Review of United's finances by Swiss Ramble

[shreds1975]

This is well worth a (lengthy) read. I'll comment later when i've got more time.

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012/02/sheffield-united-blades-rediscovering.html

 

[beightonblade]

mmmmm...................................... I have no worries now re Mr McCabe,finances at BDTBL or the freehold......the future is bright.

 

[SotonBlade]

A very good read that article, certainly opened my eyes a bit. One thing for sure, don't expect any major signings at Bramall Lane for a while. Wheeler Dealing for a long time to come!

 

[JohnDenver]

Cheers Shredds, well written stuff. The bottom line being that we're at McCabe's mercy, which we probably know only too well.

This paragraph is a real craw-sticker....

West Ham received £40 million for finishing bottom of the Premier League last season compared to the Blades’ £18 million in 2007. Similarly, while their relegation was eased by £24 million of parachute payments, West Ham will receive £48 million

 

[IOM Blade]

This is the scary bit:

'Although wages have been cut by £7.2 million (28%) from the £25 million peak in 2007/08 to £17.8 million, in the same period revenue has halved from £32.4 million to £16.2 million, so the wages to turnover ratio has risen (deteriorated) from 77% to a deeply worrying 110%. To place that into context, the ratio at big spending Manchester City is only slightly higher at 114%.'

 

[riselikeasalmon]

Brilliant read.
"relatively high earners......Rob Kozluk and Ryan France" - says it all to me why we find ourselves in the position we do. I admire McCabe's commitment to the club, but he has made some poor decisions in who he has appointed to look after his investment, both the footballing and business sides.

 

[Tuns]

This is well worth a (lengthy) read. I'll comment later when i've got more time.

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012/02/sheffield-united-blades-rediscovering.html

A good read on some complex issues. Boy has this club thrown some money away.

 

[Darren]

A good read on some complex issues. Boy has this club thrown some money away.

What is also interesting is that United (like lots of other clubs) would not exist without its sugar daddy. If SUFC were any business other than a football club, it would have ceased trading and its assets sold off long ago.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Reading that left me wondering how McCabe ever became so wealthy - and also scared the shit out of me. Sure, he's not done bad out of getting the hotel back and other deals, but everything else reads like a litany of terrible decision-making.

Someone (with a better head for numbers than me) must be able to tot-up how much he and his companies have had to contribute to support losses. I hardly think that 'gains' from property in Hungary and China will cover it.

The thing that leaves me really befuddled, is that for all the spending beyond our means on salaries, transfers and other projects we seem to have had nothing to show for it. Yet whilst we were on the up, we seemed to be spending virtually nowt.

 

[travellingblade]

Sorry to disagree, but it was having the "sugar daddy" in the first place that got us into this mess.

Now, if we lost him today, then we'd be in the mess.

 

[Darren]

Sorry to disagree, but it was having the "sugar daddy" in the first place that got us into this mess.

Now, if we lost him today, then we'd be in the mess.

My point is that as a perennially loss making business United, like most other clubs, need some wealthy idiot to keep paying the billls. I'm not commenting on whether our sugar daddy should have made better decisions or that a different sugar daddy would have been better. Just that we bloody need some SD!

 

[Worksop II]

The thing that leaves me really befuddled, is that for all the spending beyond our means on salaries, transfers and other projects we seem to have had nothing to show for it.

Its like waking up on a Sunday morning, and finding £1.34 in your trouser pockets and thinking, there is no way I could have spent all that money

Just how pissed do McCabe & Co get in their Board Meetings

 

[Darren]

Its like waking up on a Sunday morning, and finding £1.34 in your trouser pockets and thinking, there is no way I could have spent all that money

Just how pissed do McCabe & Co get in their Board Meetings

Well, we are just a micro version of Leeds pissing away oodles of dosh and going from Champions League semi final to third division in 5 seasons.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

The other interesting point here is that the club’s gate receipts are low relative to the size of the crowds, as evidenced by looking at the money generated by the clubs with the ten largest attendances in the Championship in 2009/10. This shows that Sheffield United’s gate receipts of £4.9 million that season were the lowest of those ten clubs, even though their crowds were the third highest. The money further reduced to £4.2 million last season, meaning that this revenue stream had fallen 45% from the £7.6 million earned in the Premier League.

Another eye-opening point.

