Albion's £8m pa loss [Wake up call tomorrow for the minority of moaners.]

[brightonrock]

I don't understand how our wages can be under such tight control in comparison to the division, and still make that much of a loss. The running costs for the stadium must be astronomical if on our turnover we're still losing that much, and you have to ask (a) what simpleton budgeted for 15k crowds as a break-even figure, and (b) how ANY club manages to survive day-to-day given many in the division are surviving on 10k a week less fans through the gate and yet paying higher wages, in more dilapadated stadiums. I wonder whether the transport levy comes into it, and whether the club has been lobbing money at Southern/B&H Buses?

When the figures are properly published perhaps some accountant-y types might like to shed light on what it actually means - at the moment we only have a figure of 8m and a lot of people claiming different causes with little or no explanation/justification.

I think we should cancel the academy and save wasting another £25 million. Tony must be mad.

The only thing that's mad is that statement. If we don't produce youth players long term (cheaper) we'll have to keep going out and spending transfer fees and big wages on senior players, season-on-season. The academy is the best thing that's happening at the club right now, whether we finish 1st or 24th in this division, it is absolutely vital for our long-term health.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

I been saying for ages that we are losing money and we will NOT ever be making vast amounts of money.

We might make a bit of profit if we win a european cup or the Prem and we might make a mill or two if we ever sell players for loads of money and replace them with fantastic signings that cost little or homegrown academy talent.

We might break even with a realistic wage capped team and with the Amex having average crowds of £18k or more.

Very few clubs make a profit but most are running at losses due to stupidly high wages and/or ridiculously high transfers.

Even a 40k stadium won't make a profit, you only need to look at Newcastle who get crowds like that and I bet they eat more pies and drink more Ale than us.

I find it hard to believe that TB didn't know this when he funded the Amex and I assumed he is prepared to suffer big personal losses hoping to get us to the Prem and perhaps had an/other rich party/parties that would share the burden.

I have suspected for ages that arsenal are not making money and that they sold top players and signed very few because they would have had massive losses.

 

[Del Fenner]

The only thing that's mad is that statement. If we don't produce youth players long term (cheaper) we'll have to keep going out and spending transfer fees and big wages on senior players, season-on-season. The academy is the best thing that's happening at the club right now, whether we finish 1st or 24th in this division, it is absolutely vital for our long-term health.

This. A good academy is the best financial investment that a Championship club can make.

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

Because unless you are on the board and know all the facts and figures from the balance sheet, what has been forecast and what in real terms these losses mean to the club, it will turn you grey worrying about it! I prefer to carry on supporting the team, doing my bit paying my money to the club and then hoping those in charge know what they are doing. (Although always having at the back of my mind memories of previous people in charge!)

Oh dont get me wrong, the grey is already creeping in and i don't want to add to it but we have had one and half way through our second fantastic, sellout season and we lost 8M. If someone whispered in my ear 'hey Sergei, its because we didnt get enough non-match day revenue and thats why we binned Azure' i'd be happy, or 'or player wage structure was off balance' or 'we had too many stewards'. But no one can provide a decent reason and there are LOADS of very well connected people on this board.

Sorry for the rant, i know your right but hells bells i dont want to ever go back to what we have been through.

 

[Slippery Seagull]

Depending on the clubs structure / legal entity, it might be advantageous to make a trading loss of 8m for offsetting tax. I would not be worried at all. This is planned.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Depending on the clubs structure / legal entity, it might be advantageous to make a trading loss of 8m for offsetting tax. I would not be worried at all. This is planned.

You could only offset the last 3 years losses and I doubt we would ever make a profit to offset whilst trying to gain promotion

 

[oldalbiongirl]

Oh dont get me wrong, the grey is already creeping in and i don't want to add to it but we have had one and half way through our second fantastic, sellout season and we lost 8M. If someone whispered in my ear 'hey Sergei, its because we didnt get enough non-match day revenue and thats why we binned Azure' i'd be happy, or 'or player wage structure was off balance' or 'we had too many stewards'. But no one can provide a decent reason and there are LOADS of very well connected people on this board.

Sorry for the rant, i know your right but hells bells i dont want to ever go back to what we have been through.

Fair enough. I don't think anyone wants to go back to where we used to be. I am confident though that we are a club that can build rather than fall.

