ACCOUNTS published on Companies House confirm Weymouth Football Club lost a huge six-figure sum in a single year of trading.

Up to May 31 this year, the Terras lost £291,112 leading to their much-publicised financial strife.

At August's fans' forum, acting financial director Simon Etherington revealed £112,000 of debt had built up during the club's time in the National League.

It is understood much of the deficit had been caused by security costs, a change of first-team manager, the cancellation of last year's Boxing Day fixture and a paucity of home games in March.

While the above figures make uncomfortable reading for the club, the financial situation has eased somewhat since May.

Etherington and acting CEO Paul Maitland have steadied the Weymouth ship, clearing all of the 'toxic' debt by raising £100,000 of donations, investment and share sales.

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Speaking to Echosport, Maitland said: "What it shows is what the National League is.

"The club had the lowest player budget in the league, we do know that.

"Clearly, it's not an ideal situation but the picture is already better now. 

"While still not fantastic, we are trading, running, paying our debtors and have cleared a huge amount of (the debt) out.

"We're slowly but surely seeing a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

"There's still an awful lot of hard work and difficult decisions to make to try and get back in the situation we were in last time we were in this league.

"It will take some doing and won't be a five-minute fix."

Further on from that public meeting, Weymouth have continued to generate money from share sales, a patron's draw and a variety of other schemes to alleviate the financial stress.

Their run in the FA Cup, in which they have ended a 15-year wait to reach the first round proper, has so far generated £18,375 after coming through three rounds of qualifying.

An extra £41,000 is on offer to first-round winners but should Weymouth lose in the first round, there would be no additional prize money.

And they will have to contend with losing home shirt sponsor Dormeo, with the patron's draw designed to soften that blow somewhat.