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Forest Green paid £175 in wages for every £100 of income over a six-year period to reach the Football League – but chairman Dale Vince is confident they are on course to be more financially sustainable.

The cost of Rovers’ ambition to win promotion from the National League has been highlighted by football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who runs priceoffootball.com

It showed that the Nailsworth outfit had an income of £6.4m between 2012 and 2017 but wages of £11.3m over the same period, while they lost £12m over six years.

However, in their latest set of accounts Forest Green recorded a profit of £422,647 for the financial year ended 30 April 2018, coming after they reached League Two via the play-offs in May 2017.

Rovers pride themselves on being sustainable as ‘the greenest football club in the world’ having become the world’s first vegan football club and being environmentally friendly from having solar panels and a robot lawnmower to electric car charging points.

With attendances rising – and plans for a new stadium – since their promotion, increased commercial turnover and ambitions to continue their rise in the Football League, Vince is confident that the club can be financially sustainable.

(Image: Credit)

“We’ve been investing in the infrastructure of the club over the last few years, to make the step up to the EFL and achieve sustainability in all senses of the word - the previous posted losses are reflective of that investment,” said Vince.

“The latest accounts show that we’ve become more sustainable and that will continue.

“Sometimes it will be gradual with increasing gates and sometimes more dramatic with promotion - we’ve had both over the last few years.

“There are other elements too, like player development, as we’ve seen in the last two seasons.

“It’s worth bearing in mind that FGR has a global impact, with three billion people reached with our sustainability message in the last year and fan clubs in 20 different countries of the world.”

With improved fortunes on the field Forest Green have also cashed in on seeing some players move on to higher levels.

They sold Ethan Pinnock to Barnsley for a fee thought to be £500,000 plus add-ons in the summer of 2017, which would have been accounted for in the most recent accounts, while Christian Doidge – their top goalscorer for the last two seasons – joined Championship Club Bolton Wanderers on a loan deal that is set to become permanent on a six-figure fee in January.

The cost of reaching the Football League – Forest Green’s finances from 2012-2017

2012/13

Income £731,000

Wages £1,013,000

Operating profit/loss: -£357,000

2013

Income: 864,000

Wages: £1,501,000

Operating profit/loss £1,671,000

2014

Income: 701,000

Wages: 1,838,000

Operating profit/loss: -£2,412,000

2015

Income: 1,029,000

Wages: 2,163,000

Operating profit/loss: -£2,953,000

2016

Income: 1,098,000

Wages: £2,374,000

Operating profit/loss: -£2,482,000

2017

Income: £2,025,000

Wages: £2,408,000

Operating profit/loss: -£2,155,000