Financial restrictions at the Albion hampering the playing budget?

[severnside gull]

Look at Portsmouth - all that money going to the likes of John Utaka and Tal Ben Haim (who is still costing the club around £20k a week that they haven't got)

£35K a week plus add-ons

 

[n1 gull]

This is the worst type of guess work. TB always seems in a good mood when I see him.
I can see no reason to double GUESS what is going on with finances. Pure speculation

 

[severnside gull]

This is the worst type of guess work. TB always seems in a good mood when I see him.
I can see no reason to double GUESS what is going on with finances. Pure speculation

Au contraire mon ami

Guessing about finances might just be the difference between prospering and becoming like Portsmouth (et al) where not asking questions/speculating was the problem.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

The OP is putting 2 and 2 together and making £140K a week...

My brother had a few beers last week with a member of the board and whilst he (my brother) strenuously avoided asking any inappropriate/stupid/boring questions to the guy he did manage to have a brief and obviously extremely well informed conversation about the Albion.

Summed up as follows:

The Premier League is our realistic goal.
Everything is currently being put into place to achieve that goal within the next few years.


Seems fairly clear to me.

I expect some decent signings over the next few weeks.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

This wouldn't surprise me at all.

Forgetting about additional transport costs, I was absolutely astounded by how much we paid out on transfer fees last season. We went from a club who hadn't ever paid more than a few hundred thousand on a player to suddenly paying close to £5m on 4 players.

Add the massive increase in wages that players like Vicente and CMS would have meant and promotion increases/bonuses I think the transport defecit would be a drop in the ocean compared to the playing budget.

 

[Birdie Boy]

Oh for fucks sake, you really do come across as an absolute club STOOGE at times. WHAT exactly is so UNFORESEEN about transport costs? There is nothing "generous" about the club paying for this at all. The fact is that £30 is all the market will bear. If they could get us to pay £70 each, that is exactly what would happen. But they can't, because that would make season tickets too expensive.

Ultimately this is beginning to sound like an absolutely massive f*** up by Martin Perry. Moaning that unforeseen transport costs are well into 7 figures a year forever more, sounds like gross incompetence of the highest order.

Rubbish, this is VERY generous of the club. How many other clubs offer subsidised travel? I have been to other clubs and not once have I received discounted rail fares. If your going to a gig at the O2, do you get subsidised rail fare? NO.

Fact is, there is no where to park nearby, once the by-laws are in for Coldean and Moulsecombe, so the only way to get there is by train or bus (a few might cycle or walk). Southern Rail / Brighton and Hove Buses can then manage ticket checks and let them worry about any loss of revenue. I would think they are quite happy getting an extra 20,000 people travelling by train/bus every other week, with the income that would generate.

 

[somerset]

I did. Which means that it's everyone else's fault if Gus leaves, not mine.

Me too.... just greasing up my slippery shoulders....

 

[The Large One]

Ultimately this is beginning to sound like an absolutely massive f*** up by Martin Perry. Moaning that unforeseen transport costs are well into 7 figures a year forever more, sounds like gross incompetence of the highest order.

The transport costs weren't 'unforeseen' and knew it had to pay to manage the TMP - such as it is.

The 'f***-up' - as you put it - was not down to the size of an 'unforeseen' [sic] transport bill, it was down to the club making the travel voucher voluntary; something many fans wanted. The transport costs have become an issue because hardly anyone paid for a ticket.

This season, the same cost is compulsory.

 

[peterward]

In relation to the alleged travel vouchers only bringing in 650k and the actual costs being well into 7 figures, a solution. add the travel voucher costs to every ST and matchday ticket. The shortfall would work out about £30-40 per fan per season, the full cost £60-£80. nobody will cancel there ST for an extra £3-£6 per month.

and then advertise train travel/car parking as free to all STH with a ST or matchday ticket. The club pays the providers directly from the extra revenue, and every fan has the option of free travel/parking on matchdays.

the current trust system on the trains is useless, nobody buys a train ticket and the tain companies are to overwhelmed by numbers to check. the club loses

 

[Springal]

In relation to the alleged travel vouchers only bringing in 650k and the actual costs being well into 7 figures, a solution. add the travel voucher costs to every ST and matchday ticket. The shortfall would work out about £30-40 per fan per season, the full cost £60-£80. nobody will cancel there ST for an extra £3-£6 per month.

I assume that is a joke ?

 

[Bold Seagull]

I accept that, but the Albion knew exactly what they were signing up for. I pay the second-lowest band of council tax for my home, which is about £115 a month. If I find £1 million down the back of the sofa tomorrow and decide to splash out on a five-bedroom place in Dyke Road, I can't then complain when I'm met with a running cost of £250 a month in council tax. I'd know exactly what I'm getting myself into and would have to budget accordingly. Transport costs might be high, but they should never have been a surprise.

There will always be some surprises, for example the additional stewarding and all the parking survey's / traffic monitoring requirements in Coldean/Moulscomb would have been difficult to identify before the stadium opened.

A feasibility is also just that, a feasibility. Once the scheme was realised you then enter into detailed negotiations with the transport providers, who can often change their own goal posts, and have had to during the course of the season when demand and the structuring of the services became more apparent. Some park and rides were used less than others, as were some football special bus routes, all leading to a different set of real costs to a predicted feasibility cost.

Too much conjecture and speculation on this thread for my liking based on very little, and certainly not on real facts and figures.

Of course, in your analogy, you could buy the £1m house on the assumption of £250 pm running cost, only to find a change in government/council, a new set of rules and that figure raised to £350 pm through no fault of your own...You never know exactly what your getting yourself into, you can only make a best assumption.

