Could we go bust?

[Pavilionaire]

Any project that involves borrowing millions of pounds from a bank whilst the business itself loses money from year to year has to be at risk, surely?

In fact, how many football clubs actually make a profit?

There are many worthy businesses who, if banks lent more, could flourish and help kick-start our economy. Much as I love the Albion our plight plus the economic situation don't reconcile with Falmer being delivered on time and on budget. I hope I am wrong.

 

[timbha]

As a probable League 2 team and the reduction in revenue that will mean (offset partially by lower wages) and a massive outlay for a new stadium, how the F can the club accomplish building a promotion winning side (from L2 to CC) and afford the new running costs?

I see what is going on at Southampton who've been a bigger club than us for the last 35 years and I scratch my head about how we won't fall into a similar hole?

I don't see any thread about this and maybe I am the only worry wart?

all the time the Blooms are around we'll be ok.

 

[dougdeep]

It's up to the fans really, if the fairweather type all stop going then it would indeed be a struggle.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

all the time the Blooms are around we'll be ok.

Any info on what horse they are having a punt on in the National ?
Could mean a new player at the club if they rake it in.

 

[Marlton & Hove Albion]

Again, I don't wish to be a prick, but I don't think the Blooms have the scratch to fund a hole that will likely be the difference between operating expenses and servicing the debt minus the revenue for big L2 team with 7,000 a week average for home games (would it really be any higher?).

We also have the little issue of attracting players, coaching talent to take us not just back to L1 but into the CC within the next 3-4 years.

I love this club, but I honestly think we are looking into the abyss if we go down. I think it will be super tricky if we manage to stay up.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Before we start worrying about how many people turn up we’ve still got to build the bloody thing. Any posters on here involved with construction know that any project of the size and complexity of the new stadium can go horribly wrong. The track record of new stadia in the UK, apart from the obvious example of Wembley, aint too bad. The new Emirates stadium being a textbook example of how to get it right. On paper we have a good team headed by Martin Perry with his McAlpine connections and I’m sure Franklin & Andrews are more than capable of controlling the costs but the fact remains that in the current economic climate Contractors like the Buckingham Group and many smaller sub-contractors are going bankrupt daily due to cash flow problems and low profit margins. The substructure, starting shortly, can be one of the riskiest phases - once they are out of the ground hopefully things will be straightforward. One advantage of the ridiculously long planning process is that the design team should have had time to get the plans as complete as possible - if the club start fannying around with the design once building has started it will cost them an arm and a leg.

Brighton simply cannot afford for there to be any significant cost or time overruns - it could be disastrous.

 

[Insider]

Knight didn't have a pot to piss in when we were in the Championship, he still doesn't but what the club does have now is some poker player/horse owner with money willing to buy players for the club.

To be fair Dick had £2m when the club needed it most, when we were on the verge of going out of business, and (along with others) ploughed it into what must have seemed a blackhole, with no guarantee of return, at the time when the club needed it most.

Rest assured, we will not go bust. The club's finances are in order.

 

[timbha]

the Blooms are very very wealthy and have supported the Albion for years. Gambling is TB's hobby, their real money has been made elsewhere. Come Falmer, come one of the Blooms as chairman.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Dick Knight and the board will not allow us to go bust. Of course it's not a good time financially to be building a new stadium and any additional funding would be a serious issue. But Martin Perry is a shrewd operator and will know the pitfalls so hopefully that will be avoided. I'd expect us to do well in Div 2, we have to, and that means the crowds will be ok which will augment to some extent the loss of money we get from TV and from being in league 1. There will be more clubs going into administration but I will bet any money you like we will not be one of them.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Again, I don't wish to be a prick, but I don't think the Blooms have the scratch to fund a hole that will likely be the difference between operating expenses and servicing the debt minus the revenue for big L2 team with 7,000 a week average for home games (would it really be any higher?).

We also have the little issue of attracting players, coaching talent to take us not just back to L1 but into the CC within the next 3-4 years.

I love this club, but I honestly think we are looking into the abyss if we go down. I think it will be super tricky if we manage to stay up.

I don't really get posts like this. What is the point of worrying about things that might happen 4 years down the line?

