Skip to main content

Level of debt haunts Chesterfield

The chairman of Chesterfield FC states in his introduction to the 2016/17 accounts, filed online at Companies House: 'The level of debt continues to haunt us, although the loan interest payable has been significantly reduced.' (It went down from just under a quarter of a million pounds to just under £100k). Total loans owed to the owner and former owners amount to £9.1m. The club continues to be supported financially by Dave Allen who has provided further finance for the club during the year despite no longer being part of the board.

Turnover fell by nearly £900,000 (£7.5m to £6.6m) compared to the previous year, mainly due to a reduction in transfer fees receivable in the year following some significant sales in 2016. The amount received fell from just over £2m to just over £900k. The business review notes, 'To continue to try and balance the books we must remain a development club, that is able to sell players for a value in the future.'

Gate and season ticket money fell by £290,000 to £1.35m. This was balanced by TV and football awards increasing by £280,000 to £1.47m. Commercial income fell from just over £2m to £1.9m. 'The conference and banqueting facilities continued to receive great praise, but the performance of the first team had a knock on effect on the business as a whole.' The overall operating loss was £506k.

Staff costs were two-thirds of income. In overall terms the club reduced costs by over £200,000 compared to the previous year, despite the cost of replacing the management team and without significant reduction in the player budget.

Many League One and League Two clubs present abridged accounts, but Chesterfield offer a level of detail on costs that is not available even from Premier League clubs. Even with a modern stadium, repairs and maintenance and ground upkeep cost £350k. Hotels, travel and subsistence cost £177k. The light and heat bill was just under £100k. The rates bill came to £114k. Medical supplies cost £113k. £32k went to the Football League as the gate levy. £239k was spent on the Centre of Excellence which is key to the club's strategy.

If Chesterfield fail in their bid to avoid relegation, it will be difficult to reduce many of these costs but revenues will fall.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reports about Charlton sale exaggerated

Reports have appeared in The Guardian and elsewhere that Charlton has been put up for sale. Richard Cawley is an authoritative local journalist who runs a South London Sport substack site.  He reached out to the club yesterday evening to ask for comment on The Guardian’s article. Early indications from the club have been that nothing has changed since the story about them seeking investment, except that it is now a different company doing it. Charlton have since managed to consolidate their place in the Championship, avoiding an instant return to League One, with their women’s side promoted to the WSL, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2007, although staying there is likely to be costly. It would be counter-intuitive for owners Global Football Partners not to progress the club when looking for investment, that the focus remains on driving it forward, that their spend this summer is in line with long-term planning and will see an increase in wages spent on players...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hull City's 'strange' loan

When football finance guru Kieran Maguire seems flashing lights in a club's loan deal, I become concerned.  He is the leading football finance expert in the UK. Hull City have borrowed £55m against their stadium and training ground yet they should get £30m from the Premier League before long.  What is going on? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpwel48y51do
Post a Comment
Read more