Walsall make a small profit (1 Viewer)

Badger

Well-Known Member
Walsall have made a small profit and I believe they pay rent to another company within the group.

From Midlands Business Insider

Walsall FC have reported another trading profit for the year of £23,000. Chairman Jeff Bonser said the result was a "significant achievement".
It follows a pre-tax profit of £10,000 in the 2011/12 season and £9,000 during the previous year.
Revenue dipped again, however, to £4.8m in 2012/13, down from £5m in the previous season and £5.4m in 2010/11.
The League One club recorded their highest finish in the table since the 2003/04 season in the period and their highest points total since the league was rebranded in 2004.
Bonser said both were achieved on the back of one of the smallest playing budgets in the division and the smallest the club had operated with in many years.
"I am delighted once again to be able to announce a trading profit for the year, this time of £23,000," Bonser added. "I believe this represents a significant achievement when you consider the findings of the latest Annual Review of Football Finance Report, published by Deloitte in June 2013, which established that the average net loss for a League One club in 2011/12 was £2.4m.
"It is also worthy of note that this profit was achieved despite a fall in central television revenues of 26 per cent as a direct result of a reduction in the Football League's new TV deal with Sky. Consequently the club had to adjust and reduce its player budget by a similar amount to compensate and this was done in a controlled and constructive manner."
 

shropshirecov

New Member
They seem to be a well run club. To be fair they pay rent for total control of the stadium and it's income streams, not for use of the stadium, comparing us a the Ricoh (or sixfields for that matter) is like comparing apples & pears.
 

lewys33

Well-Known Member
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Seriously though, £23,000 hardly shouts "yay for renting"
 

bigfatronssba

Well-Known Member
They seem to be a well run club. To be fair they pay rent for total control of the stadium and it's income streams, not for use of the stadium, comparing us a the Ricoh (or sixfields for that matter) is like comparing apples & pears.

The Take That gig at the bescott must really help them.
 

mds

Well-Known Member
Planning for the future, they were on the news a while ago, under 12s get a free season ticket with a full paying adult, 12-18 year olds pay 46 for a season ticket and get 2 back at the turnstile on matchdays, may not be a large profit now, if the youngers continue going year on year they will convert to paying customers profits will rise and so will the fanbase.
 

theferret

Well-Known Member
The Take That gig at the bescott must really help them.

You take missing the point to new levels.

It is all relative. Look at the turnover of Walsall FC compared to other clubs with similar sized gates. They punch well above their weight in terms of income, because the stadium offers then some unique revenue streams; and by controlling and running the stadium (even on a rental basis) they are in a position to benefit from them.

I'd actually suggest that comparing Walsall and their arrangements at the bescott with our deal at the Ricoh is more like comparing apples and bombay mix to be honest.
 

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
"It is also worthy of note that this profit was achieved despite a fall in central television revenues of 26 per cent as a direct result of a reduction in the Football League's new TV deal with Sky. Consequently the club had to adjust and reduce its player budget by a similar amount to compensate and this was done in a controlled and constructive manner."

I wasn't aware of this.
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
You take missing the point to new levels.

It is all relative. Look at the turnover of Walsall FC compared to other clubs with similar sized gates. They punch well above their weight in terms of income, because the stadium offers then some unique revenue streams; and by controlling and running the stadium (even on a rental basis) they are in a position to benefit from them.

I'd actually suggest that comparing Walsall and their arrangements at the bescott with our deal at the Ricoh is more like comparing apples and bombay mix to be honest.

Do Walsall get the money from other events? I have a vague recollection of their fans complaining they didn't get money from things like the car boot sale so I'm not certain they do.

Sure they've at least once tried to get the council to buy the ground so they can lease it back off them!
 

James Smith

Well-Known Member
You take missing the point to new levels.

It is all relative. Look at the turnover of Walsall FC compared to other clubs with similar sized gates. They punch well above their weight in terms of income, because the stadium offers then some unique revenue streams; and by controlling and running the stadium (even on a rental basis) they are in a position to benefit from them.

I'd actually suggest that comparing Walsall and their arrangements at the bescott with our deal at the Ricoh is more like comparing apples and bombay mix to be honest.

Oh Bombay mix (should that be Mumbai mix now) I like the description Jasper Carrott gave that particular snack:

Jasper Carrott said:
"And Bombay Mix! What the hell is that, Bombay Mix? Basically the contents of your local tandoori's hoover bag"
 

theferret

Well-Known Member
Do Walsall get the money from other events? I have a vague recollection of their fans complaining they didn't get money from things like the car boot sale so I'm not certain they do.

