John D

Is the Geordies gripe with Ashley that he won't invest his own cash? Or has he taken money out or refused to allow generated funds to be spent and they are sitting on loads of cash? Just wondering why they hate him so much, but then it is Ashley so perhaps no rational reason needed!

Didn't we have a Draper kit back in the 80's where the sponsor was changed or added late on so ended up with a big black patch over the original logo?

The whole point here is that there is no definitive evidence either way on what the position is, certainly limited available that most of us can access. Possible scenario - whilst there are no charges against SFC itself, if we assume Charlie M is correct, then Gao borrowed money through his Hong Kong Company (which in itself is owned by a BVI company). Those debts may be secured against the assets of the Hong Kong company, these are presumably the UK Lander company and ultimately Saints. So the HK company may have to rely on revenues from Saints to service and repay the loan. None of this would show at Companies House. In this case it is a concern as any profit would have to be used to fund the loans. If the HK company defaults then Saints could end up being owned by the HK bank Or alternatively - the loans are true but will be serviced by other income Gao has so reduced risk to Saints. Or the loans don't exist. What we do know is that 1) we have secrecy over our ultimate ownership, 2) our owner's motives are unknown, 3) he is not putting any funds in, 4) we have a strange sponsorship deal in place which raises further questions So given the above, I think having concerns is fully justified - the frustrating part, so what can we do about them?

The 2018 accounts state that the Ings fee was due to be paid this year. Will be in the budget as a committed expenditure but not paid out until around now

As has been asked before. What is your source of info to confirm existence of this £200m loan?

As at the last financial accounts date he hasn't taken any money out. Doesn't mean he hasn't since though I don't have a problem with being self sufficient providing we reinvest all we make in a prudent manner. As someone else stated above if we are run in that manner we are much more secure in the long term. Just look at Bolton to see what can happen when an owner puts his own money in. What are Gao's motivations for buying us - no one knows but it is probably one of the following 1) To secure decent asset outside of China and allow him to diversify his wealth 2) To obtain status both inside and outside of China - lets be honest he was unheard of before he bought us - 3) long term investment with expectation of selling for more in the future 4) to facilitate other real estate transactions in the area 5) As a play thing as he has plenty of cash 6) To use the club as a vehicle to launder money 7) To protect himself from assassination by the Chinese by being a high profile person Take your pick!

So are you saying there are 2 loans from Macquarie Bank Limited. There is the one associated with the charge lodged at Companies house. This is the one referred in the post above (285) which is a cash flow one and has been taken out every year since 2016. Any extra loan does not show directly on Saints books (as filed at CH) but given it is not possible to follow the accounts once it hits the Hong Kong holding company then I would suspect the second loan is on the books of that company and probably secured against the investment in Saints. The issue then is that the only way to service that loan could be through a return from Saints - to date no money has been extracted but who knows what has happened post filing accounts or will happen in the future

I've got 1 spare ticket for this game PM me if interested Cheers Now Sold

If the club thinks most games are close to a sell out they won't make much extra from catering and merchandise, in fact the day tripper will typcially spend more and club make more on match day sales than a s/t holder. I'm sure they have modelled the optimum number of s/t tickets they want to sell. Is it better to have 15k at £600 to make £9m or 25k at £200 to make £5m etc. If they sell less then more of a gamble with on field performances to attract enough each game. Are there enough who will go irrespective of how we play. As mentioned though it doesn't make a huge difference in total income - perhaps wages for one or two 1st team players or enough to pay off a dud manager.

If you track ownership of Southampton Football Club you end up with a Lander Sports International Investment Co, Ltd which is registered in Hong Kong and whose results form part of a Group Company registered in the BVI. Neither of these jurisdictions provide public information on ownership so no way of validating who owns the Company. This is probably the questions that the Premier League are asking but not getting response back on

Was there historically a cap in place? I remember Lowe getting us all an £18 refund for the Steau B away game due to us being overcharged. Never got round to claiming it though so I think it went to charity. But at least Rupert did one good thing

Why are people taking this seriously - they are at best educated guesses!

Has anyone got a link to the actual accounts? I can't see them on companies house

Oyston wasn't removed because of the fans though. He was removed by a receiver appointed by a high court judge. He'd still be there otherwise

Next set of accounts will be filed by end March. That will give us a clear indication whether Gao is taking money out of the club or whether we really have been useless with our money. I personally believe it is the latter despite some wild claims made on this thread!

she converted some of her loans to equity (circa £37m) back in 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/26813363 Also all fully documented in the financial statements. In total the Liebherr's invested about £60m in Saints, they made a profit of £140 on the sale Gao plus still own 20% which is worth around £50m based on the price Gao paid, Additionally they received interest on some of (not all) their loans they gave to the club.

The published accounts will tell you exactly where the money went up till June 2017. So just the last 18 months is unexplained

There must be a tipping point at which wage contribution is sufficient to offset risks of loaning him out. Worst case would be if McCarthy & Gunn both pick up injuries or suspensions and all of a sudden there is a place for Forster but we've sent him out on loan. I'd take the risk of that happening if a club was contributing 100% of his wages but not if only a small amount

Will certainly confirm or dispel a few myths anyway

Whilst CF may not be ITK I wholeheartedly agree he must have a source who is ITK. The facts speak for themselves as no other scenario makes sense 1) He is not a Saints fan and is an internet troll - Can't believe this is true, as no-one can really that be sad to post nearly 6k times on a message board (often talking to himself) about a team he doesn't support 2) He is a Saints fan and is making stuff up - Again not a logical answer, what idiot would take enjoyment from consistently making stuff up. The odd bit of banter is fair enough but the CF level, if not true is again pathetic Therefore he must be legitimate - its clearly not his fault that his source occasionally/often gets it wrong

No easy way to get from Manchester to Accrington if train strike. I may end up driving.

Agreed with your first point. Unless we have been paying stupid wages we should still have a transfer kitty given transfer income and TV revenues. Not sure it is going into Gao's pocket but he may have lumped the debt he used to buy the club onto the books (as Glazers did with United) and therefore we have interest to pay. All will be revealed when the accounts are filed later in the year

They gave Ipswich more and still had less than 3k there for the 3rd round.

I used to think he could develop into a good player for us. Certainly not happened in last 2 games. Hopefully a result of not being fully fit but I suspect may just be that he is another average player

I'd not really heard of him till he made the bench. One thing that has suprised me about Ralph is how quickly he made changes. Bednarek and Romeu both straight back in after only one or two training sessions. Also throwing in Johnson and Ramsey. Realistically how much has he seen of them or is he relying on coach reports