Hate to be the one to break this but...................

[Bladesway]

I was talking with a client this afternoon. He has a friend with him who works for a very reputable company of Global accountants (for want of a better word) who I had the pleasure of meeting. He specialises in "scoring" football, Rugby and other sports clubs as to their likely survival in the current environment. They run a whole host of reports such as credit scoring and a shedload of other stuff I admit to knowing absolutely nothing about.

Anyhow, he said that he had worked on all Championship clubs and how financially viable they were. He summed it up by saying he pretty much knows who is heading for oblivion a good 6 months before they do.

In a league table of Championship clubs, taking into account wages, assets, contract lengths, player likely resale values and a lot of other stuff that once more I don't profess to understand we are the worst run club in the championship bar none.

"Ah but thats because of our league position" said I, trying to rally some positivity from him.

"No, the report assumes you stay in the Championship next season" came the reply.

The killer apparently is outstanding payments on transfer on players/ex staff we have and some which we don't own any longer. He said that financially we looked like we were fighting a losing battle.

When I said administration he said its looking likely. What he couldn't predict was when.

Perhaps its a steaming pile of bull, but he has no reason to lie and it does answer a shitload of questions as to why McCabe is like an absent landlord and why we have been cut adrift.

Apparently our credit score isn't V good either!

 

[raul]

Interesting reading Bladesway, wonder if this means there's anything in the Ched rumour about it triggering more monies out of the club?

 

[grafikhaus]

That's it, then! We're going down, go into admin. now, take the ten point hit and start again. (worked for Wendy, apart from the 10-point hit...)

 

[Bladesway]

Interesting reading Bladesway, wonder if this means there's anything in the Ched rumour about it triggering more monies out of the club?

It was something he mentioned. Although he did say that was an inexact science. Only the club really know what is in the bones of a deal and it never hits the accounts in an exact enough form to prove anything. It was very insightful so far as I am concerned.

I thought that it was more general Blades conversation than rumour but then I don't make the rules.

 

[Balham]

That's it, then! We're going down, go into admin. now, take the ten point hit and start again. (worked for Wendy, apart from the 10-point hit...)

The problem is that football debts aren't wiped out if we go into administration.

I'd guess that we owe Man City some money from the Ched deal but aside from that, I'm not sure who we've paid enough for that we'd have outstanding payments?

 

[raul]

Also surprised at that. Still, there's always the Ollies shed thread to view in there.....

 

[TheSwollengland]

Bull Shit IMHO

 

[SwissBlade]

With falling attendance, plus losing other revenue such as merchandising sales, advertising income and tv rev then its sensible to assume that a club paying top end championship contracts is going to suffer financially, compared with a scunny for instance.

But the admin thing isn't so straight forward. I would've thought that unless we have been consistently failing to pay our bills then its unlikely.

 

[Rattly Noise]

Funnily enough i'd heard a similar story about Wednesday. Just one of those urban myths doing the rounds.

 

[Trafford]

Your client's mate is either a) a wind up merchant, b) a poor accountant or c) a pig fan - or perhaps all 3. The only people that can put the company into administration are it's bankers (who in our case are either owed nothing or secured against the Tevez monies), its directors (if the company has no feasible chance of paying its bills) or loan note holders (and McCabe is in the course of converting these to equity). Bearing in mind that the club owns the ground and has various off-field assets, it's hard to see where the problem is going to come from but, even barring that, to claim that we are in a worse position than Portsmouth, Palace and several others is ludicrous.

 

[Rudders]

Your client's mate is either a) a wind up merchant, b) a poor accountant or c) a pig fan - or perhaps all 3.

If global accountants employ people to score clubs based on that sort of vague rubbish then Gi'yUs a job pal! Who would buy such ill-informed sh!te from them? Can't see it mesen.

I see what you're saying about Portsmouth and Palace though, Pompey still merrily chucking £15k-£20k a week wages round on loan players and Palace only got a 12k attendance the other day against high flying Cardiff. Atrocious. How they both avoided getting completely wound up last year is probably only down to that they are southern clubs a few famous fans and sloppy loopholes in the law/governance of the game...

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

As we all know, we didn't pay £3M up front for Ched so there will be monies due but not owed (subject to the latest rumour). Who else can we owe money to apart from McCabe Industries ?

I can see the bit about not being able to afford the players we've got but that's an ongoing thing which we've slowly been addressing since Birch came in. This will undoubtedly be sorted in the Summer when we have our fire sale.

 

[raul]

Fire sale? We'd be better off with an actual fire......

Seriously Fleety, how much do you think is raisable in the transfer market for our prize assets?

 

[cooperblade]

Funnily enough i'd heard a similar story about Wednesday. Just one of those urban myths doing the rounds.

Read it almost word for word months ago posted somewhere by a pig.

 

[Bladesway]

Your client's mate is either a) a wind up merchant, b) a poor accountant or c) a pig fan - or perhaps all 3. The only people that can put the company into administration are it's bankers (who in our case are either owed nothing or secured against the Tevez monies), its directors (if the company has no feasible chance of paying its bills) or loan note holders (and McCabe is in the course of converting these to equity). Bearing in mind that the club owns the ground and has various off-field assets, it's hard to see where the problem is going to come from but, even barring that, to claim that we are in a worse position than Portsmouth, Palace and several others is ludicrous.

Ah you see theres the rub. First up he is not a pig although I cannot vouch for him as an accountant or wind up merchant. Both seem unlikely though. You don't have to be a top accountant to press a load of buttons and run reports, just good on computers and know your software. Also, he didn't say he was winding up or anything ridiculous like that. He said he could often see it coming. Strange thing this was the same bloke who (via this client) mentioned Portsmouth in deep poo some time before anyone actually flagged it. He also mentioned various others so he does have a bit of a track record for being right.

