• Club’s owner puts up own money for day-to-day costs
• New chairman admits £38m wage bill has to be slashed

Hull City’s owner,, the property investor Russell Bartlett,, has been forced to pay his own money into the club to fund its day-to-day trading. The Tigers are struggling to meet their financial commitments, principally because of a wage bill – £38m annually for a squad of 41 players– described by the returning chairman, Adam Pearson, as “not manageable”.

Pearson, who sold City to Bartlett in 2007, returned to the KC Stadium on Monday following Paul Duffen’s departure. He claims Hull’s borrowings are £9m, relatively low for the Premier League but the club cannot support wages for players on so lavish a scale. He would not disclose how much Bartlett has put in this week to ensure the club can pay its way, but said: “Russell Bartlett is a good owner who has put his own money into the club and he continues to fund it privately.”

As soon as he was appointed by Bartlett, Pearson commissioned auditors to produce an assessment of City’s financial position. It revealed the debt figure of £9m and, he said, a reduction from the £22m bank borrowings cited in City’s accounts for the year to 31 July 2008. Pearson described the debts, and overall financial situation, as “manageable,” but the wage bill is not, and he is certain to try to sell several players in the January transfer window.

Bartlett’s latest injection of cash is to provide the club with the wherewithal to conduct its business until then.

“I am pleased to see that the official debt figure is now £9m, one of the lowest in the Premier League,” Pearson said. “The problem is to reduce the wage bill, which is £38m, from the sheer weight of players on the club’s books. My job is to reduce that.”

Pearson confirmed that the club must comply with the stern warnings given in the accounts, which, as revealed by the Guardian last week, stated there is: “Material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The club’s accountants, Deloitte, wrote that even if City, currently lying 18th in the Premier League, survive at the end of this season, they must still make a £16m surplus to meet all their costs. If the Tigers are relegated, they must make a £23m surplus, which will be much more difficult without the windfall of Premier League TV money.

Pearson is confident that City will meet the required surplus from TV money if they do survive, and maintained that even if the club is relegated, it would be able to raise the required £23m. Inevitably, players will be sold or released to drive the wage bill down, and Pearson also hopes to attract new investors to the club. He is “optimistic” about that prospect, having established that the debts are lower than the £27m he believed them to be when he first returned to Hull.

Hull CityPremier LeagueDavid Connguardian.co.uk