Running costs

[lordswoodsaints]

Under lowe we were told that to break even we had to have 17k fans in the stadium for every home game,this was to cover the mortgage,overdraft,players wages and any other running costs. As we all know this didn't happen too often and we ended up in admin.

 

Now that all debt has been cleared,I assume that just the basic running costs need to be met,player and staff wages etc

So as we have sold 10k season tickets,say bringing in something like £2-3million is it safe to assume that these basic running costs have now been covered for the season?

 

Imo ML wants the club to stand on it's own two feet (self financing) and obviously doesn't want to go down the Chelsea or man city route, but IMO this is going to be a very difficult thing to maintain if we are stuck in this league.

It's a great effort by the fans to sell 10k (and rising) season tickets,obviously a lot of it is down to the feelgood factor, but what happens next season if we have another crap run?

I can't see that many season tickets being sold next year if this happens.

 

This is all IMO and the figures may not be exact but you get the gist.

[John B]

Under lowe we were told that to break even we had to have 17k fans in the stadium for every home game,this was to cover the mortgage,overdraft,players wages and any other running costs. As we all know this didn't happen too often and we ended up in admin.

 

Now that all debt has been cleared,I assume that just the basic running costs need to be met,player and staff wages etc

So as we have sold 10k season tickets,say bringing in something like £2-3million is it safe to assume that these basic running costs have now been covered for the season?

 

Imo ML wants the club to stand on it's own two feet (self financing) and obviously doesn't want to go down the Chelsea or man city route, but IMO this is going to be a very difficult thing to maintain if we are stuck in this league.

It's a great effort by the fans to sell 10k (and rising) season tickets,obviously a lot of it is down to the feelgood factor, but what happens next season if we have another crap run?

I can't see that many season tickets being sold next year if this happens.

 

This is all IMO and the figures may not be exact but you get the gist.

 

Unfortunately it is ML's Club and he can do what he wants.

 

 

But I expect things will get better

[InvictaSaint]

I don't imagine for one minute that ML has bought Saints simply to see it ticking over as a run-of-the-mill League 1 club. He has already stated his intention to see the club back to where it belongs (PL) and again I cannot imagine that he is naive enough to believe that this will happen wihout any investment whatsoever. My feeling is that when action is required (i.e. his manager comes to him and says that we desperately need such or such a player to push on) that he will listen, and in the majority of cases - since AP is his appointment - he will grant the request.

 

This isn't going to be a short-term effort and we will need to be patient, but when push comes to shove I believe we will have more up our sleeves than any other team in this league.

 

Thus far, I am impressed by what I have - or perhaps that should be have not! - heard from our new owners, as they get on with things quietly, efficiently and professionally; all of which we have almost forgotten about given the last 10 years of mismanagement of one sort and another.

[Dellman]

I would say fortunately it is MLs club and he can do what he wants with it he's a proper business man and he knows the importance of success

[John B]

I don't imagine for one minute that ML has bought Saints simply to see it ticking over as a run-of-the-mill League 1 club. He has already stated his intention to see the club back to where it belongs (PL) and again I cannot imagine that he is naive enough to believe that this will happen wihout any investment whatsoever. My feeling is that when action is required (i.e. his manager comes to him and says that we desperately need such or such a player to push on) that he will listen, and in the majority of cases - since AP is his appointment - he will grant the request.

 

This isn't going to be a short-term effort and we will need to be patient, but when push comes to shove I believe we will have more up our sleeves than any other team in this league.

 

Thus far, I am impressed by what I have - or perhaps that should be have not! - heard from our new owners, as they get on with things quietly, efficiently and professionally; all of which we have almost forgotten about given the last 10 years of mismanagement of one sort and another.

 

There is absolutely no evidence that they are running the club in a more professional way than previous regimes.

 

Not having Lowe there helps I would have thought

[InvictaSaint]

There is absolutely no evidence that they are running the club in a more professional way than previous regimes.

 

Not having Lowe there helps I would have thought

 

To my mind, not treating the supporters as morons there to sate a cashflow need, not referring to them [us] as customers, not holding up a piece of paper at an AGM claiming that it is a letter congratulating you on the wonderful job you are doing, and not going down the road of employing a fourth-rate, inexperienced coach whose hands are tied and who is told to play only kids, whilst at the same time not bull****ting the fanbase that we are destined for glory......is definitely evidence of doing things more professionally.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

There is absolutely no evidence that they are running the club in a more professional way than previous regimes.

