Now that we are at the end of the league season, and with respect to the job still to be done at Tannadice and McDiarmid Park, it seems like a good time for a post holocaust report.
Fig 1 Average Weekly Attendances SPL 2011-2014
Peppered around this page are three charts and a table* showing the attendance figures for the SPL in the last three seasons. A school kid could tell you that there is a positive trend in those charts and figures, but the people who run our national sport will look you straight in the eye and tell you “that can’t be right – Armageddon is coming!”
It is one of the most ridiculous and mendacious situations I have ever come across. The people who run our national game, aided and abetted by those in the MSM (sans the eye contact though) are actually trying to persuade us of how awful our game is and how unsustainable it will be in the absence of one, just one, club.
Think about that. The SFA and the SPFL trying to talk us out of supporting the game unless we all recognise the unique importance of one, just one, club. That is what has happened, no matter how they try to spin it. And despite evidence to the contrary contained in these figures, not one of them has admitted to an error, never mind the downright lies that they told to support the position they held, the one where anyone speaking of sporting integrity was mocked and ridiculed.
Whilst growing up as football supporter in the 60s, one of things I was constantly bombarded with via the medium of the tabloid newspapers was that football clubs should be grateful for the publicity afforded them via their back pages. These were probably reasonable claims, especially in the light of the relative lack of access to players and officials conceded to the hacks in those days, and the pre-eminent cultural position in which they helped to place football. Alongside that, the broadcast media, particularly Archie Macpherson’s Sportscene and Arthur Montford’s Scotsport could be relied on to talk the game up. Of course, there was something in it for the papers – sales. The more column inches devoted to the national sport, the further northward their sales, and consequently advertising revenues travelled.
Fig 2 Avg. Attendances excl Celtic & Rangers
The situation was further cemented by the fact that the press in that ante-interweb era held a monopoly over the exchange and dissemination of information. That symbiotic, win-win relationship between football and the press was as much a part of football reality as the Hampden Roar. It also endured for decades. The press would talk up the game to such an extent that folk often remarked that they hadn’t realised how much they had enjoyed a particular match until they had read Malky Munro or Hughie Taylor’s report the next day. Archie Macpherson is on record as having said the same thing about legendary commentator David Francey, “It was a much better game to listen to than to see!”
Today that symbiosis is broken. The press themselves, in print and in front of microphones consistently belittle the product, talk of crises and Armageddon, of our own version of the Eisenhower domino effect of clubs going to the wall one after another.
Aided and abetted by the two chief bureaucrats in charge of Scottish football, Stuart Regan and Neil Doncaster, who have consistently helped to hammer home the message that Scottish football is not good enough, and cannot sustain itself financially without Rangers, a club that could not itself sustain itself financially to the extent that it is being liquidated.
At a time when Scottish football was clearly in crisis, and badly in need of sponsorship which could mitigate the effects of that crisis, the press and the authorities sought to strengthen their own negotiating hand by making negative claims about the state of the game which never came to pass, and for which they have never apologised. The actual situation, which would not have been hard to predict had anyone actually bothered to analyse the business of Scottish football, is summarised quite easily by saying this;
- Since Rangers’ liquidation and subsequent absence from the top league, the average home attendance of the other clubs has INCREASED overall (See Fig 2).
- In this season, the other clubs have added 50,000 fans to home attendances compared to 2011-12 (the last year Rangers were in competition).
- In that time the league has been won (twice) by Celtic, and the other honours have been claimed by St, Mirren, Aberdeen, Celtic and (either) Dundee United or St Johnstone.
- In that time, both Dunfermline Athletic and Hearts (who both had historical financial problems) entered – and exited – administration after fan-led buyouts.
- Dundee United have cleared off their bank debt.
- Kilmarnock have restructured their bank debt, freeing the club from a precarious long-term situation.
- League reconstruction has allowed some money to trickle down to the second tier clubs in an attempt to mitigate the immediate effects of relegation and to reward ambitious clubs.
Looking at the table of attendances above, it is pretty clear that immediately upon Rangers exit, the overall figures took a dip. However there was little difference the in the figures if you leave Rangers out of the equation (Fig 3) – despite Celtic’s attendance taking a hit that year (down by around 5,000 per home match).
Taking Celtic out of the calculations, it is clear that there is a 6,000 uplift in this average (Fig 2).
It is still undeniable that less people overall are watching football (Fig 1), but the trend is upward if one leaves the Ibrox club out of the picture.