I know there are those who will stick their heads in the sand. I know there are those who will say its a load of bollocks and that old chestnut "he's a pig fan". Fact is we haven't paid cash for anyone of note for some time, we have sold pretty much every salable assett we have and I'm also afraid that "ah but we own our own ground" won't fill the void if people come knocking for their cash.

The fact is there are several triggers that make administration happen and these are the unknowns. Such as the IR wanting paying and not giving you any more time to pay the outstanding debt. Perhaps you miss an installment on Chedwyn and Man City say they want their cash. You are only ever a winding up order away from this because thats when the shit hits the fan.

We are in a worse position than Portsmouth and Palace because they have already run themselves into the wall and reset their debts and found new owners. If we found a new owner (like the Pigs have done) we would be out of the mire (assuming they paid the debts off of course).

I know some don't want to hear it, but the overwhelming evindence is that from less than 5 years ago where we looked debt free, home and hosed, we are in about the deepest shit we have ever been in as a club.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

You can run all the reports you want, but if the data you have is not accurate then the results will be next to useless. Where's he getting the data from?

 

[Oreyt]

He specialises in "scoring" football, Rugby and other sports clubs as to their likely survival in the current environment.

That's a very specific role. What does he do with these lists of doom once he's produced them? Does someone pay him for them?

 

[davidpinder]

There is no way K Mc will let the club go into admin, there has been other reports saying we will be dept free in x years, as well all know credit reports are not accurate and take months to be right. I think the club is looking to do one thing and that is stay afloat and i am sure we will do that. Any way from what i was told a few years ago from someone in the know, our ground is still worth a fortune in the position it is in.

 

[SwissBlade]

We'll be in Europe within 5 years

 

[sheffielder]

We'll be in Europe within 5 years

Trust you to beat us to it!

 

[SteelCity Blade]

In a league table of Championship clubs, taking into account wages, assets, contract lengths, player likely resale values and a lot of other stuff that once more I don't profess to understand we are the worst run club in the championship bar none.

Not a chance.

When I said administration he said its looking likely.

I highly doubt it.

Perhaps its a steaming pile of bull

I would go with that. Particularly if his theory (albeit not ill-intended) is based on speculative data.

Apparently our credit score isn't V good either!

I'd be surprised if any football club's is!

 

[Trafford]

Everyone knows that most football clubs finances are in a poor shape but United's June 2010 accounts shows that they own their own ground, have not given anyone any security (apart from the assignment over the Tevez monies), do not have any senior debt and have incurred no CCJs in the last 12 months. That's hardly the profile of a company that is likely to face a winding up order. The only perceivable threat is from McCabe's own company and they released their security last year. Never say never but there's a world of difference between not paying cash for players and being on the verge of financial meltdown - I could say that the former is a prudent way of avoiding the latter but that makes me sound like a McCabe devotee, which I'm not.

 

[Bladesway]

Sigh, nowt so blind as them that won't see.

I don't know anything about where he gets the data from and quite frankly I don't care. He might pull it out of his backside and wipe it on the walls and get the readings from his own poo. He is an educated bloke who works within an industry and sector who specialise in looking not just at football clubs but "sports ventures" in general. Its probably no more than an educated guess but its more educated than anything we have between us. Its all more than you will ever get from the club because according to them everythings coming up roses at BDTBL and next season all the "Real" Blades will be there. Leaving the vast majority of us who don't/won't/can't be there more alienated than ever. When you look at things I would take the view of a bloke with nothing to gain over the rose tinted cruddery I hear from McCabe and his cronies these days.

 

[raul]

Shouldn't you be called "So-calledBladesway"?

 

[Trafford]

I tend to find that tea-leaves are eminently more reliable than readings from your own poo but, that aside, my day job also involves analysing corporate performance, not just sports ventures, hence my tendency to resort to numbers rather than rhetoric. Don't mean that to sound harsh, it's your client's mate that I'm taking issue with, not you.

 

[Trigger Blade]

Sigh, nowt so blind as them that won't see.

I don't know anything about where he gets the data from and quite frankly I don't care. He might pull it out of his backside and wipe it on the walls and get the readings from his own poo. He is an educated bloke who works within an industry and sector who specialise in looking not just at football clubs but "sports ventures" in general. Its probably no more than an educated guess but its more educated than anything we have between us. Its all more than you will ever get from the club because according to them everythings coming up roses at BDTBL and next season all the "Real" Blades will be there. Leaving the vast majority of us who don't/won't/can't be there more alienated than ever. When you look at things I would take the view of a bloke with nothing to gain over the rose tinted cruddery I hear from McCabe and his cronies these days.

When you first posted this, you said you hated to be the one to break this news, you said you had no idea whether it was true or rubbish.

Now,after a few responses, but based on exactly the same body of evidence, you appear to have decided that your mate is probably right, not because he's produced anything more substantive in the meantime, he hasn't, but because he isn't McCabe or his cronies.

That suggests you had an agenda when you first posted, which has only been exposed by people debating your original post.

Cruddery isn't a word by the way.

 

[Rodders]

This thread isn't going as well as expected.

 

[Bladesway]

Cruddery isn't a word by the way.

Neither is Twunt, but if the cap fits stick it on.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

Read it almost word for word months ago posted somewhere by a pig.

Me too. It's complete drivel.

 

[Bladesway]

This thread isn't going as well as expected.

I think you will find it is although its obviously not as relevant to the Blades as the Shed thread.