[Archived] Rovers Finances

[philipl]

1) and 2) Investment. To be honest I don't see it. Were Dave Whelan younger and hadn't put his money into Wigan, then he would have been the obvious solution but he isn't. I guess it is a shame that two Rovers supporters made nine figure fortunes at the same time! It will need a Rovers supporter to do it and are there any passionate Rovers supporters on their way to making the sort of money the Walkers or Whelan made?

The problem for an absolute outsider is that Blackburn as a town is so unfashionable. The Borough Council has completely failed to do anything substantial about the image of the place despite years of initiatives, having a Premiership football team and a world famous MP who is highly regarded everywhere except in Blackburn.

The upside is that Rovers must be one of the very few clubs where after coming to an arrangement with the Walker Trust, every penny invested would go straight into development of an already very strong club with excellent physical infrastucture.

To be optimistic, Rovers are a very attractive proposition compared with Pompey for instance where I suspect a lot of gains of questionable provenance are going straight down 'Arry's toilet and the guy is not going to get much fun out of it either. There is also the rarity factor- anyone wanting to have a Premiership play realistically has very few clubs to chose from. However, I doubt any would-be investors would clear the sort of probity hurdles I would expect the Walker Trustees would have to accept them.

3) Before the players' trading account, Rovers had organised themselves to be operationally profitable and no doubt budgeted for 22,000 average gates. Yet the Blackburn public have failed again and gates are down to 19,500 so the £1m operating profit is wiped out. Of course, that is probably being restored by getting rid of Thompson and Flitcroft from the wage bill.

The players' trading account charges come from the amortisation of transfers and that hit must be substantially reduced given the slow down in transfer spending and the reduction in net book value of the playing staff.

My guess would be a loss of £3m to £5m next year caused by the defection of another 2,500 fans, the League Cup not being as lucrative as the FA Cup and a further reduction in the number of Rovers games televised. Of course, were we to finish 6th then place prize money might haul us back to break-even. A lot depends on Bellamy's hamstrings.

4) I explained that the forgiveness could only equate transfer kitty to the extent that it creates borrowing headroom. The issue for the Rovers is how far are gates going to fall. At current rates, average attendances at Ewood will be back to 8,000 (a number they averaged for the best part of two decades not that long ago) by 2012/3. This is a horrific prospect but has to be faced given the slump from 26,000 to 19,500 has happened so quickly and has not been arrested by two semi-final appearances.

Both the Walker Trust and a bank are going to seriously question the Rovers' ability to repay loans based on the club's fundamentals. Income derived from on-field performance (place-prize money) is unlikely to be bankable.

If I were sitting in Jersey I would be getting heartily fed-up reading about falling gates at Ewood by now and not be predisposed to putting more money in if the town of Blackburn is not fully behind the only positive news story the town has got.

[trueblue]

Excellent posts Philip ! Thank you for taking the time to put the figures in a way us mere plebs can understand

[Exiled in Toronto]

Philip,

What was the net cashflow for the year and by how much was that subsidized by a cheque from Jersey?

[philipl]

The Rovers operate on a minimal cash balance given the extent of borrowings so the cash in hand was virtually unchanged. If you read through my report you will get the drift of what the club and Walker Trust is doing.

[Bobby G]

You reckon that there is a realistic possibility of having 14 million pounds to spend?

[allan]

The opertaing profit of £1m would have included the compensation received for Sourness and his team so the actual recurring figure is a small loss.

[philipl]

You reckon that there is a realistic possibility of having 14 million pounds to spend?

379504[/snapback]

No- read my posts.

[Eddie]

The opertaing profit of £1m would have included the compensation received for Sourness and his team so the actual recurring figure is a small loss.

379506[/snapback]

Didn't we then have to pay a similar figure to the Welsh FA?

[Hughesy]

If i only i could win the euro millions this week. Then i would clear rovers debts for them & give them some to spend!

Here's hoping!

[Exiled_Rover]

If i only i could win the euro millions this week. Then i would clear rovers debts for them & give them some to spend!

Here's hoping!

379623[/snapback]

Don't lie, they wouldn't see a penny of it!

Edited January 30, 2006 by Exiled_Rover

[joey_big_nose]

Phillip, just because I am thick and have an insatiable thirst for speculation, can you give me a rough idea of how much you think Rovers do have to spend at the moment and in the summer, once the sky money comes in?

Helps pass the time, anyway...

Edited January 31, 2006 by joey_big_nose

[philipl]

I have no idea. I am sure the Board will look at it on a case by case basis and I would imagine that Hughes has presented his targets and knows whom he can go after.