 

Not having Lowe there helps I would have thought

 

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence .

[John B]

I would say fortunately it is MLs club and he can do what he wants with it he's a proper business man and he knows the importance of success

 

Unfortunately no one knows what plans ML has for the club

 

 

Probably we will become very successful but we may not nothing can be assummed that is my point.

[skintsaint]

If he has brought it to make money then he will want to get into the PL.

 

Whats the point of him buying it (remembering he isnt even a fan) just to let it tick over and be self suffiecent?

[Red and White Army]

To my mind, not treating the supporters as morons there to sate a cashflow need, not referring to them [us] as customers, not holding up a piece of paper at an AGM claiming that it is a letter congratulating you on the wonderful job you are doing, and not going down the road of employing a fourth-rate, inexperienced coach whose hands are tied and who is told to play only kids, whilst at the same time not bull****ting the fanbase that we are destined for glory......is definitely evidence of doing things more professionally.

 

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. You are like a dog with a bone, aren't you?

[John B]

If he has brought it to make money then he will want to get into the PL.

 

Whats the point of him buying it (remembering he isnt even a fan) just to let it tick over and be self suffiecent?

 

You would have thought so but who knows.

 

 

I would have thought the only way money could be made is to sell it on at a later date but there is a risk in that

[Wes Tender]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. You are like a dog with a bone, aren't you?

 

And you are like a dog without a bone. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

[ottery st mary]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. You are like a dog with a bone, aren't you?

 

 

Idle curiosity..Apart from showing your letter at the AGM, did Rupes ever reply to your letter?

[lordswoodsaints]

You are all straying from my original post.....

Basically I am asking if we have generated enough income to survive without ML propping us up?

At some point he is going to want a return (a very rare thing in football) on his investment,how will he achieve this.

IMO he needs to speculate to accumulate especially on the pitch....a L1 club ain't worth a w@nk,especially if that club has been kicking around that league for a few years.

[Wes Tender]

Idle curiosity..Apart from showing your letter at the AGM, did Rupes ever reply to your letter?

 

Well, he couldn't, could he Ottery? Firstly the letter was anonymous. Secondly, it was either written by Lowe himself, or his school fag, Cowan.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

You are all straying from my original post.....

Basically I am asking if we have generated enough income to survive without ML propping us up?

At some point he is going to want a return (a very rare thing in football) on his investment,how will he achieve this.

IMO he needs to speculate to accumulate especially on the pitch....a L1 club ain't worth a w@nk,especially if that club has been kicking around that league for a few years.

 

Not being a PLC anymore is there any legal requirement to publish properly audited accounts ? - if not we may never know the answer to your question .

[ottery st mary]

Well, he couldn't, could he Ottery? Firstly the letter was anonymous. Secondly, it was either written by Lowe himself, or his school fag, Cowan.

 

 

Sorry, Only pulling his leg.

 

As regards our current situation, I think the new owner will see his return in a few years time when we arrive back in the big boys league...Money and glory will be his reward. Another business sucess but above all else ..enjoyment/fun.

In the meantime, new players arriving over the next couple of days and the gradual climb up the league to at least the play offs, will be order of the day.

 

ML wants this to be a sucess but done sensibly and with Pardew at the helm, I am confident we will see the rise of the club from the ashes.:smt060

[Chez]

To my mind, not treating the supporters as morons there to sate a cashflow need, not referring to them [us] as customers, not holding up a piece of paper at an AGM claiming that it is a letter congratulating you on the wonderful job you are doing, and not going down the road of employing a fourth-rate, inexperienced coach whose hands are tied and who is told to play only kids, whilst at the same time not bull****ting the fanbase that we are destined for glory......is definitely evidence of doing things more professionally.

 

spot on. Add to that we've already seen a reduction in bull**** news items on the OS, no leaks to the press about any of the internal goings on, and by not offering Stern John silly money that he could nto turn down - a clear indication that the club will be well run financially as well.

[david in sweden]

Under lowe we were told that to break even we had to have 17k fans in the stadium for every home game,this was to cover the mortgage,overdraft,players wages and any other running costs. As we all know this didn't happen too often and we ended up in admin.

 

Now that all debt has been cleared,I assume that just the basic running costs need to be met,player and staff wages etc

So as we have sold 10k season tickets,say bringing in something like £2-3million is it safe to assume that these basic running costs have now been covered for the season?

