More Trouble At Leeds

[Clive]

I have an Italian friend from Udine who is a rovers fan,he tells me most italian clubs arent in a position to pay their players wages!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting you should say that, as Parmalat are fighting off filing for bankruptcy. They own Parma FC, so any chance of a barguin over there ?.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3345735.stm

[philipl]

A couple of years ago, the Italian Serie A clubs were paying wages on average double those of the Premiership and earning on average half what a Prem club earns.

Not entirely surprising wages are going unpaid.

Parma seemed to have got a let off when the Italian state moved in to bail out Parmalat. Now Bank of America have filed criminal charges over an Enron-style black hole, Parma's future is not only very dodgy, it also looks pretty insignificant in the bigger picture.

I'll ask again if there are any useful Parma players who would swap the security of lower wage being paid at Ewood for never never land at the Tardini Stadium?

[roversWASmylife]

No matter how much I can`t stand Leeds, I do feel for the fans of Leeds. Once, they were a high successful entertaining team, playing against Europe`s finest, they went all the way to the semi final`s of the Champions League only to get knocked out. Fail to make champs league qualification, therefore they suffer heavily in debt.

I blame Ridsdale for the situatuion. Having to watch most of your best players leave like dominoes must have been hard to watch. I give the Leeds fans credit still now turning up in their numbers.

[thenodrog]

I give the Leeds fans credit still now turning up in their numbers.

I give Gray and the remaining players credit for getting 7 points out of the last 9.  Mainly through determination, hard work and effort!  I wonder if they can bottle whatever the magic ingredient is and sell it?**  Their money troubles would be solved overnight.

** Maybe they already have......to Big Sam.

[roversWASmylife]

To be honest to see a "big" club go down like Leeds would be a shame for the Premier League, you might not agree with me.

I feel that the Leeds fans have been massively let down, and if i was a Leeds fan I would be p***** off by how the club has been run. Ever since Proffessour John McEnzie has come to Leeds, I feel he has stabilised the club well.

Who`s to blame?[/b]

Peter Ridsdale. He gambled too much too early on. O`Leary should have never been sacked. Venables wasn`t much better, Reid didn`t do to bad.

Eddie Gray has done a fantastic job at Leeds and I`ll think you`ll all agree with me. If there is a takeover which has been rumoured then I hope they keep Eddie Gray, as he has done a brilliant job, from Leeds  to having no chance from fighting relegation to having a chance of fighting relegation.

[roversWASmylife]

O`Leary has stated in his interview with the Premiership on ITV that he would like to see an enquiry with Leeds` finances. He says he feels he would like to havea three men questioned imparticuarly one man, wondering that where all the money for the club that they had , then went.

[philipl]

Bolton must have been teetering on the edge of insolvency. For a mere £2.25m, Mr Davies has acquired about 60% of Burnden Leisure to take his ownership to around 95%. Wanderes are worth around £4m on that basis!

£1.75m goes to pay debts which have to be repaid to the Co-op bank immediately and Chairman Phil Gartside has said that he hopes the banks will look more kindly about restructuring the rest of the £38m debt.

With Burnden (sorry the Reebok) selling out regularly, Wanderers only hope for financial salvation has to be a high league finish and lots more £500K place monies than theyare used to.

I guess Fred Davies knows he writes off the £17m he has put into the club if they go down.

[SAS]

Its a crying shame that all teams apart from Manchester United and Chelsea, maybe Liverpool too, are all in debt. This is largeley due to Sky paying more money to big clubs because they are on T.V more times, like last year when Sunderland got £13 m while Manchester United got £30m. i dont care what anybody says the Premier League is becoming like the SPL. Fans are just as bad, with people supporting Liverpool,Newcastle, Man Utd and Chelsea. The F-A must insist on T.V money and other monies to be distrubuted fairly and equally.

[LeChuck]

Are you sure that information is right?  I'm 90% sure that TV money is distributed equally between the 20 clubs.

[den]

It's as Slater Scott says, the higher you finish, the more money you get. I actually agree with Slater, but I would wouldn't I, I support a side that's not important to the powers that be.

[LeChuck]

It's as Slater Scott says, the higher you finish, the more money you get. I actually agree with Slater, but I would wouldn't I, I support a side that's not important to the powers that be.

I wasn't questioning that bit, I know the higher you finish the more money you get (£500k per place I think), but that's prize money and different from the TV money.  The TV money is shared out at the start of the season.

When ITV Digital went bust, each Division One club lost the same amount.

[SAS]

No the teams that play on Sky, get an extra 500k i think on top of an lump sum at the beginning of the season.

[philipl]

I think it works out that there is a basic £15m for TV rights and being in the Prem so that is the minimum Wolves will receive. Thereafter, its place money and additional TV appearances.

The Sky hand out is basically fair- it rewards popularity and success but not excessively.

