OXFORD United’s latest accounts are not unusual for a club in their position – but issues over transferring money from overseas could be a concern.

That is the view of a football finance expert after running the rule over the U’s figures, which show a £2m loss for the 12 months up to the end of last June.

It is the sixth time in seven seasons the club has been in the red – five of which have been more than £1m.

The exception was 2016/17, when an operating loss of £1.5m was outweighed by the seven-figure transfers of Kemar Roofe and Callum O’Dowda.

While the numbers are alarming, they are familiar for Kieran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool.

“I think Oxford are in a broadly similar situation to that of many other clubs at that level,” he said.

“Clubs are losing money because control over costs and in particular in respect to wages is poor within the game.

“Owners want to follow the dream of promotion and therefore give managers budgets which you wouldn’t in another industry.

“The nature of football is it’s a very seductive industry.

“It’s a fine line that clubs walk, so it’s no surprise they are losing money.”

But United, who are hampered by not owning their stadium, have run into trouble in the period since the accounts.

Late tax payments have seen them among several clubs to fall foul of HM Revenue & Customs, triggering two winding-up petitions.

On the first occasion the issue was blamed on difficulties moving money, which comes to the UK from Thailand, where owner Sumrith ‘Tiger’ Thanakarnjanasuth is based, via the club’s holding company in Singapore.

It was also the reason put forward for the late payment of staff wages, which was resolved on Monday when the money was released after compliance checks.

Maguire said: “There is nothing really to stop fairly instantaneous transfers of large sums of money, because that happens in global markets all the time, so I’m a little bit cautious with regards to the noises from the Far East in that regard.

“It does depend on the country. Getting money outside of mainland China can be a problem, but Singapore is not an issue at all, it is very much a global financial centre.

“So I’m surprised at that, but I know there are political issues in Thailand almost permanently.

“It tends to be the small and medium-sized businesses where the problems arise.

“I would be concerned about late payments. If you are a wealthy individual then your finances are distributed across the world because you’re aware of local problems that can arise.”

United head coach Karl Robinson, speaking at the weekend, understood the concerns of supporters about the succession of financial issues, but sought to reassure them.

He said: “If I was a fan hearing this I would be questioning and doubting it, but I’m standing here telling you how it is.

“My job is to keep people positive, but also to be honest.

“I believe – and I’ve been told – that the future is looking a lot better, (with things like) different investors getting involved.”

He added: “If you know what was spent by the people above me on things that nobody would ever hear about, it would blow you away.”