tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post5460055860359043917..comments2024-02-29T09:58:18.342+01:00Comments on The Swiss Ramble: Tottenham - Grounds For Optimism Or Concern?The Swiss Ramblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-35772662924776817232012-09-03T08:33:37.610+02:002012-09-03T08:33:37.610+02:00Some out htere would have you believe Spurs are a ...Some out htere would have you believe Spurs are a poor club or they havent spent a lod of money to get to where they are.isabel maranthttp://www.imsneakers.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-60230102645999242232012-02-20T10:59:05.146+01:002012-02-20T10:59:05.146+01:00Hallo Mr. The Swiss Rambler, i really like this ar...Hallo Mr. The Swiss Rambler, i really like this article because it contains a lot of information i would like to use for my case in finance at University. my question to you is, where you got these informations from ? <br /><br />Thank you in andvance for your help.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12905049822103592740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-88791778748383959572012-02-14T18:03:07.751+01:002012-02-14T18:03:07.751+01:00Harry has been reigned in by Levy, but his financi...Harry has been reigned in by Levy, but his financial legacy will become apparent later on. He has two goalkeepers who are aging & will need replacing sooner rather than later. He has injury ravaged Ledley King. He has signed short term solutions in Saha & Nelsen. He has Adebayor on loan. He has Gallas & Parker already in their 30's & Defoe who turns 30 this year. In effect its a timebomb waiting to happen, with costly future replacements necessary. The strange thing is there is a pre-Harry team at the club. Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto - Lennon, Huddelstone, Modric, Bale, Dos Santos & Bentley. Then again Jol had taken the team to the brink of CL qualification in any event.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-3314528449288951832012-02-01T19:36:57.646+01:002012-02-01T19:36:57.646+01:00@Frank,
Part of that difference is because I base...@Frank,<br /><br />Part of that difference is because I based my chart on the figures that Deloitte use in their annual Money League, which takes the higher gross revenue, as opposed to the net revenue (less share of JV).<br /><br />Some of the reasons for my assumed growth had already been published, such as PL and CL distribution, so I can only assume that the increases in sponsorship deals were not so high as reported in the press (or commenced later in the year).The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-78952958718557115912012-02-01T19:00:34.156+01:002012-02-01T19:00:34.156+01:00Nowadays, I use Google Chrome and when I click on ...Nowadays, I use Google Chrome and when I click on the image, it gives me the option to open the image in a new page or tab. Then I use the Chrome controls to increase the size of the image to a level which suits me.<br /><br />Swiss Rambler, as you know, I'm sure, Chelsea released their accounts for last year on transfer deadline day, probably judging it to be a good day to bury bad news!<br /><br />Their published revenue for last year came to £223m, some £20m less than what you had estimated in one your of your charts in this section of your blog dealing with Spurs.<br /><br />Among other things, this means their revenue has only increased by £10m in three years and is still ever so slightly behind Arsenal's.Franknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-74108775152654072822012-01-21T18:18:06.893+01:002012-01-21T18:18:06.893+01:00@Screen Nayim,
Thanks for that.
I really wish th...@Screen Nayim,<br /><br />Thanks for that.<br /><br />I really wish that the graphs could be bigger. When I first started the blog if you clicked on the graph, it would expand, but then something changed in the Blogger software, so that this no longer happened.<br /><br />I've looked long and hard in order to remedy this, but none of the proposed solutions have worked. If I find time, I might change the template to a newer version, which hopefully will address this shortcoming.The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-5578620991585590832012-01-21T18:04:58.059+01:002012-01-21T18:04:58.059+01:00Fair point, but you do go on to say...
