That's very interesting indeed. Kev has mentioned five new players and Chris has mentioned seven. I seem to recall a thread a short time ago in which the suggestion that we might require four was openly laughed at. Seems that the management recognise that reinforcements are required: good thing, too. On Bazzini, it's benefit of the doubt time. Lenny is right that we should judge him by his actions rather than his words and clearly we mustnt't rush to judgment. However, legimitimate questions about his background and the viability of his plans for the future of the club are not the stuff of conspiracy theories. It's only fair to wonder.
Bas has said 7, but that includes the 2 already signed. He has said we also want 2 strikers, 2 midfielders and a left back... all permanent signings. He has also mentioned bringing in loanees! It is good he is willing to back the management in signing these players - lets hope we can identify who to bring in, then work out the deals!
An extra 7 players should give us a half decent squad - so far we have only really lost DG and Cowie as Buckley only started 6 games. If Loach comes back onto form this year he could be worth a good 10 points to us so that even if we do miss a few of DG's goals we may still be competitive - and who knows what we could do if we had a LB
We complained when he said nothing, now he has given us an insight into his plans we still have our doubts. He has made a number of commitments in the interview, so it would be fair to judge him on the results. 1. 5 more permanent signings - over the summer 2. 2 loan signings - over the summer 3. Redevelopment of SW Corner - works to commence October 4. Redevelopment of the Main Stand - works to commence within 12 months (subject to completion of SW Corner redevelopment) 5. Relay the pitch - next summer (2012) If they all come off it will be much more difficult to have so many questions about the man, but I would suggest that the above is a useful measuring stick.
It is not what he says or does not say that matters to me. Talk is cheap. If he carries out his actions as he states without bankrupting us then I will give him credit. However if he does all the above and then we find there is no money behind him and credtors come calling and we are in liquidation then those five factors will have proved our undoing. He has not only to have a plan of action but a viable plan of financing.
Yes , we now have some concrete criteria, and a timetable, to judge him against. Another one would be keeping GT on board. At last he has edged out of the closet of secrecy a bit, and shared some of his intentions---and it has had the desired effect of creating a more positive atmosphere. If he delivers on these promises (or are they aspirations?) then anxieties about the source and scale of his wealth will be redundant, and worries about his business skills will be proven unfounded. Unless of course he is taking risks he has not told us about with the finances. On that point, the part of the interview I found most incredible was the claim that he himself has put £10M into the club from his own resources. He itemised this--£440k for the shares, £2.5M for the first installment of the bonds, £3.5M in working capital. £1.9m to pay back Ticketus, about £1m paying off other outstanding debts and £400k spent or committed on ground improvements. This while saying he is paying some staff out of his own pocket and not taking any salary or expenses.Has he really put this amount of new money into the club, without reservation or condition, and not in the form of loans? If so it would surely be an unprecedented investment by any recent owner. It would mean none of the revenue from recent player sales has been used to pay off the bonds, nor recent season ticket revenue used to pay back the Ticketus advance. So did he really mean this? If so he must be richer than anyone first thought.The enigma unravels a bit, to reveal--another mystery. He is certainly giving us lots to talk about--and speculate about.
Two other bits that I don't think have received much of a mention, although with so many threads on the go at the same time it has been difficult to read every one's thoughts. The East Stand: He did say that Panos Thomas would be involved as there would be a medical facility underneath it. I speculated some months back that this could be a source of revenue, but it depends on how the deal to build it is structured. If it is taken out of WFC ownership you could finish up with multi-layers of ownership as happened at Plymouth, which of course did them no good at all. The Hotel: I did post a bit about the hospital campus going out to tender. If you looked at the plans with the documents you would see that there is provision for a hotel immediately behind the Rous Stand. It seems strange that there could be two hotels built within a hundred metres of each other, so I wonder if some deal is being attempted to either replace that with one within the ground, or acquire the contract to build it within the hospital as a joint venture project?