Furthermore, this statistic exposes the double edged sword that is retention of home gates. The fact that gates are not shared is predicated upon the notion that the bigger clubs do not depend on the smaller clubs for income. And since the smaller clubs are no longer recipients of big club largesse, their fortunes are not affected, at least not as much as was suggested by the Regans, Doncasters and Traynors of this parish. The “Trickle-Down” theory of Reganomics said otherwise – but clearly and demonstrably it was wrong.
The abandonment of gate sharing has made Scottish football less interdependent than it once was, but the irony is that it works both ways. There is hardly a club in the country that depends on Rangers for their own existence, and here is the news; small clubs are no longer financially dependent on the former Old Firm.
Fig 3 Excluding Celtic
The fact, that is F-A-C-T, is that Scottish Football attendances in the top division are on the increase. The absence of Rangers has made no appreciably negative difference to any other club, far less caused a catastrophe of biblical proportions.
Even if the fools who were the harbingers of our doom were simply guilty of making an honest mistake, it is clear that they are uncontaminated with the slightest notion of how the game in this country operates. The Old Firm may be dead, but the OF prism is still being peered through by Stuart Regan, Neil Doncaster and the vast majority of print journalists. The latter who failed to honour that age-old football/press symbiosis because they believed, erroneously that David Murray’s dinner table was the hand that has fed them for over a century.
The irony is that as job opportunities diminish in the print sector, so too will the fine dining and patronage. I think they call that evolution.
Two years ago, in the wake of the fans’ season ticket revolt which saw the new Rangers forced to apply for membership of the league and begin at the bottom, those same MSM hacks taunted fans about putting their money where their mouths were. The fans responded splendidly as our statistics demonstrate, but typically there has been no recognition of this either at Hampden or in the media.
And the message from those fans is this: Scottish football is not dying. Not any more. At least not as surely as it was when David Murray started to choke the life out of it in the late 80s. The supporters are returning in numbers to see a competition untainted by the outrageous liberty-taking and rule-breaking of the last couple of decades, and all but one club has emerged from the mire of the Moonbeam Millennium looking forward to a new era.
If authorities allow the new era to thrive by restoring sporting integrity to the agenda, then the numbers, like the opportunities available to more and more clubs, will grow. The question is … will they?
Admittedly, these figures, like any set of statistics, can be cherry-picked to suit almost any argument that you care to construct. The fact remains though, that whilst it would be fanciful and ridiculously over-optimistic to claim that they bear witness to a burgeoning industry, it is utterly dishonest to conclude that they represent financial Armageddon. Armageddon? Aye right!
mcfc says:
June 12, 2014 at 6:59 pm
Onerous contracts play a large part in this figure.
It also includes the staffing costs for the MP based staff
Losing posts.
Am I banned.
This link might be of some relevance to the costs of Murray Park. The LUFC complex at Thorp Arch is an impressive facility, but Leeds had to sell it years ago because they ran out of cash. When comparing costs, bear in mind that TRFC have no rent to pay, whereas the Leeds cost includes £600k rent.
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/latest-whites-news/leeds-united-cellino-is-pondering-thorp-arch-axe-1-6628347
Rangers plan share issue…..
The Importance of Resolution 10 ?
resolutions 9 and 10 at the dec AGM.
Res 9 basically gives the board the right to issue shares at some future date. Res 10 would have meant that they didn’t have to offer them to existing shareholders first. Res 10 failed as it received approx 69% of the votes but as it was a special resolution it required 75%. What this means is that the current board [ or their proxies] need to either acquire [ buy ] 8% more of the shareholding or gain proxy voting rights from another 8% of the existing shareholders. They would then command the 75% necessary to have another vote and then res 10 is passed. Which would mean that in effect they could sell shares to whoever they liked.
Taken from the late Paul McConvilles blog
Continuing Random Thoughts .
Could the board be trying to get the required 75%?
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
June 12, 2014 at 7:39 pm
mcfc says:
June 12, 2014 at 6:59 pm
Onerous contracts play a large part in this figure.
————————————————-
If I were a cynical sort of person I’d be inclined to wonder if/how much of the money raised by the share issue will be used to buy out said onerous contracts…
Parttimerab- if such funds were used to buy out the onerous contracts it would go some way to making the business sustainable, in which case it would be a far better use of funds than spending on washed up players or business as usual running costs in my view.
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
June 12, 2014 at 7:39 pm
Onerous contracts play a large part in this figure.
=============================================
thanks – very interesting – I had assumed the only onerous contracts were to the benefit of current owners / shareholders.
My guilty pleasure; spiv on spiv action 🙂
RyanGosling says:
June 12, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Parttimerab- if such funds were used to buy out the onerous contracts it would go some way to making the business sustainable
———————————————-
Ryan, quite possibly, though that would rather depend on how much it cost to buy them out…..it could end up being a bit swings and roundabouts….
