Davidlingfield

Mrs Webber is absolutely the weakest link.

Wholly unqualified husband and wife, sorry I mean wife and husband (the younger, not the older couple) running the club - doesn’t matter if it is 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 5-3-2. It will remain broken under the current status quo.

Based on the cost of paying off Smith + others, combined with lack of available funds, most likely to be another out of work head coach where no compensation needs to be paid.

The vagueness around the senior management team is deliberate to mask how much £££‘s the Webbers are rinsing the Club for, although now Mrs Webber is a director, it is a bit more difficult to hide.

More Mrs than Mr….

Absolutely rinsing the Club whilst it all goes to s**t. Sad really how the Webbers have taken advantage of our owners’ good nature and financial naivety but I guess that is the world we live in.

It’s not just the drive - he had people helping him then, but then he (or more accurately his wife) decided he could it better on his own.

Sadly, if Webber was humble enough to take advice, he may be able to improve. However, his arrogance plus the alienation of ex-key management by him and his wife means that this avenue is no longer available. Downwards from here I fear, and that is before the problematic financial position looming is even considered.

There isn’t a management structure - that’s the problem!

Not bad at £700k+ per year. No wonder they don’t want any journalistic scrutiny.

I understand that the Webbers combined have taken morale at the Club to new depths - no surprise results are a struggle currently.

Stuart Webber was recruited first, followed by his wife. She had previously worked here for McNally as consultant before leaving to have a baby.

Plans to upgrade Colney were well advanced in McNally era, way before Webber became involved. Funding was raised through Bond in Webber’s time but wasn’t anything to do with him.

An independent partner of Baker Tilly still doesn’t compare to BDO. If the FD used to work there, then that (plus the poor quality of the accounts) does raise concerns with me, but then I am a pessimistic accountant!

They shouldn’t take the **** as this sort of thing is really serious. Lack of governance mirrors lack of transparency currently at the Club and that is never good news. These are a worrying set of accounts, both in terms of debt and presentation, but the inexperienced people in senior positions believe that masking this with a glossy front section that provides nothing of substance hides the issue. Whilst this may work short term, the reality of the cash requirements will eventually speak for themselves.

Auditing standards have tightened regarding going concern sign off, the better known audit firms are particularly focused on it.

Sadly, this is indicative of a shoddy set of accounts, masked by glossy front pages. Notes 18 and 19 are poor - how can a “short term” loan be > 1 year and it should be clearer that the wording in 19 also covers amounts in note 18. The “short term loan” is incorrectly merged with “Other loans” in note 19 too. As a chartered accountant, I personally would be embarrassed if these were my accounts. I also note a change of auditors to an obscure firm, which is a red flag.

It’s not an assumption - it is fact. She is the only executive director and requirement is to report earnings whilst a director. So it is definitely period from 18th March - 30 June only.

Yep - appointed as Director on 18th March 2022 so from then until 30th June 2022

He has, as long as the c£100m player related payments due in the next two years can be funded by parachute payments and player trading whilst maintaining a competitive squad. I am not so sure, but time will tell.

Not a pittance to Zoe Webber/Ward. £200k not bad for 3 and a half months. I shudder to think how much her husband earns?

Yes, it is for a competitive game which he hasn’t yet triggered. £1m, I believe.

It is no surprise really - an average commercial person, totally out of his depth as a CEO.

The most interesting thing in this article for me is Michael stating that the Hayden transfer was led by Dean Smith. That feels to me to be a return to the more traditional “Manager” rather than “Head Coach and Sporting Director” and makes me question how the dynamic is working between Smith and Stuart Webber and who is actually driving recruitment now?

The issue is far too many players as a result of a scatter gun purchasing strategy. Now there is a squad of 35 players, many of whom will be on wages higher than other clubs will be willing to pay and hence difficult to shift with writing settlement cheques. It will be difficult to commit to incoming transfer until players have been moved on - I expect the transfer window to be pretty difficult.