Generic clubs in financial crisis Thread

[Svlad Cjelli]

Wrexham are in deep shite.

Players and manager haven't been paid and reported to have walked out, pre-season friendlies cancelled. Ground share with the rugly league club now not happening, and club ownership yet to be decided.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Ground share with the rugly league club now not happening, and club ownership yet to be decided.

Also, the RL club are being kicked out of Super League at the end of the season and the players are currently unsure if they are going to be paid. Looks like serious sporting financial meltdown in North Wales.

[Friday's Legacy]

interesting to note that west ham have a debt of £104m and "most" of that has to be cleared inside the next 3 years. this comes to light after tottenham and leyton orient have been granted a judicial review by the high court to challenge the decision to award the olympic stadium to west ham. spurs will now mount a legal challenge based on a £40m loan received from newham council to west ham to fund the club's move to stratford. "newham council's loan had given west ham unfair state aid" and "west ham was not and is not in a financial position to borrow £40m from a private lender or to make a bid for the stadium on its own, as newham itself recognised."

[Barry the bird boggler]

interesting to note that west ham have a debt of £104m and "most" of that has to be cleared inside the next 3 years. this comes to light after tottenham and leyton orient have been granted a judicial review by the high court to challenge the decision to award the olympic stadium to west ham. spurs will now mount a legal challenge based on a £40m loan received from newham council to west ham to fund the club's move to stratford. "newham council's loan had given west ham unfair state aid" and "west ham was not and is not in a financial position to borrow £40m from a private lender or to make a bid for the stadium on its own, as newham itself recognised."

Quite right, how on earth can any council anywhere justify loaning money to any football club anywhere, especially in the current climate of getting naff all back if that club goes into administration.

[Uke]

Almost as if WHU had someone working for them on the Olympic committee...



And more dirt is coming out, who'd have expected it from Gold, Sullivan and Brady? Makes you yearn for honest owners like Brown...

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard- ... s-claim.do

[roadrunner]

Everton are in real trouble. The bank wont lend them any more money and they have a huge wage bill to manage on gate receipts, tv money and sponsorship alone. How long before they fall into administration?

[Ferris]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=64727&p=3052182#p3052182

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Everton are in real trouble. The bank wont lend them any more money and they have a huge wage bill to manage on gate receipts, tv money and sponsorship alone. How long before they fall into administration?

Probably never but, as I (and others) have said before, it would be the wake up call that the PL needs. It's all well and good seeing Portsmouth go into administration but Portsmouth aren't exactly a long standing member of the top flight (certainly in the last 20 years).

Everton however have been in the top flight since 1954 and are the second oldest club in the top flight (after Aston Villa). For them to fall into administration should send serious amounts of around the footballing world - although the Premier League would probably just brush it under the carpet.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Everton are in real trouble. The bank wont lend them any more money and they have a huge wage bill to manage on gate receipts, tv money and sponsorship alone. How long before they fall into administration?

Probably never but, as I (and others) have said before, it would be the wake up call that the PL needs. It's all well and good seeing Portsmouth go into administration but Portsmouth aren't exactly a long standing member of the top flight (certainly in the last 20 years).

Everton however have been in the top flight since 1954 and are the second oldest club in the top flight (after Aston Villa). For them to fall into administration should send serious amounts of around the footballing world - although the Premier League would probably just brush it under the carpet.

Most likely outcome is that the PL would allow them enough advances on income to just about survive as their performances slipped and players left, so that they were relegated as a basket case and so became the FL's problem.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

^ Indeed. The precedent has already been set.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Plymouth Players considering not turning out for tomorrow's game. Once you fail to fulfill a fixture on such grounds you've pretty much had it.

[Silver Fox]

Seeing Karl Fletcher on SSN last night raised the question again of why players who don't get paid can't just leave. I was surprised to see the PFA telling them to stick with it

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Seeing Karl Fletcher on SSN last night raised the question again of why players who don't get paid can't just leave. I was surprised to see the PFA telling them to stick with it

I thought the rule was that you could only leave if you hadn't been paid for 3 consecutive months?

Either way, I'm not surprised by the PFA's stance. Starting to encourage players to leave has potentially catastrophic consequences for said club and I can see the PFA as trying to ease the situation rather than stoke the flames. Kinda strange for a union but I guess football is a "special case".

Can you imagine what would happen if Crowbar Bob was head of the PFA?

[roadrunner]

Plymouth Players considering not turning out for tomorrow's game. Once you fail to fulfill a fixture on such grounds you've pretty much had it.

I hope they go through with it. Reid was also saying that he hasn't seen the administrators any where near the club for god knows how long and they're supposed to be running it. The situation is pretty disgusting to be honest and gone on for far too long. Though I have to admit I would like to see them drop out of the football league.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Plymouth Players considering not turning out for tomorrow's game. Once you fail to fulfill a fixture on such grounds you've pretty much had it.

I hope they go through with it. Reid was also saying that he hasn't seen the administrators any where near the club for god knows how long and they're supposed to be running it. The situation is pretty disgusting to be honest and gone on for far too long. Though I have to admit I would like to see them drop out of the football league.

It seems Plymouth fans hope they go through with it as well.

http://www.pasoti.co.uk/talk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=57812

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

PAFC have now paid the players 40% of their wages. Strike averted.

For now. I have a feeling this aint over yet.

