Bolton's financial position even WORSE than we thought?

This is an old story that sheds light on how bad things were financially 2 years ago - before Dougie came in and when our wage bill was spiralling out of control.

Clearly there's a lot more to it, especially in terms of assets but I guess that taking the parachute payments as loan equity implies that any assets the club may have bought were not particularly liquid at that time so the Bank insisted on the cash. 

I sometimes wonder if the very public austerity and penny-pinching phase that Dougie is having to endure is purely to give the Banks the impression that the club is doing everything in it's power to prevent further losses.

But from my recollection the club's football -related losses were minor in comparison with the trading losses as a whole as I believe that most of it was investment in land, infrastructure and buildings - which will have a balancing residual value going forward.

E.g if the club loses £30 million on trading and also buys land etc for £120 million during a year the trading loss for the year is £150 million.
But the club now has £120 million worth of new assets and if that land becomes a shopping mall and leisure centre etc the initial outlay will get paid back fairly quickly.
So providing the club owns the assets it's not a problem as long as the club stops losing money via football activities - which Dougie has clearly been tasked to do.

Sluffy wrote:


To help out with cash flow would be one answer.

We spend money all the time but the parachute payments are made in stages, so by signing over the parachute the bank knows it will get its money back, so allows us a daily line of income in which we can pay the bills with when they are due.

But again, this prompts the question: What happens when the parachute payments stop?

If we're so far up shit creek that (for whatever reason) we've had to enter into an agreement with the bank which means we've got to hand them over like stupid children who can't be trusted not to blow them all on toffees and comics, what are Barclays going to do when the money's run out?

Will they shut down or vastly reduce the club's line of credit?

Can we afford to let that happen?

Will ED step in and cover the shortfall? (thus making us even more beholden to the mysterious "Moonshift" people?)

Or will that be the beginning of the end?

I am a complete financial novice, but to me, it looks alarmingly we're still digging ourselves into an even bigger hole, in the blind hope that we can somehow get promoted  back to the Prem at some point, by using loan players and cheap cast-offs, thus making everything ok again thanks to the TV money.

That's not a business plan....!

There are gambling addicts in Vegas with better, more robust "systems" than that.....

And how will FFP affect this genius "business model".....?

Seriously, there won't be a BWFC in ten years and then we'll all stand round wondering why nobody stepped in and tried stopping it before it was too late.

Like Rebel, I have nothing but contempt for Gartside and the people running OUR club and it's high time something was done about them.

In ten years, the investments in land etc will have increased in value to around a billion, BWFC will have a superb infrastructure and there will be substantially less pressure to generate income from football-related activities as we'll be making all our money from property management and will be able to secure further loans against a substantially larger asset base. In theory.

...and do you believe it'll pan out like that?

Be honest.......

You forgot to rebrand us.

Horwich Hawks or Davies Dynamo which will it be.

....and anyway, I thought FFP was designed to stop you ploughing money into the club that hadn't come from "footballing sources" ie gate receipts and player sales, so how would that work?

If the revenue comes from profits made in a shopping mall, surely we won't be allowed to use it for sustaining the club in terms of buying players and paying wages?

Therefore, we'll wind up in League Two playing in front of 4000 die-hards at the Talib Fashions Arena every week...but we'll have some nice shops to pop in after we've watched us get gubbed 0-4 by Orient or Chorley.

Can't wait.....

No it doesn't matter where the revenue streams come from, they don't have to be football related.

Breadman wrote:but we'll have some nice shops to pop in after we've watched us get gubbed 0-4 by Orient or Chorley.

I live for the day when my Chorley stuff you Bolton wankers, then I can celebrate by buying a pair of expensive shoes.

bwfc1874 wrote:No it doesn't matter where the revenue streams come from, they don't have to be football related.

Ah, I see....cheers.

I still think we're fucked though.....

It really is about time the club came clean to all the fans.

The club will just do what all companies do in this situation, go into administration and pay 1p in the pound to the mugs it owes money to.

No one goes bust these days, it's too easy to walk away from your debts.

Fuck me.....

Based off last season's performance, we're already at an unfair disadvantage by starting off on "0" points, can you imagine how we'd fair if we set out on "-10"...?

We'd probably only start showing a positive value in the points column by about Christmas......

I don't know why you care so much Breadman, football would be a much better sport if several clubs went tits up. I would love to go bust and start all over again without the ponces on the pitch and the crooks in the Directors Box.

I agree, but the NIMBY in me just wants it to be somebody else's club......

Il be honest, starting from scratch does sound fun.

I just really dont want it to happen, I would really like to know what the hell is going on with BWFC but the club have no intention of telling us, we are not great at 'fan pressure' either - for every 10 fans abusing Uncle Garty, there will be another 5 who love him and want to punch you in the mouth for daring to voice 'your' opinion and not theirs. leading to terrace scrapping - Just like under Megson.

Next season should be fun...

not.

I think we should go to the bank and try to borrow £20 Million for a striker, the Bank Manager must know that's all we're missing for the big time, What's another £20 Million to what we already owe?

Fannying about over a few hundred grand for the Juke wtf?

Maybe down the road the investors & directors in the club will make a ton of cash with these land scams and good luck to them.  However most of us are only interested in what happens on the pitch.
On that front we have undercut the investment needed to gain promotion. For the want of say 5 million spent on 3 or 4 good players we could piss this league IMO.  You have the golden goose waiting in the Prem with all the associated money to follow.
It's a shame really.

For all those who might be having sleepless nights over the parlous state of our clubs finances just ask yourselves the following

Did you borrow the money?
Do you have to pay it back?
Did you cyberbully Eddie and Garty into borrowing £150 Million quid in the clubs name?
Will you have to take a very large bath if it all comes crashing down?
Is it you that will be responsible for the winding up of one of the original members of the football league?

Well, I may be being a little flippant but I don't remember ever, the supporters of this club demanding that the owners and board play fast and loose with Bolton Wanderers FC. If their gambles on property values etc fail the blame lies squarely with them.

terenceanne wrote:Maybe down the road the investors & directors in the club will make a ton of cash with these land scams and good luck to them.  However most of us are only interested in what happens on the pitch.
On that front we have undercut the investment needed to gain promotion. For the want of say 5 million spent on 3 or 4 good players we could piss this league IMO.  You have the golden goose waiting in the Prem with all the associated money to follow.
It's a shame really.

My sentiments as well but it's a real worry for the future if we can't stump up 1.5 million for a player. Where is the money from the Macron sponsorship deal?

NickFazer wrote:For all those who might be having sleepless nights over the parlous state of our clubs finances just ask yourselves the following

Did you borrow the money?
Do you have to pay it back?
Did you cyberbully Eddie and Garty into borrowing £150 Million quid in the clubs name?
Will you have to take a very large bath if it all comes crashing down?
Is it you that will be responsible for the winding up of one of the original members of the football league?

Well, I may be being a little flippant but I don't remember ever, the supporters of this club demanding that the owners and board play fast and loose with Bolton Wanderers FC. If their gambles on property values etc fail the blame lies squarely with them.

Good points actually. Eddie Davies is a shrewd businessman so fingers crossed that he and the board know what they are doing.