As lovely as that sounds, would it be possible for a club to survive without an owner? I am just thinking in hindsight here, if he cut and ran and had his internal owners debt paid back in full? Surely we would have some sort of system where Dux (cringe) would maybe take over as temp owner?
I don’t really understand what you mean? An owner is an owner. He can hand it over but why would he? It’s worth money
I was talking in a sense if an owner of a football club just thought "sod it I'm off" for whatever reason and walked out and took the money the club owned, does that owner have any legal authority to have to wait for a new ownership before he/she leaves? Can they walk out the door and leave a club without an owner to fend for themselves so to speak? If they really didn't care about the club anymore. Not suggesting Gino is that sort of person, but would it put a club in crisis?
I don’t think it works like that. Think we’d more likely go into in administration in such a scenario. He’d also be better off selling even for a Cut price fee.
It would still be his name over the door - so he could disappear off to Italy and ‘sod it, you run it Scott…’ but he would still be liable for the club and the way it’s run. Any debt incurred would be his etc etc. He would have to formally ‘sell’ the club for nothing to absolve himself of that.
Could be a long wait to pay back all that Pozzo debt (which of course would never be repaid pre-sale according to Duxbury). I absolutely agree with you that even stubborn Pozzo has realised nobody will pay what he wants so will be quietly paying down owner debt now external debts (in theory) settled.
The problem, as I understand it (as told to me midweek) is that we are losing £300k a month. If Pozzo takes £20m from an Asprilla sale, that £20m soon dwindles if he has to keep lending £300k of it back to the club. Really shows just how key it is to keep unearthing gems as a big revenue source.
That’s only 3.6m loss a year so Asprilla for 20m would keep us going for 5 years which is quite a while.
As with most champ clubs. Operating losses covered by player sales. Thank goodness we do this player trading to keep us afloat. The profit on / proceeds from Asprilla sale will cover a few years future losses plus provide limited funds to use this summer.
300k per month even now? Our wage bill must be dramatically streamlined and player amortisation must be tiny now. External interest payments zero. I’d be very interested to see the current management accounts if that figure remains the case. And if it is, how can an organisation that loses 3.5m a year, with one of the smallest playing budgets in the league possibly justify paying Duxbury a million a year?
Agreed. Let's see if Dux has taken a pay cut to reflect our new world finances. As you say I'd be surprised if we are still losing that much per month, though I wouldn't be surprised if we do run at a smaller ongoing operating loss as most clubs do.
I’m not at all defending it - but I’m lead to believe we are no longer paying the amount we were as a baseline salary and the next accounts will show that. But you know, pensions, benefits and other associated perks are a great way of topping up a reduced salary to the point it was at. And again - not defending him at all. Everyone knows my thoughts on him. But I am often told he’s the adult in the room when it comes to Pozzo etc these days.
As a finance man does that figure 300k per week loss sound right to you just ballpark, or rather let’s assume it is but where is it going? New TV deal we make £1m a month. Our player wages are £250k per week per internet site so let’s say that offsets that deal. Player amortisation/depreciation must be minimal now - Louza/Kayembe/Kalu (lol) I guess. £200k per month?. External debt repayments zero. Pozzo interest gets rolled up. Gate receipts £7m so say £550k per month. So that gets us to £350k per month profit but the final figure is 300k per month loss. On expenses, non player salaries, ground maintenance etc. Per year 7.8 million on “other stuff”. I know it will all add up but sounds a lot?
I’m pleased to hear he has taken a cut. He’d do himself a favour by announcing that rather than get slated for 2 years while accounts come out!!
Code: Base_Wage : Constant Float := 1000000.00; -- base before reduction Min_Wage : Float := 11.44; -- uk current min wage for over 21 yrs Diff : Float := Base_Wage - Min_Wage;
Whilst player amortisation/depreciation will be low now these are non cash items-what the club does have to pay out but doesn't pass through the P+L account is transfer fees owed. That figure was £53m as at June 23-now that would have reduced since then from either paying some of it or player sales offsetting some of the amount owed so whilst the £300k per week may or may not be accurate if i was the FD/owner i would have to keep a lot of cash back to meet these historic payments. As a balance-Blackburn Rovers owed £4m in transfer fees, Norwich £12m-ours was huge in comparison-we dont know the annual commitments in £ or who they relate to but it was and maybe still is a massive cash commitment.
Bear in mind the amounts shown in the accounts will include pensions, benefits and any perks bonuses. The rules are quite tight to avoid the issue you suggest in your post.
Mogi Bayat commission, and Duxbury / Pozzo salaries eats into most of that profit i’d imagine. That’s before you even consider the other numerous “Directors” earning fat cat wages.
Sure. I’m confident in what I’m told. If you don’t think we bend or circumnavigate rules, that’s also fine.
Well unless you think the auditors who sign off and possibly draft the accounts (given the low calibre FD and finance dept) are complicit, the disclosure will be correct. Its one of the easiest numbers to audit in the accounts.
The 300k a month loss being quoted now sounds a lot more realistic than the 500k a week which was has generally being banded about . It wouldn’t surprise me if we have to sell £2-3million worth of players a year to survive. Presumably wages will still come down more over time though , if we remain in the championship as the are still some premier league hangovers left over eg Imran Louza .
It is unusual for a director to take a salary cut , though it could happen. The most likely is their bonus will reduce , which would make sense .
I don’t ‘think’ anything. I don’t have a superiority complex about numbers or accounts. I’m merely stating what I’m told. I no more think they are complicit than I think you have no idea on the issues either.