[Mr Angry]

Had an interesting chat with someone from Blackburn Rovers this morning; their salary bill is approx. 90% of their turnover, and they run at annual deficit of between £10 - £15M a year. However, the owners have already reduced their debt since taking over and plan to be at break-even in 18 months. They recognise that they can't increase revenue from gates, so are looking to exploit India as a market to break into. The owners would like an Indian player to break into the Rovers 1st team, but the person I was speaking to (who had been out to India as Rovers are setting up an academy out there and encouraging grass roots football) says that the best players out there are nowhere near the standard needed and it could be 10 years before they are. Luckily, the owners are in it for the long term, and whilst they were a bit naive at the beginning, they are quick learners and are prepared to pay whats needed althought they won't be ripped off either(they had agreed personal terms with Raul; if the figure this guy mentioned was true its , but Blackburn felt that Schalke were asking far too high a transfer fee).

The guy also said that Shane Long was very well regarded at West Brom and that they were confident that they had the squad to survive this season, with some good signings (he raved about Goodwillie) and some exciting youngsters coming through. He also thinks that both Swansea and Norwich will be found out this season and will struggle, that QPR will be ok, whilst West Ham are certs for the Championship title.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Plymouth Argyle's administrators have approached rival bidders James Brent and Paul Buttivant to submit bids to take over the League Two club.

On Thursday the Football League deferred a decision on whether to approve a bid backed by businessman Kevin Heaney.

Heaney said on Friday that he will not walk away from a deal just yet, despite threatening to 24 hours earlier.

"My consortium still want to do a deal," Heaney told BBC South West.

"They're (The Football League) asking for a few more bits to be done and we're hopeful that we'll get a completion date out of the Football League," Heaney, whose consortium Bishop International were preferred bidders for the club, added.

"It's more of a technical matter - how things are done in relation to funding for the club moving forward and there needs more understanding of that."

"We've had an approach from Brendan Guilfoyle on behalf of the joint administrators asking us to submit a revised proposal, which we've done and we're now talking to interested parties to see if we can deliver that," Brent said.

Bishop International is offering £6m to buy Home Park and land around the ground, with acting chairman Peter Ridsdale then buying the club for a nominal fee.

Heaney, who is chairman of Blue Square Bet South side Truro City, insists he will have no part in the running of the football club.

League rules state no-one can be involved in the running of two separate teams.

And Heaney says the administrators should go ahead and approve his deal: "If ours is still the highest bid, why not push the deal through?
"It seems to me that the administrators are trying at the 11th hour to get a higher bid, which is a bit naughty really.

"The danger is my consortium walk away because they're tired of being messed around and they're left with James Brent in a far worse position," Heaney added.

Brent says that he could get a deal together relatively quickly, if the administrators wanted him to: "What should happen now, and what should have happened earlier in my view, is to get a sale and purchase agreement signed, and if people want to work with us on it that can be signed very quickly.

"Once that is signed we'll take full responsibility for funding the whole club and not keep people living from day to day," he added.

[Svlad Cjelli]

From TheBusinessDesk.com

Ridsdale lambasts football finances
16th September 2011

By Mike Fahy - Assistant Editor

Peter Ridsdale at JMW's Insolvency Conference
FORMER Leeds United chairman Peter Ridsdale has predicted that there could be "an implosion" among Premier League clubs if TV revenues diminish or are restructured in favour of the top four or five teams.
Mr Ridsdale, currently interim chairman of Plymouth Argyle which is itself in administration, claimed there were only two current Premier League clubs with a sustainable model - Swansea and West Bromwich Albion.
"What I think is frightening about football is that everybody assumes that the Plymouth Argyles of this world who are languishing at the foot of League 2 are the problem, but actually we should be more worried about the Premier League and its future."
He also argued that Manchester United's business model works "without the Glazers" as the club throws off cash of around £100m per year, but was highly critical of the remainder and of the lack of governance in the game.
"Every other football club in the Premier League is held together by having an individual - or a small number of individuals - at the helm."
Mr Ridsdale, who was speaking at Manchester-based law firm JMW's inaugural insolvency conference on the finances of football, pointed to Manchester City's wage-to-turnover ratio of 170% as an example.
"While the Sheikh is there that's fine, but it is not the base of a sane business model."
He also pointed to Bolton Wanderers debts of £100m at the end of 2010 - a year in which it recorded losses of £32m.
"Were it not for Eddie Davies, I don't know how a club like Bolton could survive.
"Nobody says Aston Villa is badly run but Randy Lerner has pumped over £200m into Aston Villa Football Club. It lost over £79m last year. If that was a normal business you'd be asking questions of its management, but because its run by someone with a big chequebook nobody says anything."
He said the biggest danger was to relegated clubs without wealthy benefactors who have to contend with TV rights plummeting from £48m to just £4m in the championship and £1m in League One. He pointed to Leeds United, Southampton and Charlton Athletic as clubs which found themselves in administration after the drop.
"My concern about football is there is absolutely no governance at the top. The Football Association, which is deemed to be the governing body, has no real influence over the Premier League and clearly from what I saw when I was on the board of the FA, the Premier League drives football in this country.
"The Government doesn't regulate football and the Premier League - in my personal opinion - have no care or consideration about what happens below it.
"Take a club like Everton... You have a chairman who is clearly passionate about the club who has been a fan all of his life supported by - it is rumoured - two high net worth individuals and the acquiescence of his bank. Everton Football Club's debt levels and overhead structure would not in my opinion survive relegation.
"It is a strange industry. Every day of the week you see highly paid, talented individuals running around...but it is an industry that is teetering."

[PieEater]

Strange that Risdale thinks he can blast at finances when he's had in hand in many an administration pie. (and I don't recall Charlton going into admin recently)