Ultimately it all depends on the intentions of the blue pitch/margarita/easdale bloc…
is there a genuine belief on long term profit to be had by growing the business or are short term gains the goal?
nawlite says:
June 12, 2014 at 1:43 pm
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Phil, when I heard about the Rights issue, I thought I could see the sense in it for the current ‘owners’ i.e. Laxey apparently being the main drivers of this/most likely purchasers, as it would increase their level of control if other existing shareholders chose NOT to invest further. If they ARE in it for the property, this would make sense.
I can’t see how a share issue where anyone can buy – including DK if he wishes – helps the current ‘owners’. Is it that the money situation is so dire that they’ll put up with the likes of King buying in? His ‘back where we belong’ rhetoric is surely at odds with the austerity with which you say they hope to tempt other investment. Or are they so sure that King can’t/won’t invest that a share issue is safe? I can’t come up with a reason for a share issue that might lessen their control.
_______________________________________________________
You seriously expect DK to ‘put up’?
Let’s assume he is actually on the level with any intention of ponying up.
Let’s assume he can access his funds out of SA.
If no one else subscribes his £8m won’t get him enough holding to call the shots on his own.
DK wants to invest to avoid austerity.
But austerity is the only realistic option now.
He wants to give TRFC a £50m warchest…made up of OPM… other people money.
But ‘ra other peepil’ don’t have £50m. That money isn’t there. It never was. There is a reason they went up in smoke with debts of £100m plus.
So DK would invest his millions to watch it being used to shut MP and pay off Ally and his band of featherbedded also-rans?
No danger!
Anybody else expecting a ‘Five way agreement’ type announcement putting ‘The Rangers’ into the top league from the SFA round about now!!!
After all they managed to get them a place in the league during the Olympics opening ceremony.
wottpi says:
June 12, 2014 at 5:46 pm
6 0 Rate This
Compared to costs of £1.35M they will be much, much lower. Indeed, I would suggest that £300k per month would still be high.
It may make it harder but CFC managed to attract players before the “council subsidised” arrival of Lennoxtown (with apologies to Eco 😆 ). Players will come for money and that is probably a bigger problem down Ibrox way than not having access to MP.
They managed to attract them when playing in division 3. And they are still poaching them but it would appear that the degree has lessened.
From what Phil Mac is saying, it may not be an option due to the “onerous” contracts.
When I spoke with Malcolm Murray he was adamant that MP was an albatross around the club/company’s neck. Sounds like he may not have been completely misguided after all!
Jelavic – playing tonight against Brazil ……..one of the many who ……benefited?…..escaped……!! 😉 Can we name a few more? Van Bronkhurst… Arteta…
Not wishing to be at all off topic,I have nevertheless to remark that the foul perpetrated by Neymar, a cynical, criminal assault by throat-cutting forearm slice, so reduces him to the levels of favela guttersnipe as to make his brilliant footballing skills kind of irrelevant.
The man is just a cheating thug, for all his skill.
His problem is that he has a superb talent that his moral consciousness is incapable of handling.
In other walks of life, he might be jail bait.
PS. I am not Croatian-but I”ve got a long memory.
And a detestation of ‘hand of god’ cheats and jordanesque goals and all those practices that make the idea of ‘sport’ meaningless.
I now fervently hope that Brasil (or for those who don’t speak Brazilian, Brazil) get Effan gubbed. So there!
John Clark says:
June 12, 2014 at 10:15 pm
Spot on – time the cheaters were chased at whatever level they ply their trade.
John Clark says:
June 12, 2014 at 10:15 pm
24 7 Rate This
Not wishing to be at all off topic,I have nevertheless to remark that the foul perpetrated by Neymar, a cynical, criminal assault by throat-cutting forearm slice, so reduces him to the levels of favela guttersnipe as to make his brilliant footballing skills kind of irrelevant.
The man is just a cheating thug, for all his skill.
His problem is that he has a superb talent that his moral consciousness is incapable of handling.
In other walks of life, he might be jail bait.
PS. I am not Croatian-but I”ve got a long memory.
And a detestation of ‘hand of god’ cheats and jordanesque goals and all those practices that make the idea of ‘sport’ meaningless.
I now fervently hope that Brasil (or for those who don’t speak Brazilian, Brazil) get Effan gubbed. So there!
================================================================
JC did not watch the game but agree re your opinion re Neymar’s morality re sporting matters.
…but “…Effan gubbed…” is that a phrase coined by your old literary mentor Shakingspear…?
