RFC annual accounts up to 30th June 2025

[RoyalBlue]

Player sales should be something we do every season and built into our business plan.

Wage bill was still way too high though. And I suspect it will be higher if anything this season.

Hopefully we can make the POs and get a nice wedge from that. And then start next season well, playing nore entertaining football to boost attendance by 2-3k.

Getting bums on seats has to be the priority. Agree completely we should be selling players every season. 9million quids worth is going to be difficult mind.

Yes, absolutely. But if we can target one player a season for a couple million and maybe a small handfull for a few hundred k each, it's a good step.

But as long as we're in L1, a Cat 1 Academy is unsustainable at about £5m a year.

Maybe stating the obvious but a good Academy is not just about producing players that can be sold for a lot of money but also providing players for the first team and thus saving money by not having to sign as many players from elsewhere. Even free transfers aren't free, as there will be signing on fees, agents fees etc.

[stealthpapes]

Well, yes.
You've also got to accept that there may be leaner years, especially if you've rushed players in as stop gaps.

I also think there's a strong feeling that we'd accept 6, 7/10s from academy players that would get older, imported players criticised quite heavily.

[Snowflake Royal]

Getting bums on seats has to be the priority. Agree completely we should be selling players every season. 9million quids worth is going to be difficult mind.

Yes, absolutely. But if we can target one player a season for a couple million and maybe a small handfull for a few hundred k each, it's a good step.

But as long as we're in L1, a Cat 1 Academy is unsustainable at about £5m a year.

Maybe stating the obvious but a good Academy is not just about producing players that can be sold for a lot of money but also providing players for the first team and thus saving money by not having to sign as many players from elsewhere. Even free transfers aren't free, as there will be signing on fees, agents fees etc.

Of course. And £5m a season for that at Championship level or PL level is fantastic. But at League 1 level where most teams are spending far less than £5m in transfer fees etc is not very good value.

[PieEater]

Can someone explained happened to the Dai debt? I'm wondering about the other long term debt and if some of his loans have taken a haircut and been pushed to long term debt.

He allegedly put in £200m, and the accounts don't show that amount of debt - so after Couhig bought the club I'd understood he bought the debt too - or a fraction of it. Since most of the debt was owed to Dai is this fraction of this debt still owed to Dai?

Or did Dai write off his loans and this is other debt?

[Snowflake Royal]

Can someone explained happened to the Dai debt? I'm wondering about the other long term debt and if some of his loans have taken a haircut and been pushed to long term debt.

He allegedly put in £200m, and the accounts don't show that amount of debt - so after Couhig bought the club I'd understood he bought the debt too - or a fraction of it. Since most of the debt was owed to Dai is this fraction of this debt still owed to Dai?

Or did Dai write off his loans and this is other debt?

When Couhig bought the club and facilities, it was for everything. Debt to the previous owner will be part of the sale. That debt to Dai should no longer exist. Essentially he got pennies on the pound 'owed' to him.

Debt to third parties on the other hand, may well be a different matter.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Can someone explained happened to the Dai debt? I'm wondering about the other long term debt and if some of his loans have taken a haircut and been pushed to long term debt.

He allegedly put in £200m, and the accounts don't show that amount of debt - so after Couhig bought the club I'd understood he bought the debt too - or a fraction of it. Since most of the debt was owed to Dai is this fraction of this debt still owed to Dai?

Or did Dai write off his loans and this is other debt?

When Couhig bought the club and facilities, it was for everything. Debt to the previous owner will be part of the sale. That debt to Dai should no longer exist. Essentially he got pennies on the pound 'owed' to him.

Debt to third parties on the other hand, may well be a different matter.

My understanding from an early Couhig interview is that the 'debt' still exists - it just isnt an issue until the Club is flipped.

Its never been clear who it actually sits with - i.e. are there third parties who hold it or just Couhig and Trosclair..

My assumption is that there is a financial montage whereby owning that debt helps with any CGT upon a sale....

Unless anyone knows different...

[Clyde1998]

Given the accounts are end of year June 25 assume the transfer income received is largely Olise to Bayern plus some of the Smith money from Wrexham and any other add ons for previous academy players eg Hyam? Knibbs was sold quite near the start of the season I believe so we'll have his money plus any from Wareham & Craig in this year's numbers.

All the transfers in the summer will apply to the next accounts: Knibbs; Wareham; Craig; Mbengue (if that's every resolved); and Garcia. There should be a small solidarity payment from Hyam (due to Blackburn to Wrexham technically being an international transfer) and possibly sell-ons for some others. That's without considering any clauses from previous transfers which may have been triggered.

Possibly £5m minimum this season in transfer fees?

[Clyde1998]

If:

Matchday - £4,268,177 (+£164,595)

Then we need to at least double that, if not more to make a dent in the losses.

Bigger crowds certainly but potentially also Higher prices?...

The revenue per fan is very low compared to the top end benchmarks...

