Player contracts.

[Jonny]

Jonny you state that £9.36m is well within our budget.

What do you expect our turnover to be this year based on our last season of receiving sky money? Also, for season 19/20 when sky money to be removed in full.

Are you expecting us to be at breakeven financially this season and in debt the next?

Expecting an operating loss for last season 17/18 of circa 4m, which might explain why the club accepted the Smithies money to cover this (rather than another shareholder loan), and expecting an operating profit for this coming season 18/19, circa 3m.

Post Parachute Payments I.e. season after this one (19/20) Anticipating operating loss of circa 6m, which needs resolving, either through player sales, or through additional sponsorship income. But we have time to work it out.

Income in the post-parachute era will be around 20m per annum, we will still get near on 10m in TV money We need 10m for running of the club in general (which is currently fixed and almost impossible to reduce, other than when we can move to Warren Farm), and we are left with 10m for salary budget. This enables break-even. But I am expecting a 6m loss because I am modeling our wages at such time as approx 16-18m, so way over the 10m break-even allowance, which would cause the operating loss, and therefore, need to be covered by additional income (sponsorship or player sales).

Ps my numbers may be out by approx 2m which is good news because I did not expect Robinson (25k a week) and Smithies (15k a week) to leave. Both will not be replaced in a wages sense, and therefore we save a further 2m on the annual wage bill, which likely reduces our loss in 19/20 from circa 6m to 4m, so is increasingly manageable.

[Jonny]

One further point to note is that, if as expected, we make a profit this coming season (and do not spend it on transfers), we can use such money to cover the expected loss in season 19/20.

Meaning, no burning need to sell any players at all which puts us in a strong negotiating position.

And during season 19/20, we are likely to reduce the wage bill even further, perhaps zoning in on break-even for season 20:21 - without any player sales. Which would be the very definition of self-sustainability.