Mcd says we haven't got any cash....

[brendywendy]

Are we really saying that if we pay Blackburn what they want for Zurab then we'll go into administration next year? What I'm saying is that if we are so well run and our finances are in such a stable condition how come other clubs can afford to buy players - or are they all going to go bust later in the year...

If Zurab was on absolute megabucks at Blackburn we wouldn't have been able to afford him last season AND he wouldn't want to leave to come here?

perhaps they have owners with cash theyre happy to throw away.

perhaps they have secured bank loans on silly interest rates.

who knows, who cares

[rob the royal]

So we've gone from a club that makes a 6 million loss every year but can afford to spend a million or two on transfers every year to a club that is balancing the books and will have to sell a star player to fill any gaps that the Academy can't fill. Surely the only way for a club like that to go is down?

[Royalee]

We are a well run club

No, we really aren't. We signed next to nobody when we went up, sold over £15 million's worth when we went down and somehow worked out poorer than we were in the first place which means either money's being taken out of the club or we're negotiating ridiculous wages for very average players...or as is more likely the case, both. What part of that is being well-run? How do we somehow work out poorer after all the money which has come in...and before anyone pipes up, the academy was there long before we went up and the media suite didn't cost any more than a million or two tops.

i dont think 15-25 kpw was too much to pay our prem players, certainkly at the low end of the league spenders.



just read the accounts. its pretty clear there.

I think it was given that Stephen Hunt was earning the same as Cesc Fabregas at the time his contract was signed...

I've read the accounts thanks, but they don't answer the questions I have regarding wage drops and where these loan repayments have sprung up from.

[sheshnu]

But you're happy to throw around accusations anyway...

[Dirk Gently]

Are we really saying that if we pay Blackburn what they want for Zurab then we'll go into administration next year? What I'm saying is that if we are so well run and our finances are in such a stable condition how come other clubs can afford to buy players - or are they all going to go bust later in the year...

If Zurab was on absolute megabucks at Blackburn we wouldn't have been able to afford him last season AND he wouldn't want to leave to come here?

It's not the transfer fee, it's the wages. A commitment of at least a million a year for two or three years. But more than that once you've raised the wage-ceiling at the club then all the senior players want to be paid the same, so it's not wages for one player, it's wages for half a dozen or so.....

[Dirk Gently]

So we've gone from a club that makes a 6 million loss every year but can afford to spend a million or two on transfers every year to a club that is balancing the books and will have to sell a star player to fill any gaps that the Academy can't fill. Surely the only way for a club like that to go is down?

Nope - it can over-achieve, it can make up the shortfall by selling players, or it can see the competitive balance restored by clubs which have overspent either going into a administration of not being so profligate.

[Man Friday]

royalee=spasmo

Using that sort of language does you no credit whatsoever.

[Vision]

Just a couple of things before I blow my brains out reading any more of this incessant nonsense.

1. Other clubs can't "afford" to buy the players you're talking about without incurring heavy debt or under the auspices of a Sugar Daddy prepared to personally undersign them. We are not prepared to do either. It may not give us the best chance of climbing leagues and may even be a bit naive but its the way we're operating. In that sense we're a well run club but we're not fighting on a level playing field as things stand. Sooner or later though that will change.

2. Just because JM isn't investing his own money into the club anymore, it doesn't mean that he is taking money out of here. Equally just because he is investing in other areas of his business rather than this one it still doesn't mean he is taking money from RFC to finance it.

[ellpryjon]

Just a couple of things before I blow my brains out reading any more of this incessant nonsense.

1. Other clubs can't "afford" to buy the players you're talking about without incurring heavy debt or under the auspices of a Sugar Daddy prepared to personally undersign them. We are not prepared to do either. It may not give us the best chance of climbing leagues and may even be a bit naive but its the way we're operating. In that sense we're a well run club but we're not fighting on a level playing field as things stand. Sooner or later though that will change.

2. Just because JM isn't investing his own money into the club anymore, it doesn't mean that he is taking money out of here. Equally just because he is investing in other areas of his business rather than this one it still doesn't mean he is taking money from RFC to finance it.

+1 No point discussing, over and over again, what we already know.

[Royalee]

Are we really saying that if we pay Blackburn what they want for Zurab then we'll go into administration next year? What I'm saying is that if we are so well run and our finances are in such a stable condition how come other clubs can afford to buy players - or are they all going to go bust later in the year...

If Zurab was on absolute megabucks at Blackburn we wouldn't have been able to afford him last season AND he wouldn't want to leave to come here?

perhaps they have owners with cash theyre happy to throw away.

perhaps they have secured bank loans on silly interest rates.

who knows, who cares

Perhaps they don't have chairman insisting the club repays 'loans' to themselves, which is probably also why nobody else will touch the club.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Tommy Smith going to QPR may mean that Colin has decided against McAnuff...which would be a positive

[ZacNaloen]

Lee, we had debts of several million in the form of loans from the bank when we came down from the Prem.

Now we have no debts.


Technically we are better off for those premiership years.


To be honest, I hate the think what kind of state we'd be in if we didn't get promoted when we did. It was timed pretty well considering.

It's funny, we didn't hear anything about those massive debts and loans before we went up...I thought we were well-run?

Yes we did, I distinctly recall us having a 6 million debt prior to promotion.

[Royalee]

...How big were our 'loans' when we went down?

[ZacNaloen]

12 million iirc


* with that initial 6 million having been paid off after the first year

[Royalee]

12 million iirc

So either we've negotiated absolutely stupid interest rates (in which case we're run badly), spent silly money on mediocre players (in which case we're run badly) or Madejski's taking money out to pay himself back in these loans (in which case we're run badly).

[rob the royal]

12 million iirc

So either we've negotiated absolutely stupid interest rates (in which case we're run badly), spent silly money on mediocre players (in which case we're run badly) or Madejski's taking money out to pay himself back in these loans (in which case we're run badly).

Haven't you seen the accounts for this year? I'm telling you those hot dog hawkers are on big money...

[glass half full]

2005-6, 2006-7: National/global economy doing very well

2008-9, 2009-10: Hmm.... not quite so well.

[Royalee]

2005-6, 2006-7: National/global economy doing very well

2008-9, 2009-10: Hmm.... not quite so well.

...Your point being? The TV money didn't change and our gates have still been reasonable...our fans have still bought replica shirts and season tickets.

[Terminal Boardom]

Can anyone throw up a stat that shows the amount spunked on player salaries as a % of gross income?

[Hoop Blah]

Financial Year 2009
£25.7m Turnover
£25.5m Wage bill (that's the whole of the payroll so presuming it includes all staff, all bonus payments and all costs of employment)

2008
£51.6m
£31.1m

2007
£44.9m
£28.1m

2006
£12.3m
£12.5m

2005
£9.9m
£9.2