Is anyone else worried about the finances?

We’re losing millions of pounds a year and the only way I can see that being bridged is through the sales of our better players. As far as I can see we’ve brought nothing to very little in over the summer, although we have more than likely cut the wage bill. I am struggling to see how the finances add up without the sale of Phillips or DKD.

Don’t get me wrong I’m delighted that they’ll both be part of the squad this season from a footballing perspective, but I can’t help but look at our neighbours from S6 and be concerned that we might be heading the same way if we don’t start cutting them losses very quickly.

 

It seems to me that the owners have yet again decided that they will cover the losses for another season. It may well depend on how we are looking come January, if we're up there they'll continue as we are, if not we may see some players gone. Time will tell.

 

The owners realise the best way to cut loses is to get out of this league.

 

If we don’t receive any acceptable offers, then what can you do?

 

This is how I see it - we've made a good start, as @dreamboy3000 says the best way to cut our losses involves getting promoted, so they're probably rolling with it knowing they can still act in January if we don't look like we're going to be in the mix at the end of the season.

 

Could have accepted £6 million for Phillips, DKD & Connell if they’d wanted to which would have helped significantly to bridge the deficit but they chose not to.
Can’t believe for a minute they couldn’t have got that for them three

 

ITK or just speculation?

Lose them 3 and we ain’t going anywhere.

We’re no where near Wednesdays level either……..it’s a sad state of affairs football but baring a few clubs in the 92 the rest are losing money hand over fist

 

I'm not so sure about that. Undoubtedly the extra income (the millions from the PL distribution) makes a massive difference, but the costs go up exponentially too. To even get close to having a chance of survival we'd be looking at players that cost more to buy, and the wage bill is about double based on last time we were there.

 

Promotion is king, fair play to the board looking at the longer term. We need to be back in the Championship, holding our own.

 

I chose the word "involves" very carefully. As you say, simply getting promoted doesn't cut it, it would then be about how they use that extra revenue to become sustainable in the long term. One could argue, of course, that that's the thin end of the wedge and that we should be accepting our current position and working to become sustainable at it now, but my feeling is that it's within the budget and attitude to risk of the current owners for us to once again become an established, if not particularly successful, Championship club. That's the dream for me - I have no particular desire to see us take the kind of risks that are almost certainly necessary to reach the Prem again, but it feels like sooner or later the cumulative effect of being in this division year after year is going to take its toll on the owners and, by extension, the club.

 

My guess is they've decided to put faith in Hourihane to either get promotion or to be doing so well that the performances and, therefore, value of the players goes up. I fully expect players like DKD, Phillips and Connell to leave in January or the summer but maybe they'll get more if we're near the top at Xmas, or have a promotion run.

 

Less so now the winter fuel allowance has been reinstated.

 

I know nothing,
I’m saying I’m sure they could have got that for them 3 if they wanted to.

 

This is probably our version of 'gambling on promotion'. Other clubs spunk millions on new players with no guarantee, we keep our saleable assets and live with the black hole a bit longer, again with no guarantees.

Prudent gambling...

 

There's enough money coming into the club to put out a decent first team, just not to bloat the squad to massive numbers and carry individuals/aspects that don't justify the outlay.

Promotion to the Championship would significantly increase incomes, which, if combined with controls on the wage bill and transfer spending, would put the club in a better overall financial position. The question will be, if we go up, do we have enough in the team to stay up. I don't think it's time yet to go all hair shirt and pawn all the family silver.

 

Pretty sure that's it. We're gambling on winning promotion this season and if we don't then we'll be selling our main assets next summer.

 

Except it isn't.

The best way to generate bigger losses is to get promoted. Wages at league 1 look like chicken feed compared to the championship.

If they want to stay in the championship, they'll have to massively improve this squad (not that I think promotion has a high probability currently). That will take millions in fees and lock in significantly higher wages for 3-4 years.

At current loss levels, even with the circa £8m additional revenues, we'd still be making a loss without any further investment.

 

Fan owned Wimbledon are over 10 million in debt with a mid table League 2 budget. They're looking at other avenues to raise funds but If they can't be sustainable then who can ?

 

The TV money in the championship is enough to cover the gap in the finances. It's not as if we are losing £10m per season now they have moved on some of the dead money we had when they quoted how much it was costing to run the club. It just means our squad has too be smaller, make good use of loans where the parent club are making a significant contribution on wages, then on top of that try to remain somewhat competitive in the same manner of recruitment as we have seen this season.

It would be good if they would provide an update similar to how they explained it before. ie how much the black hole now is each season.

 

I suspect the losses will be slightly smaller. But I also suspect the losses will be higher than we think. If you look at our financials, our overall wage bill was £11m off £9m revenue and a £9.6m operating loss.

We aren't getting our wage bill down to £1.4m! And every season a contract runs, the players wage increases.

We might get close to breakeven on current squad levels, but if you want to stay in the championship if you get promoted, we'd have to invest significantly.

And agree, now the window is closed, it would be useful to have increased communication. Properly not Parekh given his multiple stack ups last season.