LIVERPOOL FC must persuade every one of its season ticket holders to part with an extra £1,900 just to break even.

That is the magnitude of the mammoth £54.9m pre-tax loss for the 2008-09 season that the club’s accounts revealed when they were published last week.

Talk of an operating profit of £27.4m is misleading as it doesn’t take into account the £42.6m cost of “player amortisation and trading” or the interest payments on the club’s huge loans.

Interest payments alone account for more than £40m – with £8.1m going to the parent company based in the Cayman Islands owned by the club’s co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Only salesmen are happy with operating profits. To everyone else it’s the bottom line which is critical.

It’s like saying your household is in a healthy financial position, if only you didn’t have to pay your mortgage or tax on your wages.

The trouble is that Liverpool face reduced income due to their seventh-placed finish and poor European performance this year – and if you were in charge of Liverpool’s finances, would you budget for higher performance-related pay next season or not?

The accounts also showed the club’s costs soared again, with its wage bill increasing by more than £12m to nearly £103m. Its number of full-time staff shot up from 386 to 474.

However the increase in turnover – up £161.8m to £184.8m – was largely attributed to broadcasting revenue and prize money, which was not the result of any endeavour by Liverpool’s commercial team.

While the £20m-a-season sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered will make a sizable difference, that will only boost the bottom line if costs don’t continue to rise.