Club debt rises to £163.8 million!!!

bwfc71 you make some nice points BUT you are wrong, the big number is more than frightening it is LETHAL. 

The debt is now worth SIX YEARS total income if we spent not one penny on anything else. It's simply not possible for any business to continue to function with that level of debt for any length of time. It is clear that some one off costs such as buying out the Hotel will not be there next year and that the hotel is likely to be listed as an asset next year but let me ask you something. How can it possibly hope to make a profit? It isn't like it's a major tourist destination or even transport hub. Frankly I think this idea of football clubs getting into 'diversification' generally doesn't work. People who can run a football club (and Gartside's ability to do that is doubtful at best) don't necessarily have the ability to run hotels and educational companies. The core business is Football and that is where the whole company will live or die. Frankly reading the numbers and seeing what's been spent where convinces me the latter will happen. 

Natasha says no football club will really die but there she is wrong, it happens all the time. Chester City, Luton Town, Wrexham and Aldershot Town being recent examples. Portsmouth are teetering again, Leeds for all their apparent strength are wafer thin on the margins and there are at least a dozen other clubs in the second tier that survive hand to mouth. We should be much stronger than any of them but the mismanagement and utter stupidity shown at boardroom level has left us in a very dangerous position. 

Perhaps you might remember the mid to late 80's bwfc71, we barely survived thanks to what at the time was seen as a miracle. We can't rely on a second one and I fear that if we enter administration no one will be interested in giving us the sort of money needed to get us out of it. I truly fear for our club's future, this cannot go on and there's no point saying things will be better next year, the graph makes it clear that since '05 all that has happened is things got worse and there's no reason to believe that will change under the current board and management structure.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:bwfc71 you make some nice points BUT you are wrong, the big number is more than frightening it is LETHAL. 

The debt is now worth SIX YEARS total income if we spent not one penny on anything else. It's simply not possible for any business to continue to function with that level of debt for any length of time. It is clear that some one off costs such as buying out the Hotel will not be there next year and that the hotel is likely to be listed as an asset next year but let me ask you something. How can it possibly hope to make a profit? It isn't like it's a major tourist destination or even transport hub. Frankly I think this idea of football clubs getting into 'diversification' generally doesn't work. People who can run a football club (and Gartside's ability to do that is doubtful at best) don't necessarily have the ability to run hotels and educational companies. The core business is Football and that is where the whole company will live or die. Frankly reading the numbers and seeing what's been spent where convinces me the latter will happen. 

Natasha says no football club will really die but there she is wrong, it happens all the time. Chester City, Luton Town, Wrexham and Aldershot Town being recent examples. Portsmouth are teetering again, Leeds for all their apparent strength are wafer thin on the margins and there are at least a dozen other clubs in the second tier that survive hand to mouth. We should be much stronger than any of them but the mismanagement and utter stupidity shown at boardroom level has left us in a very dangerous position. 

Perhaps you might remember the mid to late 80's bwfc71, we barely survived thanks to what at the time was seen as a miracle. We can't rely on a second one and I fear that if we enter administration no one will be interested in giving us the sort of money needed to get us out of it. I truly fear for our club's future, this cannot go on and there's no point saying things will be better next year, the graph makes it clear that since '05 all that has happened is things got worse and there's no reason to believe that will change under the current board and management structure.

According to the accounts the Hotel operates at 80% capacity for the majority of the year and the rest of the time (predominantly around the holiday periods of Easter and Christmas & New Year it is virtually 100%). All they have done is buy-out De-Vere's (due to their parent company basically pulling out of the luxury hotel market) but the same people who run the hotel are still there - therefore why would the board members get involved whilst they already have staff who now what they are doing?

The sport Education company is a great asset, to be fair, as it will bring to together the best of thee educational of sport and putting it into practice with the first I, reserves and ultimately the youth squad! And then why not sell the education to outside bodies thus creating a further cost/growth-centre which will generate money!

This is sort of the diversification which is required and is already in place!!!

Lets not forget that the Board and various management departments have known about this set of accounts since end of June2013!!! It was only released to the public in December as it was the last day (by the rules of Companies House/law) that they could otherwise they would have been fined.

Two crucial bit of information you tend to forget that it has been scrutinised by a Deloite and they see nothing onerous with the accounts and they give the parent company (remember BWFC is only a subsidiary) a clean bill of health - otherwise they would have stated and dangers! Secondly as the Board have known of these results since June - it has been business as normal in the transfer window and the first half of the season, so far!

Therefore I am of the ilk that all is under control, credit rating is good and the acquisitions will help bolster the club and its finances in the future - therefore my glass of milk I actually half-full rather than half-empty. But saying that no can never rest of their laurels and must seek continual improvement and continual eye on the purse-strings.

As Rammy has said there is still a lot to be done, infrastructure wise, and that will take at least 2-3 years to completion before any marked change on the books - it is going to be rocky but I do believe we are heading in the right direction with what has been done and what is being done!

Let's hope Eddie has a fucking xtra strong heart and lives for at least another 40 years .Maybe our venture in to the Indian football market may bring something,but I'm clutching at straws.                        Someone wrote that the club have accepted the season has nothing more to offer than blooding a few youngsters.N'gog and Knightmare will be gone next season so our prime concern is seeing if some of the development squad can make the breakthrough.DF now needs to find a left back and a quality centre back which will be difficult as we have no money.We will be left with Beckford and Craig Davies as our 2 main strikers in August so we need to be getting Tom Youngs and Connor Wilkinson ready to step up.What else can we do.We need to retain our better players and hit the ground running,luckily Knight will be gone,I know I've gone over it again and again but the points his abject defending have cost us we would be in a play off position.Dont get me wrong it's not all him,but the stats don't lie,as soon as he was dropped we went 8 unbeaten.Roll on August.