Whitey Grandad

Hence the cunning plan of getting rid of the players first.

Welcome to modern football. It stopped being a sport many years ago.

Another £20m to £30m to go, I reckon.

His goals for Peterborough might have denied us promotion so if we'd bought him he wouldn't have scored them. Possibly, if I've remembered right.

Makes no difference. If there's cash in the bank they'd get more for the business. Fair point about reducing long term liabilities.

I sincerely hope it's ciao, buon viaggio, addio, and not arrivederci. Buona Fortuna! Would probably be more appropriate to an Italian.

At my age you're not so fussy. As long as their tits don't trip you up you're fine Agnatha: http://image.stirileprotv.ro/media/images/600x375/Aug2013/61365540.jpg Brigitte: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/20/63/41/2063418500ecf4a08dd14803303ac313.jpg Honor: https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t1.0-9/p526x296/1654464_10151972823212077_2968996177715932526_n.jpg

Yes, but sometimes people with funny egos use the third person. Ashley Cole, Salvador Dalí, that referee I've forgotten, and others.

Sergeant Pepper - The Beatles Electric Ladyland -Hendrix Abbey Road -The Beatles Live at Leeds - The Who Wheels of Fire - Cream I'm showing my age again, aren't I?

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?5795-What-Are-You-Watching&highlight=watching#.U9z54uNdV8E

Indeed, but the transfer profits on sales have to be structured to reflect this. I would have thought that these would not be for longer than four or five years whereas costs of infrastructure would be probably spread over 25 years or so. I'm just saying that not everything is as simple as it seems and accountancy reasons can explain what may at first sight appear to be strange decisions, such as taking on one-year loan players or maybe offloading Osvaldo at a loss.

Winning the FA Cup?

Tax cannot be offset against transfers in or any other capital investments such as building projects, these have to be amortised over a longer term. You can't even reclaim VAT on additions to existing property, it has to be a new separate construction. Loan repayments cannot be repaid without tax. The recipient doesn't pay the tax but if they are repaid out if profits then they will have been taxed first. Transfer fees received in excess of the player's existing value on the books are most definitely income! Normal running costs are allowable against income and these include wages, but of course these should be subject to Income Tax and NI for both the employee and the employer. Or this reason many players are paid partly through a separate company for their services, particularly so-called image rights' and HMRC have clamped down on this system. You're right, the club will certainly be taking the best advice they can get but deciding what to do about profits is much easier than trying to cut the losses! http://www.lawinsport.com/features/item/image-rights-companies-where-are-we-now http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23923904

A good question, but I don't know the answer. We need an input from someone who know what they're talking about what you make and what you declare are not necessarily the same thing and some very clever people are working on ways to offset any sudden windfall. I think this may be why we shall be seeing loans instead of purchases as the loan fee can be offset straight away with the option to purchase being taken in a subsequent trading year. Whatever, the financial situation is very complicated and not as straightforward as 'Hooray, we've got £92m, let's go and spend it all'.

Dividends are paid out of profits after tax has been deducted. They cannot be offset against profits, and can only be paid out if the company has made a profit. As you say, the club needs to be careful to spread a sudden windfall over several years, but by the same token that money is not instantly available, unless our purchase are structured the same way. When did SFC last sell £20m of assets for £92m?

First a disclaimer: Premier League football club accounting is devilishly complicated and involves some of the most imaginative accountants on the planet, but in basic terms Corporation Tax is liable on any profits made over the accounting year of the company. The figures that gave been quoted for the sales are the maximum figures for the deals with supplements for future achievements, e.g. Calum Chambers is £16m rising to £20m. Secondly we are not told whether these are cash on delivery or staged payments over several years. Players we have previously 'bought' have the capital value of their contracts written down over the length if the contract but players we have developed through the academy have no capital value so the £16m for Chambers would appear as all profit and subject to tax at 21% for the current tax year. Lovren was bought for £8.5m written down after one year to £6.375m but sold for £20m so a profit of £13.625m. Shaw is pure profit at a reported £27m. Lallana is a complicated deal but we might clear £12m or so after Bournemouth have their share. So, back to your question, a headline sales figure of £92m or so but cash in the bank a fraction of that, maybe £60m up front, less their book value of probably less than £10m for Lambert, Lovren and Lallana would make a notional profit of £50m or potentially £39.5m after tax. This is extra to what our trading position would have been but is comfortably better than a lot of other clubs but leaves us temporarily short of players. If we buy new ones then we are replacing players who had a low value in the existing books with new ones who have a much higher one and whether we keep the cash or spend it the value of the company will increase and hence the tax liability, unless you can offset it against other losses, Osvaldo perhaps. My guess, for what it's worth, £30m to £50m for buying contracts of which we have already spent £20m. The club may have already budgeted some funds for purchases, of course

No it isn't, nothing like it.

Over £50m, and even that is light for Premier League clubs. And don't forget that tax on these profits we have made (I keep repeating this and I'm beginning to sound like and old grandad).

Here's a tip, Sue, for all those who use iPads/iPhones. If you let your finger rest on the letter on the keypad then all the accented options will pop up and you can slide your finger across to the one you want.

Yes, interesting, thanks for that.

Happy Birthday Maddy, 65 today! That makes her only a couple of weeks younger than me http://www.eastlothiannews.co.uk/webimage/1.3395400.1398942155!/image/2310961045.jpg_gen/derivatives/articleImgDeriv_628px/2310961045.jpg http://www.eastlothiannews.co.uk/news/5-minutes-with-actress-madeline-smith-who-starred-in-hammer-horror-productions-was-a-bond-girl-in-live-and-let-die-and-appeared-in-the-persuaders-1-3395401

Quite right, that would be reckless and the net figure will be less than that anyway. Much more likely.

Did I miss something?

That certainly is the impression that I get. I suppose that time will tell.

Fair point, fairly taken.