Debt position at 31/3/10

[SheepRanger]

Lost £13.7m in 09/10 with net debt totalling £37m. Add another £13m loss to 10/11 and our total debt is around £50m. It would seem some think there is a lack of ambition by our Board with our lack of signings, but who do you think has been bankrolling our promotion season?

With the Premiership worth £40m this season, even if we kept the same outgoings there would be a surplus of £27m this season. But with current players on higher wages written into their contracts the surplus could be down to £20m. Granted match revenues will go up and sponsorship etc.

But even with modest signings and putting £20m against our debt, we could still get relegated with debts of £30m and having to fund those contracts the following season.

Scary numbers and I'm amazed that some don't seem to get it and want to see big signings on big contracts which still wouldn't be any guarantee that we'd stay up.

[Park Street Ranger]

Yes. In the absence of having millions thrown at us Abramovich style, we need two or three austere years in the PL before we can think of spending big on any players. We might well go down in that time but at least the club itself we will have a chance of survival and getting back up.

[Morris]

You make some good points, but there are many other good points that could be made to counter that argument.

[SheepRanger]

Thanks PSR, I was starting to think I was the only one who thought this way.

I accept that walk up prices are too high, but this doom and gloom just isn't right. A mate of mine is a Burnley fan and heard some Qpr fans ring into some radio show expressing how bad things are. He went onto various MBs of our and was amazed at the negativity of the things he was reading. He said 'sorry, I just thought you just got promoted as champions'

Some need to get a bit of perspective of the size of our club and the debt. Oh, and some patience...

[rangerforevereastcote]

You make some good points, but there are many other good points that could be made to counter that argument.

like what mate, have posted similar comments for last few weeks and most keep overlooking these kinda important facts

[SheepRanger]

You make some good points, but there are many other good points that could be made to counter that argument.

Don't let me hold you back, whatever points you have I won't rubbish them. I might not agree.......

[Morris]

Well you have to speculate to accumulate. If we don't spend a penny we will likely go down, thus losing out on millions.

If we spend a little now, we could virtually garentuee another years worth of PL money which would ease the clubs debts. Granted we get parachute money but is not the same amount obviously.

I appreciate it's a risk as we COULD still go down and find ourselfes in even more debt, but thats a risk IMO we should take. We can always sell high earners next summer if we were to go down.

[PinnerPaul]

Lost £13.7m in 09/10 with net debt totalling £37m. Add another £13m loss to 10/11 and our total debt is around £50m. It would seem some think there is a lack of ambition by our Board with our lack of signings, but who do you think has been bankrolling our promotion season?

With the Premiership worth £40m this season, even if we kept the same outgoings there would be a surplus of £27m this season. But with current players on higher wages written into their contracts the surplus could be down to £20m. Granted match revenues will go up and sponsorship etc.

But even with modest signings and putting £20m against our debt, we could still get relegated with debts of £30m and having to fund those contracts the following season.

Scary numbers and I'm amazed that some don't seem to get it and want to see big signings on big contracts which still wouldn't be any guarantee that we'd stay up.

At last - someone gets it! Think this should be posted on every "OMG that's another target gone" thread!

[Bigears]

Head in sand - i think is what most fans do on this subject

[PinnerPaul]

You make some good points, but there are many other good points that could be made to counter that argument.

Such as?

With all due respect that's a daft post

"There's lots of things I could reply but I won'T"?????

[SheepRanger]

Well you have to speculate to accumulate. If we don't spend a penny we will likely go down, thus losing out on millions.

If we spend a little now, we could virtually garentuee another years worth of PL money which would ease the clubs debts. Granted we get parachute money but is not the same amount obviously.

I appreciate it's a risk as we COULD still go down and find ourselfes in even more debt, but thats a risk IMO we should take. We can always sell high earners next summer if we were to go down.

No, that's a risk you want Bernie and Flavio to take.....

Seems to me they are showing a sensible approach to things by being prudent, but as I've said before I don't agree with match day prices. Aver £35 for ST is fine but £40 should have been the tops for match day.

[Morris]

Such as?

With all due respect that's a daft post

"There's lots of things I could reply but I won'T"?????

Maybe try reading the whole thread before you make yourself look silly, I have answered the questions by giving the flip side of the argument.

That's not to say I'm right and the original poster is wrong, but there's always 2 sides to everything.

[Morris]

No, that's a risk you want Bernie and Flavio to take.....

Seems to me they are showing a sensible approach to things by being prudent, but as I've said before I don't agree with match day prices. Aver £35 for ST is fine but £40 should have been the tops for match day.

That the only part you wish to respond to?

Yes it's a risk I would like THEM to take. Can't exactly take that risk myself can I? Which is why I said 'IMO'.

Strange reply.

[maddix]

Well you have to speculate to accumulate. If we don't spend a penny we will likely go down, thus losing out on millions.

If we spend a little now, we could virtually garentuee another years worth of PL money which would ease the clubs debts. Granted we get parachute money but is not the same amount obviously.

I appreciate it's a risk as we COULD still go down and find ourselfes in even more debt, but thats a risk IMO we should take. We can always sell high earners next summer if we were to go down.

How do you define ' spend a little now' ?

There is not one player (within our reach) that will guarantee that we stay up next year .......and therin lies the problem.

We just have to trust NW with whatever budget he is given and see where it takes us.

Boring line I know ...but remember the reaction on here when we signed Derry , Hill and even Mackie ...

I for one didn't think we had the best 11 on paper ....fortunately football isn't played on paper and with NW still at the helm of the ship I'm more than happy to put my faith in hin for the next episode !!

[rangerforevereastcote]

Well you have to speculate to accumulate. If we don't spend a penny we will likely go down, thus losing out on millions.

If we spend a little now, we could virtually garentuee another years worth of PL money which would ease the clubs debts. Granted we get parachute money but is not the same amount obviously.

I appreciate it's a risk as we COULD still go down and find ourselfes in even more debt, but thats a risk IMO we should take. We can always sell high earners next summer if we were to go down.

the problem we face is a very high current wage bill for a lot of substandard players, if these were not not on our books we would have more to spend , between vine hall agyamang add cook in are 4 players problay on the best part of 4 mill wages between them, thats the eqivelent of 2-3 top prem players, i pt a thread up recently where i suggested the board dont want their investment to fail, and i stand by that but i also think the right approach will be sensible signings, what chance do we have when players like routledge and boothroyd being quoted at 40-50k per week, were out of or league cos of the size of our club, look what hull did , they did invest but they ended up paying over the top money to get players of avg ability there, thats the problem for us cos we will be favorites to go down the only way to get anyone is to pay over the top, but all that does is get you mercenarys, similar to what happened when we signed all those players to stop us getting relegated we paid over the top to get them. i wold rather an honest set of players commited to the club , if we go down so be it , we go down in a relatively strong position to come again, go down with mercenarys and we are back in the wilderness