Fulham gambled on a new stadium at Craven Cottage according to football's top accountants.
The Deloitte and Touche expert Dan Jones thinks the club paid out nearly all their income in wages during their first season in the Premiership because they thought they would soon have a money-spinning new home.
It has not materialised and figures released yesterday showed that Fulham's staff costs for the year to the end of June 2002 were £30.7 million, accounting for 93 per cent of their £32.7m turnover.
This is one of the highest ratios in the Premiership and is way above the recommended safe level for the industry of 70 per cent.
The total amount being paid was higher than the commitments made by financially-stricken Leeds and struggling Sunderland, who are having to sell top players after bad seasons.
Fulham are said to be ready to listen to offers for stars such as Steve Finnan, Edwin van der Sar and Steed Malbranque this summer as they try to balance the books.
Jones said: "The club's wages to turnover ratio was high but they would have been planning at that stage to move in to a new stadium and increase their revenue. As a rule of thumb we would say 70 per cent is the comfort zone and 50 per cent is excellent.
"If you go above 70 per cent you may not have enough income left to cover all the other costs in addition to wages."
Fulham's debt in the year to June 2002 increased to £70.5m as they recorded a £33.6m loss - the second largest ever by a top flight club.
Even with the transfer-related costs of promotion and an accounting reduction in player values explaining a large proportion of the deficit, the financial position was becoming dangerous.
But Fulham have since started to cut costs and believe they are getting their finances under control. They are fortunate that their debt is effectively to Fayed, not to a bank, through a club-related company.
Their latest figures also show some improvements in turnover and operational costs. Executives predict the club will break even within three years.
At the moment, Fulham are critically dependent on Fayed but Jones believes the club's supporters should be grateful he is there to get them out of trouble.
Jones said: "If Fulham did not have a benefactor their figures would be more worrying because when there is a debt to a bank it does not have the same emotional attachment to a football club. The gap between costs and revenue is significant but its importance depends on the depth of the benefactor's pockets."
Source Evening Standard by Leo Spall