 

[middletoenail]

El Pres is on a massive wind up, but rather than the unoriginality of potential signings he has gone for the wildcard rumour, the clubs finances. Slightly irresponsible imo given how many drama queens there are on NSC, but funny nonetheless.

Bravo El Pres!

 

[Simster]

Rubbish, this is VERY generous of the club. How many other clubs offer subsidised travel? I have been to other clubs and not once have I received discounted rail fares. If your going to a gig at the O2, do you get subsidised rail fare? NO.

Fact is, there is no where to park nearby, once the by-laws are in for Coldean and Moulsecombe, so the only way to get there is by train or bus (a few might cycle or walk). Southern Rail / Brighton and Hove Buses can then manage ticket checks and let them worry about any loss of revenue. I would think they are quite happy getting an extra 20,000 people travelling by train/bus every other week, with the income that would generate.

I'm sorry, but no it isn't at all. The reason travel is subsidised at all is that there is, to all intents and purposes, no alternative. You can't drive. You can't walk from the town centre. It is a unique situation which has a cost attached. My complaint is that this cost should not come as a surprise AFTER the stadium has been built.

The transport costs weren't 'unforeseen'.

The 'f***-up' - as you put it - was not solely down to the size of an 'unforeseen' [sic] transport bill, it was down to the club making the travel voucher voluntary; something many fans wanted. The transport costs have become an issue because hardly anyone paid for a ticket.

This season, the same cost is compulsory.

Two things:
1) I'm no expert but even I could have told you that the way they implemented that travel voucher was a complete shambles and completely unworkable. Why they changed it from the Withdean method, I really have no idea.
2) You suggested that it had only "partly" been addressed by plugging the hole by making the travel voucher compulsory and set to £30 a season ticket. You also suggested that they are being "generous" by charging the £70 to cover these transport costs which are well into 7 figures. So I'll say it again, s l o w l y for you - it should NOT be a surprise to Martin Perry that transport costs are high, and the club are not being "generous" with the transport voucher at all. They are simply charging what the market will bear.

Incidentally, try putting "unforeseen" into Word's UK dictionary and seeing what happens, you patronising twat.

 

[Ernest]

The transport costs weren't 'unforeseen' and knew it had to pay to manage the TMP - such as it is.

The 'f***-up' - as you put it - was not down to the size of an 'unforeseen' [sic] transport bill, it was down to the club making the travel voucher voluntary; something many fans wanted. The transport costs have become an issue because hardly anyone paid for a ticket.

This season, the same cost is compulsory.

You have it spot on, the reason Southern were not bothered about ticket checks was that they were getting paid anyway so why disrupt a passenger flow for nothing ? That is why everyone boasting about not buying tickets or vouchers were simply taking money out of the clubs pocket.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It is quite possible that the lower than expected uptake of university car parking and the lower than expected travel voucher purchasing has cost us. Equally the club has smashed ticket, booze and food expectations. And the club will go into the next season with more accurate figues to base their budgets on. Am I worried, no. Something tells me Tony Bloom did not make his money by overlooking the pennies.

 

[Bold Seagull]

El Pres is on a massive wind up, but rather than the unoriginality of potential signings he has gone for the wildcard rumour, the clubs finances. Slightly irresponsible imo given how many drama queens there are on NSC, but funny nonetheless.

Bravo El Pres!

It is a thread with no real facts, a lot of conjecture, and in some cases libel. I guess it's a case of sit back and watch it grow!

 

[The Large One]

I'm sorry, but no it isn't at all. The reason travel is subsidised at all is that there is, to all intents and purposes, no alternative. You can't drive. You can't walk from the town centre. It is a unique situation which has a cost attached. My complaint is that this cost should not come as a surprise AFTER the stadium has been built.

Two things:
1) I'm no expert but even I could have told you that the way they implemented that travel voucher was a complete shambles and completely unworkable. Why they changed it from the Withdean method, I really have no idea.
2) You suggested that it had only "partly" been addressed by plugging the hole by making the travel voucher compulsory and set to £30 a season ticket. You also suggested that they are being "generous" by charging the £70 to cover these transport costs which are well into 7 figures. So I'll say it again, s l o w l y for you - it should NOT be a surprise to Martin Perry that transport costs are high, and the club are not being "generous" with the transport voucher at all. They are simply charging what the market will bear.

Incidentally, try putting "unforeseen" into Word's UK dictionary and seeing what happens, you patronising twat.

Ooh, temper, temper.

When you miss the target, you really miss it by a long way, don't you?

 

[k2bluesky]

Yep if we are paying one player 750k a year and our total income is £15 million you can easily see that with the rest of the squad and all the extra staff we now have it could easily produce poor financial figures.
As with Mattock joining Wednesday for silly money, Mandrac has done it before at Pompey and will again no doubt, if they don't make the prem in a couple of years (and stay there) they will be in trouble.
I hope Bloom gets a grip on it, we want a well run club not one reliant on the owner paying stupid wages to greedy footballers, which benefits no-one but them. BHAFC if the thing I love not individual players.

 

[Simster]

You have it spot on, the reason Southern were not bothered about ticket checks was that they were getting paid anyway so why disrupt a passenger flow for nothing ? That is why everyone boasting about not buying tickets or vouchers were simply taking money out of the clubs pocket.

No-one is arguing that point, Ernest. The real point is that "unforeseen" transport costs that Perry talked about are still MUCH higher than the £30 travel voucher (applied to everyone next season) will cover.