Baggies trousered

[Bill 1,788]

Looks like the ''established'' PL club WBA have run out of money, which begs the question of who has trousered it all ?"West Bromwich Albion’s new chief executive, Mark Jenkins, has painted

a bleak picture of the club’s finances, admitting: “There is no more

money for wages.”

Jenkins returned to the club in February after it was announced that

the chairman John Williams and chief executive Martin Goodman had been given notice of termination of their contracts and placed on gardening leave.

In an interview on the club’s website,

Jenkins said: “I’ll be honest I’ve come back and I’m shocked at what I

have found in some of the decisions that have been made."

Smacks of utter madness to me and a complete embarrassment as well for the supporters. Shame and scandal for what must be a true grey day in the black country.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/26/west-brom-finances-chief-executive-shocked-wages?CMP=twt_gu

[nutty nigel 6,503]

Apparently they''ve got a Chinese investor/owner but the money''s probably ended up in Delia''s purse....

[:S]

[Bill 1,788]

just over 18 months ago"Guochuan Lai commented: “I am excited and privileged to have the chance

to become the new owner of this great Club. We have a strong squad,

loyal fans and a unique culture. My immediate priorities will be to

maintain the Club’s stable structure, respecting its well-run nature and

its heritage. I have no intention of changing the Club’s ethos."by that I suppose he is talking about it''s yo yo status

[Duncan Edwards 1,841]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]Apparently they''ve got a Chinese investor/owner but the money''s probably ended up in Delia''s purse....

[:S]

[/quote]

No good just getting someone Chinese. They need to be stinking rich. Otherwise might as well ask that rude old beggar that used to say “Is that all you want?” up at Peking.

[Bill 1,788]

Who is this Stinking Rich fellow ?or Hu is this stinking litch ferrow(if you still miss the 1970''s)

[nutty nigel 6,503]

I thought he was stinking rich. Or at least strong smelling rich. Perhaps he''s the wrong type of rich. I''m sure someone will be along soon with an explaination.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

The thing with WBA is they have the money in the bank to spend more, just the Premier League STCC rules means they aren’t allowed to use it for wages.

It is an example of how the Financial Fair Play rules introduced by the league are more about protecting the big clubs than seeking to address the financial imbalances that exist.

[Kidderminster Exile 0]

Yes its big warning

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43543439

[Badger 2,264]

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]The thing with WBA is they have the money in the bank to spend more, just the Premier League STCC rules means they aren’t allowed to use it for wages.

It is an example of how the Financial Fair Play rules introduced by the league are more about protecting the big clubs than seeking to address the financial imbalances that exist.[/quote]From the Guardian article above:"STCC was introduced to stop clubs spending too much television money on

wages. It means Premier League teams can increase their wage bill above a

specified level by no more than £7m each season, unless funded by the

club’s own revenue uplift or playing trading profits."Am I wrong in assuming that the STCC applies because their non TV revenue has not increased enough to to justify a wage increase of much more than £7 million? This does not seem unreasonable if trying to protect the financial stability of clubs - remember the number of clubs that used to get relegated and then go into administration?

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,557]

STCC was devised and pushed by Chelsea and Man City. Didn’t want any other rich owners coming in, investing 100s of millions over a short space of time and putting their clubs under more pressure. Basically didn’t want anyone else doing what they had done.

West Ham are also up against their limit, a large part of the reason they couldn’t do the business their fans wanted in the winter.

Non-TV revenue is hard for mid table clubs to increase dramatically and STCC leads to clubs trying to get as much out of fans through ticket prices as possible - the easiest source of additional revenue.

[AJ 1,167]

The lengths clubs go to in order to stay in the Premier League is crazy, nobody can compete like that without huge investment. Teams like us, Huddersfield/Brighton etc. might be lucky and stay up, but can only sustain themselves in the short-term whilst having to keep an eye on potential relegation.

Our current status sucks compared to years previous, but at least we have no debt despite running out of all our PL money at the end of this season. Credit to the club for the decisions they make, they might not get them all right but at least they haven''t run the club into the ground.

Back on topic though, I wonder how much those Sturridge wages are costing... huge value for money there.

[king canary 6,410]

I believe football needs one of two things-

1- The bubble to burst- basically something that happens to cause a hard reset of football finances and to force clubs to realise that the current situation is not sustainable.

2- A European Super League. This might seem counter productive but I think if the ''giant'' clubs all left and set up on their own then the remaining clubs could build something better from the ashes.

Football is supposed to be a competition first and foremost but that seems to have been forgotten. Wage caps, squad limits, transfer fee limits and a new approach to youth development are all needed.

[Badger 2,264]

BYG - I am confident that you know more about this than I do!Nevertheless, even if it was introduced and supported by Chelsea and Man City, the other clubs had to support it. my understanding is that at least part of the reason for them doing so was that they did not want the extra revenue from the TV deals just being frittered away on player wages. Thus the extra spend had to be justified by an increase in revenue from other sources - Man City, for example, greatly increased their commercial income (somewhat suspiciously).Financially, the STCC rules make sense. Take West Ham for example, which you cite as having suffered from the rules - given their level of debt, was it really responsible for them to massively increase their wage bill - presumably they will have greater leeway than most in any case, because of increased football and commercial revenue?

[Guest]

I don''t believe it is down to the owners. Baggies (what happened to the Throstles) fans decided they were an established Prem team and wanted to see Man City type football at the Hawthorns instead of the football that Pulis offered, football that had made fans decide they were safely established.

So they got on his back, not just this season, and the dominoes fell.

I''m quite sure the Chinese owners are hardly there and just receive reports and base their judgments on those. Now I believe the same fans are saying they don''t care what division they are in they just want to see decent football.

Let''s face it, before any emergency board meetings, the fans got rid of Hughton and they got rid of Neil. And probably were more than guilty with Adams.

Who is wrong and who is right?

[king canary 6,410]

@Badger

Financially it makes sense but competitively it just locks in a hierarchy. It might be naive to say but I care more about competitive football than I do balance sheets.

[Badger 2,264]

[quote user="king canary"]@Badger

Financially it makes sense but competitively it just locks in a hierarchy. It might be naive to say but I care more about competitive football than I do balance sheets.[/quote]It can''t be competitive under the current structure. I agree with your post about the need for a European league to get the competitiveness of the domestic game back across Europe.

[king canary 6,410]

@Badger

IMO they can either embrace the idea of football as a billionaires plaything and let owners spend what they want or bring in some proper, fair regulations and limitations on spending. Right now the halfway house helps nobody and just ensures that the same teams finish at the top.

[Badger 2,264]

I''m unhappy at the "billionaire''s plaything" option - football clubs are a deep and important part of our cultural heritage imo. Let the international franchises go into a European super league. I suspect that this is what will happen in the long run anyway.

[westcoastcanary 173]

[quote user=" Badger"]I''m unhappy at the "billionaire''s plaything" option - football clubs are a deep and important part of our cultural heritage imo. Let the international franchises go into a European super league. I suspect that this is what will happen in the long run anyway.[/quote] There are many "deep and important" constituents to our cultural heritage. The odd thing about football is the almost universal. seemingly unquestionable, acceptance that it is "a good thing" and deserves preservation in its current, uniquely self-indulgent, form.