It was instructive that talks opened with Tugay shortly after Petrov signed a new contract with Celtic with a £4m release clause.

I would guess there would be more available if there is a sign that there is an upwards trend in home support. 18,000 Rovers supporters at Ewood tomorrow night would be a decent start- if the Mancs have sold their allocation will mean a 25,000+ gate.

[Neil Weaver]

Bit late, but thanks to philipl for translating a balance sheet/accounts into something hopefully most of can understand. Maybe even Vinjay.

[Oakland]

ROVERS LAND TOP SPONSORSHIP DEAL

[Bobby G]

Well 18,000 roverites were in fact in the stadium last night, and we had our top attendance of the season, if Im not mistaken, at circa 25,000.

If only some of the extra people who flooded in last night make it back next time, then we got something going.

[G Somerset Rover]

Wahey! we wont have Londsdale wrote twice on our shirts!

[BRFC4EVA]

Well 18,000 roverites were in fact in the stadium last night, and we had our top attendance of the season, if Im not mistaken, at circa 25,000.

If only some of the extra people who flooded in last night make it back next time, then we got something going.

381017[/snapback]

Well, actually there was no real extra amount of Rovers fans last night. Most of the matches this season we've been getting around 18k home fans with the amount of away fans taking us to whatever the crowd is.

[Bobby G]

If thats accurate, then what a shame.

[Presty On Tour]

Wahey! we wont have Londsdale wrote twice on our shirts!

381187[/snapback]

unless they stich it somewhere else on the shirt, i.e the collar

[ihtd]

Lonsdale out, it looks like a poor mans notloB kit at the moment. They have Reebok and we have Lonsdale.

Regarding the attendence, it was defo the Manure fans who made it upto 25k on Wednesday, but i must say that if the casual fan cannot see that the club has turned the corner and still doesn't turn up to games then the there is nothing else the club can do to get them back. Those fans may be lost for many years to come, if not forever.

I even make it to 15/16 matches a season and i'm a student living across the other side of the country, so fans who actually live in Blackburn & surrounding areas don't really have an excuse not to turn up.

It is obvious that the lack of decent attendence figures are eating into the club's coffers and is going to eventually have a detrimental affect on the club. If we could get our attendences back up to what we used to get back in 2000/2001/2002 we might not be short of some money.

You know what, i blame Souness for this, it was his crap football towards the end of his regin that made some fans say "f' this, i'll spend my money elsewhere" and a lot of these fans haven't come back yet.

Hopefull after Wednesday night, it will have served as an encouragement for them to come back, knowing that they will be getting value for money.

[Rovers Air Force]

Phill

Just read the first poat, fantastic...I think? could you please translate it in to 4 numbers?

Amount earned last year

Amoust Spent

loss/profit for season

current bank balance

sorry but I am totally illiterate when it comes to finantial matters

[philipl]

Scroll down to the 7th post on the thread- it's explained there.

[thenodrog]

You know what, i blame Souness for this, it was his crap football towards the end of his regin that made some fans say "f' this, i'll spend my money elsewhere" and a lot of these fans haven't come back yet.

381649[/snapback]

Crikey he gets blamed for just about everything these days. Sure we played crap football for 2 years but so did the mags and St James park still sells out doesn't it?

I will only blame GS if I find out that he has a controlling interest in Sky / Canal+ etc, or that he has secretely become licensee at the likes of Hordens, Knowles, Woodlands etc etc. Many 18-30's seem to prefer their football viewed through the bottom of a glass these days. Apart from that Blackburn is too small a town, has a large percentage of it's population that simply have no affinity with the football team and has too small a hinterland to put 25000 bums on seats every fortnight unless we are in the top 2. That bits simple but the solution is much more difficult ihd.

[RevidgeBlue]

Apart from that Blackburn is too small a town, has a large percentage of it's population that simply have no affinity with the football team and has too small a hinterland to put  25000 bums on seats every fortnight unless we are in the top 2.  That bits simple but the solution is much more difficult ihd.

381977[/snapback]

The first bit of that sentence is impossible to disagree with Gordon but the second bit can't be strictly correct. We averaged over 26,000 just three seasons ago under Souness.

Unless a very substantial proportion of the white indigenous population have moved out of the area to be replaced by their Asian counterparts within that very short time span. I'm sure there's some element of that but it can't be that pronounced.

[philipl]

John Williams' commentary on the annual report.

I think what he has written is very fair and points to a healthy future. He is right to highlight that Rovers have done well to increase turn over after outsourcing the catering and shop businesses- now the club just takes fees without commercial risk whereas before all sales from those outlets went into the club's top line.