"The q...Fair point, but you do go on to say...<br />"The quandary facing Spurs in the next set of accounts is that they will no longer have the benefit of £37 million of Champions League revenue and the Europa League is not likely to provide more than £10 million compensation. Ceteris paribus that would increase the wages to turnover ratio to 67%, which is by no means disastrous (Manchester City’s is 114%), but is probably higher than Levy would feel comfortable with".<br /><br />Ceteris Paribus you are correct, but the obvious point is that ceteris won't be paribus. I can't see a quandary coming in the 2012 accounts; the only quandary is for the players, having to scrape by on tens of thousands of GBP a week this season without their ECL bonuses. Poor dears. No doubt this was why Modric was spitting his dummy in the summer.<br /><br />Anyway, this is hair splitting. Thank you for such a detailed yet lucid explanation in this and all your other articles - although bigger graphs would be helpful for those of us whose eyesight is not all it was. Your writing puts the so-called professional media to shame.Screen Nayimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-76133609614633839462012-01-20T15:29:05.801+01:002012-01-20T15:29:05.801+01:00@Screen Nayim,
Re your comment that I should have...@Screen Nayim,<br /><br />Re your comment that I should have picked up that the player salary increase over 2009/10 was due to CL bonus payments, you obviously missed this sentence in the section commenting on the wages growth:<br /><br />"Although not separately analysed, some of the rise is surely also due to performance bonuses following Champions League success."The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-80676988796307293732012-01-20T15:23:07.059+01:002012-01-20T15:23:07.059+01:00Hello Mr Rambler,
That's a fair enough 'r...Hello Mr Rambler,<br /><br />That's a fair enough 'ramble' around Spurs finances, although, as others have commented, you should have picked up that the player salary increase over 2009/10 was due to CL bonus payments and is likely to disappear in 2011/12 along with the CL revenue. (Hopefully to return again in 2012/13 and thereafter at either Arsenal's or Chelsea's expense - I'm not fussy). <br /><br />Some credit is due to Daniel Levy for keeping the club's finances on an even keel when many other Premier League clubs have behaved like money doesn't matter any more. Even more credit must go to the manager for building a team that sits comfortably within the top four within that financial framework - certainly more than your grudging sentences above. <br /><br />The biggest disappointment must be that Enic are now 11 years in into their 5 year plan to build a new stadium. £80m+ has been spent and yet not a brick has been laid. Worse still, more than a year has been wasted on the Stratford saga since Haringey granted planning permission for the NPD. I have concerns of funding a £450m project (less naming rights and property sales) from debt finance (especially with some of it at 7.29%!). It's time ENIC put some equity where their mouth is and injected some serious cash to get the stadium done. Given the performance of the team this year, that must be a better investment than Bears Stearns was, eh Joe?Screen Nayimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-81907034406230300242012-01-06T16:29:46.260+01:002012-01-06T16:29:46.260+01:00@Anonymous (4:18),
Yes, any remaining value in th...@Anonymous (4:18),<br /><br />Yes, any remaining value in the books is amortised over the length of the extended contract, so annual amortisation would decrease.<br /><br />For example, if a player is signed for £10m on a 5-year contract, the annual amortisation would be £2m. Let's assume that the player's contract is extended by 2 years after 3 years of the original contract, meaning there would be a further 4 years left.<br /><br />The value in the books at that stage would be £4m (i.e. £10m cost less 3 years amortisation at £2m a year), so the new annual amortisation would fall to £1m (£4m divided by 4 years).The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-50966394941728619162012-01-06T16:18:47.725+01:002012-01-06T16:18:47.725+01:00Rambler,
Are player amortization amounts adjusted...Rambler,<br /><br />Are player amortization amounts adjusted if they were to sign a new contract? <br /><br />Similar to when the useful life of an asset is increased/decreased which would affect depreciation amounts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-43759031179738852792012-01-06T10:49:54.946+01:002012-01-06T10:49:54.946+01:00Hi Swiss Rambler!
Love this blog - really is so i...Hi Swiss Rambler!<br /><br />Love this blog - really is so in-depth and you're well worthy of all the newspaper acolades and such you've received. <br /><br />Really was interesting reading and I thank you.<br /><br />Have not long started my own football blog - in aspiration of beefing out my portfolio before (hopefully!!) getting into Uni to study Sports Journalism - I'd be more than appreciative if you or anyone else here took some time out to give some of my work a read!<br /><br />http://insidefootballchat.blogspot.com/<br /><br />Thank you guys so much & Rambler keep up the good work! :)Lewis Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305712695835547177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-12093045081937952532012-01-05T16:17:38.981+01:002012-01-05T16:17:38.981+01:00The elephant in the room is the new ground.