 

Imo ML wants the club to stand on it's own two feet (self financing) and obviously doesn't want to go down the Chelsea or man city route, but IMO this is going to be a very difficult thing to maintain if we are stuck in this league.

It's a great effort by the fans to sell 10k (and rising) season tickets,obviously a lot of it is down to the feelgood factor, but what happens next season if we have another crap run?

I can't see that many season tickets being sold next year if this happens.

This is all IMO and the figures may not be exact but you get the gist.

 

 

 

I think the thing to remember is that this is League 1 and running costs at this level cannot be compared to higher leagues. Even the best prepared teams in this divison don't have the facilities or the financial clout that we have now. If necessary ML would inject an extra MILLION, but it's upto AP to get the right team and make it work. By the time we get promotion there will be more funds available - but for the time being we must run the club along suitable lines.

[saints_is_the_south]

With no overdraft & mortgage re-payments to meet I'd have thought the required match attendances to break even are quite a bit lower. I think it was stevegrant posted that we were spending approx £5m per annum on the mortgage & overdraft interest. Lets say we now need maybe 10k to break even? With ST numbers already being above that and looking likely to hit the 12k mark we are already on the right road to making a profit. Aslong as the team are doing ok and winning games then I'd be happy to bet on us getting 20k gates.

[InvictaSaint]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. You are like a dog with a bone, aren't you?

 

Terribly sorry - didn't realise we'd been introduced. Judging from your intellectually astute riposte, you must be here to tell me which part of what I said is untrue; or did I miss that bit?

[alpine_saint]

To my mind, not treating the supporters as morons there to sate a cashflow need, not referring to them [us] as customers, not holding up a piece of paper at an AGM claiming that it is a letter congratulating you on the wonderful job you are doing, and not going down the road of employing a fourth-rate, inexperienced coach whose hands are tied and who is told to play only kids, whilst at the same time not bull****ting the fanbase that we are destined for glory......is definitely evidence of doing things more professionally.

 

Agreed.

 

John B talking cack again.

[Joensuu]

I think the thing to remember is that this is League 1 and running costs at this level cannot be compared to higher leagues. Even the best prepared teams in this divison don't have the facilities or the financial clout that we have now. If necessary ML would inject an extra MILLION, but it's upto AP to get the right team and make it work. By the time we get promotion there will be more funds available - but for the time being we must run the club along suitable lines.

 

I absolutely agree. Sure in the Premiership a few million was not really worth much at all; but in League 1 it's a huge sum of money.

 

I remember speaking to some Walsall fans back in about 2002, who were excited by a sell-on clause they had on Ricketts. Ricketts was at the time highly rated, and there was talk of a 6 or 7 million valuation. As Walsall had a 20% sell on clause their fans were dreaming of netting about 1 million... "the sort of money we've never had "

 

A million to spend in League 1 is an awful lot!

[beancounter saint]

The thing about the 10k STs sold is that you can't really compare numbers directly with last year as the pricing structure is quite different. The tickets are cheaper to start with and they are literally giving away the U8 STs. I would guess that these are included in the figures and that they are quite high in number, as well as the ones for older kids which are not free but bring very little income.

 

Who knows??

[Junior Mullet]

You are all straying from my original post.....

Basically I am asking if we have generated enough income to survive without ML propping us up?

At some point he is going to want a return (a very rare thing in football) on his investment,how will he achieve this.

IMO he needs to speculate to accumulate especially on the pitch....a L1 club ain't worth a w@nk,especially if that club has been kicking around that league for a few years.

 

Do we now own the ground without a mortgage? If so that will be a huge chunk we will save each month, together without having to pay interest on the overdraft.

 

ML apparently likes to run his businesses without debt and that has to be good long term, if he has the funds to enable him to do just that, which he does.

 

Surely someone on here has the figures to work out how much we were paying on the overdraft and stadium mortgage each year and then work out how many season tickets that equates to.

 

You will also need to bear in mind the reduction in season ticket prices.

 

I would expect wage costs to be roughly the same right now as some of the higher paid employees have left and others have arrived.

[SaintRichmond]

Unfortunately it is ML's Club and he can do what he wants.

