Norwich City’s latest accounts outline the stark reality of life out of the Premier League with a pre-tax loss of £27.2m.

The Canaries have released their financial numbers for the 12 months to the end of June 2023, which covered confirmation of top flight relegation and a mid-table Championship finish under Dean Smith and David Wagner.

City saw a drop in revenue of £59m due to the loss of lucrative Premier League broadcast income. The £27.2m loss, before tax, followed on from a £23.6m hit over the previous 12 months.

That latest figure does not include £21.4m due from the sales of Max Aarons, Milot Rashica, Bali Mumba and Andrew Omobamidele, which fell outside the accounting period.

City are also committed to payments of £3.4m for the bulk of their summer transfer business that saw the likes of Ashley Barnes, Shane Duffy and Borja Sainz join the Canaries. That figure will also be included in the next set of published accounts.

City made a £3.6m profit on player sales, but excluding player sales an operating loss of £1.5m.

The annual wage bill for staff, including directors' renumeration, was £47.9m for the period under review, down from £91m 12 months earlier. 

The growing financial assistance provided by US-based director Mark Attanasio and his Norfolk Holdings company saw a debt refinancing package put in place during this accounting period.

Norwich had taken out £66m in loans against future earnings, documented in the previous set of accounts, but higher interest payments triggered a share allotment process that is poised to see Attanasio’s group join Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones as joint minority shareholders.

That process was rubber stamped recently by shareholders, but is believed to be now subject to Football League approval.

Norwich’s liabilities in the latest set of accounts are £75.9m, but do not include a final parachute payment due on relegation from the Premier League in 2022.

City continued their spend on infrastructure projects, with £5.7m in the latest set of accounts taking the total in the past three years to £13m.

Outgoing sporting director Stuart Webber has overseen a transformation in facilities at Colney, with ‘work commenced during the financial year (under review) at the training ground for the installation of a new state-of-the-art recovery facility which includes a two-lane swimming pool, hot and cold plunge baths and an underwater running platform designed to quicken the recovery time of injuries.'

You can read a full copy of the club's 2022/23 annual report here.