Annual Accounts | Page 2 | Vital Football

Annual Accounts

Londonimp12 said:
In some respects though, if we can retain our league status, reduce our staff costs this season and make c.£1m from the Appleton departure, that looks to be shrewd business.

For me, the accounts have put our approach this season into context as one where survival really is and has always been the main aim to make us a more sustainable club. Hopefully this will pay dividends in the future.
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We didn't make £1 million from Appleton's departure, we made it from the Cowleys. Full credit to the board for funding this. They can't be happy with our position this season or last.
 
libertine said:
We didn't make £1 million from Appleton's departure, we made it from the Cowleys. Full credit to the board for funding this. They can't be happy with our position this season or last.
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With no debt either. Remarkable financial support and you’d like to think that fans might remember this when clamouring for new signings or whingeing that we aren’t ‘ambitious’.

Ultimately though it’s all a bit depressing isn’t it? Lose £2m to tread water in League One. Football finances are well and truly fucked.
 
Ainsworth7 said:
With no debt either. Remarkable financial support and you’d like to think that fans might remember this when clamouring for new signings or whingeing that we aren’t ‘ambitious’.

Ultimately though it’s all a bit depressing isn’t it? Lose £2m to tread water in League One. Football finances are well and truly fucked.
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look at Bristol city they are about where we are in the table but in the championship and their losses are 15 times ours. That was an improvement on the previous season when it was 20 times ours.
 
Reality bites. Here's the wake up call for those thinking that we somehow should be aiming for some level of ambition above League 1 (apart from those once in a lifetime opportunities that come along) We are doing magnificently well merely being in this league for the last few seasons.

[IMG]https://forums-cdn.vitalfootball.co.uk/data/avatars/m/9/9883.jpg?1525782103[/IMG]
Sincilbanks
Vital Football Hero
Jan 11, 2023
#110
I absolutely disagree, we need to do enough to ensure survival (which the board did in a January window when MA was in charge and we went over budget) and then regroup in the summer when our targets are cheaper / free. The season is over for us apart from survival which is our sole remaining goal.
 
Sincilbanks said:
Reality bites. Here's the wake up call for those thinking that we somehow should be aiming for some level of ambition above League 1 (apart from those once in a lifetime opportunities that come along) We are doing magnificently well merely being in this league for the last few seasons.

[IMG]https://forums-cdn.vitalfootball.co.uk/data/avatars/m/9/9883.jpg?1525782103[/IMG]
Sincilbanks
Vital Football Hero
Jan 11, 2023
#110
I absolutely disagree, we need to do enough to ensure survival (which the board did in a January window when MA was in charge and we went over budget) and then regroup in the summer when our targets are cheaper / free. The season is over for us apart from survival which is our sole remaining goal.
Click to expand...

Vicious circle though, sign fairly poorly in the summer, then need to overspend in January to dig us out of a hole.
All sounds quite familiar to this season if we lose the next couple.

Given we have a director of football and a 'recruitment team', I am pretty certain in the fact that we do not fair any better than other lower end league 1 sides in terms of recruitment. Wasting money without any real tangible benefit on the pitch.

Accrington for example. Brought in Dion Charles and Colby Bishop and sold on for big money. I am sure they do not have a recruitment team.

Our signing success rate doesn't appear to be better than any other club.
 
It’s all crazy.
Thanks to the Board for steering us through this craziness.
Great to see commercial income increasing too.
What revenue streams can we exploit to ease the burden placed on the Board’s wallets, and help us compete in the top half - player sales?
If we want to develop players to sell on later, we need to find a place for them in an established side that has experience that can provide cover and leadership. Introduce the raw talent in to that environment and they have some structure around them to kick on from. We keep trying to put too many youngsters in to a side at any one time, and that is not sustainable. It’s potentially even worse where the players we bring in are young loanees with little chance of joining us permanently.
 
Mattytindraws said:
A £2 million loss for the period ending June 2022, which is scary considering we finished 17th. Guess that maybe explains why did most of our player recruitment from the league(s) below in the summer. The one thing that did pique my interest was a reference to payments negotiated to terminate MA’s contract, which at this moment in time doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s money well spent.
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If you are referring to the £1m mentioned, that was compensation received from Huddersfield for the Cowleys.
 
I dont know whether the Stacey West Development will show in any way on the Accounts for next year, but when will it be starting ? Gone very quiet again, or waiting on Planning Permission ?
 
cdhIMP said:
Vicious circle though, sign fairly poorly in the summer, then need to overspend in January to dig us out of a hole.
All sounds quite familiar to this season if we lose the next couple.