 

 

But I expect things will get better

 

 

 

IMHO it is better already .... We are Debt Free, which is amazing in itself

 

We do NOT have to sell or get rid of players to balance the books

 

The downside at the moment is that we have a few players that do not WANT to play in Div 1, and are therefore looking elsewhere

 

Once that has happened, Pardew can then bring in some players to compliment what we already have

 

The Biggest " Downside ", is, IMHO, the Fans Expectations

 

We narrowly avoided going to the wall, thanks to Pinnacle ..... and we start in DIVISION 1 ... repeat DIVISION 1 ..... on MINUS 10 points, which is a massive handicap

 

Being in Division 1, we simply cannot ATTRACT the calibre of player that we could when in the Prem, and in the CCC

 

Fans MUST get their heads round the fact that we are going to see some players arrive at St Mary's that we would normally class as "past it", "donkeys" etc etc .......

 

THAT's LIFE IN DIVISION 1

 

Whoever AP brings in, we must give them all 150% Support, to get us off to a winning League Campaign

[up and away]

If he has brought it to make money then he will want to get into the PL.

 

Whats the point of him buying it (remembering he isnt even a fan) just to let it tick over and be self suffiecent?

 

Where do you get this idea he has bought the club to make money? It has to be one of the best proven methods of disposing of money that it's on a par with the methods the BofE use for dispensing of old bank notes.

 

I have heard indirectly from Liebherr that the club has to stand on it's own two feet. I have heard the statements from Pardew regarding what players we can afford to keep, those we can't and what sort of players we are looking at. Everything points to building a team slowly as and when the right player becomes available.

 

Now maybe if the bug bites or we put ourselves into a very good position to jump up a league he may well splash the cash, but that looks the best we can hope for at the present. Just go back and look at how Reading got into the Premier and that looks about the model we shall follow. Something has been lit inside of Liebherr and for that I am truly grateful but if you believe it is to make money, you are well off the mark.

[Guest Dark Sotonic Mills]

Where do you get this idea he has bought the club to make money?

 

That's what he said after he took over...

[Colinjb]

That's what he said after he took over...

 

And if he runs the club like Madejski who's to say he will not.

[Thedelldays]

And if he runs the club like Madejski who's to say he will not.

indeed

 

lets break it down to basic level..

 

lets say he paid £13m for the club

 

lets say he spends £4m to get us out of league 1 and consilidate a position in the CCC

 

lets say he spends a further £8 to gain promotion to the prem

 

that is an outlay of £25m

 

should he sell us then, he would make a farking fortune

[georgeg]

To my mind, not treating the supporters as morons there to sate a cashflow need, not referring to them [us] as customers, not holding up a piece of paper at an AGM claiming that it is a letter congratulating you on the wonderful job you are doing, and not going down the road of employing a fourth-rate, inexperienced coach whose hands are tied and who is told to play only kids, whilst at the same time not bull****ting the fanbase that we are destined for glory......is definitely evidence of doing things more professionally.

 

my thoughts exactly!

[Whitey Grandad]

What's the typical turnover for a club in this league? £8m to £9m ?

[mattyd]

Not being a PLC anymore is there any legal requirement to publish properly audited accounts ? - if not we may never know the answer to your question .

 

There are legal requirements to publish audited accounts at Companies House and these are published for all to see. So we will know but maybe not for up to 18 months

[Northam Girls]

IMHO it is better already .... We are Debt Free, which is amazing in itself

 

We do NOT have to sell or get rid of players to balance the books

 

The downside at the moment is that we have a few players that do not WANT to play in Div 1, and are therefore looking elsewhere

 

Once that has happened, Pardew can then bring in some players to compliment what we already have

 

The Biggest " Downside ", is, IMHO, the Fans Expectations

 

We narrowly avoided going to the wall, thanks to Pinnacle ..... and we start in DIVISION 1 ... repeat DIVISION 1 ..... on MINUS 10 points, which is a massive handicap

 

Being in Division 1, we simply cannot ATTRACT the calibre of player that we could when in the Prem, and in the CCC

 

Fans MUST get their heads round the fact that we are going to see some players arrive at St Mary's that we would normally class as "past it", "donkeys" etc etc .......

 

THAT's LIFE IN DIVISION 1

 

Whoever AP brings in, we must give them all 150% Support, to get us off to a winning League Campaign

 

I wish a lot more people on here would realise that this is absolutely correct and stop expecting miracles.

 

No matter how much we would all like it to be the case the fact remains that less than a month ago we were talking about re-starting as a Conference Team.