 

[broomhillblade]

A comprehensively-researched and well-written article which deals in facts and not speculation.
I have saved it for future reference.

Does anyone know who the writer is? He should be sorting out Greece's mess!

 

[Worksop II]

A comprehensively-researched and well-written article which deals in facts and not speculation.
I have saved it for future reference.

Does anyone know who the writer is? He should be sorting out McCabes mess!

Fixed that for Ya

 

[bricktop]

A fascinating read. A lot of it tallies up with i have thought all along. My thoughts on it

- The recession came at exactly the wrong time for United, as the club was diversifying in to business and property to make the long term of the future sustainable, and the global recession put paid to that.

- Trevor Birch came in to cut cost's and that is what he did, but the club also made huge mistakes with spending heavily on loan players at the time. (Hello Benty, and Nyron)

- Kevin McCabe still wants out, and has lost a lot of money whilst he has been Sheffield United chairman, however he seems intent on stripping everything back to make the club sustainable, and then look to sell then. If he had wanted to walk away he would have done it during the last 2 and a half years, so i get the impression that he is here to stay, and do what is right for the club and it's supporters.

- I always knew the season ticket's prices have been good at Bramall Lane, but for us to be the 5th cheapest club in League 1, is testament to how low the prices are, and i think a part of the strategy is to keep gates high and money coming in by keeping prices low as with the size of the stadium it is sensible to do this whilst supply outstrips demand.

- I think the next few years will be characterised by having a small squad, not spending much on transfer fee's and keeping the wage bill in order. I think it will be similar to 2000-02, where we didn't spend much and built and developed a squad and gave ourselves a decent platform to build upon.

 

[alcoblade]

Well, we are just a micro version of Leeds pissing away oodles of dosh and going from Champions League semi final to third division in 5 seasons.

Without the champions league involvement. Or successful premiership years. We matched them at the shitty end though.



UTB

---------- Post added at 02:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

- I always knew the season ticket's prices have been good at Bramall Lane, but for us to be the 5th cheapest club in League 1, is testament to how low the prices are, and i think a part of the strategy is to keep gates high and money coming in by keeping prices low as with the size of the stadium it is sensible to do this whilst supply outstrips demand.

But if you listen to some, it's our high pricing ("lack of clever marketing") that's seen our gates fall so drastically lately. I've always had a slight suspicion playing Bury instead of Man Utd has contributed.

UTB

 

[alcoblade]

Dp................

=================================

 

[Trigger Blade]

What is also interesting is that United (like lots of other clubs) would not exist without its sugar daddy. If SUFC were any business other than a football club, it would have ceased trading and its assets sold off long ago.

But if sugar daddies didn't exist, clubs wouldn't act so recklessly. In the years before wealthy benefactors got involved, hardly any clubs went out of existence, Accrington, Gateshead, Maidstone, Aldershot and Newport are the only ones I can recall more than 20 years ago, many more recently than that of course.

The real shame is that there's more money in football than could have been dreamt of even 20 years ago and it's nearly all siphoned out of the game.

 

[Balham]

I always knew the season ticket's prices have been good at Bramall Lane, but for us to be the 5th cheapest club in League 1, is testament to how low the prices are, and i think a part of the strategy is to keep gates high and money coming in by keeping prices low as with the size of the stadium it is sensible to do this whilst supply outstrips demand

I agree with most of what you've written Brownie but this was the only bit of that article which was less well researched. The 5th cheapest refers to a BBC report which looked at the cheapest possible day out at each club. As we've got three (?) Category C games with adult tickets at £10, that is the price which was taken for the comparison.

A mean ticket price would have been much more insightful as I suspect that our top end tickets (vs Wednesday and Huddersfield, for example) would make a game at Bramall Lane among the most expensive in League One.

We have a capacity of over 32,500. Take away 3,000 for away fans and there's still almost 30,000 home tickets available each match. We could have dropped the prices considerably this season and potentially got the same revenue.

 

[Darren]

But if sugar daddies didn't exist, clubs wouldn't act so recklessly. In the years before wealthy benefactors got involved, hardly any clubs went out of existence, Accrington, Gateshead, Maidstone, Aldershot and Newport are the only ones I can recall more than 20 years ago, many more recently than that of course.

