Business of Sport

[Pliskin]

Charlie isn’t the best endorsement, but he knows his shit. He isn’t alone though. How many people have spoken about our terrible demise? There’s been a few, this has just coincided with a rise in tensions following the deduction. 
 

But there’s been more than him saying we’re ****ed…. I imagine over the coming months more articles will be written and interviews had regarding the state of the club. 

[Rubbersoul]

So I gather he’s a bit of a cock but does he know what he’s talking about? 

[Paninistickers]

6 minutes ago, LVFox said:

Just watched this myself and boy is it concerning.

if I’m summarising correctly:

 

KP are completely ****ed (we knew this)

If we go down we are ****ed

If we stay in the Champ, we need to dramatically change our financials (no “we promote next season” Top you ****ing ostrich)

If we go down and don’t immediately return, we are all starting a phoenix club

The situation is actually (and almost unbelievably) worse than he describes.

 

The premise that we have one further parachute payment remaining is wrong. That is going to Macquarie. 

 

Our only finance for next season is season tickets,. sponsorships (of which KP has largely refused to deal with the likes of walkers, Next, DHL. Lookm how many advertising boards we have, literally all syndicated EFL deals and Thai garbage) and the pittance from the EFL. Everything else comes from player sales. 

 

By the maths of Methven, our running costs are 30m ish and wage bill next season 40m ish. 

 

We are on the brink 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[desertfox2]

18 minutes ago, Rubbersoul said:

So I gather he’s a bit of a cock but does he know what he’s talking about? 

He's a massive cock but yes he does know what he is talking about. 

[-sodapop]

3 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Is Charlie Methven the guy that Sunderland fans say was a massive pillock and only bought them to basically asset strip them?

Yeah he might be right about us on this but he's an Etonite twat who Sunderland fans hate. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

26 minutes ago, -sodapop said:

Yeah he might be right about us on this but he's an Etonite twat who Sunderland fans hate. 

Hated for helping prevent them going into admin. 
 

We need to be under no illusion- whenever we do end up with a new owner, the first thing they’re going to do (assuming they’re half decent) is start cutting costs and stop the haemorrhaging of money. In a similar vain as to what this bloke helped do at Sunderland.

 

I’m all for it as the alternative could be liquidation 

[Ian Nacho]

Don't we still own Belvoir Drive? I could see a world where we sell the training ground to Forest and kick the ladies out onto Aylestone park. 

[Paninistickers]

Just now, Ian Nacho said:

Don't we still own Belvoir Drive? I could see a world where we sell the training ground to Forest and kick the ladies out onto Aylestone park. 

Forest ain't ever gonna buy it. When they get relegated, who do they sell it to? Back to us? 

 

That said, I think there might be a realistic chance of us mothballing the place and moving back to Belvoir Drive and yes, stick the girls on western park 

[Tommy Fresh]

1 hour ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Hated for helping prevent them going into admin. 
 

We need to be under no illusion- whenever we do end up with a new owner, the first thing they’re going to do (assuming they’re half decent) is start cutting costs and stop the haemorrhaging of money. In a similar vain as to what this bloke helped do at Sunderland.

 

I’m all for it as the alternative could be liquidation 

I think there was a bit more to it then this. You definitely need to properly look in to his time at Sunderland 

Edited 15 February by Tommy Fresh

[Dan]

Been listening to the podcast he's on for a few weeks and think he comes across quite well. This isn't me saying I'd want him here necessarily, but what is so bad about him? The majority of the digs at him I read seemed to be based on him being posh and the Brentisms during the series. What did he do so wrong at Sunderland and Charlton? In both of those instances I see clubs who were run into the ground and are now doing relatively well, even if it wasn't necessarily him who has taken them there.

[Tommy Fresh]

8 hours ago, Dan said:

Been listening to the podcast he's on for a few weeks and think he comes across quite well. This isn't me saying I'd want him here necessarily, but what is so bad about him? The majority of the digs at him I read seemed to be based on him being posh and the Brentisms during the series. What did he do so wrong at Sunderland and Charlton? In both of those instances I see clubs who were run into the ground and are now doing relatively well, even if it wasn't necessarily him who has taken them there.

Not sure about Charlton, but I've read a lot about his time at Sunderland (how true any of it was though who knows) Pretty sure they didn’t have as much money as they'd initially made out and they actually used parachute payments paid to Sunderland to fund a big part of their takeover, and they were pretty much looking to flip it as quickly as they could and make a profit.

[Foxin_Mad]

1 hour ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Not sure about Charlton, but I've read a lot about his time at Sunderland (how true any of it was though who knows) Pretty sure they didn’t have as much money as they'd initially made out and they actually used parachute payments paid to Sunderland to fund a big part of their takeover, and they were pretty much looking to flip it as quickly as they could and make a profit.

Id take that right now, someone who makes us remotely sellable and solvent, because currently we are not that. They can make a profit if we are able to rebuild and one day return because as we are, we will never return. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

It does sound like this Charlie guy has done his due diligence; to the extent you wonder if he’s positioning towards a bid for the club?

 

However - I do get the sense he’d be an asset stripper type of owner.

