Couldn’t think of a worse person to do it!

I recall Martin D saying he would analyse the accounts but, if this happened, he didn't come back

We don't make such a loss. The problem is obviously that other clubs have owners willing to put in millions into their playing budgets every year above what they make in revenue. This is the reason ours is one of the lowest. [Link]

Somebody asked Hoody to look at the accounts after he got re-elected and the next day he was gone with some gumf about being in a consortium investing in another club.

It was this but this doesn’t seem to go into the broader and massive potential impact/upheaval that I heard a journalist discussing [Link]

There was the case with Lassana Diarra, if that is the one you were thinking of?

Yeah i remember that Trigs. The crux of it was that footballers should be free to hand in their notice and leave any time they want like we all can in theory.

Trigs, it's a good question and answering it is not straight fwd as I'm limited to our statutory accounts (up to June 2025) like most people here. A better answer would come from those (staff and board members) with access to internal management accounts. Basically we spend £12-£13pa of which about two-thirds goes on the playing side inc Academy and Ladies and also CoS for merchandise and presumably travel & accom getting to away games_. The remaining £4m includes office staff, depreciation on the ground (about £1m), looking after the pitch, ground maint, etc). Would be good to get a breakdown of the net £3m

I remember within the last two years there was a potentially huge legal case around football contracts that the media were saying would have a way bigger impact on the sport than the Bosman ruling. It was along the lines of football is the only industry where employees (players specifically) are not free to find their own job. Your current employer has to agree with a potential future employer. Someone was trying to bring it all under “normal” employment law. I’ll see if I can find anything on it.

Yes I think you are right Rob, we almost certianly are spending more on playing wage budget and non-playing wages. Having said that, it's expected - if only due to inflation. Hence why the stock market is often reaching record highs - it's not necessarily a measure of real performance. i would think a useful measure to check would be ratio of wage budget (playing vs non-playing) to revenues, etc. Our revenue performance is really quite exceptional vs L1 peers, so kudos to the commercial team on that. The key is, is our spending as efficient as it can/needs to be. Not a simple question, lots of trade offs in that.

I'm sure somebody elsewhere has done it, but are we spending the most we've ever spent in the AFCW era on wages?

Our budget may be low in comparison to other L1 clubs, but it may not be low full stop (IYSWIM)

Clapdonn asks the question nobody is allowed to ask - where is the money going?

Yes agreed Hash. Or some kind of squad cost caps, but that needs enough clubs to agree and to clear all the employment issues, which they never have done despite trying... One of the things the article nails is that it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't - Spend more than you earn now, and risk extinction. don't spend, fall down the leagues, and risk extinction anyway as revenues fall. one thing I still dont fully understand though - what are we doing so differently from other clubs to have a (comfortably) top-half revenue for L1, but the lowest wage budget? Not all clubs are making an £8mio loss per season, that must be skewed by the big clubs. Are our stadium costs, and non-staff costs really that much higher than all other lower-half L1 teams to the tune of several £mn per year?

Hash if you click your link on your phone and then refresh the page once the paywall notification comes up but quickly hit the Reader icon then the page will load for you to read.

That's probably true, but I can't see it happening any time soon. It's the sort of thing that OUGHT to be in the remit of the football regulator, but I doubt whether it is.

Agreed Hash but we need to still be around when the bubble bursts and I am sadly of the belief that we won't be if fan owned. I wonder if the people who bought Wycombe or Gillingham are really enjoying themselves.

The only sustainable solution is really for the 'market' to correct itself which will need footballers to accept that they can't be paid 4k per week plus to play L1 football any more. Maybe even having to go part time outside of the championship.

We're currently establishing that the current owners can't/won't pay to cover losses. I find it hard to believe "50%+1" investors will cover losses for long whilst not having control and effectively with their money at the mercy of 7,000 individuals. Would a majority owner cover losses? Probably for at least a while but eventually that bubble will burst and the EFL will have to face the fact that you can't lose money forever.

Hash- you are absolutely right- in effect all clubs are only sustainable with an “investor” to support their losses- the only problem for us is that we don’t yet have an investor on board.

Morning all. Hash - it's basically a general lament about us going to 50+1, not blaming us for it but more the football financial culture these days. Basically a bit like something you'll probably see in a football podcast run by hipsters.

Neither will selling completely as we would still be running at a loss (like every other club) and dependent on an individual 'investor' (or investors) to bail us out every year

A lot of words there to say that going to 50.01% probably won’t solve our financial problems in the longer term, which anyone who thinks about it can see already.

Thanks OI!

To add: there are many excellent quotes from Bush Womble of this parish in the article.