What I picked up was that as he is the one and only owner & shareholder ALL monies are his - so you can count the transfer funds recently received as his and as he hasn't taken the money out but re-invested it, or plans to - as part of the 10m invested that he talked about.
Any road up it seems we are moving in the right direction ,as people say it is actions not words that count! In this respect so far , uncle Baz seems to be getting most things right!
Exactly my thoughts Roger - excellent post. The odd bit for me was the provision of £3.5m in working capital despite the club having the upfront payment from Ticketus. With additional funds to the tune of £5.5m in player sales in June what was the working capital for, if not for the other things he itemised (ground improvements, debt payments,etc)? On first reading I thought he must have double counted something! Would like to know if a proportion of the player sales income is going into repaying any of the £10m he references. Much easier talking about stuff on the field eh? All this finance is making my brain ache.
That's not true OLM. I laughed at the fact that I was called a happy-clapper because I didn't believe that without 5+ signings we'd be in trouble/relegated. That's not what's said in the interview...
Chris--I would be very worried indeed if Mr B now regards Watford F.C as his personal cash cow/piggy bank/candy store, with all revenues being "his" and all assets "his" to dispose of as he likes. Of course this is not the way a business--even an "owner-managed" business-- works, as I am sure GT (and his accountants) will remind him.
Jury is still out but I've always been on the side of until somethings wrong will give the benefit as long as he keeps following what I consider to be a good plan for the club. Funnily enough I'm not overly keen on the spending of 300K on a couple of televisions with one of them being stuck in the cupboard until the new east stand is built!! He's promised a lot and he will be brought up on any shortfall quickly by the fans. Yes there is the worry of how is this being paid for but got to remember that a condition of the sale was that the club is not allowed to take on new debt so should be ok. Leo do you really think in the current environment anybody is capable of blagging the sort of sums that have been put up in these deals? A recent bankrupt will find it nigh on impossible to raise finance and must generate it somehow. I'm pretty sure his money must be coming from overseas investments and we do not know the scale of the 15 or so investments he has owned up to but I would think they are venture capital deals upon which as you know returns in the thousands of per cent are easily achievable especially if your management team take on failing businesses and turn them around.
I still think something doesnt feel quite right in all of this , However give the man credit where its due , He is making the right noises and backing up some of them! Aberdeen I wondered about the tv screens too , surely that 300k would have been better spent on another players wages !! Still if it is his money ,then he can spend it how he likes!
Well, you get the impression the money is there to spend on players, but we still have stick within the £5k a week budget... it's just convincing players we are going for that we will be competitive - obviously Wiggins thought not!
Wages are opex out of the club but you can consider purchases as capital investments and hope to increase the value...Buy 7 this summer, sell 3 at Christmas and buy 3 cheaper ones etc etc player trading profits need to come from buying.
I'm guessing that the profit is on the original amount he put in (£440k) as stated in the article. Based on that, it is more likely that those bids came in the early days of his tenure. I work for somwhere that administers private equity funds, so when he said that he's an equity investor, I was a bit surprised as it's usually companies that are equity investors.
With regards teh speculation about his money after being declared bankrupt, if it is true there is no one else involved then it can still be plausible. His family is very wealthy if I recall. It would crazy if they did not have their money in trust. All one of these would need to be is a 'protective trust' and when Bassini was declared bankrupt the creditors cannot touch what were once his assets. They become part of a discretionary trust whereby the trustees (the people who legally hold the assets) decide who gets what and how much and then hand over the money directly so that the beneficiary (Bassini) does not have any assets. Depending on the size of the original fund, this would give him quite a lot to draw on without recourse to the markets. As for spending on the PA system and the TVs, they were needed. In the Rookery you can never hear anything which is said by the guy on the pitch at half time. I guess, the logic is about creating a better 'experience' for those who come on match days so that they come back. Obviously most will do so regardless, but I am thinking more the casual fan. Also, these might help the club get more use out of the stadium on non-match days.
