Albion lost £8 million last year, their first at The Amex.

They are expecting a similar loss this year, despite the increase in capacity.

The shock figures are revealed by chairman Tony Bloom in today’s programme for the visit of Derby County.

Bloom, discussing the impact Financial Fair Play rules will have on the club, said: “Like most other Championship clubs we run at a substantial loss. Last year we lost around £8 million and in the current year, notwithstanding our record crowds, we forecast a similar sized loss.

“This unfortunately is today’s reality of life in the Championship, especially for those teams pushing hard for success on the pitch.

“In spite of these massive losses we are actually within the current FFP parameters. This reflects the phased launch of the FFP rules for Championship clubs, so as the rules tighten each year we will progressively have to bring our budgets more into balance in order to meet the sliding FFP targets.

“Easier said than done! But the consequence of not doing so is that we will break the FFP criteria and so find ourselves subjected to a player transfer embargo until we bring our finances back into line with the rules, and the possibility of additional steep financial penalties.”

The three-stage expansion of The Amex, due for completion by March, will increase the capacity to almost 31,000 from 22,500 last season.

Bloom has warned fans future price rises are inevitable to help fund squad strengthening for boss Gus Poyet after some supporters protested about normal admission charges for last Saturday’s FA Cup victory against Newcastle.

He said: “One of the reasons we moved forward so quickly to expand the stadium capacity was so we could bring in more revenue.

“Nobody wants prices to go up, but we have to be realistic. This will happen over time, and we will aim to keep increases manageable – and we will do everything we can to make things easy, such as the interest-free direct debit scheme, which spreads the cost of a season ticket over 12 months.

“Our intention is to give Gus additional money to attract more quality players.”

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