BURNLEY Football Club have announced a record £14.4million pre-tax profit thanks to a season in the Premier League.

But Clarets chiefs have warned most of the money will go towards offsetting the huge losses incurred by their bid to reach the top flight during the 2008/09 season.

A concerted, and ultimately successful, push for promotion – a prize that has been estimated to be worth £60m – led to the club reporting a record pre-tax loss of £11.7m 12 months ago.

Professor Tom Cannon, a football finance expert from Liverpool University, said: “These results show the club has used the Premier League to secure its long-term financial position.

“They could have spent £12m on players and still got relegated to the Championship.

“Burnley are getting a reputation as a club that is well run and willing to be innovative and creative financially.

“They are certainly sensible with money and a club like Burnley has got to play the long game.

“In the long term it could only take one or two promotions and possible relegations to become an established Premier League side, perhaps like West Brom, where they have built up a secure financial position.

“Burnley have bucked the trend of relegation being the first step to adminstration, for them it is the first step on the way to building up a strong football base.”

Former Claret and Lancashire Telegraph columnist David Eyres, who made over 170 appearances for the club, said it was “brilliant” news.

“It just shows why everybody in the Championship wants to go up to the Premier League for the financial gains,” he said.

“Let’s hope it happens again, they’re obviously in a better financial position than a lot of other clubs at this level.”

Alan Beecroft, chairman of the Colne Clarets supporters’ group, said: “It is wonderful news.

“It shows the money from the Premier League hasn’t been squandered or wasted.

“The board did the right thing last season by making sure we were safe financially.

"We’ve seen others clubs spending lots of money to try and stay up and ending up nearly bankrupt, some clubs are in an horrendous situation because of that now.”

Yet despite a dramatic increase in player wages, with staff costs rising from £13.4m to £22.37m in the last financial year, an improved turnover of over 400 per cent has allowed Burnley to recoup that deficit.

The Clarets made more than £40m from their matchday income, including television rights, while average home attendances were over 20,000.

Chairman Barry Kilby said: “As predicted, our exposure to the increased revenues of the Premier League has enabled the club to achieve a record profit of £14.4m.

“This has been used to good effect to correct the losses incurred over previous years, repaying debt and strengthening the balance sheet."

And he has backed manager Brian Laws to benefit from a more secure financial footing.

In a statement to shareholders, he added: “Our first season in the top flight of English football for over 30 years proved to be all too brief, resulting in relegation back to the Championship.

“We were not disgraced, achieving a 30-point total and a position in the league just one place from safety.

“The situation was not helped by the sudden departure of our manager, Owen Coyle, in mid-season.

"The disruption and its timing caused a serious blow to our planning and out new manager, Brian Laws, made a gallant effort to retrieve the situation.

“However, Brian now has his own team and playing staff in place and I am confident that we are in good hands for the challenges of the future.”

Operational director Brendan Flood added: “We now have the credential of a Premier League club and this will enable us to recruit players more easily and to be competitive.”

The club's 113th Annual General Meeting will take place at Turf Moor on December 13.

The accounts, for the financial year ending June 30, showed a 43 per cent increase on what was a record retail turnover in the previous year.

Matchday corporate hospitality package revenue doubled, while ground advertising revenue was up 40 per cent.

The average takings for catering for a match during the 2009/10 season surpassed the record for any previous individual game at Turf Moor, and internet-related income went up by 50 per cent.

There were extra costs as the club spent £9m on transfer fees – not including the summer purchases of Ross Wallace and Lee Grant, which will be included in next year’s accounts – and £1m on improvements to Turf Moor.

The Clarets also honoured agreements to refund season ticket holders and repay a number of directors’ loans – including those from Flood’s Modus Ventures – following promotion.

As of June 30, the only directors’ loan still outstanding was £1m owed to Kilby.

The club plan to eliminate all borrowings within three years.