 

We survived, thanks to Herr Leibherr, we have a stable, debt free club lets just enjoy that for now and give our support to AP in whomever he manages to bring in. I have every faith he will do his best for us in our current situation and that that will not include big name players at this stage - that's the next dream not this one.

[derry]

Leon Crouch told me the mortgage payment was £2.4m annually.

[SaintRichmond]

Leon Crouch told me the mortgage payment was £2.4m annually.

 

Over Koktails etc .... did he mention whether we still had a Mortgage ????

[lordswoodsaints]

IMHO it is better already .... We are Debt Free, which is amazing in itself

 

We do NOT have to sell or get rid of players to balance the books

 

The downside at the moment is that we have a few players that do not WANT to play in Div 1, and are therefore looking elsewhere

 

Once that has happened, Pardew can then bring in some players to compliment what we already have

 

The Biggest " Downside ", is, IMHO, the Fans Expectations

 

We narrowly avoided going to the wall, thanks to Pinnacle ..... and we start in DIVISION 1 ... repeat DIVISION 1 ..... on MINUS 10 points, which is a massive handicap

 

Being in Division 1, we simply cannot ATTRACT the calibre of player that we could when in the Prem, and in the CCC

 

Fans MUST get their heads round the fact that we are going to see some players arrive at St Mary's that we would normally class as "past it", "donkeys" etc etc .......

 

THAT's LIFE IN DIVISION 1

 

Whoever AP brings in, we must give them all 150% Support, to get us off to a winning League Campaign

 

Sorry I don't agree,to this day our most costliest signing remains rory delap at £4million,not since the signing of keegan nearly 30 years ago have we been able to attract any decent players.our stumbling block since then is that we were not prepared or not able to pay the wages that a decent player commands and IMO this held us back in the prem and ultimately played a big part in our downfall.

 

I admit that league 1 is a completly different ball game,something that we are not used to but something that we need to overcome as quickly as possible.

I know that you all are not going to agree with me and nor do I expect you to,but to push forward we need to get out of this ****ty little league asap and the only way I can see this happening is for ML to dig deep and buy some quality,I'm not talking about prem players or internationals but players who are too good for this league.

Money talks with players and if you pay them well enough they will pull on the shirt of any team,we need a mix of some good old pros and players looking to make a name for themselves and I'm afraid we don't have any of them at the moment.

If we kick around in this league for too long people will lose interest,including ML.

 

If getting out of this league requires that we spend £15-£20k wages per player per week on 2 or 3 players then I think it should happen,especially if those players are free agents and don't require a fee.

 

At the moment as things stand it is going to require a minor miracle just to stay in L1,so how about giving us a fighting chance by spending some money.

 

IMO on the playing side we are in a far worse position than we were at the start of last season,ok we might be debt free,lowe free and have an experienced manager but that will count for nothing if we cannot compete to stay in L1,beleive me,we only have to lose 3 or 4 games on the bounce and we could find ourselves 20+ points adrift.

 

ML and pardew need to pull their fingers out sooner rather than later or we are going to find ourselves in another relegation scrap but the differece this time is it will happen a lot sooner and be near on impossible to get out of.

[SaintRichmond]

Sorry I don't agree,to this day our most costliest signing remains rory delap at £4million,not since the signing of keegan nearly 30 years ago have we been able to attract any decent players.our stumbling block since then is that we were not prepared or not able to pay the wages that a decent player commands and IMO this held us back in the prem and ultimately played a big part in our downfall.

 

I admit that league 1 is a completly different ball game,something that we are not used to but something that we need to overcome as quickly as possible.

I know that you all are not going to agree with me and nor do I expect you to,but to push forward we need to get out of this ****ty little league asap and the only way I can see this happening is for ML to dig deep and buy some quality,I'm not talking about prem players or internationals but players who are too good for this league.

Money talks with players and if you pay them well enough they will pull on the shirt of any team,we need a mix of some good old pros and players looking to make a name for themselves and I'm afraid we don't have any of them at the moment.

If we kick around in this league for too long people will lose interest,including ML.

 

If getting out of this league requires that we spend £15-£20k wages per player per week on 2 or 3 players then I think it should happen,especially if those players are free agents and don't require a fee.

 

At the moment as things stand it is going to require a minor miracle just to stay in L1,so how about giving us a fighting chance by spending some money.

 

IMO on the playing side we are in a far worse position than we were at the start of last season,ok we might be debt free,lowe free and have an experienced manager but that will count for nothing if we cannot compete to stay in L1,beleive me,we only have to lose 3 or 4 games on the bounce and we could find ourselves 20+ points adrift.