 

[Richard Tiltmans Shin Pad]

Meanwhile, we sign an Argie via Spain for god knows what fee and pay up all /a % of Spadge's contract......like I say, someone is being creative with the accounting..... Some of the £8m MUST be a repayment to TB.......surely?

 

[cyrilthesinik]

I first got into the Albion whilst watching us on the East Terrace at the Goldstone with my Dad and his mates. They moaned about everyone and everything.

Dean Wilkins was a fairy
Dale Jasper was too slow
Richard Tiltman was too shit
Mark Farrington was the worst footballer they had ever seen
Alan Biley was a long haired useless piece of shit
Gerry Armstrong was a thick Irishman
Paul Wood has ‘’Only ever had 1 good game for us’
In fact they moaned about every footballer I ever saw. Apart from Brian Horton.

The point is they LOVED moaning. They enjoy being negative, bitching about the Albion rather than going shopping with the other half on a Saturday afternoon. Telling people they will have a wake up call and essentially changing their very nature by reading the Argus is somewhat pushing a point. If my Dad and his mates were given free Corporate entertainment at the Goldstone which had entailed Free Lap Dancing, Free beer and a 4-0 win, they would have complained that the tits were too small, the beer too warm and we should have won by 5.

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

Fair enough. I don't think anyone wants to go back to where we used to be. I am confident though that we are a club that can build rather than fall.

I know your right but i am allowed one concern, now where did i put my red wine?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Predicting an £8m loss for this year as well according to Bloom.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

I've now read this thread from post 1 to page 11. Personally, I look forward to reading the programme tomorrow and then looking into the accounts properly when published. I suspect the travel costs are massive, absolutely massive.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Depending on the clubs structure / legal entity, it might be advantageous to make a trading loss of 8m for offsetting tax. I would not be worried at all. This is planned.

It's also handy if you need a good reason to put season ticket prices up..........

 

[Triggaaar]

So £8m has been posted on NSC. Where did we get that figure from?
We can't be making an £8m loss, that would be mental. Paying off loans, buying players etc, doesn't count as expenses.

 

[Weststander]

The multi £m loss was already mentioned on here, months in advance of Naylor.

And stadium and land costs, as well as Lancing have little effect on profit/loss as they are capitalised on the balance sheet and amortised/depreciated to the p&l account over a very long time eg 75 years.

I heard the loss was as a result of a colossal new payroll, including management, players, tons of weekday and match day officials, and an army of stewards around the whole vicinity.

 

[Weststander]

Depending on the clubs structure / legal entity, it might be advantageous to make a trading loss of 8m for offsetting tax. I would not be worried at all. This is planned.

Incorrect. There are already multi millions of tax losses brought forward from the Withdean years, and kindly subsidised by TB, DK, Fatboy, and others.

There is no smoke and mirrors in the figures, which must comply with Company Law and Tax Law.

The loss was as a result of mismanagement by letting the huge new income, be swamped by uncontrolled costs.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I've now read this thread from post 1 to page 11. Personally, I look forward to reading the programme tomorrow and then looking into the accounts properly when published. I suspect the travel costs are massive, absolutely massive.

Although we're all now paying a "travel voucher" element as part of the ST or matchday ticket the club could still be subsidizing the transport costs by over £1M. The electricity costs must be phenomenal with prices shooting up by double digits. The residents parking scheme for Coldean and Moulsecoombe on matchdays and big events is going to cost the club about £200k a year as their contribution. How much revenue did Azure lose when they buggered up the catering ?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Bloom says the loss is reason behind pushing on more quickly with new seats.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

... what simpleton budgeted for 15k crowds as a break-even figure?

I've posted this before, but I'll say it again. The 'breakeven' figure that is being quoted was never part of any serious budget. It was a figure produced during the Public Inquiry for positive propaganda purposes. Arguments were being put forward by the opponents of the stadium that questioned its financial viability. It was vital to demonstrate to the Inspector that there was a sensible projection of costs and income that refuted this claim. The Club was invited to get together with Lewes District Council's consultants and come up with an agreed set of figures. It was as part of this exercise that the ' breakeven' figure emerged. It never mattered whether it was true. What mattered was whether the figure was agreed by both parties and whether the Inspector would accept it. It was and he did.

 

[Weststander]

Loan repayments don't count towards operating profit/loss, I believe Trigaaar is an accountant and told me that, so your whole "we're repaying TB" argument is bs.

Exactly.