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Football Finances


Fawlty Towers
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I see that Dundee Utd have now gotten rid of their bank debt thanks to some wealthy fans but the question is how did they get to that level of debt in the first place? Also Motherwell's accounts showed a near £200,000 loss for the year ended 31st May '13 yet they are continually held up as how a club should be run. Despite winning a cup last season St Mirren lost over £200,000 which can't be good.

 

Can someone please remind me of our current debt situation, I seem to recall someone saying we had restructered it with the bank but I don't think any figures or timescales for clearing it were mentioned?

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150k of st mirrens loss was natural depreciation of their stadium. They actually lost money through the cup run due to costs incurred outweighing the income. They make public quite detailed accounts.

 

Excuse me if I sound silly but I assume the costs would be staging the home games prior to the final and a bonus for the players - would that really account for such a large loss given the gate receipts from the games plus the TV money?

 

Also Motherwell used early cup exits as one of the reasons for their large losses, so it appears going out early costs you money whilst winning it costs you money - very strange.

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Private Eye describes football finance as "planet football", which more or less sums it up - clubs that have turned up their toes (i.e. been liquidated) reappear as financially healthy going concerns, clubs that have breathed their death rattle spring up from their deathbed and start lashing out at the nurses, and those that have preserved their energies for the fight turn out to be weakened and with parlous immune systems. Not to mention the transfusions from undoubtedly clean sources, as Blair would have put it, from the Republic of Ireland - friends of Charlie Haughey and all. Forget the planet: it's a whole parallel financial universe.

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Another of the often discussed "better run" clubs posting a near £200,000 loss:

 

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/football/st-johnstone/st-johnstone-feel-financial-pain-even-in-an-exciting-season-1.129115

 

Interesting point in that article is the fact they have posted losses in 5 straight years. I bet most people would have said that St Johnstone run a tight ship and Geoff Brown keeps the finances under tight control yet the facts seem to indicate otherwise.

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It needs to be dealt with from the sfa they must get financial rules put into the licensing agreements for clubs and get tough, if you dont meet them your out no matter how big.

 

Also teams need to realise that if you dont even plan a break even budget how the hell are you goign to survive long term ??

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Another of the often discussed "better run" clubs posting a near £200,000 loss:

 

http://www.thecourie...season-1.129115

 

Interesting point in that article is the fact they have posted losses in 5 straight years. I bet most people would have said that St Johnstone run a tight ship and Geoff Brown keeps the finances under tight control yet the facts seem to indicate otherwise.

 

Mortality rate must have dropped in Perth as they do very well from the funeral trade. To be more serious St J can usually find a way to recoup any losses. The marketing of McDiarmid Pk as a non footballing venue is recognised to be very good but, as the article hints, not recession proof. On a footballing perspective is Stevie May not contracted past the summer?

 

eta just seen MMJ's post and agree in general. Just sense that St J will still have their act together

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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Seems Lloyds (I think) are desperate to get out of Scottish football. All the debt in Scottish football has been written off and anything recovered is basically a bonus. Sounds like theres a similar offer as the Dundee United one on the table for Killie. If they pay off X amount then they will potentially be debt free as well. It seems to hinge on the fact Michael Johnson doesn't have he cash though and Lloyds will settle if they find a sustainable business partner going forward. One caveat on the Dundee United offer includes 50% of all transfer fee's for the next 2 windows to the bank and then 40% of all transfer fee's in the 3rd window to the bank. if Steven Thomson plays his cards right then Dundee united could have a very bright future

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Another of the often discussed "better run" clubs posting a near £200,000 loss:

 

http://www.thecourie...season-1.129115

 

Interesting point in that article is the fact they have posted losses in 5 straight years. I bet most people would have said that St Johnstone run a tight ship and Geoff Brown keeps the finances under tight control yet the facts seem to indicate otherwise.

 

It must be difficult to run a SPL club with average crowds of only 3,700. However, Saints have been able to reject six figure offers for Stevie May so they can't be that desperate. IIRC we had a few years of six figure losses not too long ago.

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It must be difficult to run a SPL club with average crowds of only 3,700. However, Saints have been able to reject six figure offers for Stevie May so they can't be that desperate. IIRC we had a few years of six figure losses not too long ago.

 

Cut your cloth accordingly and should be fine, it should be easy to run an division 2 club with 49,000 fans, but that seems almost impossible

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It must be difficult to run a SPL club with average crowds of only 3,700. However, Saints have been able to reject six figure offers for Stevie May so they can't be that desperate. IIRC we had a few years of six figure losses not too long ago.

 

Another way of looking at what I previously posted about St J is that they have a relatively higher ex-football income simply because of their location/infrastructure. But they didn't just open their doors and funeral parties, conferences, meetings and the odd rock concert were lining up to use their facilities. They would've worked hard at promoting McD Pk and have for years enjoyed the fruits of their labour.

If they've been running at loss these last few seasons then I suggest it's both manageable and foreseen. Besides it looks to me that they could sell on a player to return to profit.

Even the most avid PTFC Board basher will admit that Beattie & Co have turned our finances around. We're now more than likely running close to break even. That's got to be admired. But I have my doubts that we're anywhere near maximising our income from non footballing income streams and make my feelings known re that on other threads.

There's a lot of things both directly and indirect the Club is getting right particularly community-wise. I feel tho' that marketing-wise we're still far off the mark. We might never be able to capitalise on Firhill to the level St J can with McD Pk but that's not say we can't at least try.

Edited by lady-isobel-barnett
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^ I would not disagree with any of that. It is truly disgraceful that TAG has been apparently been scrapped without any official statement from the club. I was willing to pay up just to have back-up PDFs of programmes on my laptop.

 

There could be an opportunity to increase ticket revenues through differential pricing. Why should those in the North Stand pay the same as those in the centre of the JHS? Lowering NS prices could attract fans on lower incomes, especially when bills and prices are rising faster than wages. It's common practice at other British clubs, including those with similar attendances to ours. It could be a controversial move but we need to raise our income to afford better players.

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The way to maximise income is to have a fully functioning stadium used 7 days a week. Firhill will not be able to provide that. If we moved to a new stadium and it offered more income I would favour that.

 

That is only one way and the difficult option........ the other is to jump on the bandwagon of a feel good factor and sell products and subscriptions following it to your fan base, and ensuring what you have signed people up to you maintain

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