What you are saying is that you think the club is definitely going to go bust because there is no way of paying off the debt from the stadium. You might be right and that might happen, but what are you going to do about it, or what do you suggest as a solution?

We are locked into a project to take the club to a new stadium and have been for the last 10 years, there is no going back. We can't just say "actually lads, we might not make that break even attendance so lets just jack it in".

We just need to get the thing built and worry about the rest later. There is enough passion in this club to keep it afloat, and in the future we might have to beg borrow and steal to do that, but we've done it before and we can do it again if need be.

 

[The Large One]

the Blooms are very very wealthy and have supported the Albion for years. Gambling is TB's hobby, their real money has been made elsewhere. Come Falmer, come one of the Blooms as chairman.

I seriously hope not.

 

[Austrian Gull]

However, I'd worried about our ability to finance Falmer and then get sufficient fans inside to cover the costs. The Southampton and Darlington cases show that it is simply not enough to build a stadium; they've failed to get it right on the park so the fans haven't turned up.

True enough for Darlington whose stadium was always going to be far too big but unfair on Southampton fans - they've still been turning up in numbers. Southampton's problems can be linked to boardroom instability and the frightening drop in income that happens to clubs who drop out of the Premiership.

 

[Uter]

Southampton are still averaging nearly 17000 this season despite languishing near the bottom of the Championship. That's still nearly 2000 more than the capacity of the Dell. For the first few years at St Mary's they enjoyed 30000+ crowds. In addition to this they have had the bonus of a cup final appearance and the sale of Theo Walcott.

I don't think their woes can be blamed on their new stadium in any way. To me this looks like a case of financial mismanagement. My guess is they gambled on a quick return to the Premiership and lost.

 

[Trigger]

I seriously hope not.

Why not? It's their money keeping the club going isn't it?...

 

[Buzzer]

Well, technically we are already bust. As are Chelsea and Liverpool and Newcastle and God knows how many other clubs.

To re-phrase the question "do we have the financial backers to fund us for the foreseeable future?" then I don't know as I'm not ITK but can only be eternally grateful to the Blooms, Knight, Cook and all those others that continue to chuck money at us for sod all reward.

 

[Uter]

Again, I don't wish to be a prick, but I don't think the Blooms have the scratch to fund a hole that will likely be the difference between operating expenses and servicing the debt minus the revenue for big L2 team with 7,000 a week average for home games (would it really be any higher?).

Yes, I think it will a lot higher. We manage to get 5000+ watching a terrible team in a horrible stadium. I think better facilities will attract far more the 2000 extra fans, even if we are in L2.

 

[The Large One]

Why not? It's their money keeping the club going isn't it?...

His and other people's money, that's true, but look at Tony's profession. It's not the most re-assuring of CVs to persuade me he'd be the right man to run the Albion.

 

[Trigger]

His and other people's money, that's true, but look at Tony's profession. It's not the most re-assuring of CVs to persuade me he'd be the right man to run the Albion.

To be honest I doubt he would want to or even have the time to but he might know someone else he'd want as his front man to spend his money...

 

[The Large One]

To be honest I doubt he would want to or even have the time to but he might know someone else he'd want as his front man to spend his money...

He already has.

 

[Norman Potting]

I don't really get posts like this. What is the point of worrying about things that might happen 4 years down the line?

What you are saying is that you think the club is definitely going to go bust because there is no way of paying off the debt from the stadium. You might be right and that might happen, but what are you going to do about it, or what do you suggest as a solution?

We are locked into a project to take the club to a new stadium and have been for the last 10 years, there is no going back. We can't just say "actually lads, we might not make that break even attendance so lets just jack it in".

We just need to get the thing built and worry about the rest later. There is enough passion in this club to keep it afloat, and in the future we might have to beg borrow and steal to do that, but we've done it before and we can do it again if need be.

Well said that man! The Club could go bust, alternatively we may all get wiped out by an asteroid, Lord Lucan could come back and underpin the club financially, Shergar could win the Grand National or Gordon Brown could turn out to be the greatest Prime Minister in this nation's history. All of these are possible (ok perhaps the last one is stretching the bounds of reason), all are "what if's". As that other great Prime Minister Churchill once said (probably) "I met a man once who spent all of his life worrying about things, most of which never happened".