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Posts from the ‘Football Finance’ Category

Jan 11

Blue Indian

It’s increasingly common that we are asked to try and facilitate introductions to football connections to underpin commercial deals or prospective partnerships.  We have to deflect more than we take forward purely in the interest of the spirit of respect, as we don’t seek to be a sales broker or ‘post man’.

This Week, we deflected a personal aspiration to meet Manchester City FC.  We had to decline with no sound, commercial reason to co-operate.  I’m guessing that with my lecturing responsibilities moving from Turf Moor to the Etihad in Semester 3 at UCFB, there might be more of such approaches but my professionalism and ethics shall not waiver.

On the other hand, I was proud to facilitate an introduction and personalised facilities tour (including players’ areas not commonly seen) for the visit of the CEO of the Bank of India.  This on behalf of a long established working relationship with Slater Heelis.  A topical thing to post in the Week that announces the annual growth of the Indian economy has exceeded, fellow BRICS county, China.

 

Sep 1

NYC

Neil Young’s County: it was reassuring to hear the Manager at Stockport County emphasise that the Club, for once, had not been over-spending. He mentioned that his recruiting had a two year shelf life and the final budget would be comparable to last season’s. Some positive news from NYC – and that’s where it ended. We then lost 3-0 to our neighbours at Stalybridge Celtic losing two players including the goalkeeper to an over exuberant referee’s decisions in the process.

Monies and football finance will not lose prominence in editorial columns. Apparently ludicrous salaries and fee have ensnared City’s latest signing from Wolfsburg. Stories of precarious financial positions abound lower down the football pyramid. Latest focus has been on the league one down from EPL.

Apparently, Championship clubs have amassed more than £1.1Bn of debt with Bolton Wanderers heading that posse. Research, found the total debt was almost double the Division’s total cumulative turnover!

Bolton Wanderers has £182.1M, Queens Park Rangers £179.6M, Ipswich Town £82.4M, Cardiff City £81.1M and Hull City £64.8M. Only Preston North End appears to balance the books – though some write off of creditors appears to have happened in latest accounts.

Parachute payments, total £60M over a four-year period. However, from 2016-17, payments will be made over three years instead of four, while clubs who are relegated after just a single year in the Premier League will only quality for two years’ of payments.

Sustainable, I think not. Who will be the next ‘bubble’ to burst as the dream of the EPL is a mirage in the eyes of Owners.

Jul 21

Financial Disparity

Republished, courtesy of the Halifax Courier:

“Halifax Town Chairman David Bosomworth believes non-league clubs are being given a raw deal by the football authorities in comparison to League Two teams.

Bosomworth is frustrated that clubs in the Conference receive less money than those in League Two, despite both being a national league. Conference clubs actually receive more money for winning their league, £75,000, than the winners of League Two, who only get £25,000. But League Two clubs are believed to receive around £650,000 from TV money and Premier League solidarity payments each year.

Conference Premier clubs, however, have reportedly been receiving £35,000 per season in solidarity payments from the Premier League. If a League Two game is broadcast live on TV, the home side are given £30,000 and the away side £10,000. Under the deal with BT Sport which expired this summer, for a Conference game, the home team got £7,000 and the away team £1,000.

“We’re in a national league,” said the Town Chairman. “Our first game was against Dover, we travelled to Torquay on a Tuesday night. “We did thousands of miles last season, which is exactly what a League Two club would be doing. “But they have almost £1m coming in through various grants and TV money. “We get an absolute pittance compared to that. “I would compare it to Halifax rugby club. “They could potentially earn something like £400,000 if they do really well this season – we’re on a tenth of that. “Our starting point is £40,000 and then you get some additional increments from sponsorship – it doesn’t cover our accommodation. “We have to have about 12 overnight stays in the season because you can’t have lads getting off a bus from a five hour six hour journey and go straight into a dressing room, put their kit on and go and play football. “You’ve got to be able to travel down. You can’t risk it with the motorways – one serious hold up and you’re not turning up for a game.”

Bosomworth admits the disparity is even greater at the elite level of the game, whose prosperity can still harm the finances of non-league clubs. He added: “If anyone looked at the non-league structure and the league structure, there is just so much money going in at the top. “Congratulations to everyone involved with that. “But they’ve got to recognise that the minute they did Monday night football it opened the floodgates. “Now it’s Friday night football, European football – it’s wall-to-wall.

“Nobody need move from the sofa in their living room, they can just stay at home in the warmth.””

May 10

Up and Down the Pyramid

So County have remained in its League – well that’s some saving grace of stability. I am not one of those fans that claims always to be ‘in the know’ but after several years of loss making we are believed to be getting closer to that holy grail of ‘break even’. The stark reality now and witnessed by my Company for sometime is that the elusive ‘White Knight’ is a prerequisite to sustainability in lower league football with a few exceptions.

Alan Lord had moved upstairs to be DOF. The grapevine suggests interested incumbents might include those from TNS, Halifax and Bermuda (the latter of ‘Feed The Goat fame’. Of course, someone with a track record of promotion at least to Conference Premier would be best fit. Even with re-ignition of school-based and community initiatives, better football and bigger crowds are a necessity. I fear for the long term patience of the phenomenally loyal Stockport County fan-base if improvements and guarantees aren’t forthcoming.

David Thomas, from Western Morning News has reported on the difficulties that Torquay United face as a result of losing league status. Tranmere Rovers will face some home truths now after a similar fate. Hyde United will move to supporter-owned. Just me picking a few examples, there are many more with uncertain futures.

Torquay United lost more than £500,000 after dropping out of the Football League in 2013-2014. The ‘Gulls’ latest balance sheet, shows that the Gulls had a deficit of £542,724 for the year ended June 30th 2014. That‘s double the previous year’s offset by an injection of £570,000 from transfer sales.

At the other end of the pyramid, promotion to the EPL will be worth £120M to both Watford and Bournemouth, according to leading football finance experts.

The novel penned by Author, Charles Dickens, for my interested level of football, as a fan, comes to mind “BLEAK HOUSE”.

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