By comparison, last season’s League One title winners Portsmouth reported a loss of £5.6m over the same period of time while runners-up Derby County made an operating loss of £14.2m.

“We are a football club that want to compete in League One and hopefully one day, and soon in the future, look up as well,” Scully said.

“It’s a balance and we are dancing on a pinhead at times – we are trying to do absolutely everything.”

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that the Imps’ losses would be “mid-table” when compared to figures already published and expected to come from other League One rivals.

Lincoln’s financial report also confirmed that £3.9m of investment was put into the club last season – of which a majority came from its largest shareholder Harvey Jabara – “in order to fund the operating losses, player signings and capital expenditure”.

Staff costs at Lincoln were up more than £1m, to £6.9m, while average league attendances were down for the fifth successive season – not including the pandemic-affected campaign of 2020-21 when matches were played behind closed doors.

The increase in the club’s wage bill was up because of compensation paid to Mark Kennedy and his coaching team when he was sacked last season, as well as greater amounts put into the playing budget and off-field staffing.