5waller5

I kinda hope you’re right and I’m being too pessimistic, I can certainly see your points. I don’t think it’s a mis translation though, more a threat / reality check to AOT, that if we need to shut down the core business because we can’t make money then so be it, so don’t be unreasonable in negotiations! Post 2023 figures aren’t really available are they… but anecdotally I know a few people living in Thailand, and follow a lot of bloggers (I’m considering moving out there as I love the place). This year they are all saying there’s a steep drop off in Chinese visitors that’s made the tourist areas / restaurants / bars etc seem empty. The post Covid bounce has bounced back down it seems.

I was reminded of an expression recently that really summarises the position of KP / AOT. ”If you owe the bank £1000, and you can’t pay, you have a problem. If you owe the bank £10m and can’t pay, the bank have a problem” I suspect the numbers are large enough for it to be AOT’s problem in that scenario

I agree, their only negotiating strength is “we’ve been doing this for years and were successful before. Give it to someone else and they’ll be worse and you’ll be owed more and have another void” However, I’d imagine AOT look over at Singapore / Kuala Lumpur etc as local rivals with retail offerings that make KP look like a market stall and see it as a big opportunity to take it up a league. Depends on whether AOT are driven by fear or ambition and how much scope they have for short term pain

I agree that, at the moment, they’re looking at the non Bangkok airports for the negotiation. I’d suspect that to be a negotiation strategy and them tackling the thin end of the wedge first. ”Removing ourselves entirely from the industry” is very clear in its meaning. It definitely does not mean “we’ll close the smaller shops” I’d read it as a threat, to AOT, as to what happens if negotiations fail, the unspoken “the shutters will go down on all duty free shops including Bangkok, which will bring you down too”

Our trajectory is steep decline. We lose around £90m per season and are selling all our best players to keep the losses that low. Just how bad does it need to be for you to worry???

It’s not entirely misleading at all. KP’s business is almost entirely made up of duty free shops at Thai airports. They’ve fallen behind on the rent for those shops, and are now in the position of renegotiating the rent for those shops or breaching their contract and walking away from them. Their landlord (AOT) only makes a thin profit, and without KP’s rent makes a big loss, so room for negotiation is small, and probably not enough for both sides to make it work. However, if they don’t have an alternative retailer lined up they may have to share the suffering with KP. From KP’s perspective they will lose virtually all of their turnover without duty free. They’ll go from a $2bn (ish, and highly variable in recent years) to one of <$100m (I don’t know the turnover of their other businesses but they seem to be vanity hotels / teams / projects that are also largely loss making). KP are negotiating for the future of their business. Walking away is likely to lead to a loss of rent claim from AOT, so isn’t really an option without also going into liquidation (or whatever the equivalent process is in Thailand). To say it’s been blown out of proportion is misleading.

How embarrassing that would be though

Indeed, and that’s exactly what’s led to all the news stories - They’ve fallen behind on the rent and now seek to renegotiate it.

Wherever you’ve read that they have got it wrong. That’s group annual turnover of Walmart!!! I’d suggest they meant million not billion, or that it was in Baht not $

I agree, It’s a tricky bump in the road for his business for sure, but any competent CEO evolves the business to cope, maximises revenues from the remaining footfall, cuts costs, finds new markets etc etc. The KP “leadership” carry on where Vichai left them and hope that things improve without any activity on their part. Their inertia is evident here and in Thailand, and seems typical of a lot of inherited successful businesses that unfortunately eventually fail through lack of change

Worrying times for KP. It rather seems that Top has no ability to run a business, which is a worry for us.

This is absolutely the case, but defies all logic again from the Board. With manager / points uncertainty, and relegated 3 months ago, we should have cleared out a good number of players now… there’s no manager to kick off that you’ve sold his favourite and we finally get rid of enough players to give the manager some funds and squad places to sculpt his own team (alongside scouting recruitment dept). Our laziness / lack of activity is so frustrating, we operate like a council

His trainers??

Yup, me too - hence the state of the club shop merch! They’ve made $Billions out of overpriced dried mango (their equivalent of a big Toblerone in European airports in the ‘90s). But times move on, customers become more savvy, and the halcyon days of the big Toblerone / dried mango are fading!!

As the nice, but dim, son of a legendary father

Tourism didn’t get back to pre-covid levels but was rising and was almost back - this year it has crashed, bars / restaurants / beaches all near to empty. The Chinese trade has almost disappeared overnight. KP certainly isn’t a well run business, they just rely on their monopoly and massive footfall to sell overpriced tat … but the footfall isn’t there and will be hitting hard

The way I see this situation is that the decline in Chinese visitors to Thailand is hitting many businesses in tourism hard. The airport owners and duty free operators being right at the bleeding edge of that trend. It seems KP have appointed a friendly and familiar face to AOT to negotiate with them. He’ll have some more creative solutions knowing the limits of both parties. AOT have to follow stock market rules and they are simply doing so with this notification. Nothing in there seems to indicate there’s more to it than we already know. Lowering the rent / pitch fee is their way of staying profitable, the bigger problem comes if visitor numbers continue to decline further / for longer

Because his incompetence made those loans necessary

<Top tears off mini print from card machine> “That’s great Mr X, Your credit card has been accepted and your payment has gone through. Here’s your receipt or as we call it internally Due Dilligence Paperwork”

Yeah it seems odd that they think that… although sacking Ange seems bizarre! Maybe too much Board involvement, where we suffer the opposite problem. Fine margins at the top end I guess…. A new stadium, European trophy, consistent top 8 finishes, profitability aren’t enough …. They should try being above them on the pitch for 5+ years and then successive premier league relegations…. They’d quickly realise how well they’re run

No, they’re not, because they’re not run by a child and a PE teacher. The cause of a demise, our financial woes, our lack of action in any area of the club, is down to the lack of leadership. Like him or loath him Levy at least drives his club forward

This really isn’t an average example of a season though is it? We were relegated 6+ weeks ago. It’s not that we flirted with relegation or underperformed slightly and considered we need an improvement. For context; Big Ange had two semi finals, won a cup final, celebrated for a fortnight and got sacked in the time since our inevitable relegation was mathematically confirmed. I’d also suspect Spurs will have a new manager before we hear anything from the muppets that run our club.

I’ve really not noticed that pace you have - but if it’s effortless maybe it’s one of those languid running styles that’s deceptively quick - I’ll watch him more closely!! If he has got that pace then even more reason to play him through the middle?? I just don’t see him having a trick to get past his full back, but his shooting is ok, he’s strong enough, quick enough (especially given the above) and determined enough. It’s a lot harder to find a striker than a winger so conversion may be an answer to the budget question

So you simply put him on gardening leave until July &nbsp

Personally I’d like them to be saying something… even if it’s: ”Relegation is a huge disappointment to us all. The change in league and the financial impact that has upon the club gives us much to think about. We’re collecting our thoughts and making plans for promotion next year. Further updates aren’t practical until after the official change in league status happens on 6th June. All fans can rest assured that we share your frustration and are examining all aspects of the football club to ensure sustained success in the future. Enjoy your break, we’ll all be refreshed by mid August” Just a simple “we can’t say much until admin dates have passed but be reassured we’re working on it”