Chronicle Hourihane piece

Incompetence and ineptitude at every level of the management of the club from the boardroom down.

 

Is this the cumulative loss or just the loss for last season?

 

That's why id shut the academy as of yesterday.. millstone we simply don't need

 

If you look at it as stand alone losses for one season, it's really hard to fathom. But in our case, we have to look back over time, back to the Cryne days. We purposefully paid transfer fees for players and decent wages to try and develop them and sell them for profit. That meant we carried overhead costs in excess of our revenue base. We were reliant on player sales to subsidise our elevated player wages.

Since then, we've carried that forward to some degree. Under Lee and Conway it seemed like our squad started to get more bloated as we signed players on longer contracts and couldn't get rid. The failure rate increased and our squad got bigger.

Ironically, I feel it's Parekhs choice to not sell players and inadvertently shift from development thats properly ramped up the visibility of losses. As time has passed we're left with very modest player assets and nothing to offset anymore and its only now that shows how ridiculous the lack of a strategy was, worsened by hubris of wanting to be the man who didn't sell players.

We've three choices. Go back to actively rotating and developing the squad to generate profit on sales, strictly adhere to budgetary controls to break even or hope that the owners are happy pumping in millions for years and years.

 

My mistake apologies if I didn't make clear. £10m are the projected losses (as i say, i cant provide a link the the full article) . Which I assume means next season.

Losses for last season I assume will be in the next accounts. I'm not sure exactly how that works as the directors created new shares as in equity. not borrowing so to speak.

 

Is it really a loss. ( And bear in mind its not this past season but projected next season.) It was quite well publicised that the directors were putting in between £600k to £1m per month in equity. For 24/25 It's not as I see it
I'm sure those who work in the financial world can explain better than I can.
Gate receipts and season ticket sales will drop. Success on the field if achieved may recover some of that.

 

Last accounts show a deficit of £2.8 million how has it jumped to £10m in 2 years? I know some will point to lack of player sales etc but if this is paid over years as previously said that doesn’t stack up.

 

Yes, it's a loss. The directors are putting in cash equity to cover the losses. If we don't sell players to generate profit, our losses wouldn't be too far off what the execs are telling us.

 

As I say. Others may provide a better insight. Maybe some of the players sales may have ended. But i'm just speculating.

 

Sorry mate I put Not debt as an afterthought b4 I saw your post.

 

10 million....makes the administration posts previously peddled by some
more viable than ever

 

would be a backwards move imo, one small step towards a smaller, more insular club and one that won’t save anything like the money we lose every year.

The only club who I think do not have any sort of academy are Brentford who shifted to picking up players discarded by other at age 18/21, running a B team and hoping to find a late developer…, not something that many clubs have followed.

simple fact is we pay too much in wages for the amount of money we earn in league 1.

 

Whilst the figures don't bode well. However we look at em. We are not the worst by any means.
Eg
Reading posted accounts of losses of
£17m+ 21/22
£21m+ 22/23
And I am not aware that they've even released 23/24.
Unlike ourselves.
23/24

• Net Loss: £2.8 million.
• Operating Loss: £9.6 million.
• Player Trading Profit: £6.8 million.
• Shareholder Investment: £4.2 million was injected into the club by shareholders.
• Turnover: £8.97 million.
• Salaries: Increased to £10.156 million.
• Previous Year Loss: £4.01 million.
• Previous Year Turnover: £9.54 million.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

• Operating Loss:
  Barnsley FC experienced an operating loss of £9.6 million for the 2023/24 season, according to their annual accounts.
• Player Trading Profit:
  The club generated a profit of £6.8 million from player sales during the period, primarily from the sales of Mads Andersen and Liam Kitching.
• Net Loss:
  The combination of the operating loss and player trading profit resulted in a net loss of £2.8 million for the season.
• Turnover:
  The club's turnover decreased to just under £9 million, a slight decrease from the previous season. This was attributed to factors like not reaching the play-off final and the outsourcing of retail merchandising.
• Equity Injection:
  Shareholders injected £4.2 million into the club as equity during the financial period.
• Comparison to Previous Year:
  The net loss of £2.8 million was lower than the previous year's loss of £4 million.
• Salaries Increase:
  The club's payroll also increased from £8,329,385 to £10,156,405 during the season.

Make of that what you will.

 

Its modern football. I dont know why people are shocked, for years now clubs have risked millions and millions trying for promotions, in all the EFL.

 

Payroll went up £1,827,020 that’s £35k per week.
Did we have any signings that justified that kind of increase?
Assuming 70% is spent on the playing staff £10,156,405 that means we were spending a whopping £136,720 a week on player wages which over a squad of 30 works out at £4557 on average per player.

 

Ah the good old days. In the 1996/97 season we were an established second tier club, surviving on crowds of around 5K. We managed to bring in the likes of Wilkinson, Thompson and Hendrie to strengthen a squad that had been patiently constructed from home-grown players and inspired signings, done the old fashioned way, like De Zeeuw, Marcelle, Sheridan, Bosancic etc. We all know what happened next. And there’s me wondering why my love for the club, and football in general, has massively diminished.

 

My main takeaway from this article is the headline:

‘It’s my job to put a decent squad together’.

 

Would sacking managers come into those wages? Guessing so, in effect paying for 2 managers has to add up

 

Plenty of criticism of the decision making and fair enough there’s been some doozies - but show me the accounts of a league one club who turned a profit or broke even?

 

I take your point but attendances were higher than that the longer Wilson was in role - it was over 8k average 95/96 and then up to over 11k in 96/97. Of course the end of the season brought bigger crowds than the beginning.

The years prior to 95/96 the ponty was shut to build the Ora stand, the west was having seats put in, and we essentially had only the east stand and a bit of the west upper a lot of the time.