Club Future - Administration or bust?

JEFF THOMAS
 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/growth-fund/bgf-helps-cloud-company-expand/

[size=31]Jeff Thomas, 58, chairman[/size]

My background was in town planning but in my twenties I had worked as a sound engineer with live bands around the UK and Europe and in technology with a firm in California. After working for a couple of public companies, I started a business called Endata, which was acquired in 1994 by a US firm, Peak Technologies.
Peak had listed on Nasdaq and I stayed and helped to grow the business through 14 acquisitions in seven countries over three years to a market cap of more than $250m. After it was sold in 1997, I came back to Britain, settled in Bath and invested in dotcom start-ups. Finding many lacked the infrastructure needed to scale rapidly, I acquired Hartham Park, a 100,000-sq ft stately home near Corsham, Wiltshire, as a platform for the incubation and acceleration of technology firms. Forty-three companies are now based there.
We also took a lease on former Ministry of Defence land and formed the Corsham Media Park in a joint venture. When most of the media companies we attracted retrenched after the dotcom bubble burst, I had to think what we could do with the site. In 2005 we came up with the world’s first modular data centre, today known as Ark Data Centres.
We acquired another site in Farnborough and after the 2010 election, in the face of austerity, I came up with a disruptive model of selling cloud-computing by the hour to the UK Government. That led to the creation of Skyscape and our partnerships with major technology groups. 

DEANO82 wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So he's got a rich friend who is in no way involved.

Sounds promising.

Hipster, your act has become tiresome.

I want the Hipster of old, the one who won Bolton Banter's "Funniest Poster of the Year" in 2006.

Natasha Whittam wrote:Hipster, your act has become tiresome.

I want the Hipster of old, the one who won Bolton Banter's "Funniest Poster of the Year" in 2006.

Yea sluffy and Lusty's love in must have rubbed off !!!

Natasha Whittam wrote:Hipster, your act has become tiresome.

I want the Hipster of old, the one who won Bolton Banter's "Funniest Poster of the Year" in 2006.

That's when i was happy nat. Years of depression have taken their toll on me.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

Natasha Whittam wrote:Hipster, your act has become tiresome.

I want the Hipster of old, the one who won Bolton Banter's "Funniest Poster of the Year" in 2006.

That's when i was happy nat. Years of depression have taken their toll on me.

Hahaha

Genuine question Hipster....do you support Bolton?

Natasha Whittam wrote:Genuine question Hipster....do you support Bolton?

I do. Not with so much passion as i used to have granted.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:

Natasha Whittam wrote:Genuine question Hipster....do you support Bolton?

I do. Not with so much passion as i used to have granted.

You described us as 'tin pot'. Unacceptable.

Sometimes we have to face facts.

Just like when i look in the mirror. I have to accept what i see, even if I'd rather not.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Sometimes we have to face facts.

Just like when i look in the mirror. I have to accept what i see, even if I'd rather not.

When I look in the mirror, I see the next James Bond.

Everyone else seems to see Clive Dunn.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Sometimes we have to face facts.

Just like when i look in the mirror. I have to accept what i see, even if I'd rather not.

Did the mirror crack?

karlypants wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Sometimes we have to face facts.

Just like when i look in the mirror. I have to accept what i see, even if I'd rather not.

Did the mirror crack?

I'm not Nat.

boltonbonce wrote:

karlypants wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:Sometimes we have to face facts.

Just like when i look in the mirror. I have to accept what i see, even if I'd rather not.

Did the mirror crack?

I'm not Nat.

Bolton aren't a tinpot club, we are the 3rd biggest of the Manchester conurbation and bigger than all the Lancashire town clubs in my opinion.The Wilmslow lad said to be buying us couldn't afford either of the Manchester clubs and no doubt fancies a bigger club than the more local Stockport, Macclesfield and Crewe.

First impressions are that this consortium could be a good thing.They won't have the money to  buy us a place in the Premier League but if they sell £11 million worth of players I think they have enough finances to spend £11 million on new signings rather than the 200k Ken spent.

