THE cost of hoisting Wanderers into the Premier League was revealed when Burnden Leisure plc - the club's parent company - reported a loss of £8 million over the last financial year.

The wage bill increased by £1.6 million to £9.8m as players were recruited for the promotion push and bonuses and fees amounting to £3 million were paid out when the club secured its return to top flight football.

Combined with television revenue plummeting from £3.8m to £1.3m with the loss of the Premier League's so-called "parachute" payment and gate receipts falling because the team played fewer games, losses in the year to June 30 were around £3m higher than in the 1999-2000 season, leaving Burnden Leisure in debt to the tune of £33.7m.

But chairman Phil Gartside insisted that the benefits of gaining promotion were considerably greater than the losses incurred and maintained that the performance of the company was in line with the "strategic plan and long-term goals".

"The underlying performance, excluding the cost of being promoted, was in line with our forecasts," he said, "and our plan for this year is to continue the improvement in our business performance."

The loss would have been considerably higher but for profits of £6.7m on the transfer market in a period during which Eidur Gudjohnsen, Claus Jensen and Mark Fish were sold while Per Frandsen was the only big money purchase when he was bought back from Blackburn Rovers for £1.65m. The transfer balance sheet underlines the remarkable success Sam Allardyce delivered after losing some of his best talent and subsequently having to work on a limited budget.

Despite the Burnden board's determination to achieve sustained success in the Premier League, the chairman revealed that the policy of relating payments to success in terms of bonuses to players would continue. There will be no excesses with the directors of the plc determined to take a cautious approach to guard against a repeat of past experiences when big spending led to a crippling financial burden when success was not attained.

"We are striving to achieve the balance of investment against our limited financial resources," he explained, "and the annual results this year demonstrate the difficulties we are facing."

The last financial year saw the opening of the four-star De Vere Whites Hotel, Burnden Leisure's second subsidiary business, which helped existing catering operations to contribute £4.48m to the company's turnover of £14.5m and is expected to be a major source of revenue in future years.

Wanderers did well all round on the commercial front last season with matchday corporate hospitality and catering income up by 42 per cent, merchandising turnover up 14 pc and sponsorship up 23pc.

But the huge deby burden attracted interest charges of £2.3m, prompting the Burnden directors to look at mortgaging the Reebok to spread the cost.

The need for success on the field, however, is vital with off-field activities playing an important supportive role - factors the chairman acknowledged when he said: "Currently our future prospects are influenced to a large extent by our success in retaining Premier League status. Our overall business strategy is still to diversify our income streams away from football dependency. To that end the success of the hotel is paramount and the increased use of the stadium is essential."