Being a club funded by a generous benefactor clearly has many advantages, but there is a downside as well. There is a risk of the financial rug being pulled from under you unexpectedly. If Roman Abramovich pulled out of Chelsea, the club would take a hit and probably lose its top four status, but it is a big enough club to pull through. The situation of a club like Fulham is more precarious.
The following exchange is between two Fulham bloggers (and reproduced on a third blog):
Being a club funded by a generous benefactor clearly has many advantages, but there is a downside as well. There is a risk of the financial rug being pulled from under you unexpectedly. If Roman Abramovich pulled out of Chelsea, the club would take a hit and probably lose its top four status, but it is a big enough club to pull through. The situation of a club like Fulham is more precarious.
The following exchange is between two Fulham bloggers (and reproduced on a third blog):
Where to begin? Obviously we are saddled with debt, but the debt is owed to one person — Mohammaed Al Fayed. So unless something truly awful happens to MAF, I don’t see him calling in the outstanding funds. Yet it has been revealed that relegation would be deadly for this club – something most fans assumed but a recent blog post laid it bare. But is our financial predicament different for any other club of our stature? That is the financial nature of this game, and it will not change – even with UEFA’s recent debt ruling – until one of the big clubs go under.
DC: Fulham’s finances, with Mohamed Al-Fayed having loaned over £200m to the club, are worrying. Relegation would be a disaster for the club, perhaps placing our immediate future in jeopardy and there is the concern that any new investors may be interested in redeveloping the Cottage as housing since it sits on such prime real estate. The immediate priority for Fulham should be making themselves more self-sufficent but it is remarkably difficult given the number of Premier League clubs in London. Should the debt situation not be resolved, UEFA’s proposed financial fair play rules might preclude Fulham from competing in their European competitions.
Some interesting points are made. If one was talking about something other than football one would say that the London market was over supplied with five Premiership clubs (all north of the river). And in the still vibrant London property market, Fulham’s attractive riverside location would be a prize asset for an upmarket developer.
However, most independent analysts think that Fulham is likely to stay up this season, so no crisis is imminent.