Still not sure fans could fill the gap even if they wanted to...

Our matchday revenue has been poor compared to clubs of similar size. Increasing prices would be complete folly though, especially when the ground is half empty as it is.

They'd be better off lowering prices to increase crowds and benefitting from the secondary sales of food; drink; merchandising; etc. The lower ticket price may be offset by the higher ticket sales too, depending on the differences. You'd also have the longer term benefit of getting people into the ground regularly (especially children) and being better able to retain supporters.

A more full stadium would be more attractive to commercial partners too, which would help revenue generation through sponsorships.

[Clyde1998]

Can someone explained happened to the Dai debt? I'm wondering about the other long term debt and if some of his loans have taken a haircut and been pushed to long term debt.

He allegedly put in £200m, and the accounts don't show that amount of debt - so after Couhig bought the club I'd understood he bought the debt too - or a fraction of it. Since most of the debt was owed to Dai is this fraction of this debt still owed to Dai?

Or did Dai write off his loans and this is other debt?

It's worth saying we never had £200m+ of debt; we've had £200m+ in accumulated losses. IIRC, Dai put a lot of the money into the club via shares so would never be paid back (directly).

£130.6m is the gross debt in these accounts (net debt's basically the same) and that's the highest we've ever had. It's also around 13.3x our revenue. We've shot up ~£50m since relegation to League One and Dai stopping putting money in freely.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Given the accounts are end of year June 25 assume the transfer income received is largely Olise to Bayern plus some of the Smith money from Wrexham and any other add ons for previous academy players eg Hyam? Knibbs was sold quite near the start of the season I believe so we'll have his money plus any from Wareham & Craig in this year's numbers.

All the transfers in the summer will apply to the next accounts: Knibbs; Wareham; Craig; Mbengue (if that's every resolved); and Garcia. There should be a small solidarity payment from Hyam (due to Blackburn to Wrexham technically being an international transfer) and possibly sell-ons for some others. That's without considering any clauses from previous transfers which may have been triggered.

Possibly £5m minimum this season in transfer fees?

So, as the summer transfer window opens on the 15 June 2026 and the next set of accounts run to the end of June 2026, those two weeks could be interesting, if the owners wanted to make the books look better...

[Snowflake Royal]

If:

Matchday - £4,268,177 (+£164,595)

Then we need to at least double that, if not more to make a dent in the losses.

Bigger crowds certainly but potentially also Higher prices?...

The revenue per fan is very low compared to the top end benchmarks...

Still not sure fans could fill the gap even if they wanted to...

Our matchday revenue has been poor compared to clubs of similar size. Increasing prices would be complete folly though, especially when the ground is half empty as it is.

They'd be better off lowering prices to increase crowds and benefitting from the secondary sales of food; drink; merchandising; etc. The lower ticket price may be offset by the higher ticket sales too, depending on the differences. You'd also have the longer term benefit of getting people into the ground regularly (especially children) and being better able to retain supporters.

A more full stadium would be more attractive to commercial partners too, which would help revenue generation through sponsorships.

I don't think lowering prices is going to attract anyone. It's already very good value.

[Dirk Gently]

The biggest revenue gaps at this level are broadcast income and commercial/sponsorship income. Both of them are obviously tied to the level you play at, so while we're in League One the most significant income is ticket sales.

But play at a higher level with more attention and you not only get more Sky money but the hospitality areas are full and you can charge more for them. Fully sold out commercial revenue at some clubs is approximately the same level of income as the rest of the ticket sales.

So yes, ticket sales are important at the moment, but not so much in the bigger and longer-term scheme of things.

[Brogue]

The biggest revenue gaps at this level are broadcast income and commercial/sponsorship income. Both of them are obviously tied to the level you play at, so while we're in League One the most significant income is ticket sales.

But play at a higher level with more attention and you not only get more Sky money but the hospitality areas are full and you can charge more for them. Fully sold out commercial revenue at some clubs is approximately the same level of income as the rest of the ticket sales.

So yes, ticket sales are important at the moment, but not so much in the bigger and longer-term scheme of things.

So what you’re saying is the higher up the football pyramid you go, the more money you can make?

[Dirk Gently]

The biggest revenue gaps at this level are broadcast income and commercial/sponsorship income. Both of them are obviously tied to the level you play at, so while we're in League One the most significant income is ticket sales.

But play at a higher level with more attention and you not only get more Sky money but the hospitality areas are full and you can charge more for them. Fully sold out commercial revenue at some clubs is approximately the same level of income as the rest of the ticket sales.

So yes, ticket sales are important at the moment, but not so much in the bigger and longer-term scheme of things.

So what you’re saying is the higher up the football pyramid you go, the more money you can make?

Not really - I'm really saying that the higher up the football pyramid you go, the less relevant ticket income and match-going supporters are. And, of course, the reverse - so in L1 having a full stadium is proportionately much more important than it would be higher up (when it would clearly be much easier to make happen, as well!)