Reply With QuoteWhy are they skint?Originally Posted by Jupiter
Hall Of Fame
But that's because Bolton are skint, there's nothing wrong with the stadium
Hall Of Fame
Why are they skint?
Hall Of Fame
Hall Of Fame
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47691385
A few miles away from Blackburn, Bolton Wanderers fans have been wondering whether or not they had a team to support as their club faced a winding up order from HMRC in respect of unpaid taxes on Wednesday.
Wanderers' finances to a certain extent mirrored those of Rovers, with a benevolent owner in the shape of Eddie Davies, who acquired the club in December 2003.
Bolton finished eighth in the Premier League in 2003-04 and maintained their status in the top flight until 2011-12 - but this came at a significant financial cost.
While initially Bolton were making a profit, the recruitment of players such as Nigerian superstar Jay-Jay Okocha, France internationals Youri Djorkaeff and Nicolas Anelka and Spain and Real Madrid's Fernando Hierro came at a cost as wages rose faster than income and player costs, which had been just over half of income when Davies arrived, rocketed quickly.
Soon the club was paying out more in player costs than they were generating as revenue.
As the Trotters finished eighth, sixth, seventh and sixth from 2004 onwards and twice qualified for the Uefa Cup, Davies decided to underwrite the losses made by the club because as a wealthy fan he wanted to give something back.
Even in the Premier League, the club was haemorrhaging money and lost nearly £100m in its last six seasons in the top flight.
The losses continued in the Championship despite the benefit of parachute payments and Davies underwrote these, but a combination of failing health and a small but vocal critical element within the fanbase resulted in him deciding to cut ties with the club and cease to fund the losses, with HMRC threatening to have the club wound up for unpaid taxes.
To make the club attractive to new owners, Davies wrote off £170m of the loans he had advanced to it over the years when covering the losses. In addition, some property assets were sold to generate cash to keep creditors at bay.
With the club close to administration, Davies sold it to former player Dean Holdsworth and businessman Ken Anderson in February 2016. Holdsworth has since severed his relationship with the club, leaving it in the hands of Anderson, a former football agent who was banned from being a company director in the UK for eight years from 2005 but passed the EFL Owners and Directors test when his disqualification ended.
Davies died in September 2018 and four days prior to passing away loaned the club a further £5m.
There have been many winding up orders and stories of unpaid staff and suppliers, culminating with another attempt last week from HMRC to have the club wound up for unpaid taxes. The club have a two week stay of execution with Anderson trying to find new owners who are prepared to fund the day to day running costs.
Hall Of Fame
Overspending
I hope we have the money to fund Aurora
Hall Of Fame
Interesting article.
Hall Of Fame
If you read it, it was overspending on players and a budget that they could not sustain without investor wealth.
A stark reality and hence why those calling for Milne to fund the club to be "ambitious" and compete for the league is a short sighted mindset.
The club has to be run within its own budget and whilst I agree he could have cleared the debts to start from a better position earlier, it could only have been as a one off.
I hope that its because he has had this long plan goal to build a new stadium and has the plans in place to leave the club with the new stadium and no debt. We'll have to wait and see though.
Hall Of Fame
I see Aberdeen director Tom Crotty 'open' to making new investment in Aberdeen FC
American businessman Tom Crotty says he would be "open" to increasing his investment in Aberdeen as they bid to move to a new stadium.
Crotty recently joined the Pittodrie board and has put £1.3m into the club over the past two years.
The Dons are constructing a new 20,000-seater stadium in Kingsford and could move from their current Pittodrie home in season 2021-22.
"The club is going to need more capital," Crotty told BBC Scotland.
"I hope I will be able to help in that domain, to make introductions and maybe find other pools of capital we can access to help build out all the goals and objectives of the club.
"If that also requires me to put more money in along the way, I would certainly be open to that as well."
'I am going to be a patient investor'
The club's project also involves new training facilities, on which work has already started, while the new stadium will have a similar capacity to Pittodrie and that of Hearts' Tynecastle and Hibernian's Easter Road.
And Crotty says his investment is a long-term one.
"I don't have a particular return threshold I am looking for through this investment," he said. "I expect it to be a long hold. As a venture capitalist, you are very used to putting your money in and waiting eight, 10, 12 years before you get a return, so I am going to be a patient investor.
"I think there are going to be all kind of new revenue opportunities, the new facilities - both the training facilities and the stadium itself - can become destinations, opportunities and event opportunities for the community and I think the club can become even more integrated and more important to the community of Aberdeen."
Hall Of Fame
Did i miss when Milne cleared the Clubs debt?
Hall Of Fame
That sounds like a total load of bollox.
Posting Permissions