King Power Out

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Our losses, whilst they are significant sums - they’ve been between £20 - £90 million a year - the Top’s families reported net worth is around £2.6 billlion, so those amounts remain in a sustainable position for them financially.

 

And I’d say if there was a party actively interested in buying the club - they’d would have let themselves known during this fan unrest.

 

They don’t have to wait for Top to put the club up for sale to initiate a deal.

 

£2.6bn in assets, very little of that is liquid cash. Given KP has struggled recently Top’s extremely expensive and unsuccessful side project isn’t going to be funded indefinitely.

 

The club has lost about £400m under his watch, there won’t be any low interest loans from KP anymore and they won’t convert anymore debt into equity. 
 

Its already unsustainable and the fact the headcount hasn’t shrunk at all in non-core areas proves he just has his head in the sand.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

Just now, The Year Of The Fox said:

So they’re not borrowing money from next years parachute payment?

 

Or have taken loans out based on future PL TV rights? 

The club has borrowed money yes - but there’s been no suggestion the club hasn’t maintained it’s repayments on those loans.
 

I believe the last batch of debt to equity swap made by King Power was £124 million in January 2025 - so I don’t believe the underlying balance sheet of the club is a problem.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

4 minutes ago, Stadt said:

£2.6bn in assets, very little of that is liquid cash. Given KP has struggled recently Top’s extremely expensive and unsuccessful side project isn’t going to be funded indefinitely.

 

The club has lost about £400m under his watch, there won’t be any low interest loans from KP anymore and they won’t convert anymore debt into equity. 
 

Its already unsustainable and the fact the headcount hasn’t shrunk at all in non-core areas proves he just has his head in the sand.

Why not? 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

11 minutes ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

So they’re not borrowing money from next years parachute payment?

 

Or have taken loans out based on future PL TV rights? 

As do a lot of football clubs.

 

This is much more to do with needing liquid funds up front for heavy spend periods - like transfer windows.

 

TV money and transfer fees will come in tranches across the year, so borrowing the money allows you to get that cash up front.

 

And you know - leveraging future income is a common business practice across any business - it’s not a strange thing to do.

[Stadt]

19 minutes ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Why not? 

Because they keep losing substantial amounts of money. They’ve made a loss in 4/5 of the last sets of accounts. Top was sidelined in the business so now the new (astute) CEO isn’t going to be interested in supporting Top’s unsuccessful folly.

 

If we get relegated we’re going to have significantly lower income and still have several loans to pay back. Given we rack up extraordinary losses in the PL with more competent people in the building it’s going to grisly when we run out of family silver e.g Fatawu

[accessory]

6 hours ago, Spanner73 said:

Vardy was right King Powers Shi**
Vardy was right King Powers Shi**
 

Vardy was right King Powers Shi**
Vardy was right King Powers Shi**

The same Vardy who Vichai forked out for to bring to the club when no other league club (at least in the top two divisions) would touch him?

 

The same Vardy who gave the word for King Power to sack several managers during his time clear, and they duly complied?

 

And the same Vardy who got King Power to fund his wife's doomed court case?

 

Without them, he'd be propping up a bar somewhere in Sheffield, drunkenly mumbling how he "could have been a contender".

 

He is the last person on the planet who will call KP out.

[Sky Blues]

7 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

60% of relevant turnover is permitted on player expenditure in Leagues One and Two under the “Salary Cost Management Protocol.”

 

That could be difficult for us - I recall Wrexham and Birmingham had bumper sponsorship deals that helped them with their spending when down there.

 

We don’t have that.

As I said it depends on what your owner can afford to give to the club he owns. 

 

But League 2 rules are different to League 1. Only 50% is allowed in League 2.

[Sky Blues]

5 hours ago, Corky said:

We shouldn't need to overspend at that level. Sheffield Wednesday will have new ownership but uncertainty, we will have the biggest crowds should we start well, comfortably the biggest profile and the better players at that level will surely be attracted to us without breaking the bank?

 

The issue we have is the idea of progressing on reduced costs and sensible practice is long gone at this club.

