BLACKBURN Rovers’ Finance Director Mike Cheston warned the club must continue to cut costs wherever possible, despite seeing losses fall by £16m in their latest accounts.

Cheston admits it is unsustainable for costs to keep exceeding revenue as they are, with Rovers once again seeing high-profile player departures used to help to reduce losses to £1.5m.

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Loans from the Rao family now total more than £106m, with Cheston confirming the owners remain committed to the club with Rovers ‘reliant’ on their ‘continued funding’.

Rovers have slashed the wage budget by half in the past four years, but Cheston said: “We will be looking to bring the wage bill down again as we have in the past few years. For the last few years, particularly since I have been in the role, we have been looking at every area and that has been seen with a reduction in the operating costs as well as the wage bill.

“We are looking to reduce costs as any business would do.”

Rovers’ wage bill now stands at just over £25m, down from almost £35m two seasons ago and half the £50m that Rovers spent in 2011/12 when they were in the Premier League. However, net current liabilities at Rovers still total £106,393,974, and Cheston added: “The loans total over £100m and we’re grateful to that commitment from the owners.

“They have again committed in the accounts to providing funding for the next 12 months and the foreseeable future after that.

“That loan is a direct function of their investment in the club. That’s how it should it should be perceived.

“We are reliant on the continued funding from the owners, as evidenced in the accounts.

“The loan is not repayable within a certain period, it’s interest free, and it’s very important that that is maintained particularly for the foreseeable future given where we are.

“That is a figure we’re trying to bring down, but it will be difficult this year with the parachute payments taken out of the equation.

“We are honouring existing contracts, and existing settlements that we’ve made to players, and we will have to work through those, re-negotiate over time player contracts and look to reduce costs wherever possible.”

Cheston admits one positive is that Rovers again passed Financial Fair Play (FFP), while also continuing to invest in their Category One Academy set-up.

He also felt the accounts were ‘much improved’ compared to previous years.

However, with Rovers battling against relegation to League One, and having sold many of their star names in recent years, Cheston accepts it is about making sure the picture is looking healthy both on and off the pitch.

He said: “Ideally we want the team be doing well and the club to be improving financially. All we can do is do the best we can in both areas and look to make improvements.

“That’s not to say that just because we’re improving financially that we’re satisfied with the league position, we want to get both aspects of the operation right.”

The latest published figures ran until June 2016, though Cheston wouldn’t comment on the club’s current balance sheet.

However, he conceded: “The attendances are down, and we’re also suffering with it being the first year without parachute payments, so turnover will be down, and we’ve got a big challenge to be sustainable.”

But Cheston, who was speaking prior to the departure of manager Owen Coyle, feels the club’s hard work in reducing costs in all areas is paying off.

“The best thing to say is that we are FFP compliant for the second year running which is good news in itself,” he added.

“The loss before player trading was £15m compared to £25m two years ago and £17m last year.

“With player trading the loss was just over £1m compared to £17m the year before that, and £42m the year before that.

“So the trend is bearing fruit from the hard work we have put in to reduce costs and keep within a sustainable environment. That’s what we plan to do going forward.”