CONFRIMATION of the CONFIMRED

[Sutekh]

The Chronicle's take on the latest accounts

[Linden Jones' Tash]

More likely cuts. As others have commented, our 1st team wage bill can't be that high when you look at personnel. It's the non playing staff that is too big for L1.

So more redundancies then - never a popular move...

There's been a few rounds already, so interesting to see if it's a route they follow...

Radcliffe at United went down that path...

Personally, I'd look to grow revenues where possible..

I'm sure they will try that also, but there is no magical "grow revenue" button to push.

Oh absolutely agree - there can't be many levers to pull that other big L1 clubs haven't tried.

Plus there were rumours that SCL fronted up the money on the 10 year stadium deal to help so that's not gonna help...

From the non player wages,
If you strip out the Director remuneration of c£300k/annum and the management team (assuming its separately stated) of £440k - that's £770k.

Not sure there will be Many other big hitters so it's them about volume and that's the rub.

[Brogue]

The Chronicle's take on the latest accounts

not really worth posting was it, far more detail has already been posted in this very thread. that's just a high level overview of the headline figures.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

If its debt to Dai, then it's presumably written off as Couhig buys the club for ~£25m ad Dai won't remain as a creditor... the sale price is essentially him recouping everything he can.

Couhig may or may not load the fee he paid onto the club as debt owed to him. Likely will.

Isn't this kind of leveraging now outlawed after the Glazers' purchase of Man U?

[Linden Jones' Tash]

The other interesting tidbit is section 26 entitled 'events after the reporting date' - i.e. 30 June 2024

(And presumably 2 May 2025 (date on accounts))

Two players sold for proceeds of £3M

Two players have agreed to have their contracts terminated for amounts payable of £NIL.

So if I am reading that correctly - is it saying 2 players (Smith (£2M) & Bindon (£1M)? were sold between June 24 & May 25 for £3M..?

And Two players left before their contracts were due to expire, but didn't get any payoff.

Not sure who they were?

[Brogue]

So more redundancies then - never a popular move...

There's been a few rounds already, so interesting to see if it's a route they follow...

Radcliffe at United went down that path...

Personally, I'd look to grow revenues where possible..

I'm sure they will try that also, but there is no magical "grow revenue" button to push.

Oh absolutely agree - there can't be many levers to pull that other big L1 clubs haven't tried.

Plus there were rumours that SCL fronted up the money on the 10 year stadium deal to help so that's not gonna help...

From the non player wages,
If you strip out the Director remuneration of c£300k/annum and the management team (assuming its separately stated) of £440k - that's £770k.

Not sure there will be Many other big hitters so it's them about volume and that's the rub.

Couhig now owns the SCL, so we wont have to pay Prestige Fortune Asia Limited (dai) £1.5 million a season to lease the stadium. Which equated to 12% of our overall 12.4m losses in 23/24.

[dontbedaft]

Bouzanis was one, right?

[Fezza]

The other interesting tidbit is section 26 entitled 'events after the reporting date' - i.e. 30 June 2024

(And presumably 2 May 2025 (date on accounts))

Two players sold for proceeds of £3M

Two players have agreed to have their contracts terminated for amounts payable of £NIL.

So if I am reading that correctly - is it saying 2 players (Smith (£2M) & Bindon (£1M)? were sold between June 24 & May 25 for £3M..?

And Two players left before their contracts were due to expire, but didn't get any payoff.

Not sure who they were?

Assuming Andy Carroll and Ovie Ejaria

[WestYorksRoyal]

If we can increase league attendance by 2k on average, let's say the average margin is £12 per fan taking into account concessions, then an extra £3 per fan on food, drink etc. (Food is expensive but plenty of people don't bother. £3 is a finger in the air). So you get to £15 revenue per fan, which is £30k per home game or £690k a season.

All chips away at it.

[Brogue]

The other interesting tidbit is section 26 entitled 'events after the reporting date' - i.e. 30 June 2024

(And presumably 2 May 2025 (date on accounts))

Two players sold for proceeds of £3M

Two players have agreed to have their contracts terminated for amounts payable of £NIL.

So if I am reading that correctly - is it saying 2 players (Smith (£2M) & Bindon (£1M)? were sold between June 24 & May 25 for £3M..?

And Two players left before their contracts were due to expire, but didn't get any payoff.

Not sure who they were?

Assuming Andy Carroll and Ovie Ejaria

Ejaria agreed a mutual termination in December 23 so this wouldn't fit in the 'after June 24' time frame.
Carroll left in august 23 so again doesn't fall into the after june 24 so i dont think it can be either of these two

[Brogue]

Bouzanis was one, right?

yes i think he'd be one
and the other will be Jökull Andrésson

[Linden Jones' Tash]

If we can increase league attendance by 2k on average, let's say the average margin is £12 per fan taking into account concessions, then an extra £3 per fan on food, drink etc. (Food is expensive but plenty of people don't bother. £3 is a finger in the air). So you get to £15 revenue per fan, which is £30k per home game or £690k a season.

