Financial Fair Play

[Royals and Racers]

Full accounts published yesterday. These are for the year up to 30th June 2018

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history
click on view PDF(34 pages)

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[windermereROYAL]

Full accounts published yesterday. These are for the year up to 30th June 2018

https://document-api-images-prod.s3.eu- ... d4c7b6cee4

That link doesn`t work,well not for me anyway.

[Royals and Racers]

Full accounts published yesterday. These are for the year up to 30th June 2018

https://document-api-images-prod.s3.eu- ... d4c7b6cee4

That link doesn`t work,well not for me anyway.

try https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/comp ... ng-history

[Elm Park Kid]

So - I take back everything I said yesterday. We are in fact setting money on fire. . . .

[windermereROYAL]

To be fair we are making a go of getting the high earners out the door, that arsehole Gourlay has a lot to answer for, I would imagine his wages and BT for that matter were not cheap.

[Royals and Racers]

Hopefully forum member 3 points will cast his eye over the accounts. The Tilehurst end always give a good analysis of them as well.

[winchester_royal]

The eye popping thing to me is just how much we were paying Ron bloody Gourlay...

Should also be noted how we spent almost £20m on 'new player registrations' (i.e. transfer fees) in the period. Most of that will have been on the likes of Aluko etc during the summer window after the play off final, despite Stam moaning about not being supported financially

Doesn't take an accountancy qualification to tell you all that spending almost double your total revenue in wages is hardly a sustainable long term business model.. We're only able to do that because the owners are pumping large amounts of cash into the club. £16m raised through share issues in the year rather than loans - you certainly would not be able to say that the Chinese aren't supporting the club financially, despite what the virgins on twitter like to say when we get to deadline day.

Wouldn't be surprised to see a very large, one-off, 'loan fee' coming through in this years' accounts relating to Aluko to fix any FFP issues we have next year, as we'll be getting very tight to the limits off the back of this.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Very much look forward to the financial analysis skillz of a few of the board members but to a lay person like me those numbers are fcking mental and litterally the definition of stealing a living based on performances in the last 12 months. Disgraceful.

[Hound]

pretty poor reading that. Wages up to double turnover is a disgraceful position to get into. Gourlay has cost the club an absolute fortune, and last year was an absolute disaster in every sense. Stam whingeing about lack of backing really sticks

Undoubtedly the right thing to do to try to get that wage bill down asap. Expect Gunter, O Shea, McShane will also be out of the door in June, which will help matters further.

[windermereROYAL]

Reading are the latest club to report their 2017/18 results with losses of ‘just’ £746,000 in 2017/18. An unusual grant receipt of £10m and flogging off some assets then helped reduce these losses to just £21m compared with a profit of £4.7m the previous year.
Turnover decreased by £18.8m from £36.7m to £17.9m. Average attendances declined from 17,505 to 15,181. Media revenue was the biggest factor in this decrease, accounting for 71 per cent, down from £20.9m in 2017 to £7.5m in 2018. Match day revenues were down by £5.5m. Commercial revenues were up by £0.8m to £5.6m. Rugby match commission was £592k.
There was a profit of £1.4m on the disposal of player registrations.
Reading’s income fell by £19 million but wages increased by over £7 million resulting in £197 of wages being paid for every £100 of income (76 per cent the preceding year). This is not far short of the staggering £202 achieved at Birmingham City through the 'Redknapp effect' ('king of the wages jungle').
The highest paid director earned £639,000 for masterminding this achievement (up from £374k the previous year).

Reading’s owners funded the losses with £16m of shares and £3m of loans in 2017/18.
Reading bought players for £19 million and had sales of £2 million in 2017/18.
Avoiding relegation is crucial if the club is to achieve some measure of financial stability.

That last sentence is important.

[windermereROYAL]

Reading in the chronic that since the Chinese took over we have lost £34.7m that's not far short of the £39m for exceeding the FFP threshold over 3 years.
Next year will need to be cost cutting like you wouldn`t know.

[tidus_mi2]

So tl;dr, Ron Gourlay is a massive pcunt who would have bankrupted the club if he hadn't been sacked.

[Elm Park Kid]

Reading in the chronic that since the Chinese took over we have lost £34.7m that's not far short of the £39m for exceeding the FFP threshold over 3 years.
Next year will need to be cost cutting like you wouldn`t know.

That's how much the club is in debt, not how much we've lost since they took over (yeah, I know, it's confusing).

According to the 'books' we have 'only' lost £17m in the previous two years; and a chunk of that won't be included in FFP calculations (academy costs, women's team, charity, other random stuff).

[Sutekh]

Reading in the chronic that since the Chinese took over we have lost £34.7m that's not far short of the £39m for exceeding the FFP threshold over 3 years.
Next year will need to be cost cutting like you wouldn`t know.

That's how much the club is in debt, not how much we've lost since they took over (yeah, I know, it's confusing).

According to the 'books' we have 'only' lost £17m in the previous two years; and a chunk of that won't be included in FFP calculations (academy costs, women's team, charity, other random stuff).

As I recall the media was saying Reading had avoided FFP restrictions last season , impression I had was that that was the end of a 3 year cycle?

Therefore, if correct, then I presume this season is the start of a new 3 year cycle? If that's the case could a club pretty well do what it likes for three seasons but it's only at the end of that time they are assessed and if they fail they then hit various penalties (unless a club got the money to fund lawyers arguing their case in court of course). Or is it just looked at each season now?

[Vision]

Reading in the chronic that since the Chinese took over we have lost £34.7m that's not far short of the £39m for exceeding the FFP threshold over 3 years.
Next year will need to be cost cutting like you wouldn`t know.

