Financial results out

[ramAnag]

Since you ask so nicely!! Sadly the accounts are not currently available at Companies House and I havent managed to find them on the official site, thus you will need a little patience if you want something more useful than the chuckle brothers parroting of the official site or the DET. That said, whats done is done and these figures are already 9 months old - more important is to consider how they may have developed since then.

A few thoughts that do spring to mind though, particularly regarding the current year to June 2017:

1) commercial revenue evidently only rose 5% in 2016 but in 2017 we will lose the naming rights income stream (in part at least) and so this isnt likely to go up very much in the current year;

2) best ever attendance in 2016 is perhaps not good news projecting into the future as crowds may well be down in 2017, but also if we are still making a loss on highest crowd ever then there isnt much scope for increasing this other than by increasing ticket prices;

The suggestion therefore is that scope for increasing revenue is somewhat limited, other than by developing and selling on players.

if revenue is therefore largely capped off (other than by transfer sales) then either we accept the continuing losses (so long as they remain withing FFP allowances) if Melvyn is prepared to finance them, or reduce costs. Wage bill increase presumably does include former managers CFLOO, but in 2017 the cost of losing Mac2 and Pearson (plus underlings) will be greater than losing Mac1 and Clement. New enhanced contracts will possibly mean this figure will rise again to maybe £ 40m in 2017. This is reaching unsustainable I would have thought and the wage bill will need attention, and maybe if we cont keep replacing managers every few weeks that might help!

Problem is that we run into FFP problems if we dump a big heap of players or sell them off cheap as this crystallises the FFP loss all in one year. 2017 should be OK as the sale of Hendrick and the purchase of Vydra and Nugent would be broadly favourable in FFP loss terms - ie revenue £ 11m, outlay under £ 3m if they are on 4 year contracts, However the impact of those transactions will run beyond just 2017.

The result isnt far off what I would have expected, and nothing to panic about if the owner remains supportive, but we have built up FFP issues for the next few years and may well need to sell before we can invest or simply not invest at all if we havent got any assets to raise any significant money. it wont be easy to stabilise the ship: past spending coupled with on the field failure will break us given time. Brighton have just about reached Nirvana in time after their big investment - sadly our performances on the field have not allowed us that luxury and time is running out.

Thanks Rog...to hark back to a previous thread...very professional.
So, in layman's terms, in the opinion of you, Andy and any of the other financial wizards...is this likely to necessitate the selling off of those whose value has accrued but are maybe no longer *****, say Bryson, Russell and Martin (yes I know Rats...all Nige signings ), the sale of the 'crown jewels' or a wholesale loss making clear out of those who just haven't worked out?

[Rams4Justice]

Roger so that you can clearly understand, they don't release financial results on a yearly basis, they release the financial results on a 3yr basis.

[Andy_Faber]

Thanks Rog...to hark back to a previous thread...very professional.
So, in layman's terms, in the opinion of you, Andy and any of the other financial wizards...is this likely to necessitate the selling off of those whose value has accrued but are maybe no longer *****, say Bryson, Russell and Martin (yes I know Rats...all Nige signings ), the sale of the 'crown jewels' or a wholesale loss making clear out of those who just haven't worked out?

The problem with identifying anyone at all to ship out at the mo is that, evident from the style of play on friday and Rowett's words thereafter, some of the squad have not only been playing out of position but in a playing style (ponderous, across-the-back ad nauseum) that they are no good at. Maybe some or even all would blossom playing a more direct style. I sat with an even older-stager than myself for part of friday's game, and his observation was not the usual 'this team needs a leader', it was (sorry youngsters) this team needs a Durban or an O'Hare. What he meant was we need one midfielder player who can pass better than the curent crop over more than 20 ft or one forward who can collect/control whatever's hoofed up to him. Maybe Hughes is the former if he's given whatever pils are required to stop him doing stupid backwards 1-2s, whilst the latter we already have on our books but playing for Fulham.

[ramAnag]

R4J...the man is a Chartered Accountant, he knows these things...that's why we ask him. Please drop it.

[roger_ramjet]

R4J...the man is a Chartered Accountant, he knows these things...that's why we ask him. Please drop it.

There's nowt so blind as those who will not see!

[roger_ramjet]

Lets make a deal R4J: you dont tell me how to interpret financial statements and similar aspects of my job and I will not tell you how best to flip burgers.

[Rams4Justice]

Did I say he wasn't a Chartered Accountant, no!

[roger_ramjet]

Thanks Rog...to hark back to a previous thread...very professional.
So, in layman's terms, in the opinion of you, Andy and any of the other financial wizards...is this likely to necessitate the selling off of those whose value has accrued but are maybe no longer *****, say Bryson, Russell and Martin (yes I know Rats...all Nige signings ), the sale of the 'crown jewels' or a wholesale loss making clear out of those who just haven't worked out?

I would think we would need to sell some of those players, yes. Clearly the new manager, assuming he is still in charge at the start of the season, will need to resolve a few things, notably which forwards fit into his preferred starting formation. Martin and Vydra might well be incompatible and either one would be an expensive bench warmer. I quite like the Vydra-Nugent axis myself. So there is one sale possibly. Hughes needs retraining into being creative and creating chances. When he first came onto the scene he did this, but, as Andy said, he has become prone to a more and more negative mindset. Russell and Bryson may be expendable and perhaps Buttterfield who seems to be Hughes Light - another creative that has forgotten how to play a forward ball. However we wont get much money for them.

A return of a fit Thorne will give us a better base to build around, and I think Johnson, despite all his doubters, may find a role to play or at least get the opportunity to enhance his market value before selling. However the key is to get the defenders to play higher up the field which they seem reluctant to do due to a lack of pace at the back - this is why I said elsethread that we should consider a 3 CB setup.

We have surplus players, but are any of them really saleable assets? Many have devalued in the last 12 months and some, like Blackman, were worthless when we paid £ 3m for him! It wont be easy to squeeze much development cash out of the squad unless the overall market perception of our team is enhanced by a good end to the season IMO. And then of course people will not want to cash in and sell!

[ramAnag]

Did I say he wasn't a Chartered Accountant, no!

No you didn't, but there are times when it's best to just shut up and accept that other people might well have greater expertise than you in certain areas and this, imo, is one of them.

Anyway, moving on...agree with all you've said Rog although, however good a player he can be, I'd be worried about building around Thorne. Think we have to treat his hoped for fitness and availability as a bonus but plan for other eventualities.

[Rams4Justice]

We could do with some expertise in certain areas.