Rodgers said: ''the management are well aware of the balance that must be struck between on-going sustainability and investment to achieve sporting success.” I think it's also important for fans to be aware of the balance to be struck between investment to achieve sporting success and on-going stability. We mustn't complain because money isn't just thrown at the team....I for one (and no doubt most on here) am well satisfied with the team we are building here and appreciate the need to avoid financial instability. Been there, got the T-shirt.
Its a nice statement the problem is we are having to rebuild the team every season, and i am guessing that the next 2 transfer windows will be no different. Its amazing all the time we are progressing doing it but i'm still not convinced its a sustainable way to be successful.
That was interesting....Saints owe 62.5 mill to Katharina or a company backed by Katharina. This is believed to be the peak debt which the board intends to start reducing....not because KL is seeking to extract it, but because as a business the board don't like being exposed to that debt. Rodgers points out that all income has been reinvested into the club so far and says that shows historically (at least) what KL's attitude is. Talks of trying to bring the end to difficult contracts (eg Osvaldo, though he didn't specify him) in this financial year (biting the bullet I suspect). Sounds like we are in safe hands and the board are trying to sort out a previous mess.
I agree its the most secure the club has ever looked and i am really happy KL seems to be committed for the long term, get RK to break America and LR to keep pulling beautys out of the black box and who know's what we could acheive in the nest 5 years. #5yearplan (may of been done before )
Yeah, this is the stuff that is actually the earner with the biggest potential in the end. Good to see it on the rise. We need to see a few more documentaries to get the word out.
We will also have new sponsorship deals to go for soon...hopefully that will increase our income. Need to get our profile even more up before they come up for negotiation.
A good increase in Commercial revenue, but would hope this will grow significantly higher, as we cement our place in the Premier League. Assuming this includes shirt sponsorship, that has to be an area of improvement to aim for, especially as we seem to get a fair amount of airtime on TV, and (if I remember right) we get a very low figure from VEHO. Do Saints have a secondary sponsor for their track suit tops? I see they wear them onto the pitch, then immediately take them off after the hand shakes, and was trying to work out the reason for this.
It's a very commendable business attitude considering that Katharina is just in debt to herself. And £62.5M is a drop in the ocean, considering her wealth.
I understand the board trying to reduce the debt to her though. No way is she likely to be in financial trouble, but not good for a business to have outstanding debt to one person. They go under, you go under. Wonder how much Chelsea owe Abramovich on paper. Look at the debts United's owners have landed them with. Absolutely fine if you can service the debt from massive income, but still a bit of a problem if the rug is pulled from under you.
For years Saints have worn the sponsorship of local companies. How long that will remain is probably how long it takes to win some major silverware. Then I expect the companies to become of the better known variety. For example, I knew who VEHO were, as I've had one of their 35mm scanners for some time, but I'm guessing there were a fair few who didn't. When we start seeing one of the companies who everyone knows well, we'll know we've made it.
Don't be fooled by %. Personally I think that's not great growth for a club that has had the wow factor for a year or two. Wasn't the previous year 6m, so that's an additional 1.2m. We need to be thinking bigger. *off to write to Ralph*
Well it's growth. You can't just randomly grow 100% after years of Cortese not giving a damn about it. It takes time to get companies back on side after Cortese pissed a lot off. The biggest thing effecting it is our shirt sponsor.
Agree we need to be thinking bigger to really progress and think Beefy is spot on with the shirt sponsor comment. I made the point a few months ago that if we really want to reach the heights the club say we do, then although admirable that we use a local business as sponsor it's something that will have to change imo.
There is a subtle difference between a Club that is promoting a sponsor Company than a big Company trying to promote a football club!
The growth target would have been mid-single digit % and we're in the upper bracket of that so it's solid if unspectacular but steady, sustainable, organic growth is so much healthier for a business than spikes of growth.
I still think our ideal shirt sponsor would be either Liebherr International or Liebherr UK, which is a globally-recognised brand making everything from domestic fridges to dockyard cranes, and which has a local connection through Southampton Docks and of course the fact that Katharina is one of their own. A similar relationship to that between Etihad Airlines and Sheikh Mansour, in fact, and they both find that sponsorship deal fairly lucrative.
I dont get the issue with Cortese, i agree that the commercial side of it was not important when Cortese was in charge, however when Cortese was in charge there were much more important things to deal with like saving the football club and getting back to the premier league. We can now grow commercially because of the foundations laid by Cortese.
