We'll still bring players in this Summer. Correct me if I'm wrong here as you're the expert, but ignoring the EFL loan which I honestly think will have flexibility in it's payment terms, the £7/£8m loss of revenue doesn't mean we need to recoup that for players - not unless we spend exactly the same as this season. Our expenditure in terms of wage bill might account for £2m/£3m of that? And then player sales might reach £4m. Then you're back at the same level but potentially looking at commercial gaps due to season tickets and sponsorship? Speaking out loud here not insisting I'm right. I think some people keep suggesting we need to receive £8m in sales but I don't think that is the case.
Bang on Farnham, there are certain posters on here who hammered him about the 11k comment and yet we all know they would have done exactly the same had he said the target was 6k or 8k. Some just love finding fault with everything that he says. I'm not a massive fan of Khaled's and he has made quite a few **** ups but let's give him the summer to see what he can do!
To be fair, I wasn’t talking specifics. Both clubs appear to be in a mess and I don’t believe in coincidence…
Taken on it's own the 11k comment would probably not be that much of an issue. However it followed other comments like relegation not even being on his radar, the total mess of communication over the closure of the West Stand and taken in its entirety it's not a good look. He needs to start getting things right in the next few months.
Ah right. I thought I'd completely missed something. I thought you were referring to these particular 2 being part of the 80 percent of owning us
I'll try to set out below in short why I think the issue runs much deeper. Figures to 31 May 2021 - The club posted a loss of £4.3m the asset position had deteriorated to £1.4m. The intangible value of the players on balance sheet recorded as £4.9m with a negative current asset balance of £1.7m and a further £1.9m (EFL loan) due the following year. Roll this forward a year, for what the club claim to have lost in revenue from COVID it was more than made up with CJRS payments and and insurance claim in the year to 2021. Taking an optimistic position the club will have lost something around £3m to £4m this year. Likely position May 2022 - net asset position of £-2.6m. So going in to a year in League one with a conservative pay roll of £10m likely losses around £5m. To see the club through the year there will need to be sales of around £8m brought in. That would not leave the club in a healthy position just surviving.
Totally accept the general point about the correlation between performance and attendance, but there's a different factor at play for many supporters at present, and one that is uniquely linked to the current ownership. There are a number on the BBS who've stated that results aren't a factor in their thinking (and many are those who've been attending for years in whatever division we found ourselves in). Some posters, and I stress that you are not one of them, are diminishing this with comments to the effect of "you'll be back soon enough" based on the wider assumption that a few wins, or a decent League One campaign, will see everyone rushing back and wishing they'd not missed out on all the fun. I doubt that any of us taking the decision not to renew are happy about doing so. For many, like myself, it will be a real wrench to break away from something that has been a fixed part of our lives and routines for so long, but one that we all feel is merited for our own reasons. Turning up now for potential relegation 6-pointers that we've already paid for is a very different decision to making a repeat investment to fund a failed and absent ownership group who may well decide to use those funds for their own benefit.
My point here though is always that the BBS isn't very representative. What was seen in terms of less empty seats against Reading is a better indicator, in my mind anyway, of what would turn the dial the most on bringing supporters back. That's important matches, that mean something, with a team playing with effort, passion and some form of quality. The performance there in terms of sitting back, and what followed at Millwall, will probably have put more fans in the 'goodbye season ticket' bracket. We're definitely losing a section of supporters because of everything you've said. It's awful. But I think only 25% of those who don't renew, wouldn't return if we were flying high in League One with a good brand of football. It wouldn't take much success, accompanied by positive PR and local initiatives, to be hitting 10,000 next season eventually. That's got to be the aim for the club, and then alongside that figure out the mess in regards to this feeling towards the multi-club ownership, the £750k, etc. It's a big job whichever way you look at it.
I wonder if there are any published statistics which can compare our home support numbers in the Championship, versus League 1. And how our position in each league affects home attendance.
Good question. What I can tell you is we had 12,800 there against Oxford under Stendel, 14,800 vs. Fulham under Stendel, and 13,100 vs. Brentford under Morais. So the last game in the Champ, the first game in League One, and the first game back in the Champ.
Mmm....those games are liable to attract supporters, or perhaps not attract them, more than the bread and butter mid season mid table etc. crowds. Is there a table somewhere that cuts out the away attendances? Or even just gives an average home attendance over the years? They seem to have been counting away supporters for ages, so it might exist somewhere as a separate "known" . I suppose it's the kind of statistic that our CEO ought to be dredging up and studying before he plans to feed (and ale please) the 11000
Thought the numbers were pretty interesting as all big games, for different reasons, technically in different divisions/moments. I just managed to find something quickly that let you pick out individual games. Something will exist somewhere.......like the below.
Bigger crowds being up near the top in League 1 last time, than actually being in the Championship the last two comparable seasons. Plus presumably there were bigger away followings in the Championship too. just goes to show... it's not all crowd doom and gloom a division below.
Crowd numbers make a small impact on finances. An extra 10000 season ticket holders means around £2.7m. That’s how many season tickets will need to be sold to pay the purchase price outstanding. Dropping down to league one costs around £6m revenue. There is an offset on a reduction in player salaries. Last time the reduction was around £2.8m. So half the reduction was broadly covered. To cover the rest crowds would need to increase by around 12000. That’s the reality of the impact on finances of relegation.
