As was reported last week Cambridge United's accounts for the last financial year showed a small profit of £57,000, although that was largely due to sell on and appearance money from former players which was worth over £400,000.

'Billy' Beall was the only player for whom United received a transfer fee in the year ended 31st May 1999, and a sell on percentage of the fee from Danny Granville's transfer from Chelsea to Leeds United provided the lions' share of the £433,000, but Gary Rowett's move from Derby County to Birmingham also generated much needed funds for United. In Rowett's case the income was courtesy of a percentage of the sell on income received from Derby by Everton, the club Rowett joined when he left the Abbey.

Appearance money was generated by Jody Craddock at Sunderland, Micah Hyde at Watford, and Beall at Leyton Orient.

Director and joint main shareholder Richard Summerfield told the Cambridge Evening News, "It shows the importance of working out well-structured transfer deals. There was also an encouraging increase in gate receipts, so generally - and considering the way we have to run the club - we are quite pleased with the figures. It is the sixth year out of seven in which we have shown a profit."

The other bullet points in the CEN report were that gate receipts rose from £436,975 to £722,712 thanks to success on the pitch, but the related increased wages and bonuses for players and management meant playing costs of £1,247,900 exceeded receipts by more than £500,000.

The figures show that United made an operating loss of more than £7,000 a week last season, despite winning promotion and enjoying a successful run in the Worthington Cup, which underlines the importance of Granville's unexpected transfer to Leeds and the other transfer income. Only the £99,000 received from a special promotion insurance allowed the club to show a profit on a successful Division Three campaign.

Ahead of tomorrow night's Annual General Meeting for shareholders, U's fan Nick Pomery has written an analysis of the financial statements for U's Net which is particularly clear for the accounting layman, and you can read it here.