 

ML and pardew need to pull their fingers out sooner rather than later or we are going to find ourselves in another relegation scrap but the differece this time is it will happen a lot sooner and be near on impossible to get out of.

 

As you say, I do not entirely agree with you, although I do share you sentiments, and, if it were that easy, I too would say "Just throw money at it"

 

But, IMHO, "throwing money at it ", would be a knee jerk reaction, and does not always work ........ Whilst we were in the Prem it may have worked to keep us up ......... and, in the CCC it may have worked to stave off relegation

 

BUT .... We start in ( another ) NEW League (to us) ...... Division 1 .... which, by definition is NOT as good as the Prem, OR the CCC

 

Completely different tactics are needed

 

IMHO, what we have to get used to is a drop in Quality, with more emphasis on "Route One" .... It will NOT be pretty, but that is what Div 1 is all about

 

IMHO, "Footballers/Ball players" are few and far between in Div 1

[CanadaSaint]

Some people are confusing Profit & Loss and Cash Flow. Profit is the difference between the Club's revenues and expenses; Cash Flow is the difference between the company's inflows and outflows (not all of which are revenues and expenses). For example, concession revenues are a cash inflow but not a profit, because you've still got to pay for the pies you sold and the staff who sold them.

 

Paying off the overdraft and the stadium loan means that we lose the interest payments from our Profit & Loss statement - a saving of maybe $3 million a year.

 

Paying off the overdraft and the stadium loan means that we lose the principle and interest payments from our Cash Flow statement - a saving of maybe $4 million a year (because we weren't really paying down the overdaft anyway).

 

Even though we're in the best cash flow period (season ticket revenues coming in, no 'proper' games being staged) we need to keep the money, along with more that we'll earn along the way - walk-up attendance, concession profits - to fund the entire season.

 

Unless ML is willing to put his hand in his pocket to underwrite a loss (or to fund negative cash flow if we sign players), we're only really about $3 million (in Profit & Loss terms) better off than we were last season - at best.

 

However, we don't have a stadium loan and we don't have an overdraft, so we aren't staring down the barrels of a twelve-bore. We haven't gained much cash but we've lost two lethal 'enemies'.

 

Right now, it looks as though AP is trying to keep the books balanced, but there could be major signings around the corner. We don't know what ML's goals and aspirations are yet.

 

We can still do well if we are run responsibly because the irresponsible option is starting to disappear across the country; the creditors are running scared. It might take time - and more administrations - to get to that point, but it's coming and we're already well set-up for it.

[derry]

Over Koktails etc .... did he mention whether we still had a Mortgage ????

 

Yes we still had a mortgage, apprx £23m.

[eelpie]

Under lowe we were told that to break even we had to have 17k fans in the stadium for every home game,this was to cover the mortgage,overdraft,players wages and any other running costs. As we all know this didn't happen too often and we ended up in admin.

 

Now that all debt has been cleared,I assume that just the basic running costs need to be met,player and staff wages etc

So as we have sold 10k season tickets,say bringing in something like £2-3million is it safe to assume that these basic running costs have now been covered for the season?

 

Imo ML wants the club to stand on it's own two feet (self financing) and obviously doesn't want to go down the Chelsea or man city route, but IMO this is going to be a very difficult thing to maintain if we are stuck in this league.

It's a great effort by the fans to sell 10k (and rising) season tickets,obviously a lot of it is down to the feelgood factor, but what happens next season if we have another crap run?

I can't see that many season tickets being sold next year if this happens.

 

This is all IMO and the figures may not be exact but you get the gist.

 

By buying the club and paying off the mortgage and overdraft, even at cut-price, ML effectively has loaned to himself the cost of this. So presumably he will be intending to balance his own books in due course, by reclaiming the amount of the purchase. So imho the true break even figure would have to take into account the figure he paid.

 

My simplistic math might conclude that if his debt to himself is half of what we previously owed to Aviva/Norwich and Barclays/others was 30 mill and then had to net an average gate of 17,000, we could need at least half of that attendance for ML to break even. I don't think that could be enough though, because ML has no player assets to sell and he has to buy players.

 

But as canadasaint says, we are probably only about £2mill better off without ML paying himself back his own loan to himself. So whichever way we look at it, ML won't have spare cash from attendance money.

 

It would be more than interesting to know what ML's budget for running SFC is.