Doughty takes spending on Forest to £45m

CHAIRMAN Nigel Doughty underlined his commitment to Nottingham Forest – by putting £6.6m into the club out of his own pocket last season.

Accounts released by the club today, it shows the owner ploughed in the cash to almost make up for the £6.7m loss the club ran up in 2007/08.

Missing out on cup runs saw the club's income reduced from £9.2m to £7.6m.

Bonuses triggered by winning promotion to the Championship saw the Reds staff costs rise to £7.7m – £100,000 more than the club made.

But finance director John Pelling said the club was in a healthy position because the chairman had made it clear he was prepared to bridge the gap between the loss and any money recouped from player sales.

He said: "Since 1999 Nigel has put in £45m, £11m in equity and £34m through debt.

"Nigel has put in over £6m last year and it is not a subject up for debate with him – he shows no signs at all of not supporting the club financially.

"He has made that clear on a number of occasions and his commitment remains there to keep the club going in the size and shape that it is. We cannot hide the fact we place a lot of reliance on Nigel, but there is obviously a lot of trade going on in terms of gate revenue, commercial revenue as well, without which the club could not survive.

"We're fortunate that we have Nigel's support and the key aspect for me is keeping him informed so he has an expectation of where we are going to be financially.

"We would not have gone for that level (of staff budget) if he had not been informed of it at the start of the season and wasn't aware of the financial implications of the decisions we make as and when we are bringing players in or signing new contracts.

"I need to keep Nigel informed all the time of where we are financially and the financial implications of the decisions we make.

"We had revenue of £7.6m last year while in League One and this year I would expect the revenues to go to the order of £11m or £12m.

"Clearly that is better news but with that comes enhanced contracts and payments so we are still expecting to run at a loss even this year in the Championship.

"But we are financially in a very healthy position because we have a backer in Nigel who is prepared to back us in the transfer market and with player contracts."