Given we have a director of football and a 'recruitment team', I am pretty certain in the fact that we do not fair any better than other lower end league 1 sides in terms of recruitment. Wasting money without any real tangible benefit on the pitch.

Accrington for example. Brought in Dion Charles and Colby Bishop and sold on for big money. I am sure they do not have a recruitment team.

Our signing success rate doesn't appear to be better than any other club.
Click to expand...

Dion Charles and Colby Bishop were both signed in 2019? Who have we signed and sold on for profit in that time?

Harry Toffalo?
Bruno Andrade?
Jorge Grant?
Anthony Scully?
Cohen Bramall?
Michael O'Connor?
 
Sincilbanks said:
Reality bites. Here's the wake up call for those thinking that we somehow should be aiming for some level of ambition above League 1 (apart from those once in a lifetime opportunities that come along) We are doing magnificently well merely being in this league for the last few seasons.

[IMG]https://forums-cdn.vitalfootball.co.uk/data/avatars/m/9/9883.jpg?1525782103[/IMG]
Sincilbanks
Vital Football Hero
Jan 11, 2023
#110
I absolutely disagree, we need to do enough to ensure survival (which the board did in a January window when MA was in charge and we went over budget) and then regroup in the summer when our targets are cheaper / free. The season is over for us apart from survival which is our sole remaining goal.
Click to expand...
What’s the point without ambition though?
We should have ambition to do better. We should give the paying public exciting football to watch - win or lose. We should introduce young talent and develop them as saleable assets.
This has ti be done sustainably, and that’s a bit of a balancing act.
We currently can’t see where a win will come from, nor players that can entertain. This is not irreversible, but a lot hinges on the next two transfer windows. I’d happily take a 18th place finish if it produced entertaining football, talent being nurtured, and small improvements that show ambition. Not saying these things, with a healthier league position, won’t happen, it’s just hard to see how it will happen at this point in time. If we do resign ourselves as being unable to compete with ‘bigger’ clubs, then we will inevitably slip down the pyramid. You have to believe in yourself and your ambitions, but pursue them sensibly. We seem to have stalled over the last 2-3 seasons, and that is worrying to some.
 
Probably repeat my annual statement whenever the accounts are published. Whenever we report the share issues/investment that is going to equal a trading loss ( more or less). £2m is probably more than I was expecting mind
 
Sincilbanks said:
Reality bites. Here's the wake up call for those thinking that we somehow should be aiming for some level of ambition above League 1 (apart from those once in a lifetime opportunities that come along) We are doing magnificently well merely being in this league for the last few seasons.

[IMG]https://forums-cdn.vitalfootball.co.uk/data/avatars/m/9/9883.jpg?1525782103[/IMG]
Sincilbanks
Vital Football Hero
Jan 11, 2023
#110
I absolutely disagree, we need to do enough to ensure survival (which the board did in a January window when MA was in charge and we went over budget) and then regroup in the summer when our targets are cheaper / free. The season is over for us apart from survival which is our sole remaining goal.
Click to expand...

Is this right though? I agree expecting us to finish 5th every year and keep having a run at the championship is stupid but I don't think being slightly better over the last season and a half is unrealistic as an expectation, and I think most people are there rather than thinking we should be above Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich and Derby.

These accounts almost cement for me that last season was an underachievement rather than making me think we're doing well to survive.
 
Ainsworth7 said:
Ultimately though it’s all a bit depressing isn’t it? Lose £2m to tread water in League One. Football finances are well and truly fucked.
Click to expand...
Yup, this is the kicker for me. You sort of wonder why we bother, and you could probably forgive the owners for thinking the same. Luckily, for now, they are still committed.

I think I'm sometimes guilty of expecting too much. I just always hope that we can somehow find a winning formula, some kind of "moneyball" plan that allows us to compete above our means. The 20/21 season felt like we had done that, and it sticks in the craw how we fell away at the end.

Ultimately, football is f****d.
 
Sincilbanks said:
Dion Charles and Colby Bishop were both signed in 2019? Who have we signed and sold on for profit in that time?

Harry Toffalo?
Bruno Andrade?
Jorge Grant?
Anthony Scully?
Cohen Bramall?
Michael O'Connor?
Click to expand...

I think Colby Bishop moved to Portsmouth for a fee more than combined total for those six mentioned players. Plus Accrington don't have a recruitment team and DOF to pay for.
 
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