John Clark says:
June 12, 2014 at 10:15 pm
26 7 Rate This
“Jordanesque goals and all those practices that make the idea of ‘sport’ meaningless. (my edit)
=========================================================
Sorry but did I miss Katie Price on the team sheets…?
Me bad
essexbeancounter says:
June 12, 2014 at 11:49 pm
‘…but “…Effan gubbed…” is that a phrase coined by your old literary mentor Shakingspear…’
———————
Not that I know of 🙂 …But Matt McGinn’s splendid use of homophonics shows a Shakespearean gift for language!
JC at 10:15pm
Funny you should bring up neymar and his assualt tonight. I was in the bookies tonight which is a rare event putting a few pennies on various options for myself and my youngest boy, various bets for 50p on this and that. Anyways I have a few all hand written so girl has to check things and she’s on her own. An attractive lady comes in with a piece of paper in hand and stands behind me. I said to the lady have you just a single bet ? She replies I’m putting a bet on for a friend at work as I said I was passing the bookies. She goes up to counter and hands over the piece of paper and her bet was rejected and she was told it needs to be on official paper and she’d have to call head office, what was the bet ? Neymar to commit the most fouls in the competition. After filling out her slip a call was made and she was told she couldn’t take the bet. The lady expressed surprise as some of her colleagues had already done this bet ! I told my son and he laughed and said it most be a betting syndicate. I actually got scoreline right tonight so one of my bets came in. I was not comfortable with it as I felt Brazil got a non penalty, a clear dive. Laughed when I saw the player looking to the heavens in thanks as if they support cheating.
Its one game in and already tainted. Awesome I think not. Long gone the notion you won by best endevors,
Blatter take your circus and play it in the desert.
OH !
mcfc says:
June 12, 2014 at 8:34 pm
Your assumption is correct
Did we get a hint of things to come in the Championship next season – especially with several full-time teams.
For FIFA read SFA.
For Brazil read TRFC?
Could be an unfair comment – but would any reasonable person who knows that a governing body acts corruptly on the administration side still believe that the actual games themselves are run in a squeaky clean manner?
FIFA – and the SFA – are real threats to the future of ‘the beautiful game’.
Re Neymar and cheating. I do hope the Scottish media don’t go on some moral crusade over it. They were happy for him to cheat last year as long as it meant they could savage Scott Brown for days on end.
On the wider question of cheating, I am sure we will witness much of it from many over this tournament. It is a horrible fact for those of us who love the game that cheating permeates it in every country, at every level. Some countries and some clubs appear to be worse than others but I’m not sure any country or club is able to take the moral high ground.
StevieBC says:
June 13, 2014 at 3:45 am
Could be an unfair comment – but would any reasonable person who knows that a governing body acts corruptly on the administration side still believe that the actual games themselves are run in a squeaky clean manner?
==========================================
We do know such a scenario is absolutely impossible in Scotland. The SFA, Scottish Referees, and the Scottish media have repeatedly told us so.
Does Blatter want to hang on for another term to protect or clean up, as in hide or dispose of evidence at FIFa so that he and his cronies aren’t exposed for what they are !
Just like close to home I suspect.
Stewart Regan in plea to clean up football administration!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27825194
But only for other people. And only when it’s easy to say because it hasn’t a hope of happening and people at the English FA already said it a couple of days ago.
Morning all.
TRFC season ticket update:
@BBCchrismclaug: #Rangers announce they’ve sold 17,000 season tickets so far.
I think this is 22k less than they stated they wanted to sell.
Home::Regulatory News (RNS)::Season Ticket Sales
Regulatory News
Season Ticket Sales
Fri, 13th Jun 2014 07:00
RNS Number : 5376J
Rangers Int. Football Club PLC
13 June 2014
?
Rangers International Football Club plc
(“Rangers” the “Club” or the “Company”)
Season Ticket Sales
The board of Rangers (the “Board”) can confirm that approximately 17,000 season tickets have been renewed to date for the Club’s forthcoming SPFL Championship season.
This level of renewals reduces the potential requirement for short term financing as highlighted in the Business Review Summary published on 25 April 2014 particularly given the updated season ticket pricing structure for the 2014/15 campaign.
Applications for new season ticket purchases opened on Monday and sales of season tickets are continuing. The Club very much looks forward to welcoming more supporters back to Ibrox for what promises to be an exciting league competition.
The Board believes that whilst this level of support reduces the potential requirement for short-term financing the Board also notes the strategic objectives that it identified in the Business Review Summary published on 25 April 2014 and the related funding requirements. The Board continues to evaluate its plans in this regard and will update the market in due course.
