AFCB Annual Accounts - Ending 30th June 2021

billythekid

billythekid

UTC Legend
The statements cover a year in which the club was relegated from the Premier League to the EFL Championship. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the delayed 2019/20 season meant that the club played seven games in the Premier League in the 2020/21 financial year before being relegated and playing a full season in the Championship.

The club recorded a profit before taxation of £17.0m (2020: loss of £60.1m) mainly as a result of the profits realised from player trading. The directors consider the financial position of the Company to be satisfactory at 30 June 2021.

Turnover was down by £23.7m to £71.7m (2020: £95.4m). This decrease is mainly due to the impact of Covid-19 and relegation from the Premier League. Furthermore, the vast majority of games being behind-closed-doors meant no ticket sales or hospitality income and catering receipts, lower commercial revenue and no matchday footfall through the Club’s Superstore.
Losses were reduced through the successful business interruption insurance claim of £2.5m relating to the Covid pandemic, and costs relating to football player and team management wages also decreased.

Total staff costs decreased to £57.4m (2020: £107.9m) as higher paid players were sold, some contracts were not renewed and relegation clauses in contracts further lowered the wages of remaining players.

The Club recorded an operating profit of £23.6m (2020: loss of £51.9m) which included a gain in respects of player sales totalling £55.8m (2020: £22.9m).

https://www.afcb.co.uk/news/club-news/club-release-annual-accounts-2/
 
On the face of it, a not disastrous statement of accounts...? That will upset some!

Staff costs less than turnover is far from common around the leagues.

Goes without saying we won't always be able to sell players for good fees every year, but it helps when you can.
 
On the surface, that wage reduction is better than expected. I was hoping it would land around £60m so they've done well to get it under that.

There will still be another bump down needed for this season which will be interesting given the incoming players. Looking the the way they've cut the bill, it really does look like the wage cuts to Smith and Stanislas were really significant, which is why they hung on so long before signing.

I'm interested to see what transfer fee payments we still have outstanding as I seem to recall we had a huge amount due to be paid within two years. It felt like a lot of the sales were to deal with those so this doesn't necessarily mean the finances are all that healthy.
 
Well the words 'pre tax profit' sound surprisingly very encouraging? Although I'm sure someone will be along to tell me otherwise
 
£130m still owed to Max.

On transfer fees: Included in trade creditors are amounts due in respect of football transfer fees payable to former clubs and loan fees due to other football clubs. The undiscounted value of these due within one year is £30,245,000.

Not sure what the longer term liability is beyond this year. That's still quite a wedge. Add in the January signings and that Danjuma money looks to be long gone and then some.

Oh, to that you also need to add another £15m due in loan fees (how much did Long cost???).
 
kirsikka said:
£130m still owed to Max.

On transfer fees: Included in trade creditors are amounts due in respect of football transfer fees payable to former clubs and loan fees due to other football clubs. The undiscounted value of these due within one year is £30,245,000.

Not sure what the longer term liability is beyond this year. That's still quite a wedge. Add in the January signings and that Danjuma money looks to be long gone and then some.

Oh, to that you also need to add another £15m due in loan fees (how much did Long cost???).
Click to expand...

I think that's the biggest problem, with the loans for the full player amount we recognise the full sale value immediately whereas when we buy, it's over the contract length so with sales of 10m and a spend of 10m, the books would show a 7.5m profit (10m spread over a 4 year contract so 2.5m spend)... If my understanding is correct, of course.
 
kirsikka said:
Oh, wait until a certain somebody sees this:

"The highest paid director received remuneration of £1,884,000 (2020: £1,306,000)."

A 50% pay rise when we drop to the Championship...
Click to expand...
If the accounts show the club made a profit, despite relegation and covid, then I think a pay rise is fine? I would have thought that although on field and off field activities are linked, the expectations are different.
 
kirsikka said:
Ok, this is interesting:

"The club has received further interest free shareholder loans of £24.5m since 30 June 2021."

So Max is still piling cash into helping us.
Click to expand...
How does that impact FFP or should pop on north stand chat to find out
 
USCherry said:
If the accounts show the club made a profit, despite relegation and covid, then I think a pay rise is fine? I would have thought that although on field and off field activities are linked, the expectations are different.
Click to expand...

The profit came about from swingeing cuts to wages, playing staff (released and sold), reducing headcount in the centre of excellence etc. In the light of that, I'm not sure how impressed everyone else at the club will feel at him getting a 50% pay rise. It isn't a good look for a business that goes through some dramatic changes like that.
 
USCherry said:
How does that impact FFP or should pop on north stand chat to find out
Click to expand...

FFP calculations are a lot more complicated as they include/exclude certain things so they're hard to predict from the accounts alone. However, given the player sales I don't think we need to be all that worried.
 
kirsikka said:
The profit came about from swingeing cuts to wages, playing staff (released and sold), reducing headcount in the centre of excellence etc. In the light of that, I'm not sure how impressed everyone else at the club will feel at him getting a 50% pay rise. It isn't a good look for a business that goes through some dramatic changes like that.
Click to expand...
Yeah I get that it doesn't look good, but if the goal was to reduce expense by x% and that is met?
 
It might be fine from the point of the view of the shareholder to reward cost reduction like that. In the end, he's the one that's paying for all this and so the only one that really matters.

From a broader leadership perspective, it isn't something that usually plays well with staff. Everyone loses colleagues, experiences big cuts, sees the business cutting back everywhere but the man at the top coins it. Can foster some resentment in the ranks.
 
kirsikka said:
Oh, wait until a certain somebody sees this:

"The highest paid director received remuneration of £1,884,000 (2020: £1,306,000)."

A 50% pay rise when we drop to the Championship...
Click to expand...
Imagine investing that sort of money for the long-term benefit of the club, short-sighted and sickening in equal degrees, still, maybe they have a long-term plan :oops:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;