Football clubs are used to make-or-break dramas, but maybe few can match those of Gloucestershire team Forest Green Rovers.

With tomorrow evening's sold-out make-or-break semi-final play-off looming at Nailsworth's New Lawn stadium, from which victory spells a shot at promotion under the lights of Wembley, the Nailsworth club's fans have been strapped into a queasy rollercoaster for the last four seasons.

The club had ascended in 2018 – for the first time since it all began in 1889 – to the English Football League and then stormed on to reach the giddy heights of League One in 2022, putting the "little village team" within touching distance of its proclaimed ambition to reach the Championship.

But fears that owner and Ecotricity boss Dale Vince's declared aim might prove a little hasty proved true when the club slid straight back to League Two in 2023 and by April last year had stepped on what's commonly seen as the "trap door" back down to the National League. With only one automatic promotion spot in the NL, the fifth tier of English football is seen as a dungeon which has ensured enduring financial attrition for many far bigger clubs than FGR.

Coming after a turbulent period of management, last spring's drop to the NL and the end of a seven-year sojourn in the EFL was also a blow to the wallet as much as the club's heart: having already reported a £1.3m loss for the year ended June 2023, FGR had taken a scythe to its payroll, given that pre-League Two relegation admin costs had escalated from £2.3m to £3.5m.

In the subsequent financial year, the club found some revenue stability. 2024's declared takings totalled £7,935,177 against 2023's £7,944,238, and with administrative expenses increasing to £3,956,335 (2023: £3,599,021), the club's books showed credible resilience as it headed for the NL, though the small matter of a £3.2m loss overall was recorded.

We won't know the financials for this season's return to the NL until next year, but measured against the typical experience of clubs on such a trajectory, they are unlikely to be a cosy read, given anecdotal and fan experience this season suggesting that there has been a marked dent in turnstile figures and a step down in the sales of season tickets. 

Despite National League football featuring many big-name clubs, fixtures here feel a far stronger vacuum from football culture's domination by the Premier League than that experienced by those EFL clubs who are so near, and yet so far, above.

Despite any such gloom though, FGR's narrative this season on its retention and expansion of commercial partnerships and sponsorship has reflected the club's athleticism in attracting and sustaining business support. 

Football is broadly reported to be changing in terms of inclusivity and environmental accountability, but having established itself as the world's first vegan professional club and won the accolade of FIFA's "greenest football club in the world", SMEs and bigger business has remained as keen as ever to bask in the glow of this club's sustainable and fully recyclable halo. For corporate business seeking to cement any reputation for green status, and as FGR's sponsorship lists attest, there is only one deep green club to choose.

Last month, its main sponsor since 2020, New York based global ethical investment firm Candriam, signed on the dotted line to back the club until 2028, ensuring its name stays atop the stadium's main stand. And in the last week alone, FGR signed new sponsorships with Zero, the sustainable money app, and Reflo, a fully circular recycling system that ensures football shirts are remanufactured into new products. 

Closer to home partnerships also continue, as ever, with waste management experts Grundon, Stonehouse-based telecomms provider Lister Unified Communications, Wotton-under-Edge's tech trailblazer Renishaw PLC and Stonehouse's eesi Group Services, while such big names as meat-free food giant Quorn, plant-based milk vendors Oatly and tech partner Sumillion maintain consistent support.

Behind all that, of course, sits parent company Ecotricity, which underwrites the club's fortunes and holds the cheque book for the now-all-approved £100m Eco Park stadium, business site and leisure complex. If you don't somehow know about that, you can read the latest status on this stunning project here.)

Football financials can be murky, but after a hugely promising season for the club under the capable management of Steve Cotterill (and were the team to win 1-0 against Southend United and do the same again at Wembley against either Oldham or York) it's mathematically possible now for FGR, given a strong defence, to step back into the EFL with just two goals.

How much could those goals be worth?

According to longtime supporters and general FGR obsessives, £1.0m is an accurate basis for such results, while the BBC recently reported that the benefit of returning to this level may even point to £1.5m when factoring in the trickle-down payment from the Premier League to EFL clubs and appearance fees for televised games. The broadcaster calculated that the £1.5 bounce is also part of a basic award, as well as the Prem's "solidarity payment".

Martin Hynes, who runs a small group of followers based in Ipswich, told Punchline: "Sponsorship money is also boosted and gate takings rise, but player pay is of course higher."

According to Tiriel Lovejoy, who lives in Bristol and who has kept an eye on FGR's pitch for 40 years, victory at Wembley would also see a cheque on the way for some £400,000 for running the club's youth academy (a level of support which clubs receive for only one year once they are relegated to the National League).

He said: "With all the turmoil of the the two relegations we made huge losses trying to stay up, with huge amounts wasted on the manager/player changes and a director of football. Looking at the last accounts, sponsorship made up £5m of £8m turnover, so those relationships, built through our sustainability, are what allows us to compete – receipts were only just over 10% of income in the last financial year."

Should the club fight its way back up though, its leader model under Steve Cotterill may be in question.

Tiriel added: "We should be able to break even again as we did in the first two league seasons. Many fans had issues with former manager Mark Cooper, and maybe some were justified, however we made good money through signing developing and selling young players under his management.

'We currently don't have that format under Steve, and it will be needed to make us truly sustainable financially and make us attractive to young players wanting to progress rather than paying over-inflated wages to experience players. We have quite a few League One and Two level earners which, unless we go up, we will be looking to move, or will need to be moved on, due to the level of our wage bill."

With the stands booked to full capacity, all eyes will be on the prize – if the fans dare even look?