Birmingham City chief executive Garry Cook has indicated that Knighthead remain mindful of the risks of spending money when it comes to player transfers after the club released their annual accounts for the financial year ending June 2023.
Blues, who made a pre-tax loss of £25.4m for the year prior to Knighthead's arrival, had a busy summer as regards to the deals which affect this current financial year; while the signings of Tyler Roberts and Krystian Bielik fell within 2022-23, a host of other additions came during this existing period.
Fees were paid and or wages agreed with Ethan Laird, Koji Miyoshi, Dion Sanderson, Siriki Dembele, Lee Buchanan and Keshi Anderson in the summer, while Paik Seung-ho and Alex Pritchard arrived in the winter window. A host of other players in the current squad signed on respective loan deals.
Blues did raise funds, too, in that time; Tahith Chong went to Luton for a substantial fee, while the club also sold Josh Andrews to Gillingham, Nico Gordon to North Texas and Kevin Long, most recently, to Toronto FC. The club also slashed the wage bill last summer with the departures of Maxime Colin, Harlee Dean, Troy Deeney, George Friend and Jordan Graham.
The club, who'll hope to feel the benefits of Knighthead's arrival and investment when this year's accounts are published next spring, were still as of the last financial year still operating at a loss, though, and to that end CEO Cook - appointed by Knighthead last summer - knows that everybody concerned with Blues must be watchful in their expenditure, especially with the stringent PSR rules in place.
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In the club's accounts, which were published this week on Companies House, Cook outlined in a statement: "The acquisition of players and their related payroll costs are deemed the core activity risk and, while assisting the manager in improving the playing squad, the board is mindful of the pitfalls that are inherent in this area of business.
"The aim is therefore to manage these costs whilst being as competitive as possible within the club's financial constraints."
Knighthead have committed, meanwhile, to investing as much as £58m into Blues between the date of their arrival in July in 2023 and February 2025: "The directors have received written confirmation from Knighthead Capital that continued financial support will be provided for at least the next 12 months.
"The directors have prepared detailed cash flow forecasts for the period to February 2025 as part of the longer term forecasts prepared for the company. The forecasts show that BCFC needs additional funding of around £58m from Knighthead Capital for the period from July 2023 to February 2025.
"The directors of the company and Knighthead Capital have indicated that they expect that the group will have sufficient working capital to be able to advance funds for BCFC to meet its financial obligations as and when they fall due for the next 12 months."
