 of loans into shares, leaving the club with no long term debts.
The debts of £2,371,545 shown in the accounts (note 10) relate either to current running costs or to accrual/deferred income – the latter making up £1,427,568 of the total. So what are accruals? This is the label accountants put on money received in advance for a service not yet provided – in the case of a football club this will largely be season ticket revenue. The club owes the season ticket holder 23 games of service provision during the coming season (although as I type this we are only owed three games).
When the owners use the words resilience and sustainability this is what it means – ensuring that debt is reduced. They have chosen to do it not by cutting the playing budget but by buying shares. This is where the money is coming from to fill the gap between income and expenditure. The amounts the owners are putting in each year are equal to what the Premier League settlement was to be and is expected to be. If the amount the Premier League end up paying is less than that, then Town are not in hock in to anyone for the owners will have absorbed that financial risk.
That could mean that their ability to fund the business in future is diminished, but that is a potential risk – it is a contingent risk, something that may happen. If it does, the club doesn’t have debt beyond normal trading. As long as wages don’t go haywire there would not be a sudden crisis.
Income
Some have noted that the cash position (£444,556) was nearly half a million pounds less than the previous year (£974,329). That’s just the natural flow of income and expenditure in this business given the 13 months covered by the report. There’s another month of wages (divide the wage bill by 13 and you get £340,000). Then there’s post-season maintenance and other overheads. For football clubs summer is when more money tends to be spent on infrastructure.
The cash position (Note 2) in 2023 (£523,476) was only slightly higher than in 2025 (£444,556) This doesn't mean money has 'gone' or that there is a cash flow crisis. The long term pattern is that fluctuating around half a million pounds of cash at year end is normal for Town, and 2024 was a one-off. Accounts are only a snapshot at a single point.
The income report does suggest that the ceiling for matchday and commercial income may have been reached (Page 3 Business Turnover table). In essence all income streams were broadly similar from the previous year save for an uplift in the central distribution (TV money).
Expenditure
The amount spent last financial year as a percentage of income remains practically the same as the previous year (90% as opposed to 89%). The biggest cost in a football club is wages, and the ratio of wages to income went up slightly from 74% to 79%. There is nothing to say other than normal running costs are under control and essentially the same from year to year.
The biggest 'extra' costs are all relating to the upkeep of Blundell Park. During the year £579,000 was spent on repairs and ground improvement.
Summary
The club has its costs under control and has reduced the debt position to be, in footballing terms, negligible. The headline loss matches the expected “missing” Premier League settlement, as it did last year. All this has been factored in by the club over a number of years now. The club’s financial planning and controls continue to be spot on. They are just waiting for the Football Regulator to encourage the Premier League to pay up.
The bigger picture is how Town compare with their peers – the clubs currently in our division and those who have left in the last couple of years. When they’ve all reported we’ll be lifting the lid on some hair raising figures. Very, very hair raising.