[Archived] Credit Crunch To Hit Football?

[Gally]

Nicko, do you think this could have any immediate impact on Liverpool's squad/spending?

It seems the scouser's want more investment than ever after being so close last year, but the numbers mentioned make pretty bad reading.

[philipl]

I cannot believe the sports press this morning.

It's all about Liverpool might not be able to compete effectively in the transfer market when the club's auditors say they are going bust quicker than Accy Stanley if £350m isn\'t found in the next 49 days!

Some fans web sites are getting the grim picture though. American owners leading club to bankruptcy.

The Times is on their own in looking at yesterday's bombshell accounts seriously. Scary that Gillett and Hicks guessed interest rates so wrong as well. They conclude that Hicks and Gillett must have done enough to convince UEFA that Liverpool are viable next season otherwise they would already have lost their license to compete in the Champions League.

My guess is rather more prosaic.

UEFA haven't had the balls to kick Liverpool out and now have a headache confronted with KPMG\'s going concerns comments on LFC's accounts- UEFA regulations specifically state all clubs competing in their competitions are going concerns and Liverpool's auditors are saying that right now, Liverpool are not a going concern.

[Hughesy]

I think that all these massive clubs in massive debts is great - I think United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, West ham etc should all be removed from the league until their debt is at a suitable level - i.e. no more than £20m. Wouldnt that be great!! ha

[broadsword]

Tomorrow's game might be the last live game on Setanta apparently.

[dazmaz]

I think that all these massive clubs in massive debts is great - I think United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, West ham etc should all be removed from the league until their debt is at a suitable level - i.e. no more than £20m. Wouldnt that be great!! ha

sadly £20m is more than manageable to all the top 4..

on a good note. if the £1.5bn united will have to of paid by 2015 stated by someone else in the thread is true, they will have to pay £166,666,666 a year to the bank to clear said debt. can they afford that? i dont know what their yearly revenue is so i couldnt say..

NOTE:calculations are going off the standard Bn that has 9 0s and not the british Bn that has 12

[joey_big_nose]

sadly £20m is more than manageable to all the top 4..

on a good note. if the £1.5bn united will have to of paid by 2015 stated by someone else in the thread they will have to pay £166,666,666 a year to the bank to clear said debt. can they afford that? i dont know what their yearly revenue is so i couldnt say..

NOTE:calculations are going off the standard Bn that has 9 0s and not the british Bn that has 12

Everybody uses the AMerican Billion now, eg. newspapers talking about government spending etc.

British billion is instead referred to as trillion.

[dazmaz]

Everybody uses the AMerican Billion now, eg. newspapers talking about government spending etc.

British billion is instead referred to as trillion.

so i was right with the 9 0s then.. thanks for that

[67splitscreen]

Is that why they reported zaki at 7m

[T4E]

SPL bail out clubs

Setanta must really be on their last legs..................

[philipl]

For the PL. Setanta going bust would initialy lose the League £350m or roughly 18% of the clubs' income. The 2008/9 final payment is due to the PL on 15 June apparently but the indicatons are that Setanta will not make it to the 15th.

BSkyB would love to pick those rights up but would immediatey be clobbered by monopoly problems at national and EU level.

This points to ESPN/Disney getting in on the cheap.

It does make Rovers cutting the wage bill by £5m look very sensible and put the club ahead of the game at this stage.

Not related to Setanta but one number that has come out is players' agents made £70m out of the Premier League in 2007/8. Enough to set up and run the National Training Centre.

[jodrell]

Philip is their some sort of connection between setanta and ESPN/Disney ( they were trying to merge ) or am i mistaken. Also do you think the club could have sensed something was wrong at setanta and thats one of the reasons why they want to cut the wage bill.

[gumboots]

Philip is their some sort of connection between setanta and ESPN/Disney ( they were trying to merge ) or am i mistaken. Also do you think the club could have sensed something was wrong at setanta and thats one of the reasons why they want to cut the wage bill.

Everyone knew that setanta had problems for ages. It's been mnetioned on here loads of times before.

[cn174]

Philip is their some sort of connection between setanta and ESPN/Disney ( they were trying to merge ) or am i mistaken. Also do you think the club could have sensed something was wrong at setanta and thats one of the reasons why they want to cut the wage bill.

I don't think there is a connection between Setanta and ESPN. They both put rival bids in the latest round of PL deals.

I bet if/when Setanta do go bust it'll still take about 3 months to cancel the bloody direct debit!!

[thenodrog]

This is absolutely frightening...

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8...5363986,00.html

Certain things frighten me, not many might I add and that link is definitely not one of them.

[philipl]

Sunday Times- Setanta close to administration and going off air.

[Hughesy]

Not related to Setanta but one number that has come out is players' agents made £70m out of the Premier League in 2007/8. Enough to set up and run the National Training Centre.

Its about time the FA set up a centre - where players can only use agents from this centre (for a set % fee) and then it will stop clubs being ripped off by greedy agents.

[thenodrog]

Its about time the FA set up a centre - where players can only use agents from this centre (for a set % fee) and then it will stop clubs being ripped off by greedy agents.

Shouldn't that be the PFA's responsibility?

[Hughesy]

Whoever - just not the agents themselves. Fed up of them ripping clubs like us off, and adding to costs if we try to sign a player.

[67splitscreen]

More on Setanta.

Online Subscriptions

[Billy Castell]

What's the situation with West Ham?

Fire Sale and panic? Or Even keel and sensible budgeting?

[philipl]

What's the situation with West Ham?

Fire Sale and panic? Or Even keel and sensible budgeting?

Scotty first posted this link in the Allardyce thread but scroll past the Kevin Bond story to the bit about West Ham

It certainly looks very grim at Upton Park this summer.

Significantly, increasingly the assumption is also that Setanta won't be handing over any cash any time soon.

[Hughesy]

BBC NEWS: Premier League gives struggling pay-TV firm Setanta until Friday to pay £30m or lose match rights

[jodrell]

Pay-TV sports broadcaster Setanta fails to pay the cash needed to show Premier League football rights in 2009-10 season

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8109954.stm

[Tris]

The PL have handled this quite well, by announcing on Monday that Setanta had until close of business today to pay up or lose the 46 games for next season - but at the same time giving notice to interested parties that they should prepare bids for a Monday (22nd) deadline. Showing support to the incumbent but making sure business as usual has a high priority.

It's important to get things moving because the packages Setanta have lost include 8 "second choice" matches. So as things stand, Sky can't make much progress in nominating their live games from Wednesday's fixture list.

The 46 games other broadcasters are now trying to win by Monday are: Packages C and D - 23 games each.

Package C = 23 third-choice matches shown at 8.00 pm on Mondays.

Package D = 8 second-choice matches + 15 fourth-choice matches shown at 5.15pm on Saturdays.

There are 38 "first-choice", 38 "second-choice", 38 "third-choice" and 24 "fourth-choice" games in the entire live offering over a season ... making a total of 138 games, sold by the Premier League in 6 packages of 23 games per package.

It's perfectly possible that the two packages now up for offer will go to two different broadcasters - the PL need to maximse their income given that they won't get Setanta's cash for the final year of this 2007-2010 deal. What happens for the next deal (starting August 2010) where Sky definitely have 113 games and Setanta only had 23 ... is anyone's guess.

[Tris]

I would think that ESPN are favourites

ESPN have got all 46 games for next season, and 23 per season for 2010-2013.