It's not as simple as that. Can you get rid of your players earning too much in the Championship if the worse does happen? Your TV money would drastically be reduced as well. Only being able to spend 60% of your income on player expenses would soon be taken up with just 1 overpaid waste of space of a player. And without a new owner a lot of your supporters won't be turning up next season. 

[Sky Blues]

5 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Our losses, whilst they are significant sums - they’ve been between £20 - £90 million a year - the Top’s families reported net worth is around £2.6 billlion, so those amounts remain in a sustainable position for them financially.

 

And I’d say if there was a party actively interested in buying the club - they’d would have let themselves known during this fan unrest.

 

They don’t have to wait for Top to put the club up for sale to initiate a deal.

 

If you looked at my family as a whole you would say we have quite a bit. But if any of our family was squandering lots of money the others wouldn't be handing over what they have to that family member. 

[LCFCJohn]

8 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Our losses, whilst they are significant sums - they’ve been between £20 - £90 million a year - the Top’s families reported net worth is around £2.6 billlion, so those amounts remain in a sustainable position for them financially.

 

And I’d say if there was a party actively interested in buying the club - they’d would have let themselves known during this fan unrest.

 

They don’t have to wait for Top to put the club up for sale to initiate a deal.

 

What fan unrest? The reaction to our sharp decline from the fanbase has been and continues to be completely pathetic. Most are actively happy with how things are going and Aiyawatt/KP as more important than the club.

 

If another owner came in and didn’t miraculously sort us out, you know they’d all be on that new owners case saying how we should have been careful what we wished for etc etc.

 

Not just financially, but from this perspective as well, it absolutely makes sense for any interested parties to sit back, not jump in now and bide their time. Waiting until we fall into administration will be much more logical as they will get us cheaper and the reputation of KP will be in the gutter with more people by then. Don’t underestimate the latter point as being important for a new person coming in.

[The Year Of The Fox]

7 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

As do a lot of football clubs.

 

This is much more to do with needing liquid funds up front for heavy spend periods - like transfer windows.

 

TV money and transfer fees will come in tranches across the year, so borrowing the money allows you to get that cash up front.

 

And you know - leveraging future income is a common business practice across any business - it’s not a strange thing to do.

There’s using Macquarie to fund the Maguire transfer, then there’s using Macquarie for an £8m signing. 

[Voll Blau]

5 hours ago, accessory said:

The same Vardy who Vichai forked out for to bring to the club when no other league club (at least in the top two divisions) would touch him?

 

The same Vardy who gave the word for King Power to sack several managers during his time clear, and they duly complied?

 

And the same Vardy who got King Power to fund his wife's doomed court case?

 

Without them, he'd be propping up a bar somewhere in Sheffield, drunkenly mumbling how he "could have been a contender".

 

He is the last person on the planet who will call KP out.

While I agree he's not going to call KP out, the idea that he'd have had no decent career if Pearson (not King Power) hadn't signed him is absolute nonsense.

[LCFCJohn]

5 hours ago, accessory said:

The same Vardy who Vichai forked out for to bring to the club when no other league club (at least in the top two divisions) would touch him?

 

The same Vardy who gave the word for King Power to sack several managers during his time clear, and they duly complied?

 

And the same Vardy who got King Power to fund his wife's doomed court case?

 

Without them, he'd be propping up a bar somewhere in Sheffield, drunkenly mumbling how he "could have been a contender".

 

He is the last person on the planet who will call KP out.

Wow, bizaare.

 

Forked out? It was a large fee for a non-league player but hardly bank breaking. The signing was Pearson and co. Vichai/KP wouldn’t have even heard of him. He has loads of interest in the football league and it was Pearson and Shakespeare who he said convinced him not to quit when it got tough. He might not have achieved what he did as it was all a perfect storm but he’d have had a good career in the leagues and wouldn’t have been ‘in a bar in Sheffield’.

 

Where is the evidence Vardy ‘gave the word’ for managers to be sacked? He was likely one of a number of players who had too close a communication with the owners and influenced decision making but giving his word makes it sound like he was controlling things.

