English FA Premiership Finances: They are the reigning Premiership champions and, with 15 games left to play, are romping away with this season's title. But yesterday Chelsea collected a new, though rather unwelcome, accolade by reporting a £140 million loss, the largest in English football history.

The west London club - whose spending power has appeared limitless since the Russian Roman Abramovich took charge - clocked up more than £50 million in one-off charges related to the ditching of kit supplier Umbro, the sacking of the striker Adrian Mutu and the release of the midfielder Juan Veron.

Chelsea also revealed that Abramovich had pumped £166.6 million into the club over the 12 months to the end of June 2005, taking his total investment to £381.5 million, plus the £60 million he spent buying out the club's original shareholders more than two years ago.

The scale of the Premiership leaders' plunge into the red is even more dramatic than losses at big-spending continental clubs such as Real Madrid. It outstrips the £87.8 million Chelsea lost in the previous year, itself an English club record.

The full cost of the race to win last season's Premiership title - Chelsea's first domestic league win in half a century - is revealed in the figures, which show that £276 million has been spent buying up players.

In a sideswipe at the takeover of his former employer, rival Premiership club Manchester United, by the US billionaire Malcolm Glazer, Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon said the Russian oligarch was in the club for the long term.

"The money that has been invested in Chelsea has all gone back into football, unlike some of the other recent changes of ownership. But we are not sat here saying we are happy with a £140-million loss. We're not. We want to get the club on to a level that is sustainable."

He refused to reveal how much the club had spent on agents' fees.

Manchester United's chief executive, David Gill, has suggested every club should reveal how much it spends on the fees - in the case of United, £2.2 million last year.

But Kenyon said, "I think it is proprietary information . . . I have no issue in not disclosing it. We comply with all the football regulations and the football authorities know exactly what costs are associated with all of our transfers."

The club has spent a further £57.5 million on talent this season. Chelsea's wage bill accounts for almost 75 per cent of its total revenues, a figure managers desperately need to get down to around 50 per cent if they are to have any chance of meeting their target of bringing the club to break even by the end of the 2009-10 season.

"The five-year plan is aggressive and if we did not meet it we would not be overly surprised," the chairman, Bruce Buck, said yesterday. "If not, we will survive and we will go on. Mr Abramovich is here for the long term."

The club expects wages to stabilise after its spending spree, while it is also looking to increase revenues with plans to return to the US this year and possibly make moves into China.

The club's management has also made no secret of the fact that capacity at Stamford Bridge is inadequate and there has been speculation about a possible move to a new stadium.

Overall, Chelsea's turnover in the year to the end of June 2005 - including merchandising and television rights - actually dropped to £146.6 million from £152.1 million as the club sold off its travel agency. It is now looking for a partner to take on its hotel business, a legacy of the creation of Chelsea Village by its former chairman Ken Bates, which Bruce yesterday admitted had done the club few favours.

In fact, despite its huge investment in players, Chelsea's £146.6-million turnover lags behind Manchester United. This month United said sales had also dipped, owing not to divestments but to lower media revenues because of its poor performance compared with the previous season, to £157.2 million from £169.1 million in the previous year.

The complex takeover by Glazer, however, has left the club saddled with debts of more than £265 million, while Chelsea, stripping out about £20 million of cash it still has in the bank, is only £169m in debt.

Chelsea is also looking to create home-grown talent, having spent £5 million on its football academy last year. That £5 million was one of a number of one-off exceptional items that sent the club into loss.

Guardian Service

2004-05 loss: £140m

(2003-04 loss: £87.8m)

Termination of Umbro contract: £25.5m

Adrian Mutu potential transfer value write-off: £13.8m

Transfer spending 2004-05: £101m

(2003-04 transfer spending: 175m)

Wage bill 2004-05: £108.9m

Turnover 2004-05: £146.6m

Investment by Roman Abramovich 2004-05: £166.6m

Total Abramovich investment:£441.5m