Darlington FC has today released draft 2020/21 accounts to shareholders and owners.

As a fan owned club, we are committed to keeping our supporter-owners fully informed on the club’s financial position in a timely and consistent manner. The full accounts and report are available to download for DFCSG Owners from the document section of supporter’s YourClub accounts here: https://yourclub.darlingtonfc.co.uk/

There will be an opportunity for questions covering the results in our online Fans Forum scheduled for 7.30pm, Wednesday Feb 2^nd. David Johnston, Alun Armstrong, Chris Stockdale plus the Board will be available for questions. You can register for access by clicking here and submit questions in advance to media@darlingtonfc.org. There will also be the opportunity to ask questions live.

An abbreviated summary of our 2020/21 results:

The numbers

Overall

2020/21 was a unique year in the history of Darlington FC with zero home games played in front of supporters. On the pitch under Alun Armstrong’s management, we reached the FA Cup 2^nd round going one round better than the previous season and the Quarter Finals of the FA Trophy.

Costs were reduced versus the prior year primarily due to the early curtailment of the season. Turnover was up marginally assisted by the tailwinds of football fortune income and grant funding, alongside Quaker TV revenues. The overall effect was to more than offset the loss of our matchday income streams.  The net result is an operating profit of £103,637. This was an exceptional outcome aided by several one-off factors. Without these one-off items the out-turn for the year would have been materially worse.

Our fan-owners continued support of the club financially was fundamental to our progress. Boost The Budget investment exceeded £130,000 and an overwhelming majority of supporters chose to either gift back or roll over their 20/21 season tickets into the current season. This is reflected in the significant improvement in our balance sheet.

Our FA Cup and Trophy runs generated over £100,000 of un-forecast revenue whilst the government furlough scheme and National Lottery grant funding also provided substantial support at various points across the year.

Without the early curtailment of the season, we would have incurred substantially higher costs in the final five months of the year. If we’d continued to play whilst receiving no in-person matchday income or grant funding, we would have had a particularly challenging period with significant financial losses forecast.

Balance Sheet

During the period we repaid the 2017 fan-loans that had originally been due for repayment in April 2020. In the final quarter, we received a Sport England Winter Survival loan from the DCMS for £65,340. This was to assist the club in surviving the financial impact created by COVID-19, in particular during the period November 2020 to March 2021. This loan has a 20-year repayment term at a low fixed interest rate. The other loan outstanding is a bounce-back loan with a 9-year term remaining, original balance £50,000.

We concluded the year with a positive net cash position (after external debt) of £219,777. This is a significant improvement on recent years (2019: net debt of-£120,492) and our strongest position under fan ownership.

A more detailed analysis of our 2020/21 financial results and the full accounts are available to download for DFCSG owners from the document section of supporter’s YourClub accounts. Log in to your YourClub account here https://yourclub.darlingtonfc.co.uk and then navigate to the the document section to view/download the report.

Update on the current financial year

In the first half of the current financial year, we have performed in line with the base scenario forecast we outlined to supporters at the start of the financial year. Matchday income is in line with projections, whilst commercial income is tracking ahead of the last comparable period (19/20). Exceptional income will be lower this year compared to the past two seasons due to our early exits in both the FA Cup and FA Trophy.

Overall costs are forecast to be slightly higher than 19/20, whilst football spend is inline with the budget set ahead of the season.

Taking all the factors above into account and notwithstanding the recent sale of Luke Charman we continue to expect to post an operating loss for this year which will be supported by our fan-owners Boost The Budget investment and our cash reserves.