Fulham: a financial look at what went wrong

[MJG]

I have written an article on Fulham's finances setting the picture for the accounts that are due to be released in next few days. Usually i would paste it on here but there are a number of graphics.

If you wish to comment or give any feedback please do so.

http://www.vivaelfulham.co.uk/articles/fulham-a-financial-look-at-what-went-wrong--7-587.html

[Baszab]

This is brilliant

[MJG]

This is brilliant

Thanks very much. Hope you found it informative and helped give some background to the club.

[Lighthouse]

It pretty much shows how misguided the clubs strategy has been over the last decade. We seem to have looked as a club on the very short term without any plan beyond the season we were in. It is not as if we have had increased income from broadcasting but we have wasted much of it in short termism.

The last few years has been a disaster. What is worrying is that the disaster was almost a well planned strategy in itself.

What is sad is that we didn't even need the in depth look to realise it.

[Berserker]

Excellant article. I'm a sad person I love accounts and finance

[MJG]

It pretty much shows how misguided the clubs strategy has been over the last decade. We seem to have looked as a club on the very short term without any plan beyond the season we were in. It is not as if we have had increased income from broadcasting but we have wasted much of it in short termism.

The last few years has been a disaster. What is worrying is that the disaster was almost a well planned strategy in itself.

What is sad is that we didn't even need the in depth look to realise it.

Agreed,  we could see it happening right in front of us. Countless threads on here and elsewhere pointed out the short term fits and asked questions,  but got no answers from the club, or just ignored.

[MJG]

Excellant article. I'm a sad person I love accounts and finance

Was it clear enough and easy to understand? I tried to strip all the figures back to make it easier for fans to get hear heads around.

[Wearethewhites]

It pretty much shows how misguided the clubs strategy has been over the last decade. We seem to have looked as a club on the very short term without any plan beyond the season we were in. It is not as if we have had increased income from broadcasting but we have wasted much of it in short termism.

The last few years has been a disaster. What is worrying is that the disaster was almost a well planned strategy in itself.

What is sad is that we didn't even need the in depth look to realise it.

Agreed,  we could see it happening right in front of us. Countless threads on here and elsewhere pointed out the short term fits and asked questions,  but got no answers from the club, or just ignored.

I've always said, 25,000 fans could see it coming, but the Club didn't, or chose to simply ignore it.

[Berserker]

Excellant article. I'm a sad person I love accounts and finance

Was it clear enough and easy to understand? I tried to strip all the figures back to make it easier for fans to get hear heads around.

I did CIMA so ok for me understsnd. But yes it was very clear

[Whitesideup]

Agree this is excellent, factual but not overly judgmental. It will be interesting to see how things pan out this year. Are we already in danger of breaching FFP simply because of our legacy wage bill? Or did we do enough by removing quite a few of the top earners?  Did the loan deals for Stek And Mitroglou off-set all, some, or not very much of their FFC pay packets? And of course, what are the implications for next year with at least Hugo and Ruiz being out of contract? (ie surely freeing up quite a big number from the payroll)

[WestCountryWhite]

Fantastic article well balanced and easy to understand.

I think the transfer policy over the last three years of the premiership is indeed mind boggling large wages with no re sale value is a recipe for disaster

[MJG]

Agree this is excellent, factual but not overly judgmental. It will be interesting to see how things pan out this year. Are we already in danger of breaching FFP simply because of our legacy wage bill? Or did we do enough by removing quite a few of the top earners?  Did the loan deals for Stek And Mitroglou off-set all, some, or not very much of their FFC pay packets? And of course, what are the implications for next year with at least Hugo and Ruiz being out of contract? (ie surely freeing up quite a big number from the payroll)

think last season will be a disaster wages wise,  only saved by the extra 15m we got with the TV deal.
I think actually with the loans out and massive cut to the Senior playing squad we are fine with FFP this season and as I have said before we had money in January to spend.
We did the hard work last summer wages wise,  look at what Wigan had to do this past January, they gave it a year and failed. We had to do it sooner or later,  it was poor signings that made this policy fail this season.
It's essential we get promotion next season otherwise I think we can forget about it for quite a while.