Either...The elephant in the room is the new ground.<br />Either Lewis puts up or he sells up and lets a new owner fund it. Doing nothing is not a sustainable option.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-36147833747443342022011-12-30T20:39:49.692+01:002011-12-30T20:39:49.692+01:00Hi,
Could I possibly ask you to make an article ab...Hi,<br />Could I possibly ask you to make an article about PSG. Considering current and future changes for the club it would be interesting to see how it compares to the past.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-11812383205233342212011-12-26T13:05:21.306+01:002011-12-26T13:05:21.306+01:00Hello
Could we have a post on the demise of the se...Hello<br />Could we have a post on the demise of the serie a, and if present efforts (collective tv deals, club owned stadiums) will restore former gloriesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-88356289776024600762011-12-22T16:21:52.318+01:002011-12-22T16:21:52.318+01:00@Twoleftfeet,
Yes, I take your point. Indeed, man...@Twoleftfeet,<br /><br />Yes, I take your point. Indeed, many clubs separate "Football Trading" as an activity, comprising player amortisation and profit on player sales. <br /><br />However, I think that can be a little confusing to people, especially as the net result is frequently negative, due to many years of accumulated amortisation being more than the profit on player sales. That's why I look at these separately and actually also look at the net spend on transfers.<br /><br />I normally only highlight profit on player sales if it is: (a) an important part of the club's business model, .e.g. Udinese, Porto; or (b) it has had a material impact on a club's finances in some years.The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-20126977985911295372011-12-22T16:11:03.016+01:002011-12-22T16:11:03.016+01:00@Anonymous (2:46),
Thanks.
Yes, I've now upd...@Anonymous (2:46),<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Yes, I've now updated the list of football clubs. I have to do that manually, so it looks like I forgot a couple.<br /><br />Re the graphs, they used to expand when you clicked them, but something changed in the Blogger software and that no longer happens. I've tried to find a solution, but unfortunately have so far failed to find a solution.The Swiss Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11423088862174893998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-71810614113800364302011-12-21T14:46:15.019+01:002011-12-21T14:46:15.019+01:00Hi Swiss,
Thanks for the interesting read.
I ha...Hi Swiss,<br /><br />Thanks for the interesting read. <br /><br />I have a request, can you please update your left side-bar "Football Clubs?" I don't think all of your case-studies are listed there e.g. Valencia.<br /><br />I actually have another requst: can you please make your graphs and charts a little bigger? It's kind of hard to study them in detail.<br /><br />Thanks and keep up the good workAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-6095618128619316322011-12-21T11:44:55.645+01:002011-12-21T11:44:55.645+01:00Fantastic article and analysis as always Rambler! ...Fantastic article and analysis as always Rambler! <br />Even as a Gooner, the banker in me must commend Tottenham and Daniel Levy for the way they have taken the club forward. Despite lower match day and commercial income and hence a lower wage bill, they have managed to compete with the very best in the league. <br /><br />In terms of qualifying for CL, I think the two north london teams need that the most. Should Spurs fail to qualify, they will be unable to retain their best players any longer. For Arsenal, qualifying for CL has become the minimum expectation and indeed the pride of the club. Failure to do that may lead to rash decisions at the club including AW leaving for good. At the very least it will dry up the reserves the club has been building over the last few years and force Wenger to once again sell before he buys. <br />Chelsea and Liverpool on the other hand work on the benefactor model and a year out will not affect them as much although it may lead to another flurry of transfers at both clubs (and the possible firing of AVB but that's another story entirely). <br /><br />On another note: I am not sure I entirely agree with the way you use profit from player sales in your analysis Rambler. Admittedly, a high figure for profits from player sales will indicate that the club has made some high profile sales but it does not necessarily mean that the club relies on player sales to stay profitable. Taken by itself the figure is meaningless since it may have been caused / negated by some high-profile arrivals at the club or it may be simply a result of transfer values increasing sharply in the recent years. Similarly, a low profit on player sales does not meant that a club hasn't sold any of its star players, it only indicates that if it has done so then they the club has not made a significant profit on those transfers. <br /><br />I believe that the profit from player sales can be revealing when taken in conjunction with player amortization. For example, an increasing amortization value coupled with increasing profit on player sales only indicates that there is a lot of churn at the club and / or the player transfer amounts are increasing (an observable trend in the last decade for many clubs).