Question for TheWhiteRose_LUFC

[Rangdo]

There has been a lot said on here recently about Leeds ability to bid hundreds of thousands of pounds for players despite being massively in debt.
I'm just interested in a fans view on the situation. Are you worried that the board are throwing everything at an attempt to get straight back to the premiership before the payouts stop and do you think they know what they are doing?
I know if that was the Albion I'd be a bit twitchy.

 

[Northstander]

I have said Exactly the same to people I work with, I dunno about this "Whiterose Chap" but at work they are like, "No worries!"

I also get the impression they are waiting for the BIG investor, I keep getting told "Oh some bloke is lookin at comin in!"

I think Leeds fans have a lot to worry about!!!

 

[Lammy]

I know I'm not Whiterose but to me it seems pretty obvious.

Leeds did have a massive squat and a £60m debt. That squad contained some serious big money players.

They have all been sold or moved on now. Their squad is smaller than ours and they get 30,000 at all their home games.

That's £750k every other week. Their debt is now more like £25m.

That means they are taking around £17.25m a year on gate receipts alone.

So that's a bit like me earning £17k a year and having a £25k mortgage. i.e. easily affordable.

I don't believe that Leeds are spending big money in order to bounce straight back to the Prem. A lot of Leeds fans I've spoken to don't want to do that either. They would be better off sitting in this leaguge for a few seasons to restructure and then move up.

In about 3 years they could easlily get that debt down to about £18m which would be wiped out with one payment from sky on return to the Prem.


Or in other words, they still have a lot more money to spend than us. If for no other reason than the fact that their assets far outstrip their debt now.

 

[Lammy]

massive squat

 

[TheWhiteRose_LUFC]

Considering we have managed to cut our debt from 109 million to 30 million in such a short space of time you would have to say the board know what they are doing and if they say we can afford to spend this money ( worrying it may be ) , then we have to belive that we can afford it along with the loan payments.

 

[Northstander]

Nice, thats very good reasoning and I have to agree with that and that the Leeds fans are not looking at going straight back up.

My mates want 2-3 years in the championship to regroup and get back on with it!!

 

[TheWhiteRose_LUFC]

I dont think we'll go up and i will settle for a mid table position this season but if we do manage to get in a quality finisher then i dont think we'll be to far away from the playoffs.

 

[Rangdo]

I know I'm not Whiterose but to me it seems pretty obvious.

Thats ok it's not your fault .

Ok, I can see why they get given the money but the thing is that that £17m is subject to tax and then has to cover running costs of player and staff wages, expenses (travel, accommodation etc.) so it wouldn't surprise me if there was nothing left after that, certainly after servicing the debt as well.
Now, this is ok for now but once the premiership payouts stop and then they get less from sponsors etc how will they service the debt then?

 

[Lammy]

Considering we have managed to cut our debt from 109 million to 30 million in such a short space of time you would have to say the board know what they are doing and if they say we can afford to spend this money ( worrying it may be ) , then we have to belive that we can afford it along with the loan payments.

I don't think you were ever £109m in debt!!!

It's not something to be proud of you know!!

 

[TheWhiteRose_LUFC]

We were 109 million in debt, we are PLC, i have seen the figures.

 

[Northstander]

I believe they have had agreed plans as well for a Casino Complex to be built next to Elland Road where they have massive space used at the moment for car-parkin!

 

[Lammy]

Thats ok it's not your fault .

Ok, I can see why they get given the money but the thing is that that £17m is subject to tax and then has to cover running costs of player and staff wages, expenses (travel, accommodation etc.) so it wouldn't surprise me if there was nothing left after that, certainly after servicing the debt as well.
Now, this is ok for now but once the premiership payouts stop and then they get less from sponsors etc how will they service the debt then?

That is why I compared it to a mortgage. Your wages get taxed and their are a lot of other expensise to consider other than the mortgage. But a £25m debt when you can pull in £17m a year should be manageable. This is not taking into account cup runs and bigger games that will attract a higher gate. Not to mention sponsorship.

The earning potential of Leeds is massive due to it's infrastructure.

 

[Rangdo]

That is why I compared it to a mortgage. Your wages get taxed and their are a lot of other expensise to consider other than the mortgage. But a £25m debt when you can pull in £17m a year should be manageable. This is not taking into account cup runs and bigger games that will attract a higher gate. Not to mention sponsorship.

The earning potential of Leeds is massive due to it's infrastructure.

But if the bank funds their spending based on their income don't forget that a large proportion of that income will be gone if they don't get back into the premiership by the end of next season. I doubt that their income based on gate receipts and championship tv money would cover al their expenses for the season plus a £25m-£30m debt.
I know they've obviously done the maths but as a fan I know that I would be nervous if we were in that much debt and still spending.

 

[Starry]

We aren't 'massively' in debt anymore. Our debt is restructured into a way now that payments are viable and we aren't living on borrowed time. And while the £30m we owe (mostly to an American investment company and in tax) sounds a huge figure to Joe Bloggs, its actually small fry in the big world of football debt.

And I don't think the board are throwing anything at getting us back in the Prem, they themselves have come out and said that isn't an aim. Mid table is the aim. A season to rebuild and go from there.

And whiterose I hope you meant we were a plc, Leeds United PLC took the brunt of the £100m debt when it was wound up. The football club now is a seperate entity entirely.

 

[El Presidente]

Leeds were quite clever in that they put the plc into administration for about ten minutes, and in doing so wiped out over £10m of debt, then formed a new company to take over some of the remaining debt.

Rather sneaky, but the chairman is an insolvency practitioner, so knows the legal loopholes he can jump through, and is also a member of the local ****** Mafia (word deleted in case it causes offence to certain religious groups). He does not particularly give a toss about the club, but can see a way of making some money for himself out of it.

 

[TheWhiteRose_LUFC]

And whiterose I hope you meant we were a plc

I did indeed.