For further information please contact:
Rangers International Football Club plc
Graham Wallace
Tel: 0141 580 8647
Daniel Stewart & Company plc
Tel: 020 7776 6550
Paul Shackleton / David Coffman
Newgate Threadneedle
Tel: 020 7148 6143
Graham Herring / Roddy Watt / John Coles
A good article by Simon Jenkins about the overlap / separation between football and real life
http://gu.com/p/3q432
Does professional football these days serve a social purpose – other than pacification?
torrejohnbhoy(@johnbhoy1958) says:
June 13, 2014 at 7:25 am
2 0 Rate This
Home::Regulatory News (RNS)::Season Ticket Sales
Regulatory News
————-
Statement summary:
Everything is potentially good, unless it isn’t. You’ll know soon enough.
Or, put another way:
My bonus is secure. Ya dancer! Yours, Graham.
It’s getting easier to walk away from the beautiful game.
Poor folk being gassed and shot at for complaining about their abject poverty whilst a tournament takes place in their land that sucks in the corporate giants that soak away the proceeds.
Watching players (and officials?) cheat constantly. Everyone standing in an all seat stadium? Mexican waves? Adrian Chiles (make your own list)?
Anyone else change channels to avoid the adverts?
Am I just an old Victor? 🙂
In case anyone missed this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_Lowland_Football_League
the Lowland Football League accepted 2 new teams for the upcoming season, one of them BSC Glasgow.
Effectively making BSC Glasgow Glasgow’s 5th team.
Bizarrely well actually as we on this site would expect it: “” Furthermore, the league announced that promotion to Scottish League Two would be introduced although the format of promotion has not yet been confirmed.””
Anyone know anything about BSC Glasgow?
So 17,000 at what? £300.00 = £5.1m
Minus the £1.5m loan =£3.6m
Minus the VAT? = circa £2.9m
Take of Wallace’s 100% bonus and Millers possible £400k a year and you are down closer to £2.2m income.
Not a lot really given the supposed burn rate.
A while back I asked the question what would the board consider to be a success in terms of season ticket sales to say they had a vote of confidence over the Dave King proposal.
If they sold 38000 last year then anything over 19000 would give the majority of renewals so they are only 2000 from that total. While the level of hold outs is obviously significant the board could still spin it that they have won the day by DK’s supposed deadlines if the new uptakes take them into the 20ks.
@ CowanPete BSC Glasgow are Broomhill Sports Club who will utilize Saracen Park for the matches
http://www.broomhillsportsclub.org.uk/
Bawsman says:
June 13, 2014 at 8:33 am
12 0 Rate This
It’s getting easier to walk away from the beautiful game …
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Certainly from the corporate brand that is masquerading as the people’s game.
The reports from Rio, particularly on twitter, are alarming. Even 5Live’s multi-pundited Rio Report touched on the actual cost of this circus and what it means to ordinary people.
We missed a chance in 1978 to boycott the murderous generals. The only thing we brought home from Argentina was Gemmill’s goal. Was it worth legitimizing the US-backed torture regime for that?
What a statement it would make if national associations started living by a moral code and simply refused to attend tournaments that deprive the hungry of food. It says something when football-mad Brazilians are so openly opposed to staging this tournament.
Just had a wee look at the LSE share site.
Someone has the same idea as me with regard to income but added something I had forgotten.
If some of the 17k season tickets are on installment payments then the actual cash in the bank at this time will be limited.
As we all know a business can be doing well with assets and predicted income but cash flow is King!!
tykebhoy says:
June 13, 2014 at 9:28 am
1 0 Rate This
@ CowanPete BSC Glasgow are Broomhill Sports Club who will utilize Saracen Park for the matches
http://www.broomhillsportsclub.org.uk/
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The ‘About us’ is worth reading. Great set of founding principles.
In my view, 17,000 renewals is a disastrous figure, no matter how the Board try to spin it. They had better get on with issuing shares urgently, because if the emergency loans are repaid out of the less than £5m ST money, then they will be out of cash again by the end of August.
The auditors will be arriving at Ibrox in a month or two to start work on auditing the accounts to 30 June 2014. Can they possibly certify this shambles as a going concern yet again? Maybe some fairy tale “facility” will appear to save the day, only to vanish as soon as money is called for.
Upthehoops- neymar didn’t cheat in the incident you refer to last year involving Scott brown, and based on Scott browns on words if the media did savage him then they were right to do so. Sorry I’m a bit late replying and it’s not fairly off topic, but i thought I should correct your inaccuracy:
‘I realise that I made a mistake in getting sent off last night. It’s something that happened in the heat of the moment but I shouldn’t have acted in this way. I still think it was a harsh decision. However, I recognise that I made a mistake and put myself and my team-mates in a difficult position. I need to live with that — and there is no one more disappointed than me about losing the match.’