<br /><br />I would love to hear thoughts on this. I am sure you have a pretty good reason for doing the analysis the way you do and it would be nice to hear your rationale behind it.Two Left Feetnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-79117729244894681772011-12-20T22:56:03.369+01:002011-12-20T22:56:03.369+01:00ralph250, just to clarify matters, in the original...ralph250, just to clarify matters, in the original example which you yourself quoted, you specifically said that a huge chunk of the transfer fee could be dressed up as performance-related, for whatever reason.<br /><br />The only way the buying club would have an annual amortisation as low as £200k would be if the player never played and never scored, in the example which you quoted.<br /><br />It is also worth pointing out that the selling club is unlikely to agree to a deal which results in them getting a very low upfront fee, with a huge chunk of the overall fee dependent on how the player performs for his new club.<br /><br />In the specific case of Wayne Rooney, Everton got £20m upfront and, it's fair to assume, have long since pocketed the other £7m or so, especially bearing in mind that Rooney's debut for United was against Galatasaray in the Champions League where he scored a hat-trick!Franknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-25420341267476399112011-12-20T22:42:00.457+01:002011-12-20T22:42:00.457+01:00Peter250, I replied to you earlier but I posted in...Peter250, I replied to you earlier but I posted in the InterMilan discussion by mistake!<br /><br />Anyway, not that I haved discovered my mistake, allow me to say that I may have misunderstood you when you said the following:<br /><br />…eg. Player X is valued at £30m. I'm moneybags albion and I offer you £1m up front for player X (5 year contract). After his first game, I will pay you an additional £20m, after his first goal £10m. First international cap £1m. If we win the league £2m.<br /><br />...Bought a player for a total potential expense of £34m, but the impact on amortisation (and thus relevant expense for FFP) if as above is only £200k per year. <br /><br />Seems open to abuse for me....<br /><br />Yes, the amortisation would be only £200k for each of the five years of the contract. However, assuming the player plays just one game and also scores one goal, the selling club receive a further £30m as part of the performance-related terms of the contract.<br /><br />In that case, either this £30m would be charged in full as an expense for the first year of the contract or, more likely, would also be spread over the length of the contract.<br /><br />In the first case, the buying club would have a huge expense to add to the wages of a £30m player and in the second case would have a normal level of amortisation spread over five years, exactly as happens normally at present.Franknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-55726185575931512892011-12-16T14:20:02.355+01:002011-12-16T14:20:02.355+01:00Frank 10:12.
I'm referring to the additional ...Frank 10:12.<br /><br />I'm referring to the additional money that the selling club receive that constitutes the whole transfer (eg. Rooney was reportedly £20m up front with additional £7m), as opposed to the player salary bonuses based on performance; which would presumably be equally negotiated by and applicable to a player who had his transfer fee all paid in whole from the off, compared to the player in the scenario of my previous post. <br /><br />Players in both situations would negotiate salary bonuses so should be no difference in terms of effect on the wagebill, but as said, going from Swissrambles explanation the amortisation system would seem open to abuse. <br />ralph250Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-31957047485587115962011-12-16T12:03:38.096+01:002011-12-16T12:03:38.096+01:00@Emil: Yes, APOEL would be another interesting tea...@Emil: Yes, APOEL would be another interesting team to look at. Especially considering that it's not actually the first time a Cypriot team did well... Anorthosis a couple of years ago wasn't half bad, either, in the UEFA ranking they are in the process of overtaking Scotland... Celtic and Rangers are constantly moaning about how they can't earn enough money to compete with the big nations, but falling behind Cyprus? It would be hard to put THAT down to lower revenues...<br /><br />Unfortunately, I fear that Cypriotic clubs might publish their accounts in Greek (if they publish at all), and I don't suppose the Swiss rambler can read that ;)Cirdannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-24059732188916228702011-12-15T04:42:03.104+01:002011-12-15T04:42:03.104+01:00Cirdan- more than Basel, I'd love to read abou...Cirdan- more than Basel, I'd love to read about APOEL Nikosia! If anything, the Cypriot team seem to be an even smaller club. With their qualification for the knockout rounds, surely the money from the Champions League alone would pay their bills for an entire year or more. Could one good CL run provide enough of a war chest for a team in a small league to bootstrap itself into multi-year domestic dominance?Emilnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487486960623783530.post-54310014800593921182011-12-14T22:12:52.698+01:002011-12-14T22:12:52.698+01:00Ralph250, the situation you describe would indeed ...Ralph250, the situation you describe would indeed bring down the amortisation as you say but the wages bill would rise enormously with the bonus payments added to the player's wages that first year.<br /><br />The club would make an enormous loss that year and would fall foul of FFP.Franknoreply@blogger.com