 

Again, evidence they were involved in funding the court case?

[LCFCJohn]

In my office, there are 4 of us who are into football. Myself, a Sheff Weds, Blackpool and Stockport.

 

We were talking yesterday about what chance all 4 clubs are in L1 next season. Wednesday the most likely, Blackpool next but they are quite close to the relegation zone and then a toss up as to whether our relegation or Stockport going up is more likely. We were also talking about the points deduction.

 

They were asking about the signings of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante and agreed it’s amazing how little they cost us. When I then said we had made the following;

 

Mahrez - £65mill

Kante - £35mill

Drinkwater - £35mikl

Maguire - £80mill

Fofana - £70mill or so

Chilwell - £50mill

Barnes - £40mill

Maddison - £40mill

KDH - £30mill ish

 

Nearly £450mill there. Their reaction was how the f*** has that much money passed through the club just in transfer fees (not to mentioned PL revenue) and for us to be busted for breaking financial rules. 
 

How can others see it but many of our fans can’t?

[Les-TA-Jon]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

In my office, there are 4 of us who are into football. Myself, a Sheff Weds, Blackpool and Stockport.

 

We were talking yesterday about what chance all 4 clubs are in L1 next season. Wednesday the most likely, Blackpool next but they are quite close to the relegation zone and then a toss up as to whether our relegation or Stockport going up is more likely. We were also talking about the points deduction.

 

They were asking about the signings of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante and agreed it’s amazing how little they cost us. When I then said we had made the following;

 

Mahrez - £65mill

Kante - £35mill

Drinkwater - £35mikl

Maguire - £80mill

Fofana - £70mill or so

Chilwell - £50mill

Barnes - £40mill

Maddison - £40mill

KDH - £30mill ish

 

Nearly £450mill there. Their reaction was how the f*** has that much money passed through the club just in transfer fees (not to mentioned PL revenue) and for us to be busted for breaking financial rules. 
 

How can others see it but many of our fans can’t?

To be fair - that did happen over a period of 10 years though - so around £45m a year on average. I'm not giving KP any sympathy or excuses though. 

[LCFCJohn]

53 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

To be fair - that did happen over a period of 10 years though - so around £45m a year on average. I'm not giving KP any sympathy or excuses though. 

True. Still massive money coming in just from transfers. The only club apart from some (probably not all, don’t Arsenal have a poor record of big sales) and maybe Brighton have caught up, to have brought that much in. 
 

Given there has been PL/TV money as well, the fact we find ourselves here today, with a point deduction for failing PSR and more importantly, the squad we have to show for it is utterly humiliating for the club and why they are arguably the worst run club in this country now (Wednesday under Chansiri aside).

 

How accurate (probably not) it is I don’t know. But I have just looked it up and estimates suggest from PL money/TV/Europe between 2016 and now, about £1.1 billion. Add around £450mill from those notable transfers and you are talking about £1.5 billion.

 

And we are where we are 

[MonarchFox]

12 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

True. Still massive money coming in just from transfers. The only club apart from some (probably not all, don’t Arsenal have a poor record of big sales) and maybe Brighton have caught up, to have brought that much in. 
 

Given there has been PL/TV money as well, the fact we find ourselves here today, with a point deduction for failing PSR and more importantly, the squad we have to show for it is utterly humiliating for the club and why they are arguably the worst run club in this country now (Wednesday under Chansiri aside).

 

How accurate (probably not) it is I don’t know. But I have just looked it up and estimates suggest from PL money/TV/Europe between 2016 and now, about £1.1 billion. Add around £450mill from those notable transfers and you are talking about £1.5 billion.

 

And we are where we are 

Of that £1.5 billion i would think we've spent around £700 million on transfer, I'd hate to think what has been spent on wages I'm guessing that would have been around £40m a year.

