Jump to content

Our Financial Problems


the traveller
 Share

Recommended Posts

The latest club accounts make dire reading, a loss of approx £1.2 m with outstanding loans of £1.6m. To paraphrase the auditors comments if our projected cash flows from football performances and players sales don't materialise we will require additional funding to survive the next year.

 

If that isn't achieved then there is a ' material uncertainty which may cast doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern'.

 

To say we have major problems ahead is clearly an understatement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And we're meant to believe the Well Society could take over the running of this and cover the losses?

Had it not been for the Society the club would already be in administration. It may be a straight choice between an uncertain future and no future at all. Don't forget that these accounts are for the year up to the end of May and will not include the Lee Erwin transfer fee or Jamie Murphy's add on, which taken together will be worth about £530K.

 

Certainly not an encouraging position to be in but things should become clearer at the AGM on 7 December.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And we're meant to believe the Well Society could take over the running of this and cover the losses?

As Lobey Dosser mentioned in an earlier post if the club lives within its means then the WS might have a significant role to play, not to run the club on its own that has always been a non starter but to provide a bit of financial support as required. A club of our size will always need a wealthy owner/owners ie Hutchison, Boyle, Chapman etc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How so many signings were authorised in the summer is beyond me.

 

How many times do we need to flirt with administration, the club must live within its means and stop chasing pipedreams.

Absolute appalling mismanagement!

 

We need a total clear out on AND off the pitch!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not nice headline reading but I am sure the club have been well aware of the position that end of year accounts would show for a good while. So, it wont be a surprise. Couple of thoughts:

 

- Loss in TV income a biggie from previous year, drop of about £900k. Just shows the difference league placing makes and also how important it is to have your projections correct for both league and cup.

 

- +£700k from players sales/development fees etc will be showing in next years accounts and didnt show this year due to the cut off. So, by this time next year we could be crowing about making profit or breaking even.

 

- Did people really think we would be posting a break even or profit this year given we took loans of c £1m? We may be getting close to running better (See notes on he significantly reduced wage bill) and towards a break even basis but it was never going to show in this years accounts.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not nice headline reading but I am sure the club have been well aware of the position that end of year accounts would show for a good while. So, it wont be a surprise. Couple of thoughts:

 

- Loss in TV income a biggie from previous year, drop of about £900k. Just shows the difference league placing makes and also how important it is to have your projections correct for both league and cup.

 

- +£700k from players sales/development fees etc will be showing in next years accounts and didnt show this year due to the cut off. So, by this time next year we could be crowing about making profit or breaking even.

 

- Did people really think we would be posting a break even or profit this year given we took loans of c £1m? We may be getting close to running better (See notes on he significantly reduced wage bill) and towards a break even basis but it was never going to show in this years accounts.

 

Whilst it doesn't make great reading - most need to remember we are 1 year into a 5 year plan.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To paraphrase the auditors comments if our projected cash flows from football performances and players sales don't materialise we will require additional funding to survive the next year. If that isn't achieved then there is a ' material uncertainty which may cast doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern'.

 

 

There's always a risk when summarising lengthy text that you miss out important information and perhaps you've done that here. Yes, the auditors do say what you write but they also say that the Board is reasonably confident that, if additional funding is required, that the club will be able obtain it to allow it to continue in existence for the foreseeable future.

 

Incidentally, going by your moniker, are you a travelling man?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Whilst it doesn't make great reading - most need to remember we are 1 year into a 5 year plan.

Yep, absolutely.

 

Talk from some folks earlier on of apalling mismanagement and complete clearout top to bottom required is a bit off the mark. Need to keep a mid term lens on it all (the 5 year plan you refer)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, absolutely.

 

Talk from some folks earlier on of apalling mismanagement and complete clearout top to bottom required is a bit off the mark. Need to keep a mid term lens on it all (the 5 year plan you refer)

Whether we are loking at short, medium or long term, questions need to be asked to why we have signed so many players since Les' arrival, many of which will never have any sell-on value.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

whoever it may be, please don't make it the new Society chairman. We need to keep these 2 roles separate.

 

Someone who has experience of running a club would be preferable, not just because a few thousand fans read an A4 sheet of you saying what your good at and promising to give the role 110% and voted for you.

 

As for the accounts. The old board need to ask questions of themselves. Their budgeting was reckless at best.

Thanks for the runners up finishes but our safety is not something that should be gambled with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 


Might get some people in place now that actually know how to run the WS/club properly.

 

Only if those people exist within the membership and are willing to give up their time free of charge (and don't mind being moaned at on a regular basis).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The latest club accounts make dire reading, a loss of approx £1.2 m with outstanding loans of £1.6m. To paraphrase the auditors comments if our projected cash flows from football performances and players sales don't materialise we will require additional funding to survive the next year.

 

If that isn't achieved then there is a ' material uncertainty which may cast doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern'.

 

To say we have major problems ahead is clearly an understatement.

The more I thought about this the less concerned I became. Ok, we're not in a great position financially, but we shouldn't overreact to this. For the past good few years we have had to have a cash injection/loan in January, traditionally the leanest time of the year, to tide us over. In the past this has come from Directors or the Society and this is what the auditors are referring to although it hasn't usually been spelt out quite as clearly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celtic match aside our last four home attendances have been

 

v Kilmarnock 4,136

v Ross County 3,545

v Partick 3,963

v Inverness 3,659

 

Hearts will probably bring a decent crowd on Saturday but with poor form, winter weather and Christmas shopping and bills coming up you can't see much money coming in from the turnstiles in the immediate future.

 

We've never been a well supported team but even recently we used to be a 4,500 - 5,000 team, these days we are 3,500 - 4,000, basically we've lost 20% of our fan base.

 

Our recent European 'adventures', and those of other clubs, have shown that Scottish clubs can't really compete at European level any more and therefore the appeal of challenging for a European spot has been ruined when most fans know what it really amounts to is a £30 home ticket defeat to third rate opponents.

 

No one can win the league except Celtic and the whole league has become a boring procession and as we know at the other end the relegation struggles are pretty dire when they consist of heavy defeats in dark, soulless stadiums in the freezing cold.

 

Is it any wonder fans are drifting away? Even cup football which might just be the last remaining bright spot has only seen fans completely alienated by some of the worst performances and defeats to lower league clubs you are ever likely to see.

 

The thing that really worries me is that most of our problems are outside our own control.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...