Parky

Not sure what people expect, all these people are businessmen, not saints.

Relatively speaking it's a tiny business so should be done by Tue/Wed.

In the football business model and especially with us as we are essentially a monopoly I really don't think debt would ever be an issue if we kept the club in the top 8 with the occasional European run. Ok, our club was valued (by my mate at Coutts ) at roughly 240m, that's turnover x 3, which is normal gearing for a business such as ours. This is essentially what Banks look at....With a turnover over of 100m ish a year we can service debt of 100m a year at a cost of 10m or so...This is not big money.

Fulham Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008 Ownership Mafco Holdings Limited, a Bermuda (tax haven) company, which is owned by Mohamed Al Fayed and his family Turnover £53.7m (up from £39.7m last year, a 35.2% increase) Gate and match-day £9.6m TV and broadcasting £34m Commercial activities £4.9m Sponsorship £3.6m Other operating income £1.6m Wage bill £39.3m (up from £35.2m the previous year, an 11.6% increase) Wages as proportion of turnover 73% Profit before tax £3.2m Debts £197m, included £174m owed to Al Fayed Interest payable £1.8m Highest paid director Unnamed: £228,083 State they're in Mohamed Al Fayed continued his extravagant funding of Fulham, increasing the loans from his companies to £174m, the second highest subsidy of any club by an owner behind Chelsea's Roman Abramovich. The loans are all interest free and during the year £9.5m was written off completely. Al Fayed, resident in Monaco, has had the reward this season of Fulham's highest ever finish, and he vehemently insists he has no intention of selling. their debts are owed to the owner......were ours under fred ? just a slight ever so subtle difference it makes to the relative positions. Our debts were owed to Ashley have you forgotten?

Fulham Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008 Ownership Mafco Holdings Limited, a Bermuda (tax haven) company, which is owned by Mohamed Al Fayed and his family Turnover £53.7m (up from £39.7m last year, a 35.2% increase) Gate and match-day £9.6m TV and broadcasting £34m Commercial activities £4.9m Sponsorship £3.6m Other operating income £1.6m Wage bill £39.3m (up from £35.2m the previous year, an 11.6% increase) Wages as proportion of turnover 73% Profit before tax £3.2m Debts £197m, included £174m owed to Al Fayed Interest payable £1.8m Highest paid director Unnamed: £228,083 State they're in Mohamed Al Fayed continued his extravagant funding of Fulham, increasing the loans from his companies to £174m, the second highest subsidy of any club by an owner behind Chelsea's Roman Abramovich. The loans are all interest free and during the year £9.5m was written off completely. Al Fayed, resident in Monaco, has had the reward this season of Fulham's highest ever finish, and he vehemently insists he has no intention of selling.

Who's been relegated from the PL without debt then? Are you being thick? Don't we owe MA £100m? He's written it off. But, I'd rather still owe the 70m debt the club had 2 years ago and remain in the PL. Comprende? Yeah, obviously. But that debt was still there the day we got relegated. It's only since then it's been written off (and even that looks iffy) - so debt levels had nothing to do with our being relegated. He increased them during our stint in the top flight. We were relegated primarily for not investing in new players in the 3 windows, it was argued at the time here and elsewhere and by Mashley that we had to get the books in order first. That was just idiocy. I don't think there was anyone here who argued that we needed to get the books in order first, it's pretty clear to all but an idiot of world class standards that £10m spent on players is a smaller loss than £100m on relegation. The long term planning was to get the books in better shape I think, but it was pure stupidity to get us relegated the way we did. I don't think debt is "needed" to survive, but there was no way we were going to get rid of that much and be able to compete. As has been apparent for some time, he thought he could change the business model without knowing anything about football. Stupid fucking cunt. Admitted it himself the chipmunk.

Who's been relegated from the PL without debt then? Are you being thick? Don't we owe MA £100m? He's written it off. But, I'd rather still owe the 70m debt the club had 2 years ago and remain in the PL. Comprende? Yeah, obviously. But that debt was still there the day we got relegated. It's only since then it's been written off (and even that looks iffy) - so debt levels had nothing to do with our being relegated. He increased them during our stint in the top flight. We were relegated primarily for not investing in new players in the 3 windows, it was argued at the time here and elsewhere and by Mashley that we had to get the books in order first.

Who's been relegated from the PL without debt then? Are you being thick? Don't we owe MA £100m? He's written it off. But, I'd rather still owe the 70m debt the club had 2 years ago and remain in the PL. Comprende?

Who's been relegated from the PL without debt then? Are you being thick?

But the £70 million has become more than £100 million and it is still a debt. Have a look at Fulham's debt to turnover ratio.

Everyone.

Completely wrong we MA was offered 200m for the club last summer and turned it down. Nowt to do with FS. Who offered 200m? Even so, although that does weaken my case admittedly, I'm still referring to the specific time that Shepherd/Halls sold their shares. Whilst the likes of Villa, City, West Ham and Pompey were viewed as good investments and were acknolwedged as such in the media, we only had the likes of Belgravia and Ashley interested in us, even though we were a "bigger" club than that lot during the Premiership era (fanbase, stadium, recent success, revenues, general pulling power). Why? Because we'd probably have been viewed as too debt laden, too overpriced, and too difficult a job to manage for what we were. The amount of money it would have taken just to get rid of some of the dross would probably have bought these investors another Premiership football club, and the same applies for the debt that we had stocked up (as well as the interest rates payable) - and to top this of, like it or not, we had amassed a reputation as a horrible, joke of a club with fans that would give noone but their Messiah's a chance at managing the club effectively (because Shepherd kept appointing s*** managers then sacking them a few months after their first full summer transfer window). I'm sure investors will have taken this into account when overlooking us for the likes of Pompey. The people currently buying Pompey. It was why MA and his goons were in Dubai last summer, there is an article where the Pompey buyers are quoted saying that they wanted to buy us but MA was asking 400m. Newcastle United has massive potential, the current lag in the markets is due to financial hits many institutions and the mega rich have taken over the last year. IN any other year imo the club would have been sold in 5 min. The historical inadequacies at the club have nowt to do with the future if the correct team is put in place. If AS is will to throw his lot in with FS I'm prepared to give that team a chance.

Like the cut of your gib.

....it's not possible to stay in/compete in the PL without racking up debt. I'd rather still owe the 70m and be in the PL.

Completely wrong we MA was offered 200m for the club last summer and turned it down. Nowt to do with FS.

Rather him (as long as his backers have reasonable cash) than the Profitable Group.

Only Ricky in that lot.

All these fukin groups I want a lead singer.

There isn't anything that much wrong with the club apart from poor ownership.

It will be fatty.

+ - (KK) = :omg:

yeah, its much better getting relegated than , finishing second or playing in the champions league. So we are better off with 100 million in debt are we?. What, than being in the Championship? Er, yes. We're a football club. That means that on the field matters take precedence over everything else. You might find solace in the books being balanced (even though they're not because we've just lost a shitload of cash by being RELEGATED) when we're playing Doncaster on a Tuesday night next season but I won't. Love the way people carry on like half the PL clubs aren't in huge debt.

Gay fantasy. Shearer DOF KK First team coach. :wankspin: Love that smiley.

Gay fantasy. Shearer DOF KK First team coach.