[Aleksz]

1 minute ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

It does sound like this Charlie guy has done his due diligence; to the extent you wonder if he’s positioning towards a bid for the club?

 

However - I do get the sense he’d be an asset stripper type of owner.

Right on both fronts. We're the kind of basket case him and his cronies hoover up. And yes, exactly what he did at Sunderland. 

[Foxin_Mad]

8 minutes ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

It does sound like this Charlie guy has done his due diligence; to the extent you wonder if he’s positioning towards a bid for the club?

 

However - I do get the sense he’d be an asset stripper type of owner.

He is welcome to sell any of our 'assets' if he keeps the club in business. Sadly due to sheer incompetence we don't have many. Maybe convert Seagrave to a Luxury Spa Hotel/ Golf resort and sell, that's about it. Sell the stadium for luxury riverside flats, build a new one somewhere cheap. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Charlie reckons liquidation is quite possible if we are relegated to league one this season and fail to come back up in the first year. 

[Tommy G]

2 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Not sure about Charlton, but I've read a lot about his time at Sunderland (how true any of it was though who knows) Pretty sure they didn’t have as much money as they'd initially made out and they actually used parachute payments paid to Sunderland to fund a big part of their takeover, and they were pretty much looking to flip it as quickly as they could and make a profit.

Fair enough, probably wanted to make a bit of money.

[Tommy Fresh]

21 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Fair enough, probably wanted to make a bit of money.

By buying it with money they took out of the club apparently

[Tommy G]

Just now, Tommy Fresh said:

By buying it with money they took out of the club apparently

Be interested to see the mechanics of that 

[OwnGoalJames]

What has to be considered is what cutting costs at this club looks like.

 

We have this , by all accounts, elite training ground complex (not that it's produced any elite performances as such), that to keep running must cost an absolute fortune and is extravagant for a club that is not in a European competition, let alone one that is on the brink of relegation to League 1. 

 

Then we have players, all of which have been signed with Premier League football in mind, so none of them will have a League 1 relegation clause in their contract. The squad has devalued now, individual players aren't going to achieve any big fees unless someone like Fatawu gets a number of clubs interested and we can have a bit of a bidding war for him. Some of our players, no club will even want. Wages will be a huge issue.

 

Then, factor in the position of King Power as a business. The owners can't afford to put money into the club now. 

 

A financial mess.

 

 

[moore_94]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Be interested to see the mechanics of that 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7059561/The-real-story-Sunderlands-takeover-Donald-Methven-pocket-40m-selling-again.html

[Stadt]

Belvoir Drive should be immediately mothballed and regrettably staff that can't be transferred over to Seagrave made redundant, with the women's team moving to Seagrave. Cut the stewarding headcount, bin the flamethrowers, clappers, cut the catering staff headcount. 

 

 

This site is good for looking at the trends 

https://kinnairdsports.com/leicester-city

[DJ Barry Hammond]

2 hours ago, Tommy G said:

Be interested to see the mechanics of that 

Think Glazers at United.

 

The club owns its ground and two training complexes that have a lot of valuable land attached to it.

 

There are also potentially a lot of valuable player assets coming through the ranks.

 

So it’s conceivable that an investor with little interest in;

 

1.) Using their own money

2.) developing the club;

 

could leverage those assets to help purchase the club / take value out of it.

 

The one thing you can’t criticise King Power on is putting money into the club. That can’t be guaranteed for any new ownership group.

 

I get the sense Methvan might see an opportunity for himself here - and that talking up the prospect of liquidation/relegation strengthens his hand.

 

There’s no doubt relegation would result in a much reduced valuation of the club - and it’s also clear that continued fan unrest with the owners heightens that possibility/stregenthens his hand towards a potential deal; so I would take his two recent interviews with a huge pinch of salt.

 

If he’s the perspective new owner (or head of it) there’s a serious argument to be had that say’s we’d still be better served by King Power.

Edited 16 February by DJ Barry Hammond

[DJ Barry Hammond]

1 hour ago, OwnGoalJames said:

 

Then we have players, all of which have been signed with Premier League football in mind, so none of them will have a League 1 relegation clause in their contract.

 

Then, factor in the position of King Power as a business. The owners can't afford to put money into the club now. 

 

 

I don’t believe either of these statements have any proof behind to say they are 100% true - they are guesses, but wild ones.

 

King Power is a multi billion pound business, so it will have significant leverage available to it.

 

I’ve seen no suggestion that King Power are unwilling to underwrite the club like they have previously.

 

The clubs 2025 accounts are due to be released over the coming months; a better assessment as to the financial position of the club can be made then.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

3 hours ago, Aleksz said:

Right on both fronts. We're the kind of basket case him and his cronies hoover up. And yes, exactly what he did at Sunderland. 

Yeah, some of the stuff he was coming out with felt like “foreshadowing” of what he’d do as an owner of the club.

 

I think that’s the big issue with any potential new owner is that we’re ripe for asset stripping (especially in League One).

 

I doubt we’d get a ‘project / sporting ambition’ style owner because we’d be a very difficult club to get there now given all the financial controls in the way; plus, we’ve already achieved the ultimate most unthinkable goal.

 

We’re not like a Bristol City / Wrexham where just reaching the Premier League is an exceptional achievement for those clubs.