mwj Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 23 minutes ago, MikeMcKenna said: I have been trying to understand our accounts v similar clubs as in isolation it is very difficult to fathom why our profitability is so poor when others make money, do better with less etc. According to 2014/15 accounts for us v West Ham same period, a simple illustration of some huge differences in the way the respective clubs are run: AVFC staff numbers FT 535 PT 1084, Total: 1619 WHU staff numbers FT 257 PT 334, Total: 591 All numbers include players... Top Director £1.2m v £646K Quite staggering that we have more than double the number of full time staff and three times as many Part Timers. There may be some valid reasons for part of difference but the variation is huge. Yet WHU attendances are on a par and they had £5 m higher turnover than us. They are currently more stable/successful than us. Doesn't make sense Ok the general staffing thing is an issue but I don't think its the main problem. 300 staff @ ~30k each = £9m ... not ideal but really its only 1 transfer fee from Ligue 1 every year I think the real problem is A) player wages and the lack of growth in commercial revenue and match day which has been stagnate since at LEAST 2009. Our wages to turnover is 2nd highest in the league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted March 21, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) 32 minutes ago, mwj said: Ok the general staffing thing is an issue but I don't think its the main problem. 300 staff @ ~30k each = £9m ... not ideal but really its only 1 transfer fee from Ligue 1 every year I think the real problem is A) player wages and the lack of growth in commercial revenue and match day which has been stagnate since at LEAST 2009. Our wages to turnover is 2nd highest in the league I partly agree but don't think any of these factors can be discounted at all. They all accumulate to make the clubs running costs much higher than can be afforded given our turnover/profitability. We are a club that has gone from one extreme to another. During MONs time we had one of the smallest squads, who were on average paid quite highly, now we have one of the largest squads who are on average paid a lot less individually with a number of exceptions. Since that time also our non playing staff numbers and costs have risen significantly even allowing for Fox's massive salary So we have A commercial/admin staff that increased in numbers/cost to deliver stagnant (in reality falling) revenues from attendance/sponsorship and commercial. B a larger and more expensive playing/coaching staff have delivered poorer performance. One of the biggest issues imo is quantity over quality. During the 2008-2015 period other clubs who earn significantly less from non TV revenues have done a lot better financially and in terms of team performance. We really are a total shambles. Unfortunately now that we are going down to the championship the savings needed are huge. As much as I feel sorry for the non playing staff, the cuts off the pitch will continue. The West Ham comparison shows that despite being in London their operating costs are a lot less than ours which highlights the problems we have. Edited March 21, 2016 by MikeMcKenna 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philgetaway Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Decent analysis as always by the swiss ramble. Interesting that Lerner is averaging the same money spent as when we were in the top 6. Highlights even more how badly the club has been run, paying off managers, and out of their depth CEOs. If he keeps up the investment, and the new board seems to click, maybe there will be some good days to come? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 If he keeps up the investment, and the new board seems to click, maybe there will be some good days to come? Trouble is, he's maintained the level of spending in the past 5 years while overseeing one of the most shocking downgrades in squad quality ever seen in the premier league. To pull us back, even to get us to mid-table quality is going to need quite a big increase in spending now, IMO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philgetaway Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 2 hours ago, briny_ear said: Trouble is, he's maintained the level of spending in the past 5 years while overseeing one of the most shocking downgrades in squad quality ever seen in the premier league. To pull us back, even to get us to mid-table quality is going to need quite a big increase in spending now, IMO. Yes fair point. Makes it even more shocking really. He's wasted some serious cash on this, and made a lot of average players and staff, multi millionaires. Here's the link again as it didn't work last time. http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/aston-villa-this-house-is-circus.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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