The stark financial realities of having an island football team playing in the English non-league system were laid bare at FC Isle of Man’s latest supporters’ club meeting on Monday.

The Ravens made a loss of roughly £50,000 last season, despite generating income of £330,000 from sponsorship, gate receipts and children’s football camps. Income was roughly the same as the previous season.

However, the Bowl outfit’s expenditure totalled £380,000, with the majority of that (almost £250,000) used to cover the travel costs of the team and visiting clubs.

They have gone up slightly, despite help from Steam Packet, meaning it costs around £5,200 for each away game. Indeed, these overheads are part of the reason the club has elected not to play in cup competitions again this term.

To put on a home game costs the club £7,500 to £8,000. There are 23 home games in the North West Counties Premier Division season.

The club has been fortunate that the overall loss has been underwritten by government, but at Monday’s meeting at the Rosemount pub, the Ravens’ board appealed for more sponsors to come forward to aid the club in its attempts to be financially sustainable going forward.

Speaking at the event, the club’s director of operations Lee Dixon said: ‘Any sponsorship, whether that is for matches, for individual players or for boards around the Bowl pitch is greatly appreciated. It all goes into the pot that helps run the club.

‘The aim is to get the club closer to being financially sustainable without the backing of the government.

‘We want to get enough money coming in so that we could run this club irrespective of whether they decide to get behind us or not.

‘We’re a little bit away from doing that at the moment, but we’re finding ways all the time to cut back on our outgoings and increase our income.’

Club treasurer Russ Kent added: ‘The government have indicated they might be changing the scheme that provides the underwriting, meaning it may not be available for next season.

‘We need all the support we can get - every little bit helps.’

Kent also revealed a dip in season ticket purchases has hit the club’s income. Season ticket sales for this campaign totalled 123 compared to 202 last year. This equates to a loss of £8,000.

The board reiterated though that tickets are as cheap as they can make them when VAT and booking fees are added in.

Dixon also provided an update on the club’s inaugural festival of football which saw Chester, Radcliffe Borough and Lancaster City visit the island in the summer.

He said: ‘I think the inaugural Festival of Football was fairly successful. In terms of the quality of games and football for Paul [Jones, first team manager] it was a success and it was a relative success in terms of finance.

’They say it takes three years for something like this to break even. This year lost £4,000 to £5,000 on the event, which was a lot, but it’s a lot better than we thought it was going to be in its first year.

‘That was without a main sponsor, after the one that had committed £7,500 pulled out with only three or four weeks to go to the tournament. If we’d had that we would have made money.'

The plans are to press ahead with another tournament next season. Dixon continued: ‘Our aim is to make contact with teams ahead of Christmas with a view to the clubs committing and launching it to the public in January.

‘Hopefully this will give clubs and fans enough time to save up ahead of the summer.’

The Ravens take on league leaders Ramsbottom United at the Bowl on Saturday evening, with kick-off at 6pm.