[Holders]

Excellant article. I'm a sad person I love accounts and finance

Was it clear enough and easy to understand? I tried to strip all the figures back to make it easier for fans to get hear heads around.

I did CIMA so ok for me understsnd. But yes it was very clear

Christ, it's Monday Again.

[snarks]

Thank you, that was very useful, and as you say, long had the fans speculated that a lack of forward planning was always going to bite Fulham on the b*m sooner rather than later.

[GloucesterWhite]

Excellent article, thank you for your work. It emphasises how important the academy and the scouting staff will be going forward. Looking on the bright side, as all the clubs in the Championship will be in similarly affected by FFP, having the best academy should mean, all other things being equal, that in the long term we have the better chance of promotion. But it is likely to take many frustrating years as we will have to sell to fund running expenses. It looks as though the best way any investment Khan is able to make should be in youth - and it does look as though the club realise that with the recruitment of several 16-17 year olds in the last year or so.

Patience, not normally found in a football supporter's DNA, is called for.

[Holders]

As others have said, I think we had all come to the same general conclusion but it's interesting to see all the detail that supports that gut feeling.

[VicHalomsLovechild]

To be fair to those that worked or are working for the Club, they probably saw the short termism of it all but they had a very demanding Owner. I worked for him a number of years ago and the amount of department heads that came and went. Those that managed to stay did it his way and never questioned anything. Couple that with the fact that once in the Premiership you have to do it their way. Spend, spend, spend. That spend mentality got us to a European final and some of our highest top division finishes and we didn't grumble did we?
I thought we were in for a great season. Lots of young talent raring to go but it's another division with its own set of rules that is hard to break. After reading all the figures and analysis from MJG. I think I've been a little hard with my complaints about the Club, most of it to do with on field. Considering its a new owner, the legacy of the previous one, several managers, cuts and redundancies that effect a companies moral they haven't done too bad all things considered.

[robert]

As an old Fulham supporter I remember the days when it used to be two bob to get in (10 pence).Can anyone recall cheaper than this?If I'd have given a tenner they would have asked me what player I wanted to buy!!!!

[BestOfBrede]

Good article - thanks MJG

Can you confirm though, I thought the new stand money was put aside a season or two ago? If so, How does this affect turnover this coming year, please?

Pretty poor reading and would suggest there's no hope of returning to the top flight, unless FFP relax the policy quite a bit for rich owners.
If you are correct that we need at least one big sale a year, our chances of building a good, young squad is somewhat folly! Everytime we get an exciting preospect they will be off, even if they maybe would have chosen to stay?

[MJG]

Good article - thanks MJG

Can you confirm though, I thought the new stand money was put aside a season or two ago? If so, How does this affect turnover this coming year, please?

Pretty poor reading and would suggest there's no hope of returning to the top flight, unless FFP relax the policy quite a bit for rich owners.
If you are correct that we need at least one big sale a year, our chances of building a good, young squad is somewhat folly! Everytime we get an exciting preospect they will be off, even if they maybe would have chosen to stay?

Been told the money for the stand is there,  but in all honesty I think it will need a loan or cash input. It's not in the accounts anywhere at this time although there are probably legal costs in other expenditure section of the accounts.

When I talk about selling a youngster a year I'll use Roberts as an example.
We have to bring in at least five players this summer. Now with the wages cut we should be within FFP guidelines. But if we sold Roberts for say £10m (which we wont)  then the only way a sustainable plan can work is to use some of that money 3/4 of it to buy new players to invest in. It's extra money to supplement what we can spend.
The trick is always having that player or buffer in the accounts that allows reinvestment every year.   We have to be honest and admit we can't afford to spend 10m on one player. We need to be smarter and make it two or even three players.