The real shame is that there's more money in football than could have been dreamt of even 20 years ago and it's nearly all siphoned out of the game.

I don't think that follows. When there was less money in football the sugar daddies were just on a smaller scale. They were your local butchers, bakers and candlestick makers rather than international property developers. Certainly in my life time very few football clubs have made profits on a consistent basis.

You mention 5 league clubs going out of existence between 1950 (Gateshead) and 1992 (Maidstone and Aldershot), but how many league clubs have gone our of existence since 1992 ? None as far as I am aware. There have been a lot of near misses (but so there were in the past, Wolves and Bristol City in the early 80's spring to mind) and some clubs have disappeared after losing league status (Chester and Halifax for example), but league clubs generally don't go out of existence now.

 

[Rodders]

Rather than go bust nowadays, don't clubs just go into Administration? I can't remember hearing it much until Leicester started it in 2002, now every Tom Dick & Harry does.

 

[Trigger Blade]

I don't think that follows. When there was less money in football the sugar daddies were just on a smaller scale. They were your local butchers, bakers and candlestick makers rather than international property developers. Certainly in my life time very few football clubs have made profits on a consistent basis.

You mention 5 league clubs going out of existence between 1950 (Gateshead) and 1992 (Maidstone and Aldershot), but how many league clubs have gone our of existence since 1992 ? None as far as I am aware. There have been a lot of near misses (but so there were in the past, Wolves and Bristol City in the early 80's spring to mind) and some clubs have disappeared after losing league status (Chester and Halifax for example), but league clubs generally don't go out of existence now.

I didn't say any of those were league clubs when they folded, most of them weren't, but they certainly had been not too long before.

They following may not have been league clubs when they finally expired either, but in the last three or four years, Chester, Halifax, Darlington and Scarborough all popped their clogs, which suggests an increase in mortality at the lower end of the league food chain. It may coincide with the lack of candlestickmakers.

I'm still surprised that a bigger club hasn't gone, Portsmouth for example, they seem to lead a very precarious existence and I'd certainly hate to think we could ever be in that kind of state.

 

[Rodders]

Mr Scuadmore has had a large hand in Pompey's survival recently. When they were in the Prem, he offered all the other clubs a ballot on whether Pompey should get their parachute money early. 19 votes against, but the money went to them anyway.

 

[Tuns]

Typical United that not only do we (through bad luck and bad decision making) end up in huge debt but we aren't even able to go into admin or get it written off by a friendly bank and even more typically we didn't even get the thrills that the likes of Portsmouth, Leeds and Cardiff had along the way.

Because of our structure and other circs we are in a kind of eternal administration in which we will always have to sell players and will always be skint.

It's aways struck me as bizarre when I hear fans and pundits warning about having to avoid admin at all costs or saying how lucky we are that McCabe has staved off admin. We can't be any worse off now that if we'd gone into admin a couple of years ago.

From selfish Blades perspective (obviously not as a local creditor) I'd love to see us chuck £50m at it and see us win a cup and play in Europe, then go into admin take a 10 point knock and resume our life as nearly men.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Bloody hell - so we were paying the squad more last year (£17.8 million) than the year where we were promoted in 2nd place (£15.2 million). That's even crazier than the decision to expand the wage bill by £2.6 million immediately following relegation.

 

[blade too long]

Bloody hell - so we were paying the squad more last year (£17.8 million) than the year where we were promoted in 2nd place (£15.2 million). That's even crazier than the decision to expand the wage bill by £2.6 million immediately following relegation.

such is the inflation in wages and match tickets
dont forget its not that long since roy keane became the first 50 k a week player , then it was 100k for rooney and now yaya toure gets 200k

it filters down

players in our squad getting 5 k a week would have got 500 a week a decade ago
Id never slag off McCabe, yes hes made some grievous errors , but so have many other chairmen and hes our financial glue , without him wed fall apart
I wouldnt throw my money away on a football club, while ever he does we ought to support him for being daft enough to do it

 

[Jonboy60]

Mr Scuadmore has had a large hand in Pompey's survival recently. When they were in the Prem, he offered all the other clubs a ballot on whether Pompey should get their parachute money early. 19 votes against, but the money went to them anyway.

Bell-ended TWAT.

 

[bricktop]

Bell-ended TWAT.

Thats not a very nice way to talk about Rodders.......