This is why Bates and Harvey have to go. They canât run this business wisely. It was easy when it was all about cutting costs and blaming Ridsdale. It was easier when going into administration to get rid of all the debts. It was easier to emotionally blackmail the fans while in League 1 to turn up and spend in their thousands to ensure the longer term survival of the club from its lowest ebb. But once you have done those easy bits and you now need to take the club forward, if you alienate and slag off your âcustomerâ, you bite the hand that feeds you. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....-5million-loan-for-stand-s-facelift-1-4406703 So we have a debt of at least £5m now. Wonder what assets it is secured against? The year after promotion brought âhuge increases in turnoverâ â actually £5m extra. Of which, the extra from gate receipts was £974,158. But how does that stack up this season? In 2010/11, the total number of people who came through the doors at ER was 695,220 and gate receipts were £12,711,000. Average cost of a ticket was therefore £18.28. With a 10% increase in prices this year, the loss of 4000 fans on average per game has brought about a reduction in turnover of £2m just on ticket sales for league games alone. At an average spend of another £5 per person at home games, this means those 4000 fans have led to another loss of some £500,000. Thatâs turnover down by £2.5m just from ticket sales. Thatâs more than £1.5m less than when we were in League 1. And it will be worse next year, with crowds down even further. You must leave. There is no longer a reason for you to be here. You do no good for either us or for yourselves.
The loans been secured against future season ticket sales! which is alarming cos the way bates is going there wont be any!
Playing devil's advocate on this one................ the expert seems to be agreeing this is the way to run the club. I'd still like to know who the offshore company is who owns ER and who owns that, I predict a familiar name may be involved. Ben Kates is a name I've heard brandished
My devil's advocate is......I question the definiton of "expert" in this regard. He seems to be a bit thick to me
I see so many comparisons between what Bates is doing and what PR Pete did, it is frightening. They may not be exactly the same, but they will ultimately lead to the downfall of our club. Bates is gambling our future on 7, but keeps rolling 4.
The accounts can be seen here: http://t.co/NWXJIKz4 Lots to talk about here from a really quick glance. Let's start with: - Iliquid balance sheet - how was the club able to pay off current liabilities which far exceeded current assets? - why/how did creditors payable within 1 year climb so much? - who is included in this increased creditors amount? IS HMRC fully paid up? - who was 5,000,000 worth of 2 seasons of season tickets sold to and was the amount collected up front or is it receivable sometime in the future? - Player transfer receivable of almost 1,000,000. Who is that receivable from and for which player(s)? Will try to send more time on this later.
If I was a Leeds fan, the first question I would want answering is why have the club "taken advantage of the exemptions in FRS 8 from disclosing transactions with entities within the LCH GROUP OF Companies" What are they hiding from you when everything else is transparent?
TC - any chance you could translate that into plain english? The other bit worth noting is the £3.2m injected into the company for 32 £1 preferential shares, with a payback of £4m at some point in the future. Seems to me the £3.2m suggests a cashflow problem at the club through the summer. Then the sale of Gradel at a time we could not spend it. Then the early season tickets deadline while we didn’t spend a penny in January. Now the indication that we have already taken £5m from an unknown in order to cover the costs of the East Stand – maybe Bates not paying the bills was why there was such a delay in finishing the job – and we had to have an early deadline to pay the first instalment. I think we are up a financial creek And some still say the guy has us on an even keel and we should all be so happy and grateful that he saved us, rather than worry about the fact he seems to be trying his best to kill us off. Bates and Harvey – time to go. Your wheels have come off, you no longer have any control over what is going on. We will still be here, but as soon as the 2nd administration comes in, you will no longer be allowed to be involved in football ever again. Then I'll buy the club from the administrators for a quid with concrete plans that every creditor - other than those who were involved in the running of the club - gets their full money back or equivalent over a couple of years. And realism and slow growth will reign in Beeston.
Don't be so sure elmo. They'll be allowed to deal again. Odds are he'll do the administration himself, pay off the clubs debts to himself (for money he never actually put into the club) then screw any other creditors
Marko - My (limited) understanding is that if you are involved in two administrations, you are automatically classed as not a fit and proper person. This happened to the guy at Rochdale (I think) who was a director of the club in a first administration and then when the club was next going through financial difficulties he stepped in to try and help the club out, but it ended up going under again. Everyone acknowledged that he had done more than anyone else could, and everyone wanted him to re-buy the club as they knew he had the club's bets interests at heart and was the best guy to take it forward, but the FA would not allow it.
http://lufctrust.squarespace.com/blog/2012/4/5/leeds-united-financial-results-lust-questions.html The Trust is asking questions too and as Mr Harvey signed the accounts over to the auditors perhaps he should try answering them instead of avoiding them as he did in last nights YEP? The fans are watching you Mr Harvey, were just supporters supporting
billyisgod - after the Peter Ridsdale disaster, it is incumbent on supporters to question everything the club does. We will never forget the harm he did. And we will do our utmost to ensure no-one does that harm again. They clearly do not like it though. And neither do some of our fellow supporters, who can't see past their own noses.
Having been duped once, fans still seem willing to blindly follow the leader despite the whole lead up to and sticth up of the admin process. I just don't get it.
some people think not spending much money is the same as running a business well. It's not, he's not spending much money but the money that is being spent is being spent poorly, and the finances have been fiddled with more times than Tara Reid.
Absolutely. But they are spending shedloads of money though. Just not on anything that makes money. Gate receipts were up £975k and so was operating profit. The rest of the profit on extra turnover of £5m came from player sales. In effect we stood still despite the extra £5m. All other LUFC businesses lost money. And their strategy to alienate the fans has caused them major issues. A loss of 4000 fans this year = £2.5m less turnover minimum. That profit = £1.5m loss immediately. Next year we lose another 3000 season ticket holders - the core - suggesting another £2m lower turnover. That's £4.5m loss in turnover in two years. And we have seen the effect on cashflow immediately - £5m loan by selling future season tickets and £3.2m income by selling preferential shares. These morons are killing our club. How the hell do we get it back?
Bump This is from a time when Leeds was run properly (turning over a profit on 4 succesive seasons) yet hounded out he was! Why are the supporters trust not putting the same pressure on Cellino about club finances?
