Generic clubs in financial crisis Thread

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Plus Southend are facing another winding-up order they really are in deep trouble.

And Andy Burnham (who does know his stuff about football) has come out with a public "money has ruined football" distribe.

Andy Burnham? Is he the ex-Sports minister?

[Dirk Gently]

Plus Southend are facing another winding-up order they really are in deep trouble.

And Andy Burnham (who does know his stuff about football) has come out with a public "money has ruined football" distribe.

Andy Burnham? Is he the ex-Sports minister?

Yep - he was, and did damn well until he was moved to Health. Now standing for the Labour leadership.

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

[Gav]

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

And were there any actions following this fudgery?

[Dirk Gently]

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

And were there any actions following this fudgery?

Nope, because Andy Burnham was moved to Health, and the next incumbent didn't particularly want to be assoicated with what had become known in the industry as "the 7 Burnham Questions" for obvious reasons. And by then they were all focussed on the election, anyway.

[wolsey]

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

And were there any actions following this fudgery?

Nope, because Andy Burnham was moved to Health, and the next incumbent didn't particularly want to be assoicated with what had become known in the industry as "the 7 Burnham Questions" for obvious reasons. And by then they were all focussed on the election, anyway.

Are these questions in the public domain?

[Dirk Gently]

Are these questions in the public domain?

I think so, but don't have a link handy - I'm sure I've got a copy at home, though.

[wolsey]

^^^^^^^^^^

Yes they are.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/17/premierleague-andyburnham

If in doubt, Google it, you lazy bastard

(BTW Dirk I was refering to myself - didn't notice that you had responded so quickly)

[TFF]

Question 7 being sadly topical

[Gav]

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

And were there any actions following this fudgery?

Nope, because Andy Burnham was moved to Health, and the next incumbent didn't particularly want to be assoicated with what had become known in the industry as "the 7 Burnham Questions" for obvious reasons. And by then they were all focussed on the election, anyway.

Saved by the bell, then. Very unfortunate that.

[Fox Talbot]

Plus Southend are facing another winding-up order they really are in deep trouble.

And Andy Burnham (who does know his stuff about football) has come out with a public "money has ruined football" distribe.

Andy Burnham? Is he the ex-Sports minister?

10+ years ago he was the civil servant in charge of writing much of the Football Task Force reports which generally went down OK.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

About a year ago he put together a killer set of seven questions about the state of the game that he gave all the leagues etc to answer - great questions, that really got to the root of the problems. The FA & PL dithered for months, then issued a joint set of answers that fudged and didn't answer the questions in the slightest.

And were there any actions following this fudgery?

Nope, because Andy Burnham was moved to Health, and the next incumbent didn't particularly want to be assoicated with what had become known in the industry as "the 7 Burnham Questions" for obvious reasons. And by then they were all focussed on the election, anyway.

Also these two:

The FA chairman, Lord Triesman, also speaking at the conference, welcomed Burnham's intervention, appealing for the three bodies to work constructively together: "I hope we can have the discussion in a grown up fashion," Triesman said, "and not feel this is simply jostling in some kind of turf war."

Lord Mawhinney, the Football League chairman, agreed, saying: "The secretary of state has listed important questions and we will certainly consider them in a constructive spirit."

are no longer in post.

Which is a shame as these two:

The rules which penalise clubs falling into insolvency can be reviewed

The rule which requires insolvent clubs to pay football debts in full, unlike other debts, should be reviewed

Certainly need looking at.

[Messiah]

Reference Southend United

Their chairman's companies are 22 mill in debt.

There are 4 unsatisfied county court judgements outstanding totalling some £123k, including 72k to Deloittte LLP and nearly 15k to HQ hospitality which runs the clubs catering and this debt along with another owed to the Cliffs Pavilion are thought to be from end of year party held there.

There are other debts owed to Directors/The Trust and the players pension funds and the debt to the PFA which is still outstanding is 123K.

Strong rumour that Tilson's walked out on the club, could be revealed tomorrow.

Players giving notice they're leaving due to breach of contract (unpaid wages), they currently have 10 first team players and can't sign anyone as they're under a transfer embargo from January.

Due in The High Court again on 8th July for another unpaid tax bill of £200k

Winding up order from a finance company, believed to be for millions of pounds, being heard 14th July, if they get past the first one.

Looks like we could be looking at AFC Southend shortly, they're pretty much relying on Sainsbury's to pay their bills or it's all over.

[Dirk Gently]

Meanwhile, at Cardiff :

If you were a Cardiff City fan, what would your worst nightmare be? Well, it’s just happened (A) – Spinmeister Ridsdale has been asked to act as an intermediary between the new Malaysian owners and Sam Hammam! If I were Hammam, I’d be minded of the time when Maggie Thatcher announced she was going to Scotland to campaign in an election, and Alex Salmond promptly quipped, in a staggeringly accurate prediction, ‘We’ve won!’.

Ridsdale says “I don’t want to be involved on the financial side – that’s where I made my mistakes” although it’s not clear which club he is referring to. He adds “There is no chance I will be returning to Cardiff City FC in the future… I have moved on.“ I’m not sure who should be more afraid: Cardiff City fans because this may be Ridsdale double-speak, or fans everywhere else – could he actually have moved on, to your club?

BTW, I can't recommend enough the regular blog on football finance by John Beech, who is a God of knowing such things. The above quote is from there. It's at http://footballmanagement.wordpress.com/ and always worth reading.

[Deadlock]

Cardiff hit with a transfer ban over another unpaid tax bill. But it's OK, as they're confident they'll pay it in a few days. It's PAYE tax, so why the oxf*rd wasn't it paid as it was earnt?

[brendywendy]

just a pis stake

just wind them up and close em down.
what is the point in running a business properly if the others are all doing this?

[exileinleeds]

just a pis stake

just wind them up and close em down.
what is the point in running a business properly if the others are all doing this?

In Ireland there is a rule for companies, if you want to do any supply or work for a government or council dept, you have to show your certificate demonstating all your taxes are up to date.

New rule the FA should adopt, and then the govt can implement it here, we need the revenue.

[Franchise FC]

Cardiff hit with a transfer ban over another unpaid tax bill. But it's OK, as they're confident they'll pay it in a few days. It's PAYE tax, so why the oxf*rd wasn't it paid as it was earnt?

It's deducted from payments to employees and paid to HMRC on 19th of the following month (or rather it should be paid on that date).

[royal tee]

Barca added to the list

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8797183.stm

[TFF]

They should send Unicef a bill

[wolsey]

Tsk, tsk how will Monsieur Platini and Herr Blatter react?

All this from a Club lauded for his Academy supply line?

(Quite funny how the new President was claiming that "Yeah, we didn't pay the wage bill in June, but we've borrowed some more money, so we've got 50mill Euro plus income from players sales to spend on new players")

Perhaps the Portsmouth model has been exported.