That's how much the club is in debt, not how much we've lost since they took over (yeah, I know, it's confusing).

According to the 'books' we have 'only' lost £17m in the previous two years; and a chunk of that won't be included in FFP calculations (academy costs, women's team, charity, other random stuff).

As I recall the media was saying Reading had avoided FFP restrictions last season , impression I had was that that was the end of a 3 year cycle?

Therefore, if correct, then I presume this season is the start of a new 3 year cycle? If that's the case could a club pretty well do what it likes for three seasons but it's only at the end of that time they are assessed and if they fail they then hit various penalties (unless a club got the money to fund lawyers arguing their case in court of course). Or is it just looked at each season now?

I'd always assumed it was a rolling 3 year cycle but could be wrong.

[Maneki Neko]

Reading in the chronic that since the Chinese took over we have lost £34.7m that's not far short of the £39m for exceeding the FFP threshold over 3 years.
Next year will need to be cost cutting like you wouldn`t know.

That's how much the club is in debt, not how much we've lost since they took over (yeah, I know, it's confusing).

According to the 'books' we have 'only' lost £17m in the previous two years; and a chunk of that won't be included in FFP calculations (academy costs, women's team, charity, other random stuff).

As I recall the media was saying Reading had avoided FFP restrictions last season , impression I had was that that was the end of a 3 year cycle?

Therefore, if correct, then I presume this season is the start of a new 3 year cycle? If that's the case could a club pretty well do what it likes for three seasons but it's only at the end of that time they are assessed and if they fail they then hit various penalties (unless a club got the money to fund lawyers arguing their case in court of course). Or is it just looked at each season now?

its a rolling 3 year cycle.shirley

[Hound]

So tl;dr, Ron Gourlay is a massive pcunt who would have bankrupted the club if he hadn't been sacked.

yep.

[Sutekh]

That's how much the club is in debt, not how much we've lost since they took over (yeah, I know, it's confusing).

According to the 'books' we have 'only' lost £17m in the previous two years; and a chunk of that won't be included in FFP calculations (academy costs, women's team, charity, other random stuff).

As I recall the media was saying Reading had avoided FFP restrictions last season , impression I had was that that was the end of a 3 year cycle?

Therefore, if correct, then I presume this season is the start of a new 3 year cycle? If that's the case could a club pretty well do what it likes for three seasons but it's only at the end of that time they are assessed and if they fail they then hit various penalties (unless a club got the money to fund lawyers arguing their case in court of course). Or is it just looked at each season now?

its a rolling 3 year cycle.shirley

Of course, all makes sense now

Think now that NH is back in charge things will slowly get back onto an even keel and leave Reading able to compete over the ensuing seasons. Just hoping that the damage already done on the playing side is not too much to be able to recover from this season as relegation will just make it all worse and probably mean more cost cutting next season and even more of a real challenge for a manager to build a successful team.

[Hound]

Realistically whatever division we are in, we'll need to make significant cuts to the wage bill.

Thankfully Ilori and Bacuna have gone, who were no doubt on a decent wedge. McShane, VD Berg, O Shea, Jaakola will all be out of contract end of season and released. Gunter will go. Aluko and Mannone loaned out long term, so hopefully a big chunk of the wage of the books.

Then we'll want to permanently offload McNulty (should be fairly easy) and Meyler, probably accept any offers for Swift or Moore reluctantly, and try to sell the likes of Kelly, Barrow and maybe Bodvarsson

Promote some U23s (Southwood, Loader, East, the CBs) and target some good loans for next year.

Should massively reduce the wage bill and not really weaken the team too much. Think that would be roughly all the people Gourlay offered contracts to. Reckon that would get us back on an even keel fairly painlessly

[linkenholtroyal]

Realistically whatever division we are in, we'll need to make significant cuts to the wage bill.

Thankfully Ilori and Bacuna have gone, who were no doubt on a decent wedge. McShane, VD Berg, O Shea, Jaakola will all be out of contract end of season and released. Gunter will go. Aluko and Mannone loaned out long term, so hopefully a big chunk of the wage of the books.

Then we'll want to permanently offload McNulty (should be fairly easy) and Meyler, probably accept any offers for Swift or Moore reluctantly, and try to sell the likes of Kelly, Barrow and maybe Bodvarsson

Promote some U23s and target some good loans for next year.

Should massively reduce the wage bill and not really weaken the team in any way. Think that would be roughly all the people Gourlay offered contracts to. Reckon that would get us back on an even keel fairly painlessly

Agreed I think there will be 5 or 6 loans and potentially a clear out from above would be nice to keep hold of swift and moore but understandably 1 will probably have to go. I think we will likely be scouring the lower leagues free agents and loans this coming year and blooding youngsters.

likely remaining players next year
GK
Walker
Ward
Legg

Defenders
Obita
Yiadom
Blackett
Moore??
Holmes
Osho
Richards
Watson

Midfield
Swift??
Harriott (Think he will be offered another contract)
Baker (We have option to buy i believe)
Rinomhota
Possibly Kelly
Barrett
East
Holsgrove
Nolan

Forwards
Meite
Novakovich
probably Bodvarsson
Loader
Baldock

Players to lose
Gunter
Oshea
Mcshane
Barrow
Jaakkola
Mannone
Van den Berg
Meyler
Aluko
Popa
Gravenberch
Mcnulty
Smith


To be fair that squad realistically is short of a winger, a Oliveira, a central defender or 2 if Moore leaves. I would also love to have Martinez back for a full season and that would be plenty big enough in the champ.

TBH I would take all the loan players back next season that are with us now and just add a CB and a winger and we should have a good season. (and half the wage bill)