The "it could actually be worse" thread ....

[RobertT]

Colchester... wow.

People in glass houses.......

Colchester are underwritten by a profitable business and are included as part of that Group of companies.  They are all essentially designed to feed Colchester as they are owned by the same chap.  It's a more complicated version of FGR.

Our combined losses over the past 15 years would be in the same ballpark - Black wrote off nearly 10m from memory, and I think our reserved losses are 13m since that reset moment.  That equates to losing 1m per year since Black walked away.

Again though, losses do not equal cash.  Football clubs have a habit of trading at a loss and finding ways to stay solvent, usually via someone chucking in loans, or capital, or converting loans to capital.

[hefty toe]

Gives us a good idea of how much Power was fleecing us all for on a yearly basis then. Must have been at least half a million quid a year to him and then more to his cronies.

I can remember being told by a mate of a mate in the tap that I was paranoid and we had nothing to be worried about with Power. I do hope I run in to him soon and remind him of that conversation.

Not sure that's quite right. The best thing that's happened since Morfuni's ownership is the large rise in attendances averaging 8,000-9,000. We weren't typically getting those attendances under Power (unless we were doing very well on the pitch).  I'd really like to know what gate the club broadly needs to get to break even.

[RobertT]

Not sure that's quite right. The best thing that's happened since Morfuni's ownership is the large rise in attendances averaging 8,000-9,000. We weren't typically getting those attendances under Power (unless we were doing very well on the pitch).  I'd really like to know what gate the club broadly needs to get to break even.

Well, we made a profit in 2021/22, which is the last set of published accounts, so not much less than that seasons average I guess.

[RobertT]

Oh, and Power made some losses, but the accounts are much less detailed under his reign.  It certainly looked like loans were being repaid, to him (Standing fighting to get some of that because he says it came from him originally) and Power also charged some operational costs to the business, which he had to add into his last accounts when it all went to court and was about to come out.  Power also got "lucky' with the Ritchie sell on coming through during his tenure, and also leveraged his football know how in getting some decent transfer fees in his earlier years.

[ThreeDrawsMentality]

Not sure that's quite right. The best thing that's happened since Morfuni's ownership is the large rise in attendances averaging 8,000-9,000. We weren't typically getting those attendances under Power (unless we were doing very well on the pitch).  I'd really like to know what gate the club broadly needs to get to break even.

I recall Fitting saying back around 07/08 time that gates of 7500 were required to create a budget of £2.5mn. At the time this was a top half L1 budget but those days are long gone. That was also based upon cheaper season and matchday tickets.

[Bob's Orange]

Not sure that's quite right. The best thing that's happened since Morfuni's ownership is the large rise in attendances averaging 8,000-9,000. We weren't typically getting those attendances under Power (unless we were doing very well on the pitch).  I'd really like to know what gate the club broadly needs to get to break even.

That profit season was the season where we scrabbled together our squad last minute, on what was (I think) embargo wages.  Due to the nature of the good feeling around the club, our home attendances were higher than break even. Add to that we had the televised play-off matches as well as the money-spinning FA Cup game with Man City. Because of the embargo wages I'm guessing our budget was pretty low that season?

[Mooneyraker]

We were in the 5/6,000 area in the darkest of the Power days.

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Colchester... wow.

You'd think maybe a newish stadium they might be paying for but if they're still losing £2m a year.....big yikes.

[Bob's Orange]

This example is almost certainly in the wrong thread, as everything they seem to do is very good, but the setup at Exeter is almost something we should aspire to. They've been a fan run club for 20 years now and nobody has over 10% of shares as they are purely Trust-owned.

https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/news/2023/september/trust-post-may/#:~:text=The%20Exeter%20City%20Supporters%27%20Trust%20is%20the%20majority%20shareholder%20of,footballers%20through%20our%20academy%20system.

https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/company-details/

Out of interest I perused their accounts and was mightily impressed to see a highly detailed, transparent set of accounts that appears to go over and above what is required. They must be one of a very unique set of football clubs in this country that regularly turn a profit.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00097808/filing-history

[horlock07]

This example is almost certainly in the wrong thread, as everything they seem to do is very good, but the setup at Exeter is almost something we should aspire to. They've been a fan run club for 20 years now and nobody has over 10% of shares as they are purely Trust-owned.

https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/news/2023/september/trust-post-may/#:~:text=The%20Exeter%20City%20Supporters%27%20Trust%20is%20the%20majority%20shareholder%20of,footballers%20through%20our%20academy%20system.

https://www.exetercityfc.co.uk/company-details/

Out of interest I perused their accounts and was mightily impressed to see a highly detailed, transparent set of accounts that appears to go over and above what is required. They must be one of a very unique set of football clubs in this country that regularly turn a profit.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00097808/filing-history

I fear we would need to go down a bloody great big hole to get to this point, IIRC they were up shit creek with barely a paddle or canoe and were basically gifted the club by the majority shareholder as it was that or the wall - didn't some of the previous Directors end up doing time? The point for this for us would probably have been either when Seton Wills went (but Diamond Mike would never have allowed it), when the fan base seemed pretty united and organised or when Black went?

With the attitude of much of our fan base towards the Trust (and each other) can you imagine the fissures such a thing would cause, it would be like the Judean Popular Peoples Front scene in Monty Python.  

[Bob's Orange]

yeah that's very true Horlock, in 1994 they very nearly went out of business and sold the stadium to Beazer for 650k although I think their local council managed to get them out of that particular hole.

I just thought it was an interesting case study of what could be done without being bankrolled by wealthy backers - although I am sure they do have some in their Trust.

[fuzzy]

Splitters!

[Mooneyraker]

I fear we would need to go down a bloody great big hole to get to this point, IIRC they were up shit creek with barely a paddle or canoe and were basically gifted the club by the majority shareholder as it was that or the wall - didn't some of the previous Directors end up doing time? The point for this for us would probably have been either when Seton Wills went (but Diamond Mike would never have allowed it), when the fan base seemed pretty united and organised or when Black went?

With the attitude of much of our fan base towards the Trust (and each other) can you imagine the fissures such a thing would cause, it would be like the Judean Popular Peoples Front scene in Monty Python.  

They also essentially had a lottery win with Ollie Watkins which has helped. He's netted them almost £6m over his sale to Brentford and onward move to Villa.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

They also essentially had a lottery win with Ollie Watkins which has helped. He's netted them almost £6m over his sale to Brentford and onward move to Villa.

And drawing at home with Man Utd in the FA Cup and earning a replay at Old Trafford.  Think that gave them the funds to get back in the EFL.

[Bob's Orange]

They also essentially had a lottery win with Ollie Watkins which has helped. He's netted them almost £6m over his sale to Brentford and onward move to Villa.

He wasn't the only one. Ethan Ampadu springs to mind but there are others. I haven't done any research but was down to them focusing more on their academy?