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WG With Southampton continuing to face the prospect of relegation to League 1, mystery surrounds a business set up in the name of Southampton Football Company Ltd. which has a former player as its only director. There has been speculation that the business, which was only incorporated earlier this month, some seven days after Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC went into administration, could be a springboard to launch a bid for the troubled club.
Fulham made losses of £7.5m in the year to 30 June 2008, but this represented a halving of losses of £15.2m in the previous year. This was achieved largely as a result of a £10m increase in television money from Sky. This went up 35 per cent to £52m. Gate receipts were dwarfed by the television revenues, but went up from £8.7m to £9.5m. Player costs saw the amount paid out by the club rise by 17 per cent to £68.6m. When Mohamed al Fayed bought the club in 1997 he paid £30m for it, but has since spent tens of millions getting the club into the Premiership and keeping it there.
Relegation-threatened Scottish first division club Clyde are in serious financial trouble. They face eviction from the Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld new town on April 26th. The amount of rent that is owed is disputed with the stadium company putting it at £270,000 and other sources at £150,000. Clyde previously spent an eight-year spell without a permanent home after they were forced to quit Shawfield Stadium in Rutherglen near Glasgow in 1986. They then shared Firhill Stadium with Partick Thistle and moved on to Hamilton Academicals’ Douglas Park.
Manchester United set a record for a British football club for full year sales in the year to June 2008. Turnover was up sharply in its three main areas of activity. Matchday receipts rose by 10 per cent to £101.5m. Commercial income – sponsorship, merchandising and licensing agreements – rose by 14 per cent to £64m. The biggest increase was in TV revenue which, on the strength of United’s Champions League truimph, surged 48 per cent to £90.7m. Even so, matchday revenue from the enlarged Old Trafford stadium makes a bigger contribution to turnover.
Is there anyone interested in buying a debt free, mid-table Conference club for £1? If you are, then get in touch with Salisbury City, although you would have to dig deep into your pockets to subsidise the team. The current directors will relinquish control next month. Chairman Neville Beal commented, ‘We couldn’t dig any deeper. We have put a lot of money, but clubs at this [Blue Square Premier] level need a bit more.’ Earlier this season sponsors and supporters tried to raise £100,000 to underwrite wages, but only managed to raise £35,000.
The college sports team is a standard feature of American life and is particularly important in sports such as American football and basketball. So it was no surprise that when an American vice-chancellor arrived at Bath University, he decided to set up a soccer team called Team Bath. Originally they played on the campus but more recently they have played at Bath City’s ground at Twerton Park. They are currently mid-table in the Conference South but have decided to resign at the end of the season and return to university football.
Pay-television company Setanta has held a fresh round of talks with private equity firms in a bid to raise up to £100m following its failure to retain both of its Premiership rights packages beyond 2010. Analysts think that the attempted fundraising may be greeted with some scepticism as it comes amid question over how the TV company will reach even break-even on its subscriber model. In February Setanta won the auction for only one of the six available live broadcast packages for Premiership football the season after next.
Holiday football matches used to follow a particular pattern. On Christmas Day a club would play a team, not necessarily in their own part of the country. However, there were Christmas Day trains in these days and on one occasion returning Charlton players won a drinking contest with the restaurant car staff. Hung over or not, the return fixture would be played the next day. On Good Friday and Easter Monday, this pattern would be repeated, but with a match on Easter Saturday in between! At least that was the case in London.
The club that produced Manchester United and occasional England goalkeeper may disappear. Midland Alliance side Racing Club Warwick has called in the administrators. Warwick District Council, which owns the ground situated next to Warwick Racecourse, and Warwick Town Council have stepped in to ensure that the club can meet its remaining fixtures this season. The club owes about £68,000 to the tax authorities and other creditors. Regular repayments have been made for years, but the money now appears to have run out.
Portsmouth FC made losses of £16.66 m in the 2007-8 financial year, despite winning the FA Cup. The loss was nearly £7m less than the previous year and the club anticipates a further reduction next year. It is hoped to break even by the 2010/11 season. In the meantime, no buyers have been found for the club which has a reported debt of £80m. Last month Pompey postponed ambitious plans to build a new waterside stadium and decided to redevelop Fratton Park, in part because of the global financial crisis.