CHAIRMAN Bill Bolsover admitted Worcester Warriors’ level of spending during last season was “not sustainable” after registering losses of £8.1million.

But he insisted they were making “significant improvements” financially due to an upturn in commercial performance.

In the 2015-16 season the Aviva Premiership outfit announced a pre-tax profit of £14.3million which wrote off loans of £20.4million.

But 12 months on and with wages rising from 9.6million to £11.1milion Warriors have become increasingly reliant on their shareholders as losses escalated.

According to the club’s latest set of accounts Warriors’ turnover went up by £1million to £10.8million in the 2016-17 season.

But administration expenses, including wages, amounting to £16.4million, along with interest payments has resulted in the heavy loss.

Owners Sixways Holdings Limited put the club up for sale in September with an asking price of £26.7million, including the 50-acre Sixways site.

With takeover talks still ongoing, bosses at Warriors have stressed the shareholders were continuing to back the club.

But in a statement by the club Bolsover said Warriors’ financial position was improving in the 2017-18 season and revealed the need for support from their shareholders would “decrease by about 50 per cent”.

“We recognise that the level of spending seen during the 2016-17 financial year is not sustainable and we have worked to reduce outgoings substantially in order to decrease our losses,” Bolsover said.

“The financial stability of the club is of course a priority for us and we are also focused on maximising our commercial revenues to support the rugby set-up.

“Our commercial performance for the 2017-18 financial year will be far stronger than it was in the previous year and the financial support needed from our shareholders will decrease by around 50 per cent, which illustrates that we are making significant improvements financially.”

Warriors have also seen a number of key members of staff leave in recent months with finance director Kirsty Fisher handing in her notice.

General manager Ryan Bezuidenhout has departed while conference and events manager Jen Barry has left for a position at Premier League side Stoke City and head of marketing Charlie Lincoln has moved to Bristol Sport.

Three business development managers have also handed in their notices in the past eight months, with one of them doing it this week.

However, the Worcester News understands their departures were not linked to the club’s financial situation.