 

You've got to buy players and we've had some real gems in there at the start, the issue is it's gradually got worse season by season.  And that's where the problem lies, the more successful you are the pool of players you are looking at dwindles and it's harder to get the right player.  For instance, it's was Ok for us to splash out £12m on Harry Maguire but he wouldn't have been in Man U's thinking at the time (fans would be wondering why they spent so little on a relegated CB etc), 2 years later they are happy to pay £80m for him.  So for us that those Kante, Vardy & Mahrez deals just weren't there, or we can't be looking at Lincoln for a 500k LB to bring into the first team when aiming for top table Prem finishes (there's an argument to say we should have been)

 

We suddenly end up in the looking for a bargain/potential at the £20m mark and failed miserably at it.  Few teams have got it right like Brighton and Bournemouth in recent years though.

 

Virtually no clubs make a profit, I read 15 did out of 92 in the 23/24 season and half of them were Premier League clubs. Man U lost something like £150m

 

I'm not defending KP but i'm not sure where our white knight is.  If they want to sell then we need someone prepared to pay what they want and happy to lose £13m a year in the Championship in the hope we can get up.  There's few people willing to do that.

 

I feel KP are here to stay, so I'm just hoping they get ontop of this whole situation and puts us back on steadier footing, which probably means a sustained stay in the championship and lots of youth team/lower lever footballers coming through our club.  That's if we stay in the championship this year.

 

 

 

 

[LCFCJohn]

49 minutes ago, MonarchFox said:

Of that £1.5 billion i would think we've spent around £700 million on transfer, I'd hate to think what has been spent on wages I'm guessing that would have been around £40m a year.

 

You've got to buy players and we've had some real gems in there at the start, the issue is it's gradually got worse season by season.  And that's where the problem lies, the more successful you are the pool of players you are looking at dwindles and it's harder to get the right player.  For instance, it's was Ok for us to splash out £12m on Harry Maguire but he wouldn't have been in Man U's thinking at the time (fans would be wondering why they spent so little on a relegated CB etc), 2 years later they are happy to pay £80m for him.  So for us that those Kante, Vardy & Mahrez deals just weren't there, or we can't be looking at Lincoln for a 500k LB to bring into the first team when aiming for top table Prem finishes (there's an argument to say we should have been)

 

We suddenly end up in the looking for a bargain/potential at the £20m mark and failed miserably at it.  Few teams have got it right like Brighton and Bournemouth in recent years though.

 

Virtually no clubs make a profit, I read 15 did out of 92 in the 23/24 season and half of them were Premier League clubs. Man U lost something like £150m

 

I'm not defending KP but i'm not sure where our white knight is.  If they want to sell then we need someone prepared to pay what they want and happy to lose £13m a year in the Championship in the hope we can get up.  There's few people willing to do that.

 

I feel KP are here to stay, so I'm just hoping they get ontop of this whole situation and puts us back on steadier footing, which probably means a sustained stay in the championship and lots of youth team/lower lever footballers coming through our club.  That's if we stay in the championship this year.

 

 

 

 

It’s the wages that have killed us though.

 

You’re right about the type of signings. I wasn’t suggesting we could still bring a Kante in for that amount for example.

 

You can still make thought cheap, £500k from Lincoln by the way and develop them but we didn’t do that really either.

 

Ultimately the issue is overpaying on players not good enough and paying them so much they won’t be moved on. For example, was there a clamour of clubs after Vestergaard that meant we had to spend £17 mill on him? Of course not. Did we need to spend £10 mill on Winks and £8 mill on Coady in the Championship and put them on £80k p/w? Of course we didn’t. Skipp for £25 mill? I like Skipp but we were literally competing against ourselves as these weren’t sought after players. 
 

Even with our elevated status over those years, we didn’t have to spend what we did. We could have scouted smartly but the whole club got lazy after Pearson and co left. Yeah, not all signings will work out but most of ours don’t. Not to mention the lack of due diligence on the right kind of characters. Even the talented players we have brought in over the last few years, Hermansen, Fatawu, Maddison to name

a few are so so soft mentally.

