Sensible decision in my opinion Janey, GOM next door reckons it will save the club around £125,000 a month
Totally agree, and I’ve seen some taking the pee, these players and staff won’t be on Premier League wages and still have families to keep. We also aren’t a premier league team with a huge income. I’m comfortable with it
In reality it’s saving a small percentage of the wage bill, but you understand why a club at our level, with zero income has done it. It’s not like we are Liverpool with £40 million profit (I’m aware that they backtracked, but only due to kickback). It shows just how fragile we are at this level, and it’s a concern. I’ll be amazed if all clubs outside the top 2 league don’t do it, and I’d imagine that at our level the players tax will repay all they take and more.
Was always on the cards imo. Fully expect all League 1 and 2 clubs to do this as none of them have the finances to cope.
If we genuinely can't afford to pay out £125,000 a month for 4 months, we're absolutely ****ed, and I'd also like to know what Donald has spunked the £10m loan on.
Who said we can’t afford it? Not seen that anywhere. It’s just something the club have done to save money. (I have done the same with my mortgage payments despite being able to afford them. Just to “rainy day” a few hundred quid a month) You’re talking like it’s peanuts. It was... 3 years ago. It’s not now. Club has minimal income due to current circumstances and it’s the right decision. Can’t see why anyone without an agenda would use this as a stick to beat Donald with, the loan was for “improving facilities at the club.” If it is used for wages, chances are that we’d end up in trouble from the league or FA for the financial rules. It’s not as simple as “I’ve borrowed £10m, I’ll do with it as I please”
I have no agenda, I'm looking at it from a morale question. You may be saving on your mortgage but you will be paying it back. Our club is essentially passing on a bill to the tax payer that they can afford.
Spot on Marcus, the club are using the government Job Retention Scheme, specifically designed to ensure that businesses are still in a position to trade at the other end of this crisis and in doing so contribute to the eventual upturn in the economy. Under normal circumstances SAFC wouldn’t have a problem trading at this time of the year, but these aren’t normal times. The facts are, we are a third tier club with limited cash flow, who have not made a profit since 2005. We have no real income until season ticket and gate receipts come in. Our expenditure is comparatively big with a large wage, rates and utility bills and a £2m annual bill for a class 1 academy. When I hear some of the negative comments about the club, I get the impression that some people are desperate for our club to go out of business just to satisfy their hatred for the current owners.
Are you privy to the finances? I don’t know that they can or can’t afford it. Unless you work for the club the likelihood is you’re making a large assumption based on I have no idea what as far as I can see.
This is true but if we can't afford £500k over 4 months having recently taken out a loan for £10m, I'm highly worried about what state we're in.
But that £10m is not for wages and, the way football finance controls seem to work, we’d likely be hauled over the coals if it was used as such. In order to get the money we had to declare the intentions with it to the efl. It’s not as simple as that in any way shape or form and there is far more to it. The club, due to financial issues arising recently, may have had to pay off “normal” workers in order to reduce costs and the club would be no doubt slated for that. You’re guessing. I am too but I’m certainly not seeing it as a negative on the club because we’ve taken advantage of what has been offered. Don’t understand anyone who does. I can save money so I have. SAFC can save money so they have, no idea what that means the club state. £500,000 is a lot of money to a league 1 club. Can’t work out why you think it shouldn’t be to us and it feels a little arrogant to be honest. Maybe it isn’t but that’s just what I see from people saying this. Our market value is £12.5m independently (from a couple of sources) the highest in the league. Turnover down massively and 500k is a big chunk of our annual income now. This only shows how things work as a league 1 club. If you were running a business in these times and your business were offered this way of making half a million savings over the next few months, would you say “it’s fine I’d rather pay the extra money.”
It's a difference of opinion, no more. I can understand your view point, I just think there is a greater moral point which trumps "Business" in my view. There would not be any issue at all with the club using any cash currently at it's disposal to pay wages to staff. That is very simple. As for any football finance issues, FFP has been completely relaxed. £500,000 may be a lot of money to most league 1 clubs and even to us in the context of us being a sustainable company. But these are unique times and we have a multi-millionaire who owns 74% of our club and someone with a $1bn net worth who owns a further 20%. In my opinion, they have a moral obligation to finance this situation rather than put the bill on the tax payer. Again, I understand why you think they've done nothing wrong and are using the options available to them. Personally I think it's a little greedy in these challenging times and morally bankrupt.
