Days of big spending over, says Chelsea boss

Chelsea are tightening their belts for the next two years with dramatic spending cuts needed to fulfil their aim of breaking even by 2010.

Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's under-pressure chief executive, has even warned that any signings in the summer will have to be financed by selling players first.

It comes after the club announced losses of £65.7m (€73.4m) for the last financial year - a continued improvement on previous years - but leaving executives with a huge task if they are stop relying on owner Roman Abramovich to bail them out.

Kenyon said: "We have set ourselves ambitious targets... to require zero cash funding from the owner at the beginning of the financial year 2009/2010.

"In line with our long-stated business aims, any squad structuring in the summer will be funded prominently by sales as we have consistently reduced our net transfer spend over the last five years and will attempt to continue this trend."

Chelsea's wage bill remains comfortably the biggest in the Premier League at £148.5m (€165.8m) - 70.6% of their turnover. Manchester United's by contrast was £106m (€118.3m) in 2006/7, 43.6% of turnover.

Football finance experts believe Chelsea face an enormous task if they are to succeed in reducing losses to zero, in particular in cutting the wage bill.

Stephen Morrow, head of sports studies at the University of Stirling, said: "It's a hell of a target and it's not easy to see how they will reach that.

"They have said that future signings will have to be funded by sales, but the big thing is player wages, and to get it down to a sensible percentage of turnover. A fundamental change is required there.

"It requires a huge change in personal behaviour and business culture."

The latest figures include £23.1m (€25.7m) paid in compensation to Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant and five coaching staff. It also does not include any pay-off for Luiz Felipe Scolari, sacked on Monday.

Abramovich has also reduced the debt the club owe to him personally by half, turning the £369.9m (€413m) of his loans into shares in the club. It still means however that Chelsea owe him £339.8m (€379.4m) as an interest-free loan.

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said he hoped the move by Abramovich would silence the doubters over the Russian's commitment to the club.

Buck said: "Following the conversion of half of the interest-free loans into equity there should now be no doubt as to the owner's commitment to the club and the stability of the company's funding structure.

"We have always believed that this 'debt', now reduced by 50%, has been misrepresented. Chelsea has no external debt and makes no punitive interest payments to external funders."