[Sky Blues]

4 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

 

 

They were asking about the signings of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante and agreed it’s amazing how little they cost us. When I then said we had made the following;

 

Mahrez - £65mill

Kante - £35mill

Drinkwater - £35mikl

Maguire - £80mill

Fofana - £70mill or so

Chilwell - £50mill

Barnes - £40mill

Maddison - £40mill

KDH - £30mill ish

 

Nearly £450mill there. Their reaction was how the f*** has that much money passed through the club just in transfer fees (not to mentioned PL revenue) and for us to be busted for breaking financial rules. 
 

How can others see it but many of our fans can’t?

To me the problem isn't what you spent on players but how much of the fees were not recuperated when the players left. It's all silly numbers to me as our record signing is £8.5m. When we sell a player we try to at least get our money back and sell them before their contract is up. 

 

Top is the strange one for me. He didn't start out wanting to own a football club. Isn't it 8 years this this year since the disaster which cost your owner his life? You have still had success under him but it's like the blind leading the blind. He hasn't been tight with the finances considering Covid caused major problems financially for the group. To me his biggest fault is trusting people who are clueless or just don't care about the money being wasted. 

 

I'm not going to pretend to know everything about your club as when I go to your games with my family it never gets deep about the financial matters. But Top can't be at fault for everything. Trusting others seems to be his biggest fault and not being a wise businessman like his father.

[wardyfox86]

16 minutes ago, Sky Blues said:

To me the problem isn't what you spent on players but how much of the fees were not recuperated when the players left. It's all silly numbers to me as our record signing is £8.5m. When we sell a player we try to at least get our money back and sell them before their contract is up. 

 

Top is the strange one for me. He didn't start out wanting to own a football club. Isn't it 8 years this this year since the disaster which cost your owner his life? You have still had success under him but it's like the blind leading the blind. He hasn't been tight with the finances considering Covid caused major problems financially for the group. To me his biggest fault is trusting people who are clueless or just don't care about the money being wasted. 

 

I'm not going to pretend to know everything about your club as when I go to your games with my family it never gets deep about the financial matters. But Top can't be at fault for everything. Trusting others seems to be his biggest fault and not being a wise businessman like his father.

Top be a business owner, no matter how big, sometimes you have to be cold and tough.

 

You have to hold people, some you might like, accountable. I've learnt that the hard way myself.

 

If he can't do that then yes, he is at fault for everything. 

[CosbehFox]

'be careful what you wish for' 

 

If you review the PL table

I think you have two recent owners with the verdict on, Man U & Chelsea

The bottom three of W Ham, Burnley and Wolves - all annoyed but only one of them is a recent takeover. 

 

Championship 

Only Blackburn have major issues. 

Question marks on WBA, Norwich and Sheffield United. Two of those the fans accept the previous owners ****ed the finances too. 

 

 

[LCFCJohn]

35 minutes ago, Sky Blues said:

To me the problem isn't what you spent on players but how much of the fees were not recuperated when the players left. It's all silly numbers to me as our record signing is £8.5m. When we sell a player we try to at least get our money back and sell them before their contract is up. 

 

Top is the strange one for me. He didn't start out wanting to own a football club. Isn't it 8 years this this year since the disaster which cost your owner his life? You have still had success under him but it's like the blind leading the blind. He hasn't been tight with the finances considering Covid caused major problems financially for the group. To me his biggest fault is trusting people who are clueless or just don't care about the money being wasted. 

 

I'm not going to pretend to know everything about your club as when I go to your games with my family it never gets deep about the financial matters. But Top can't be at fault for everything. Trusting others seems to be his biggest fault and not being a wise businessman like his father.

Yeah. We either sold them for silly money (my list you quoted) or they pretty much walk for free bar a few exceptions. And now the talent pool has dried up on the first of those.

 

It all links in though. The reason we can’t shift them is the excessive fees for players not worth it (Vestergaard for £17mill, Faes £15mill, Soumare £17mill, Daka £23mill, Slimani £30mill, Silva £25mill) etc etc the list goes on. So you’re already looking at fees other clubs won’t pay to break even on the amortisation. Then add in the fact their wages are obscene for their ability, we are stuck with them. 
 