Sure they've at least once tried to get the council to buy the ground so they can lease it back off them!

No, the boot sale money goes to them. They make a healthy return from it.
 

theferret

Well-Known Member
We should take note. Maybe fisher could run one from sixfields?

That would have to on a Monday though. Not sure it would work :D

Seriously though, Walsall make a shed load from it.

Not surprised they've started doing one at the Ricoh.
 
C

cw36

Guest
Good little Club Walsall. Never really had feelings either way for them. We are way bigger than them.
 

Swiftlyon

Active Member
We (Walsall), pay around £450,000 a year in rent into our owners pension fund. That is a lot of money for a club of our size. Our owner's pension fund brought the freehold to the ground for about £400k twenty years ago. It is currently up for sale for around £6million and his pension fund will be around £6million fatter as a result of the arrangement. That is a serious return no matter how you look at it and to a lot of Walsall fans it stinks.

But, Walsall FC gets to keep the revenue made from the stadium's activities. The big sign over the motorway is rumoured to be worth around £360k a year let alone the market and the various other events that take place there.

Supporting Walsall under this regime makes you slightly schizophrenic. It is comforting to know that whilst they are in charge we will always have a home and a football club as we just aren't allowed to spend money we don't have. On one hand that's great but on the other it means that we always need to sell our best young talent and never spend money on bringing players in, rather we rely on a youth system to produce them. We look around us and see irresponsibly ran clubs profiting from a League administration who's sole purpose it seems is to keep all clubs in the competition rather than enforce its own rules around financial responsibility. So we never 'go for it' or 'push the boat out' because our owner/the landlord doesn't want the club/his tenant to ever be in a position where it can't pay the rent.
 

bigfatronssba

Well-Known Member
We (Walsall), pay around £450,000 a year in rent into our owners pension fund. That is a lot of money for a club of our size. Our owner's pension fund brought the freehold to the ground for about £400k twenty years ago. It is currently up for sale for around £6million and his pension fund will be around £6million fatter as a result of the arrangement. That is a serious return no matter how you look at it and to a lot of Walsall fans it stinks.

But, Walsall FC gets to keep the revenue made from the stadium's activities. The big sign over the motorway is rumoured to be worth around £360k a year let alone the market and the various other events that take place there.

Supporting Walsall under this regime makes you slightly schizophrenic. It is comforting to know that whilst they are in charge we will always have a home and a football club as we just aren't allowed to spend money we don't have. On one hand that's great but on the other it means that we always need to sell our best young talent and never spend money on bringing players in, rather we rely on a youth system to produce them. We look around us and see irresponsibly ran clubs profiting from a League administration who's sole purpose it seems is to keep all clubs in the competition rather than enforce its own rules around financial responsibility. So we never 'go for it' or 'push the boat out' because our owner/the landlord doesn't want the club/his tenant to ever be in a position where it can't pay the rent.

Does the sale of the ground have some sort of conditions attached to it? I mean what is to stop someone buying the ground, evicting the club, and doing something else with it?
 

Nick

Administrator
Does the sale of the ground have some sort of conditions attached to it? I mean what is to stop someone buying the ground, evicting the club, and doing something else with it?

Why are people obsessed with people buying football grounds to turn then into something else? Why wouldn't they just buy the something else in the first place or build their own?
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
thanks for the clarification swiftly. Am I right in thinking there was talk of trying to get the council to purchase the ground and lease it back to the club?
 

Swiftlyon

Active Member
thanks for the clarification swiftly. Am I right in thinking there was talk of trying to get the council to purchase the ground and lease it back to the club?

Nearly. Bonser (our owner/chairman/landlord) gets loads of stick. He rarely attends games these days. A couple of years ago he wanted out and his pension fund put the stadium onto the market (not the Sunday Market on the car park - the property market). Whilst the bloke isn't popular, I think he still has the club at heart, so he mooted the council buying it as that would be a safer bet than a speculator. Council Tax payers would get their money back through the rent and use of a decent facility. The Council didn't bite though and whilst the ground remains theoretically for sale it isn't being as aggressively pushed as it was initially.

In answer to another question, the football club has a 100 year lease, so any future owner couldn't kick us out until 2090.

On the "signs". The small one nearest the motor way isn't ours. Ours is the big baby that had an advert for the new Villa kit on it in the summer - talk about selling your soul!

Well done for denying those Dingle arseholes two points today. It sounds like the lovely folk who sit above the away fans have been at it again. I hope the rest of you who went had a safe journey and have de-contaminated yourselves appropriately. We had a lovely evening there a few weeks ago.
 

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