What is skewing economics in favour of the super clubs is

- Champs League £12m basic for being in the first round group

- Sponsorship worth over £50m a year to Man U

- Commercial activities; another £60m for Man U

- Gate receipts (but 'twas ever thus)

[SAS]

I really do find it amazing how we manage to compete in this league when other teams are making this kind of money. Like you say sponsorship is worth £50 mil to united to us its worth no more than £5- £8 mil

[Modi]

I wasn't questioning that bit, I know the higher you finish the more money you get (£500k per place I think), but that's prize money and different from the TV money.  The TV money is shared out at the start of the season.

When ITV Digital went bust, each Division One club lost the same amount.

The ITV Digital deal losses are the same as they were the average the clubs were likely to receive from the package.

Premiership clubs receive TV money as follows:

1. Equal share at the start of the season (or is it the end?)

2. Additional money for each time they are on Sky

3. Additional money, but considerably less, for each time they are on PPV

4. Additional money for each time they are a 'featured' match on The Premiership

5. Various little odds and sods

On top of this, they have the potential to earn (in priority) a healthy pay packet if they are screened live in the FA Cup, a lesser amount for being a featured match on Match of the Day FA Cup programme, a live match in the Carling Cup and then other straggly bits.

[American]

I wasn't questioning that bit, I know the higher you finish the more money you get (£500k per place I think), but that's prize money and different from the TV money.  The TV money is shared out at the start of the season.

When ITV Digital went bust, each Division One club lost the same amount.

The ITV Digital deal losses are the same as they were the average the clubs were likely to receive from the package.

Premiership clubs receive TV money as follows:

1. Equal share at the start of the season (or is it the end?)

2. Additional money for each time they are on Sky

3. Additional money, but considerably less, for each time they are on PPV

4. Additional money for each time they are a 'featured' match on The Premiership

5. Various little odds and sods

On top of this, they have the potential to earn (in priority) a healthy pay packet if they are screened live in the FA Cup, a lesser amount for being a featured match on Match of the Day FA Cup programme, a live match in the Carling Cup and then other straggly bits.

Hate to link a different fan site, but I knew I had seen this info before:

Premiership earnings - Click Here

[Claytons Left Boot]

I see an Isle of Man based former Bolton man is now Bolton's major shareholder (94%). Alarmingly Bolton have debts of £38m but I understand this benefactor is wiping clean their current short term debt with the club wanting to sit down with their bankers to talk about restructuring the long term (mortgage style) borrowings. No money is available for team building.

[LeChuck]

I forgot about the appearance fee per match, I didn't realise it was as high that.  It's certainly not TV money that is creating the gap between the top clubs and the rest though.

[philipl]

Interesting to see that the have a go at anything Dave Edmundson (CE at the dingles) is quoted today as denying that Burnley will go into administration.

Well actually, he said that it is an option given they are projected to lose nearly £3m (Kilby's purchase of their assets for £1m will only last four months).

Well he said that they have a list of options including donations (from whom?) and administration is the least attractive.

The dingles are deep in the soup and have no players, Chaplow excepted (possibly), anyone will pay any money to take off them.

[92er]

It said in the Daily Telegraph that the £38,000,000 owed by Bolton were joint liabilities with the Hotel and offices.

[philipl]

Back to Leeds- Trevor Birch opens the doors. A clear sign that the sale of the club might not be happening and a forlorn attempt to invite players to forego their share of the tansfer booty after the Kewell farce.

[philipl]

A stark set of numbers from the boys at Football365.

[PABBY]

A stark set of numbers from the boys at Football365.

Mercy me. They really do need a miracle.

The brother-in-law-to-be is a Leeds ST holder and he reckons they won't see out the season without going into administration. The money that's got to be repaid by the summer is apparently going to force their hand.

[Hughesy]

Think the points on there are a bit over the top and if they was in that much sh!t i really do think they would just close the club down.

You cant be losing £900,000+ a week and carry on.

As for Bolton they owe £2.5 million this month and with the sale of the shares to that fella they have managed to pay that off. They still have some outstanding debt but not as much as people on here are suggesting.

[philipl]

Hughsey and Pabby are spot on. Surprisingly no newspapers have picked up on Trevor Birch's frank admissions to Sky.

Birch seems to have swung his attention away from finding a saviour to negotiating with the creditors ahead of the 19 January deadline.

My guess is that this marks the end for Leeds United plc. Up until now, Birch had been making upbeat statements about buyers. Quite possibly, the Administrators will now be called in before the 19 January deadline to give them more time to sell players for which any cash can be raised.

The Jersey financiers who backed the £21m player mortgages must be looking at close to a dead loss but any of their players still on Leeds' books are certainties to be sold to recoup as much of the cash they have laid out as possible. Either that or they will go on a free to any club willing to do a deal to take over the contract on a "junk" bond basis.

I will repeat what I have said before- it is extremely unlikely Leeds will go out of business altogether. Birch presumably is now negotiating with the Premiership to find a formula to protect Leeds membership of the League from cancellation when the administrators come in. Leeds' only future now is as a very low cost base football team throwing off masses of excess income from its huge fan base unless the administrators work an absolute miracle with the American bond holders.