Mostly you are right with Aiyawatt but the buck stops with him. People still say ‘oh he’ll be fine if he just brings in the right people to run the club’. Well sorry, so would Chansiri and Venky’s etc. These are awful owners of clubs because they aren’t doing the right thing and Aiyawatt is no different. He is arrogant and doesn’t know how to take accountability. 

[Foxin_Mad]

7 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

In my office, there are 4 of us who are into football. Myself, a Sheff Weds, Blackpool and Stockport.

 

We were talking yesterday about what chance all 4 clubs are in L1 next season. Wednesday the most likely, Blackpool next but they are quite close to the relegation zone and then a toss up as to whether our relegation or Stockport going up is more likely. We were also talking about the points deduction.

 

They were asking about the signings of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante and agreed it’s amazing how little they cost us. When I then said we had made the following;

 

Mahrez - £65mill

Kante - £35mill

Drinkwater - £35mikl

Maguire - £80mill

Fofana - £70mill or so

Chilwell - £50mill

Barnes - £40mill

Maddison - £40mill

KDH - £30mill ish

 

Nearly £450mill there. Their reaction was how the f*** has that much money passed through the club just in transfer fees (not to mentioned PL revenue) and for us to be busted for breaking financial rules. 
 

How can others see it but many of our fans can’t?

We also spent a hell of a lot of money one some utter dross and stupid wages to suit:

 

Musa 16M

Slimani 28M

Kapustka 7M

Ndidi 17M

Maguire 17M

Iheanacho 25M

Maddison 25M

Pereira 22M

Soyuncu 19M

Tielemans 40M

Perez 30M

Danny Ward 12M

Rachid Ghezzal 12M

Fofana 30M

Castagne 20M

Dennis Praet 18M

Daka 27M

Soumare 17M

Vestergaard 15M

Faes 15M

Kristiansen 17M

Harry Souttar 15M

 

Also many of them have gone for free

[Lambert09]

7 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

In my office, there are 4 of us who are into football. Myself, a Sheff Weds, Blackpool and Stockport.

 

We were talking yesterday about what chance all 4 clubs are in L1 next season. Wednesday the most likely, Blackpool next but they are quite close to the relegation zone and then a toss up as to whether our relegation or Stockport going up is more likely. We were also talking about the points deduction.

 

They were asking about the signings of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante and agreed it’s amazing how little they cost us. When I then said we had made the following;

 

Mahrez - £65mill

Kante - £35mill

Drinkwater - £35mikl

Maguire - £80mill

Fofana - £70mill or so

Chilwell - £50mill

Barnes - £40mill

Maddison - £40mill

KDH - £30mill ish

 

Nearly £450mill there. Their reaction was how the f*** has that much money passed through the club just in transfer fees (not to mentioned PL revenue) and for us to be busted for breaking financial rules. 
 

How can others see it but many of our fans can’t?

The simple answer was a wage restructuring at the club to make us more competitive and to increase our chances of holding assets we wanted to keep.

 

the first time we failed psr I do think we were a little hard done by. Because when these changes to the rules were implemented it was near impossible to undo the new wage structure which was always going to deliver a horrific wage to turnover ratio.  But where we truly went wrong, was not fully undoing it. We could easily have turned around to hamza or Luke Thomas and said 20k or go somewhere else.  But we didn’t, we seem to have slightly reduced but still pay everyone drastically  over the odds.  Agents know all about this and a player won’t come to Leicester if they aren’t matching people already on the books which makes it hard to undo. But we needed to be more ruthless. 
 

we had an opportunity to be when we went down, that should have been the last of it. But instead we were bringing in players like winks on 80/90k which is brain dead.  But when you don’t have a capbable scout network, you don’t see an option to find someone more unknown who would take a reasonable wage.., our limitations mean that we have to go for over paid names 

[OntarioFox]

14 hours ago, accessory said:

Without them, he'd be propping up a bar somewhere in Sheffield, drunkenly mumbling how he "could have been a contender".

Nice Reverend and the Makers reference