Neepheid, how the auditors can certify the business as a going concern will be of major interest to me and to a very large number of observers I suspect. Currently I don’t see how it could be, unless there are things which have gone on none of us know about.
neepheid says:
June 13, 2014 at 9:55 am
6 0 Rate This
In my view, 17,000 renewals is a disastrous figure, no matter how the Board try to spin it. They had better get on with issuing shares urgently, because if the emergency loans are repaid out of the less than £5m ST money, then they will be out of cash again by the end of August …
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Was chatting to a nephew a few weeks ago when I was over. He’s scunnered by it all and has dropped his ST, but he did buy two for his boys. These were not expensive at all. Combined deal was less than 1 adult ST. So actual numbers may be hugely misleading (financially), unless the 17,000 doesn’t include these discounted juvenile numbers.
Another nephew is renewing his Partick Thistle ST, after a few years as an irregular attendee. Firhill for thrills it is.
RyanGosling says:
June 13, 2014 at 10:06 am
Totally correct. Regardless of people diving, rolling around etc I always expect everyone but Scottish players in particular to keep the heid, do their talking on the park and if required get retribution via good hard crunching but legal tackles.
Brown petulant fly wee kick was wrong wrong wrong regardless of any reaction to it – end of story.
I may be wrong but from what I’ve seen I think since that event Brown has actually calmed that part of his game down a bit and become an even better player for it, so hopefully he has learnt his lesson which is all good for Celtic but more importantly Scotland as I witnessed in the recent Nigeria game.
wottpi says:
June 13, 2014 at 9:27 am
2 0 Rate This
Would the VAT not be over £1m, taken before any loan paid off?
Even less in the kitty.
Emotional Waterboarding
So “approximately” 17,000 STs sold – is that over 16,000 ? It certainly isn’t over 17,000 or they would have said so.
So let’s be clear here, the majority of the RIFC shareholders will not be watching the World Cup – because they don’t give a flying f**k about football. They are there solely and entirely to extract the maximum money from a demographic who desparately need their football club, its history and its persona to survive because it forms a significant part of their social lives and personal identities.
The longer the spivs can keep things going – the more money they make.
But this is just the start of the emotional waterbaording for the loyal fans. They need £30m from you to reach the nirvana of premiership victory over you know who (£1,800 per head for the 17,000). But if that doesn’t quite work out – for reasons beyond our control – we may need another £30m (£1,800 each) to complete the exciting journey to stick two fingers up at you know who – and then maybe another £40m (£2,350 each) to boost our chances in Eurpoe because we came so so close to outshining you know who.
So there you have it, £100m over the next few years to prove your loyalty – and the spivs still own your club – and into the valley of debt rode the 17,000.
Of course, if your loyalty runs out before the project is complete, we’ll just bulldoze the place and move on. What will you do ?
PS bears, this is the “happy ending” scenario – which is less likely that Christmas happening twice this year
Pithy.
Phil has been consistent on the austerity theme.
Just noticed his mention of 10 players being touted around by an English agent — 5 they’ll release at any price and 5 they’ve put a 6-figure sum on.
If his source is correct, it makes you wonder just who the players are, and what effect any mass player release would have on the fans. And is the potential sale/offloading already included in the “we’re in a good place, financially” statement?
What do we know about the TRFC ST numbers?
Figures for 2012/13 from the accounts
STs sold 38,228, Income £8.056M, Avg price £210 ………. (both £ figures are net of VAT)
Figures from 2013/14 (from Stockbridge’s statement in the 2012/13 accounts)
STs sold 35,000 as at 28/09/13 although expected to rise to 37,500. Pro-Rata Income would be £7.35M to £7.87M. He also stated that he had £4.5M in the bank from ST renewals at 30/06/13, which would equate to 21,428.
On that basis 17,000 as compared to 21,428 wouldn’t be too bad at this stage if we were comparing like with like. However, the money in the bank would not include those on instalment deals, so I’d suggest that the comparable renewal figure at this stage last year would be nearer 30,000.
Assuming an average price increase of 18%, 17,000 will bring in £5.1M gross or £4.25M net. Pay off the £1.5M emergency loans and they are left with £2.75M which might get them to the start of the season, but not much further, without the fabled share offer.
9,000 is approximately 17,000 but still not enough for a club losing 1.300.000 a month.
easyJambo says:
June 13, 2014 at 11:28 am
1 0 Rate This
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@Easy,
Any idea what comes in via the shirt deal, Puma, and other revenues? There’s also a few SFA quid for the October qualifier rental. Then there’s match-day money, which could be quite substantial in the coming season. And, of course, the Cup runs! And if they could raise between £500,000 to £1m from player sales (optimistic maybe) it could all add up to a low-budget team, albeit with a high-maintenance manager.
