Latest financials for the year ending May 31 2024 reveal how Cheltenham Town Football Club saw a loss of just over £32,000 on the previous year.

But the figure for the Whaddon Road club represents a move towards profitability when measured against the previous period, which saw the team relegated and delivered a bank statement with a deficit of £531,000.

The latest data from Companies House points to how the sale of striker Will Goodwin to Oxford United, for just over £400,000, along with the departure of 22-goal scorer Alfie May, who left for Charlton Athletic in July 2023, helped shore the Robins' ship.

With the current season, in EFL League Two, seeing the club hover mid-table on results, the on-pitch performance is unsurprisingly stirring disquiet among fans – but is seen as being markedly improved on the previous season, which saw the Robins handed the statistical ignominy of a record-breaking run of 11 games with zero goals scored.

That woeful set of results cost manager Wade Elliot his job and the team is now led by former Welsh midfielder Michael Flynn.

Typically for any club post-relegation, accounts indicate how commercial revenue dropped by £136,000, while turnstile takings turned in a reduction of £19,000. The 2023-24 season also bore no wins in non-league prize games, spelling no consequent prize money boost. However, this season's FA Cup first round win and reaching the quarter-finals of the EFL Trophy has seen the club bank a bonus of £135,000.

In terms of cash in hand, the Robins had £567,319 in the latest declared year – a marked drop on 2023's stash of £819,424.

Director Clive Gowing has indicated that the club faces pressures to sell at least one player per year to ensure financial viability – until new investment can be secured. The player trading model, he said, along with growth within commercial areas of the business, "will ensure the club can continue to trade for the foreseeable future".

Whaddon Road's financial situation for some fans resonated with Cheltenham's 3-0 defeat away to Braford City last night. Against a predictable tide of criticism for Michael Flynn, one fan observed that available budgets explained the difference between the two clubs' fortunes on the pitch: "Bradford have been rebuilding for years and finally getting it right. With the constant need to sell players to keep our heads above water, we rebuild every summer. It's how it is unless you want to throw the kitchen sink at it spending money we don't have."

Cheltenham Town FC's Whaddon Road home is on a lease scheduled to run until 2105. Accounts show that the latest operating lease commitments in total came to £1,618,300 (2023 - £1,650,285).

Figures also show how Cheltenham Town increased its payroll during the year by six, taking its current staffing level up to 112. The club's Whaddon Road base was renamed just after the financial year ended, to the EV Charger Points Stadium, in a deal that will last for three seasons and which supplanted the previous sponsor, Completely Suzuki - part of the Completely Motoring group which fell into administration in October last year.

Alan Lewis, EVCP Solutions founder and lifelong fan, said at the time: "It is such a proud moment for us to be able to sponsor the stadium and support the Club in this way. I am excited to see what the next three years bring for everyone at Cheltenham Town – players, staff and supporters."

● Reports of football clubs facing financial advesity may be regular, but the most recent research by business recovery specialists Begbies Traynor, the March 2024 Football Distress Survey, found that things were looking up, stating: "Financial distress is at an all-time low in the English Football League, now affecting just two (3%) of the 72 clubs... a reduction of 91% since a year ago when 22 clubs showed signs of distress, and down from a record high of 34 in October 2021."