Thetownend.com

In the euphoria of yesterday massive credit must go to Jeremy and the board for the support PDC has received and the pair of them for making our club proud again.

It would be very easy to forget that under Paolo we have had a tremendous turnover of players, and this costs a lot of money.

Indeed it has been an expensive season in many ways. Lest we not forget that relegation has cost us £300k, now I'm not sure if that is money from the FL or an estimate on overall revenue.

What is costly is staying in this division, getting out at the first attempt was is paramount and that in one way or another is costly. You have to speculate to accumulate.

So let's just revue where we are.

Gates are good. 2nd round Coca Cola, area final JPT, fourth round FA cup all an improvement on last year. Advertising and sponsorship also seem more buoyant.

All going to plan me thinks.

So relegation was a cunning plan to increase our revenue streams!  :hmmm:

Is that a question or a statement?

Good question.

Had an interesting conversation with a largely non-football supporting mate today. He was giving me serious fucking grief about us being the Man C of L2, acusing us of throwing wads of cash around and trying to buy up talent.

Thinking about it, it does make me wonder a bit how the board are funding this seasons massive splash of cash in the drive to get us out of L2, if that is indeed the case - we might be winging it for next to fuck-all for all I know.

I suspect PDC and his staff wont be cheap though, nor will some of the players we've brought in, let alone the transfer fee's already paid out in the summer and rumours of six-figure bids being made on Constable and Rooney in the last few days.

Are we stacking up any substantial loans that will have to be paid back at some later point? Or are we maybe using our increased revenue / turnover to fund it?

I'm loving Wrays' reign as Chairman, but this seasons spending seems on the face of it to be way beyond Fitton's previously 'safe' way of doing business - keep a tight ship, flog players to balance the books, take a punt on rookies etc. Total opposite really, so how come the apparent sea-change spending mentallity of what is pretty much the same board as before, with just a change of the Chairmans hat?

Not wishing to piss on the parade. Loving the excitement etc, just wondering, like.

Who knows where the money is coming from. We spent a fair bit last season as well although we did sell players which meant we actually made more than we spent. Maybe that money is being used for the bids? In all fairness most of our signings have been free except Connell, Smith (he was only 30k anyway), Magera and Foderingham. The rest we didn't pay for. As for wages i'm sure now Clarke, Benyon and Timlin have gone we're probably within the 55% cap and as our attendances are decent I don't see this as much of an issue.

I guess there is also money made from the cup runs and possibly more to be made as well (fingers crossed). Crowds have been good. I don't think we've just thrown money about willy nilly.

Any transfer fees both in and of the club are surely spread over a couple of years so we'll still be due money from Burnley and we wont be paying for new signings in full

Let's not forget that we got rid of alot of high earners last year.Prutton,Douglas,Sheehans wages would cover about 9 of the players we have signed.When you look at what we have spent to what we have bought in(austin,timlin,benyon) and the high wages gone it looks alot better.

Did I read that the paymnet for reaching the 4th round of the cup was £74,000, that no doubt would fund a transfer on it's own.

Almost, just under £70,000 in prize money - plus all those extra hot dog takings on the Stratton Bank!!

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFACup/FACupPages/Prize-Fund-Payments

Plus the takings, i.e. 7,000 people x £15

Less costs & less Wigan's share & the FA';s share

Not to forget our run jpt with every round you win .

How do you work that one out?  7,000 @ £15, 3,000 @ £10 and another 3,000 @ Kid's rates would be a closer shout!  Stratton Bank was sponsored for the day, hospitality was sold out for the day including the area normally given over to the Wigan fans, a lot more merchandise/food sales and I think you will find it was still a profitable day for the club.  And let's not forget the wage cap in this division is a % of total turnover for the club, not just the takings on the gate.

Cup Receipts are split 50:50 between the two sides aren't they?

My understanding of the FA Cup is that the two clubs take 40% each and the FA get 20% to put in the winnings pot.

Really? Even though Wigan only brought 500 fans or so? Hardly seems fair.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/fa-cup-countdown-the-luck-of-the-draw-430657.html

45% per club, 10% goes to the FA

IF we got a tie at Old Trafford we'd not complain about a 45% return :).

It's money we wouldn't normally have plus home advantage. On the flip side of your point an away tie at a big club would be good money for small clubs getting drawn there. Don't think it's unfair personally

That's the gate takings and if memory serves me correctly we also have to take the opponents travelling/overnight expenses and referee's/linos fees and expenses out before the split!!  That is why it is really financially better to get a big club away at times!!!