The Long Awaited Accounts....

[Mellin]

Considering the money involved in football these days, I'd wager by a country mile.

[Dave]

Am i right in saying Mr Lerner has invested more of his own money than any other chairman in our history?

Happy to be corrected on this, but presumably he went through that particular milestone on the day that he took possession of the club?

I meant since he took ownership.

Even so, given that he underwrote £6m for the Petrov signing straight away - has any other chairman put even £6m of their own cash into the club?

[AVH87]

On the positive - net debt is now only £30m. However, a wages to turnover ratio of 72% is too too high for us - given that the vast majority of our high operating expenses were staff costs, as they always will be.

Also given that 62% of our revenue is TV money, the wage bill will have to be drastically trimmed in the summer with the impending relegation. Player sales needed and I hope there are some sizeable relegation wage drop clauses in contracts of those who stay.

[kippaxvilla2]

Revenue slightly down due to lower TV revenue, gate receipts were up.  £115.7m.

Pre tax loss £27.8m increased from £3.9m previous year.

Net debt reduced to £30m from £102m.

Club remains for sale but no active discussions with potential buyer.

Oh and commercial revenue was actually down £2.6m to £19m.

They suggestion that Tom Fox is some sort of commercial genius blown out of the water with those figures.

As I said a few posts after this, and as since backed up by Mr Risso, to suggest he is responsible for that drop is a false narrative, seeing as he would have been in the post for 6 months to the 2015 financial year end.  And as I also said, I assume his boasting about increased shirt sales means he is confident commercial revenue will be higher than the £19m quoted here when the 2016 numbers are produced. 

[Ads]

Is it possible to forecast what the accounts might look like next year in the Championship, or am I asking too much, with there being too many variables at stake re: players, pay offs etc?

[mr underhill]

I would have thought anyone on any sort of wedge is going to be out the door at the merest hint of a buyer - the prospect of Adama playing Chumps league football on 45k  a week is surely a pipedream. Things look very bleak and whoever is manager next season is going to be under immense pressure to get promoted at the first time of asking before our financial situation starts to flatline.

[ASHTONVILLA]

Is it possible to forecast what the accounts might look like next year in the Championship, or am I asking too much, with there being too many variables at stake re: players, pay offs etc?

Not difficult if you can fill the blanks.

What is the TV Revenue in the Championship?

What is the parachute payment?

What level do the current wages drop to when the release clauses activate?

Plus guess what incoming transfer fees may occur.

I haven't the info to fill the blanks, but it wont be pretty.

[mrfuse]

Are there any criteria by which he isn't?

His own?

Hah, that made me laugh out loud

Me too and i have to agree with this as well.

I feel "a bit" sorry for Faulkner in all this. He was mostly hopeless, but didn't earn that much. He then sees his replacement earn 10 times as much while buggering things up on a scale previously only dreamed of. 

[aj2k77]

I'm just amazed.

How can we be so poorly run? How did last seasons business, terrible business at that put £14m on the wage bill? It beggars belief. What are they paying these players?

Gabby must have got a rise, Hutton? It's just a fucking shambles. The season before we lost £3m and said it was almost self sufficient. We then must have given more massive contracts out to old, past it donkeys, which has again pushed it over the edge.

And as for the commercial side being millions down, well that's what happens when your product is appallingly bad.

Dickheads the lot of them.

Fox on £20 something thousand a week... are they all stupid?

[kippaxvilla2]

I'm just amazed.

How can we be so poorly run? How did last seasons business, terrible business at that put £14m on the wage bill? It beggars belief. What are they paying these players?

Gabby must have got a rise, Hutton? It's just a fucking shambles. The season before we lost £3m and said it was almost self sufficient. We then must have given more massive contracts out to old, past it donkeys, which has again pushed it over the edge.

And as for the commercial side being millions down, well that's what happens when your product is appallingly bad.

Dickheads the lot of them.

Fox on £20 something thousand a week... are they all stupid?

Lambert got a new four year deal - that would have increased the wage bill I would have thought.

[Risso]

and he then got it paid off a few months later.

[sid1964]

lambert's pay off was supposedly £2 million therefore if the cost is £3 million as reported in the accounts this would mean that his pay was grossed up and this meant that he received £2 million net!

When you consider that the next set of accounts will probably show a similar figure for Sherwood and there could also be the cost of getting rid of Garde and his crew!

If that is the case you can bet that the next Manager of our club will be currently out of work, as we wont want to be paying any compensation for him to his current employer.

No wonder we are in such a mess

[AVH87]

Is it possible to forecast what the accounts might look like next year in the Championship, or am I asking too much, with there being too many variables at stake re: players, pay offs etc?

Not difficult if you can fill the blanks.

What is the TV Revenue in the Championship?

What is the parachute payment?

What level do the current wages drop to when the release clauses activate?

Plus guess what incoming transfer fees may occur.

I haven't the info to fill the blanks, but it wont be pretty.

Interesting article showing Championship clubs' revenue: http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/national/146216-championship-club-club

With our massive drop in TV money, inevitable drop in match day revenue and other income, we'll need the hefty parachute payments to give us a big advantage over 21 other clubs. With the new TV deal coming in, it's estimated that parachute payments could be as much as 86m over the next 3 years, if they were we'd get £47.3m (55%) next season. With drops in other areas I'd estimate our total revenue in the Championship to be between £70-80m.

[ozzjim]

The only option with these accounts is to appoint Harry Redknapp. It makes sense.

[auntiesledd]

Why is Lerner waiting? Fox should go now along with the other idiots. You can see Lerner is still trying to do the right thing and writing off debt but when as an owner you keep repeating the same mistakes over a six year period then you should just admit to yourself that you are no good at running a business.

If Risso is correct and Fox earned over £1m for a part year of employment, then that might well explain it. Would you want to write a cheque for £2m+ to the moron for him to leave? Maybe he will be sidelined and kept on for negotiating shirt deals etc (which by all accounts he is pretty good at) and that way we lose the money on the drip then don't offer him a new contract.

Hope he is booted out though.

'A million pounds, to send us down'

I'm sure there's a chant in there somewhere.

Tommy Fox are ya listening
To the song we are singing
You get a million pounds
And you sent us down...

(Sorry, but I couldn't do the last line without a volley o' horrible personal abuse)