Bradford City's parent company plunged into the red after the club slipped out of the Premier League.

The interim report by club parent company, Bradford City Holdings Limited, shows a loss of £87,000, for 2001, the year the Bantams were relegated.

Last time the club lost more than £1 million - although before it paid out dividends to shareholders it actually made £2 million profit while in the Premier League.

But more worrying for the club is that its turnover plummeted by 37 per cent to just over £9 million compared to almost £15 million the previous year.

The report also reveals that between January 2000 and the end of last year, the club made a £6.3 million loss on players' transfers.

And worse news could be yet to come.

The results are not affected by the current crisis at ITV Digital, which last month announced it was to renege on a multi-million pound deal with the football league for television coverage rights.

Managing director Shaun Harvey said the club would continue to trim the playing staff to accommodate the latest downturn.

He said: "The fall in turnover is directly attributable to the fact we are not playing in the Premier League.

"If you don't have the exposure from being on television then obviously the revenue you can generate is going to be far less.

"We have got to strike a balance between attempting to get back into the Premiership and the expenditure on players' wages.

"We have already started trimming the squad. There is still some more to do but the majority of it has been done."

He said the collapse of ITV Digital had caused "shock waves" at the club and that he hoped the matter could be resolved sooner rather than later.

Mark Neale, chairman of the Bradford City Supporters Club, said selling players was a necessary evil.

He said: "If you fall from the Premier League you have got to trim back and sometimes that means getting rid of players.

"I am happy with the way the club is being run and I don't think there is anybody who can do it better.

"It looks like we are in good position to come through the ITV crisis because unlike some clubs we haven't spent the television money we were expecting.

"Given time I think we can get back into the Premier League."