All chips away at it.

You just know that American owners will be reading analysis like this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... 98e4lyxr7o

And thinking there's no reason why we can't squeeze Reading fans for more....

[6ft Kerplunk]

Rather than looking at what American owners are doing in the Premier League we should just be looking at what Couhig did at Wycombe as that will be his blueprint for taking over a lower league club and getting it ready to sell on.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm sure they will try that also, but there is no magical "grow revenue" button to push.

Oh absolutely agree - there can't be many levers to pull that other big L1 clubs haven't tried.

Plus there were rumours that SCL fronted up the money on the 10 year stadium deal to help so that's not gonna help...

From the non player wages,
If you strip out the Director remuneration of c£300k/annum and the management team (assuming its separately stated) of £440k - that's £770k.

Not sure there will be Many other big hitters so it's them about volume and that's the rub.

Couhig now owns the SCL, so we wont have to pay Prestige Fortune Asia Limited (dai) £1.5 million a season to lease the stadium. Which equated to 12% of our overall 12.4m losses in 23/24.

But will have to pay for its maintenance

[Brogue]

Oh absolutely agree - there can't be many levers to pull that other big L1 clubs haven't tried.

Plus there were rumours that SCL fronted up the money on the 10 year stadium deal to help so that's not gonna help...

From the non player wages,
If you strip out the Director remuneration of c£300k/annum and the management team (assuming its separately stated) of £440k - that's £770k.

Not sure there will be Many other big hitters so it's them about volume and that's the rub.

Couhig now owns the SCL, so we wont have to pay Prestige Fortune Asia Limited (dai) £1.5 million a season to lease the stadium. Which equated to 12% of our overall 12.4m losses in 23/24.

But will have to pay for its maintenance

cant remember which interview it was but he said the first thing he did when he bought Wycombe was to improve the fan experience by improving all things on match day and generally just making sure every thing was maintained and working well. So yeah i imagine that's going to be right up there on his to do list. Dai spent oxf*rd on on the place during his time here and it's beginning to look really tatty from the outside, toilets in the concourse are in need of repair. I imagine its going to be quite a hefty bill to get the place looking good and working properly again.

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Couhig now owns the SCL, so we wont have to pay Prestige Fortune Asia Limited (dai) £1.5 million a season to lease the stadium. Which equated to 12% of our overall 12.4m losses in 23/24.

But will have to pay for its maintenance

cant remember which interview it was but he said the first thing he did when he bought Wycombe was to improve the fan experience by improving all things on match day and generally just making sure every thing was maintained and working well. So yeah i imagine that's going to be right up there on his to do list. Dai spent oxf*rd on on the place during his time here and it's beginning to look really tatty from the outside, toilets in the concourse are in need of repair. I imagine its going to be quite a hefty bill to get the place looking good and working properly again.

Even things like the Dome at the ground need significant investment to get them back to a decent standard.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I would expect capital investment is quite appealing as it increases the value of the club. If the matchday experience is more enjoyable, you generate more revenue and can sell the club for more.

Compare that with pissing money away on player wages.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Rather than looking at what American owners are doing in the Premier League we should just be looking at what Couhig did at Wycombe as that will be his blueprint for taking over a lower league club and getting it ready to sell on.

I can see how that might be an interesting template, but I'm not sure whether it's really replicable for a club of Reading's footprint - the scale is an order of magnitude bigger.

Even their last L1 accounts don't include a P&L because of the small company exemption.

This is like going from running a neighbourhood corner shop to owning a Tesco Extra...

[blythspartan]

Until I see Dai removed as the owner on the Companies House website I can’t get too ecstatic about the takeover. Sorry, for my ignorance, but does a deal in principle mean that it’s just a matter of time until it’s done (i.e., legal formalities)?

[Snowflake Royal]

Until I see Dai removed as the owner on the Companies House website I can’t get too ecstatic about the takeover. Sorry, for my ignorance, but does a deal in principle mean that it’s just a matter of time until it’s done (i.e., legal formalities)?

Without knowing detail its impossible to say. Is it a deal in principle in that everything is agreed, but nothing is signed? Or is it a deal in principle with everything agreed and signed, but the actual legal formalities in process?

We all hope and assume the latter, in which case it can't be withdrawn without serious penalties unless something completely unexpected happens.

If it's the former, Dai can just refuse to sign again and it all falls over.