David Conn has put all of the finances together onto one report I don't think it's been posted before as it's dated for yesterday http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/22/club-by-club-guide-championship-finances-2012-2013 Not many of the clubs were in a decent shape. Football is eating itself alive with the massive payments to players. Granted we are in a vastly different position to where we were two seasons ago, but how do football clubs get in such a state? There has been talk before on the merits of Darren Mc - owner of Peterborough, but look at the club - it is run in a professional way. I wonder how we would do if an owner like him was in charge. That club buys low and sells high and provides a fantastic payroll to turnover ratio (with lower crowds than most) that many clubs would be very jealous of
I spend at least one day a week looking at insolvent businesses. Football club finances fascinate me. Who in their right mind would "invest" in football? Whilst I was reading that article, a new thought came to me. I have an idea about the reason for Assem Allams purchase of the club. Hidden behind all of the rhetoric coming from Allam Towers a message seems to have been missed. Fez and others have touched on it, I am seeing a different side to this whole thing. I felt that the reason for Assem Allams purchase was to boost his local and cultural status. He saw the football clubs position and thought if I step in, people will venerate me. I now believe that I was wrong, he still wants veneration, but it is not from the residents of the area, nor is it from the Egyptian community over here. Assem Allam wants to be seen as the man who changed a sport, he wants universal recognition for being the leader of a new way of running football clubs. The problem is that it is us as Hull City supporters and the clubs staff who will bear the brunt. He will not change the PL or FA, players are too strongly supported by the PFA and no club wants a high turnover of managers. It could be that he is right and he can bring change and clubs could become money making machines. I don't mind him trying, but I do not like the way he is going about it.
To what extent can the Allams offset the losses made by Hull City against their taxable profits at Allam Marine? What's the net effect to them of a growing turnover at Hull City in terms of the value of the club as a business? If the headline losses are tempered by tax savings and an as yet unrealised but growing future sale value for Hull City, this could all be good business in a perverse way for the Allam family. Increasing the publicity they get by starting a "play fight" with the fans by increasing the column inches of newsprint for Hull City may be playing a part in increasing the eventual return that Mr/Dr A has in mind. If he can only stabilise the club in the high turnover environment of the premier league he'll be a financial winner?
I just do not see that he is using the club as a money making enterprise, he is status seeking, in the same way that El Fayed tried. He already has the "I turned around the fortunes of a football club" badge, but he has had to do it in by following the traditional route of throwing money at it and it is what he does next that will be critical. Can he allow Steve Bruce to spend in the transfer market or will purchases have to be covered by sales? Could we have to sell 3 players to cover the purchase of 1? Like many I am thankful that he came in and for what he has done so that I can enjoy the success that the club has at the moment, but we are more at risk now than ever before and this summer will be a real roller coaster ride.
I think you're wrong Ommie. It's hard to understand from a Western perspective. That recent article/interview he did which explained his core philosophy, handed down to him by his dad about its not how much you make, its how much you give away to benefit others that is how you measure your own worth. Yes he is an astute business man, yes he has made a lot of money. No he did NOT take the club over to make money for the sake of making him money. When he said he wanted to make the people of Hull a gift, he meant by doing what he did, then the subsequent efficiency drive, and desire to make the club a self sustaining, properly run, profitable business, that was the gift. Yes he is seeking status, but not for the sake of receiving plaudits and platitudes, it's a status that he himself can see whereby he knows he's done what he considers the right thing. It's his own personal standards, that have been with him his entire life, and its not normal for us to see things like this. Sadly too much is either taken too literally, or just misunderstood around his motives and drive imo. Like I say, it's really difficult to understand this, and its easier to be cynical, snide or just unmoved by it, we live in a greedy self serving society, mediocrity is celebrated and aspired to, all people want is what they can grab for themselves, and sod anyone who gets in the way. We are used to being screwed over by those from the upper echelons of society, but it is what it is.
I don't think he took the club on to make money, nobody buys a football club to make money, there are far easier ways to turning a profit, but as a spin off benefit Allam Marine are not paying tax on their profits as they're offset by the losses at City. In the financial years ending 2012 and 2013, I expect he's had somewhere approaching £20m back from the money he's invested in City, through interest payments and tax savings.
I take your point, but I am talking about prime motivation and his is to be seen as a leading light in football club ownership.
