MIDDLESBROUGH’S latest set of annual accounts have highlighted the financial risk involved if Premier League football does not make a swift return to the Riverside.

The Championship club have officially posted a pre-tax loss of £6.4m for the year ending June 30, 2018, after being in the second tier following relegation from the top-flight.

Middlesbrough are still firmly in the promotion picture and sit in a play-off spot this season, but they are seven points adrift of an automatic spot and that was the target.

There was a reluctance in January to spend more money on the squad when there is every chance Middlesbrough will still be in the Championship next season, having seen how difficult it is to go up via the play-offs last May.

Boro boss Tony Pulis had hoped to bring in extra firepower during the window but realised after chats with the boardroom that high earning players had to leave before more could be brought in.

Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson, who the club continues to rely heavily on financially, knows a failure to secure promotion to the Premier League again could cost a boost to the tune of around £200m.

In the accounts, Gibson said the club’s biggest financial risk is “failing to perform competitively in the league in which it competes”.

That explains why he is being careful this time around, having sanctioned big spending on wages and fees in the first season following relegation after one year back in the top-flight.

The £6.4m loss for the 12-month period following relegation from the Premier League in May 2017 and the first year back in the Championship was affected hugely by a drop in TV revenue – which contributed to a profit of £7m the previous year.

Even though the accounts reveal the club has recouped £27.7m in deals since last June, including sales of such players like Ben Gibson and Adama Traore, it is clear Middlesbrough could do with going up this May.

The club’s revenues halved from £121m to £61.9m after a slump in income from broadcasting from £100m to £46m, although costs did fall from £89.5m to £51.3m.

Then manager Garry Monk was allowed to spend £66m on players, with £44m arriving back into the Riverside coffers from selling players such as Marten de Roon, Gaston Ramirez, Adam Forshaw and Jordan Rhodes. The expensive deals for signings such as Britt Assombalonga, Ashley Fletcher and Martin Braithwaite didn’t have the desired effect under Monk and then Pulis.

The accounts state: “The club will continue to keep control of operating costs and make as much income as possible available to invest in the football team. The club will continue to strive for progression and promotion to the Premier League.”

Despite drops in gate receipts (to £7.1m from £8.7m) and cup income (to £286,000 from £930,000) and a fall in wages from £57.1m to £43.2m, Middlesbrough’s loss is not too excessive by Championship standards. They are expected to show one of the highest wage bills in the division.

The departures of Gibson and Traore last summer should have at least helped the club’s financial situation heading into this summer.

Traore has struggled to make his mark at Molineux, where Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo has used him sparingly. He has not started a game since the turn of the year.

Traore said: “A massive difference. At Wolves we play more offensively, at Middlesbrough it was more counterattack, waiting for the opportunity when the opponents lose the ball. Here is more movement. I spend a lot of time talking to the coach about where is the best position for me to be able to explode, because at Middlesbrough the wingers played open.”