In the summer i would fancy them to spend enough money to be promoted from Div 3.They won't be rich enough to throw £50 million at a Championship title cake walk but the finances will be there to back someone like Allardyce, Greaves or Rioch to take us up.

Magic147 - 46 mins ago

In conclusion, Anderson and Co did save the club from becoming extinct, he did trim the wage and other various bills which was neccessary, he did build a brilliant training facilty with the new dome, he did keep the academy at category 2 status and one of, if not THE best in the football league, he brought in Parky who got us promoted at the first time of asking and then kept us up...JUST...the following season. He has been more vocal than the previous owners with his notes. He's brought in events to the stadium to add revenue, to be fair he's done a lot. He has admitted its time to sell on and yes he has upset a lot of supporters and staff with his methods but you cant deny he's leaving the club in a much better condition than what he started with. Fair play to him, he is a bussiness man after all. But i do truly believe he's done good. Its hard to think that after the turmoil in recent months but at least we still have a club to support. Ken thankyou! However as you admit yourself its time to sell on to someone with more finances and take this magnificent club back to where it belongs! Football is all about money these days so hopefully its the start of something very positive! COME ON YOU WHITES!!!

Growler wrote:Bolton aren't a tinpot club, we are the 3rd biggest of the Manchester conurbation and bigger than all the Lancashire town clubs in my opinion.The Wilmslow lad said to be buying us couldn't afford either of the Manchester clubs and no doubt fancies a bigger club than the more local Stockport, Macclesfield and Crewe.

First impressions are that this consortium could be a good thing.They won't have the money to  buy us a place in the Premier League but if they sell £11 million worth of players I think they have enough finances to spend £11 million on new signings rather than the 200k Ken spent.

In the summer i would fancy them to spend enough money to be promoted from Div 3.They won't be rich enough to throw £50 million at a Championship title cake walk but the finances will be there to back someone like Allardyce, Greaves or Rioch to take us up.

A genuine question - I'm not trying to point score or anything - what do you think is in it for this consortium if it isn't to get to the Premier within three years?

I say three years because under FFP the owner cannot put more money into the club than it generates in revenue within a three year period.

If they bought the club tomorrow they will still have to find £3 million in wages just to get to the end of this season (£600k x 5 months).

Next season we will start it in the third tier unless something drastic happens between now and seasons end.  So you are looking at a comparable wage bill to help get us promoted first time - say £500k per month x 12 months = £6 million.

Do we have money to sign anyone?  Say we do - another £3 million say?

So just to get us from now until the end of next season will cost them something like £27 million to buy the club, plus £3 million this years wages plus £3 million transfer budget for next season (let say the club breaks even next year so the players wages are covered by revenue).

So they are down £33 million and are a year and a half in - and haven't made a single penny profit yet - all just to be back at the Championship level.

Are they then going to throw the equivalent of the kitchen sink in financial terms to go for instant promotion?  Otherwise they will be £33 million plus anything else they spend on transfers - and still be no better off?

The financial model simply doesn't make any sense to me?

How do you believe the finances will work out over the next two or three seasons because without hitting the jackpot and getting to the Premier League in that time span I just can't see it working in a football sense financially?

What happens if we don't bonce back straight up again next season for instance?

Why would these people want to throw money into the club?

I just don't see it?

I could see Anderson wanting to turn the club around and make a profit - but I just can't see what is in it for this consortium?

Aside from this lot not being billionaires, nobody (even sluffy) knows how wealthy this group is. We’ll probably only find out once we get to the summer transfer window, so trying to predict how long tbey’ll accept losing money for is difficult.

I’ve read this is the Warburton bid? Is that right? At least if that is the case there’s someone on board who knows this league (and the one below), and will surely have counselled the group on just how much would need to change to get this club to the premier league.

Anyway, the club was dead under Anderson we’d ceased to operate, so something had to change. Let’s hope this is positive at last.