Plenty of teams manage on less. Hibs too, and now showing the way with the Spartans link up.
PhilMacGiollaBhain says:
June 13, 2014 at 2:29 am
Your assumption is correct [that onerous contracts accounting for the massive cost of MP,are to the benefit of current owners]
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So some of the spivs (founder spivs) are prepared to surrender some of their onerous contracts by selling MP to keep the show on the road. This is presumably, because the more recent spivs (asset strippers without OCs) would not agree to any other way forward. Or they all agreed they were painted into the same corner.and there was only one option if the golden goose is to survive for now. House of Cards or what 🙂
@MCFC I think any potential purchaser of MP will need to be very careful with the “due diligence” lest the onerous contracts transfer with the sale.
CAVEAT EMPTOR 😉
tykebhoy says:
June 13, 2014 at 12:09 pm
@MCFC I think any potential purchaser of MP will need to be very careful with the “due diligence” lest the onerous contracts transfer with the sale.
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tykebhoy – absolutely – maybe they are hoping to find some less experienced spivs who will not ask too many questions because they think they are getting a steal 🙂
Watching a documentary on Brazil and they are discussing Ronaldo’s appearance in the final in ’98 after he had suffered convulsions on the afternoon of the match. The conversation moves to Nike’s involvement; could Nike have had any influence on Ronaldo’s selection for the match? The answer is no. But previously, Nike had entered into a sponsorship agreement with Brazil and, having noted that Brazil tended to play severely weakened teams in friendlies and only had friendlies in the build up to the ’98 World Cup as they had already qualified as champions, inserted clauses in the contract that in friendly matches a designated number of first choice players had to be in the team for each friendly. Clearly this has no bearing on the World Cup final, when you would play your strongest 11 no matter what. However, the conclusion reached in this documentary is that because the clauses regarding friendly matches were secret, this opened up all kinds of avenues of speculation when the clauses eventually emerged.
This is exactly the situation the SFA find themselves in now as a direct result of the five way agreement. Because it was kept secret, anything involving Rangers is open to all kinds of speculation. I find a lot of such speculation posted here with regards to the SFA as quite fanciful at times, but when considered in this light it is perfectly understandable how we have ended up in this situation.
If everything you are doing is above board, there is no need to keep it secret.
From the “Herald”
“New Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson believes the Championship club can be rebuilt to be the third force in Scottish football.”
I presume Robbie means after Celtic and Aberdeen. 😆
It was only a matter of time before some wag got to work.
http://i61.tinypic.com/6z4j9e.jpg
cosmichaggis says:
June 13, 2014 at 12:25 pm
From the “Herald”
“New Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson believes the Championship club can be rebuilt to be the third force in Scottish football.”
I presume Robbie means after Celtic and Aberdeen. 😆
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I presume you mean after Celtic and Motherwell? 😆
Wildwood- I’m sure redlichtie would agree that it is most likely he meant after Celtic and Arbroath. Good banter anyway Cosmic Haggis. Currently in Scottish football I’d say there is a first force and everybody else is clamouring for second. I don’t enjoy this fact but it is pretty unarguable. And for avoidance of doubt, I mean that Celtic are the clear and absolute leaders who everybody else is chasing. Wow, you can type through gritted teeth!
Wildwood – you are of course quite correct.
Nevertheless, the last game of the season still hurts muchly 😥
Danish Pastry says:
June 13, 2014 at 11:14 am
An agent based in England has been taken on by the club to help them move on some players.
There are several lists.
One list are the players that are to be sold for a fee acceptable to the club (eg Lee Wallace).
Another list are players that can go for free so that the cost of their salaries can be saved by the club.
This agent is working now.
Maybe Robbie Neilson should focus on becoming the 13th force in Scottish Football for now?
loamfeet says: June 13, 2014 at 1:07 pm
Maybe Robbie Neilson should focus on becoming the 13th force in Scottish Football for now?
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Agreed 100%
Danish Pastry says: June 13, 2014 at 11:51 am
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I’ve no information on how much they get from their other deals.
I did note however an odd statement on the TRFC website re the scheduling of their first couple of games.
Does this mean that it has already been decided that TRFC will be drawn at home for these two matches?
…… and here we have the alternative reason for the rescheduling of matches. (are non premiership sides permitted to postpone early season games?)
