Port Vale have encountered a number of financial problems in recent years. Their finances are under the spotlight after chairman Norman Smurthwaite told football agents the club is unable to currently pay money owed to them.
Port Vale have encountered a number of financial problems in recent years. Their finances are under the spotlight after chairman Norman Smurthwaite told football agents the club is unable to currently pay money owed to them.
In an email sent to at least six agents a week ago, Smurthwaite said the club was not in a position to settle their invoices because of its trading position. Smurthwaite has told the agents he would consider a payment plan if they proposed one in January, and has offered them hope the situation will change if the club’s situation improves with a lucrative FA Cup run.
However, news of the financial issues come despite the Valiants having already netted £45,000 in prize money from their FA Cup run, and also having received £67,500 for their first-round tie at non-league Shortwood being televised live. Those cup profits will have also been boosted by the share of gate receipts Vale received from the Shortwood and Salisbury games.
Vale’s issues also come at a time when average attendances this season are 7,163, on course to be the club’s highest for 16 years.
All this may suggest that either the budget was miscalculated at the start of the season following promotion from League Two, or that the club have suffered a financial loss which has not been revealed.
However, the chairman revealed at the start of the season that the club’s player wage budget is running at £2.5m, the maximum allowed by the Football League which limits it to 60 per cent of the club’s turnover. That wage bill has soared from two years ago when the figure was around £1.3m.