Chelsea cut losses to 80 million pounds - reports

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) Premier League champions Chelsea recorded a pre-tax loss of 80.2 million pounds (156.3 million dollars) in the 2005/06 financial year, British media reported today.

The loss, to be announced later on Monday, is a cut of 60 million on the previous year but is still the third largest in the history of English football, said The Daily Telegraph.

''With the Premiership champions committed to breaking even by 2010, owner Roman Abramovich will be encouraged at the way chief executive Peter Kenyon slashed losses by 42.9 percent for the financial year ended June 2006,'' the paper said.

The loss is lower than the 87.8 million pounds Chelsea lost in 2003/04, the first of Abramovich's ownership.

Up to June 2005, the Russian had invested 440 million pounds buying the west London club, paying off its debts and financing the purchase of new players, calculated The Telegraph.

The Guardian added: ''The 80 million pounds loss... takes the aggregate losses during the Russian's ownership to 308 million pounds and his total spending on the club over 500 million.

''The loss remains the third largest in the history of the Premiership and is largely attributable to the Russian's bank-rolling of player transfers, which ran to more than 100 million pounds in the 2005-06 accounting period.'' Players bought by the club during that period included Andriy Shevchenko, Jon Obi-Mikel, Solomon Kalou, Lassana Diarra, Michael Essien, and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

The Guardian calculated that total spending on transfers since Abramovich took over is more than 375 million pounds, with 175 million spent in 2003-04 and 101 million in 2004-05.

REUTERS PM KN0901