Follow Follow @Follow_Follow_ · 43s
First 2 cup games of season rescheduled due to Polis watching C’wealth High Diving. Aug 2 friendly at Derby confirmed.
Just heard a TV report stating that on leaving the stadium the Croatian fans were chanting;
“FIFA 3 Croatia 1 !!”
Perception and all that… 🙄
Don’t ask why but I was reading the obituary of a chap called Lord Templeman. Anyhoo it’s unfortunate that this chap wasn’t involved in the FTTT for the Murray Group.
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From the newspaper:
He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1978, where he gained a reputation, among other things, for his implacable opposition to artificial tax avoidance schemes. “Every tax avoidance scheme involves a trick and a pretence,” he said later. “It is the task of the Revenue to unravel the trick and the duty of the court to ignore the pretence.”
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Now this chap was a lawyer, not an accountant so it’s a pity that the two lawyers who presided over the original verdict couldn’t have shown the wisdom that he did.
These `onerous` contracts must be big to figure in a 67m envelope. Doubt it was the pie stall. Still no word why the Bears blind-sided to their existence – or why the Accountants reports not highlight these – or why shareholder inspection is time barred on contracts they werent overtly aware of, or the terms of said contracts that could affect their investment. All very curious, but it is AIM Complaint so nowt to worry about – is there.
I just read on the Scottish Highland League website how the playoffs between Highland League champion / Lowland League champion / “Club 42” will work at the end of 2014-15. They even quote a Latitude to determine whether a relegated Club 42 would enter the HL or the LL. Cannot believe that at last we have a “Pyramid System” in scottish football. One tiny step forward but must be great news for some of the LL/HL clubs like Spartans.
Bawsman says:
June 13, 2014 at 8:33 am
56 1 Rate This
It’s getting easier to walk away from the beautiful game.
Poor folk being gassed and shot at for complaining about their abject poverty whilst a tournament takes place in their land that sucks in the corporate giants that soak away the proceeds.
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Brazilian club football has long been (in)famous for its ability to ensure that internal transfer fees and similar amounts of “investment” cash managed to find its way into that doyen of tax havens…step forward…Switzerland!
And where is (Jo)sepp Blatter’s empire HQ…? Too much of a coincidence eh?
RyanGosling says:
June 13, 2014 at 10:07 am
21 1 Rate This
Neepheid, how the auditors can certify the business as a going concern will be of major interest to me and to a very large number of observers I suspect. Currently I don’t see how it could be, unless there are things which have gone on none of us know about.
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Ryan…a way will be found…rest assured that a way will be found…! There have been, there are and there (always) will be things to which we mere mortals are not privvy…that is the way of the spiv…!
mcfc says:
June 13, 2014 at 10:52 am
54 0 Rate This
….and into the valley of debt rode the 17,000.
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MCFC…pure poetry…pure dead brilliant poetry!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27838052
Might be an interesting appointment. Barry Ferguson to Clyde
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10899027/Deloitte-could-end-ties-with-Rangers-over-poor-season-ticket-sales.html
Roddy on the money.
TWOPANDA says: June 14, 2014 at 1:55 am
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10899027/Deloitte-could-end-ties-with-Rangers-over-poor-season-ticket-sales.html
Roddy on the money.
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Mmm…I don’t quite understand the purpose of this article.
He states the bleedin’ obvious: Deloittes could easily do walking away if the board doesn’t get it’s act together.
I could interpret this piece as simply Forsyth having a personal pop at Jack Irvine – and that doesn’t add anything at all.
StevieBC says:
June 14, 2014 at 2:41 am
0 0 Rate This
TWOPANDA says: June 14, 2014 at 1:55 am
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10899027/Deloitte-could-end-ties-with-Rangers-over-poor-season-ticket-sales.html
Roddy on the money.
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Mmm…I don’t quite understand the purpose of this article.
He states the bleedin’ obvious: Deloittes could easily do walking away if the board doesn’t get it’s act together.
I could interpret this piece as simply Forsyth having a personal pop at Jack Irvine – and that doesn’t add anything at all.
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Not to mention Phil was on the case with Deloittes unease 4 days ago. They really must try harder.
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In general,our fans don’t seem too impressed. The majority wanted a coach used to operating at our level. Big names have got previous at The Bully Wee, although we should give him a bit of time. Everyone seems to be lamenting the loss of Duffy, but that is just to focus on last season. Before that we were absolutely dire with him in charge.
To be honest, what concerns me more is the appointment of Bob Malcolm to the backroom staff. The last thing we need is another John Brown style jake, bullying all and sundry. The real thing was bad enough!
Sorry for asking a Celtic question but apart from Tony Watt which if any of the players on loan have returned for training?