Red and White Army Posted 30 April, 2012 Share Posted 30 April, 2012 I have finally started to recover from a great weekend, and like many other Saints fans my thoughts have turned to the season ahead - especially how Adkins squad evolution will take place. This lead me to think about how much money we have, and how we are doing financially. Marcus clearly did us a massive favour by taking over, and the money he pumped into the club has doubtless led us to be able to manage successive promotions - along with Adkins and Cortese doing a fine job steering the team and club respectively. The debt into equity swap (basically renouncing the claim from Markus's estate to be able to take his money back) was also a superb statement of intent. However, I am still unsure who our ultimate owner is at the moment. Are we still part of Markus's estate, waiting for re-assignment as his will is executed? Have we already been signed over to someone else - his sisters, a trust or various family members.. does Cortese have any equity ownership or he is just a CEO? If not, is there any date set in the horizon when these affairs should be cleared up? Furthermore, I wonder how sustainably the club is being run. I know we panned West Ham & Poopey for overspending on players but the latest financials show us running a huge 93% wages/revenue, which is completely unsustainable. The good news is that this was before AOC was sold, and promotion to the Premier League changes everything financially. I do suspect Cortese knows what he is doing, but it would be good if we had some more information on how the future lies in terms of who and how we are going to be run.... for peace of mind, if nothing else. Does anyone know any answers to these questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 30 April, 2012 Share Posted 30 April, 2012 We are owned by the estate of Markus, that is actually stated on the official website. Nicola is a trusted colleague and friend of the family and as well as overlooking this investment, Nicola also looks after the Mali Group of businesses. I would imagine that as with any good business person, you are always looking for an opportunity to generate new money - and if an opportunity does come up to sell us, they will gain so much profit - but one thing you can be sure of, we will not be sold to any tom **** or harry. We have very intelligent owners who care about what they've done here and they'd only sell if it was to someone who could take us on even further, I'm sure of that. The loan that Markus put in to us was a non-repayable loan, and it has since been turned into shares - so that debt is just been wiped out. We're in a very, very good position. Now we go into the premier league to gain even more money, and with the development of the academy and staplewood - that will also create more income in the long term. I'd go as far to say that we're probably one of the best run clubs in the country at the moment. We have significant backing and people behind the scenes who know what they're doing, we were very lucky to land the owner we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red and White Army Posted 30 April, 2012 Author Share Posted 30 April, 2012 When will the estate of Marcus be disbursed to the people he left the various pieces to in his will? On the face of it, I agree we look in a great position - but without knowing the financials behind it we can not be sure. Chelsea and Man City are doing fine on the pitch but are not being run sustainably. Our dream friends down the road were not either. The last set of financials showed we were in no way being run sustainably either. I suspect this will have changed or will change, but impossible to know for sure - isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerBadger Posted 30 April, 2012 Share Posted 30 April, 2012 Look at Coventry, their owners have invested a similar amount over albeit a slightly longer time - we are very well placed, with diligent and intelligent owners and I expect us to become some sort of benchmark in the coming years what with the new rules coming into place, the futures bright............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red and White Army Posted 1 May, 2012 Author Share Posted 1 May, 2012 How much have the Coventry owners invested? How much has Markus invested? I am curious to know. You say we have diligent owners - but nobody has any idea who our owners actually are, other than the intangible "estate of Markus". We criticised Poopey fans for not asking the right questions when they were on the path to ruin, but seems nobody here is asking any questions at all. I don't think we're on a path to ruin, but I wouldn't be able to confidently assert that - we're relying on faith, not facts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Saint Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 How much have the Coventry owners invested? How much has Markus invested? I am curious to know. You say we have diligent owners - but nobody has any idea who our owners actually are, other than the intangible "estate of Markus". We criticised Poopey fans for not asking the right questions when they were on the path to ruin, but seems nobody here is asking any questions at all. I don't think we're on a path to ruin, but I wouldn't be able to confidently assert that - we're relying on faith, not facts. Well they converted £33m from debt to equity, so I guess that is your answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadgerBadger Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 How much have the Coventry owners invested? How much has Markus invested? I am curious to know. You say we have diligent owners - but nobody has any idea who our owners actually are, other than the intangible "estate of Markus". We criticised Poopey fans for not asking the right questions when they were on the path to ruin, but seems nobody here is asking any questions at all. I don't think we're on a path to ruin, but I wouldn't be able to confidently assert that - we're relying on faith, not facts. Coventry £35-£40 since 2007 - goes to show what bad management and decisions can achieve, good piece about them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17817552 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Mikie Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 I do remember reading somewhere that we will now have to shell out an additional £4million to a 'creditor' as a result of our promotion to the Premier League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 I do remember reading somewhere that we will now have to shell out an additional £4million to a 'creditor' as a result of our promotion to the Premier League. Aviva Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Mikie Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 Aviva Right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank's cousin Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 When will the estate of Marcus be disbursed to the people he left the various pieces to in his will? On the face of it, I agree we look in a great position - but without knowing the financials behind it we can not be sure. Chelsea and Man City are doing fine on the pitch but are not being run sustainably. Our dream friends down the road were not either. The last set of financials showed we were in no way being run sustainably either. I suspect this will have changed or will change, but impossible to know for sure - isn't it? Thing is I dont believe we are actually that far off... or certainly wont be when this years figures come out. Remeber that 33 mil figure INCLUDES the original purchase price of around 13-14 mil, + the initial remedial work on infrastructure etc. So you factor that in an it probaly means a shortfall of around 16-17 mil over the first 3 years 5-6 mil a year, before you factor in teh revenue increase this year of the Oxo sale - so its not been a bad investment! We have no idea how much 'Provision' Markus made for the club, whether that 33 mil is it, or whether there is more that would cover the Staplewood investmnet and whilst it would be nice to know, its not in the clubs interests to let our 'buying power' into teh public domain. I do not believe we will se huge spending in th prem... and am gald we wont. it will be measured as it was the last 3 seasons. Will it be enough to keep us up? Who knows, but I think we will see a sustainable financial policy which is ultimately the most important thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvaughanwilliams Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 I read some of the pieces by David Conn on the Guardian about Ken Bates' "contentious" ownership of Leeds and in the articles he discussed the different levels of disclosure of ownership in the Premiership and Football League (last para here ). In the Football League, you don't have to disclose all owners, in the Premier League, you do. Any beneficial owner with 10% or more of the shares has to be publicly disclosed. I don't know when it will be disclosed, but it will be made clear soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint137 Posted 1 May, 2012 Share Posted 1 May, 2012 I'm sure the management won't complain but finishing the 5-year plan ahead of schedule puts us in a slightly tricky position financially. I would think that they would have wanted the Academy & Staplewood fully up to Prem quality before getting there, so that we can fund ourselves by not having to buy expensive players (i.e. we will be using our Academy graduates instead). There's no reason why we shouldn't produce more Bales, Walcotts, & Oxos, difference being that if we are in the Prem we can afford to keep them. So I think further investment will be needed to ensure we stay up for long enough until we can be self-sustaining off the back of the Academy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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