Bob's Board - Chesterfield FC: Agm Thursday - Bob's Board - Chesterfield FC

DA interview with Chesterfield Post
http://www.chesterfi...c_00001048.html

So to pay off the debt we have to reach the championship.......hmmmmm..... casino accounting...... one hell of a gamble...... tick....tock....tick....tock

At the last AGM, Dave Allen told fans not to worry about the debt and that it was under control. 12 months on:

1) An 18.2% increase in Turnover from £5,360,735 to £6,335,342.

2) Our wage bill for the entire business increased by 20% from £3,330,671 to £3,995,123.

3) Our trading loss increased by 142.7% from (£438,459) to (£1,063,818).

4) We’ve seen the amount owed to Creditors increase by 21.8%, from £6,730,946 to £8,200,427.

5) A 38.2% decrease in the net worth of the business, from £2,786,730 down to £1,722,912.


Even last night, Dave Allen assured Shareholders that the debt was under control and that the business is heading in the right direction. Now either Dave has took leave of his senses or he thinks a lot of us are naïve.

As far as I’m concerned the business was clearly out of control last year and I suspect, still is:

1) We budgeted for gates of 7,000, yet failed to monitor our greatest income stream and continued to spend as if we were actually achieving the target. Turner actually revealed last night, that all the staff had a pay increase last financial year, was he not monitoring the P&L statement each month when he/the Board decided to award salary increases right across the business?

2) We entered into fixed bonus agreements with the football staff without assessing the liability to the business and whether or not the business could adequately fund those payments.

3) We failed badly to manage and promote the concerts, a weekend that should have been a massive pay day for the Club.

Chris Turner has been on my radar for a long time now, he’s well & truly out of his comfort zone. Even last night, when he was trying to make Sheridan out to be a sh’head in terms of player salaries, etc, what both Turner & Cook failed to mention was that the last time we were promoted, our wage bill for the entire business was £752K less than last season, with a very similar headcount. So this notion that Cook is delivering more for less is tripe, he’s delivering more at a cost.

Given Dave Allen’s objectives for the business, reaffirmed again last night, for it to trade profitably and reduce the level of debt, the summer that Turner had in the media and this latest set of results, I’m surprised he’s still in a job. Dave Allen aside, we have a couple of Directors that have done well for themselves, would Turner still be in employment in their businesses had he produced those results and shown the lack of financial understanding that he has, I suspect not.

I must admit, Turner left me speechless last night, when he claimed that the only way to repay the debt would be to get into the Championship! I had considered asking him by how much would the debt have to increase by to get into the Championship and how many years in the Championship would it take to clear the debt, but I thought better of it, the answer would have been long winded and without any numerical reference.

Thankfully, the problems at CFC are not my concern.

At the last AGM, Dave Allen told fans not to worry about the debt and that it was under control. 12 months on:

1) An 18.2% increase in Turnover from £5,360,735 to £6,335,342.

2) Our wage bill for the entire business increased by 20% from £3,330,671 to £3,995,123.

3) Our trading loss increased by 142.7% from (£438,459) to (£1,063,818).

4) We’ve seen the amount owed to Creditors increase by 21.8%, from £6,730,946 to £8,200,427.

5) A 38.2% decrease in the net worth of the business, from £2,786,730 down to £1,722,912.


Even last night, Dave Allen assured Shareholders that the debt was under control and that the business is heading in the right direction. Now either Dave has took leave of his senses or he thinks a lot of us are naïve.

As far as I’m concerned the business was clearly out of control last year and I suspect, still is:

1) We budgeted for gates of 7,000, yet failed to monitor our greatest income stream and continued to spend as if we were actually achieving the target. Turner actually revealed last night, that all the staff had a pay increase last financial year, was he not monitoring the P&L statement each month when he/the Board decided to award salary increases right across the business?

2) We entered into fixed bonus agreements with the football staff without assessing the liability to the business and whether or not the business could adequately fund those payments.

3) We failed badly to manage and promote the concerts, a weekend that should have been a massive pay day for the Club.

Chris Turner has been on my radar for a long time now, he’s well & truly out of his comfort zone. Even last night, when he was trying to make Sheridan out to be a sh’head in terms of player salaries, etc, what both Turner & Cook failed to mention was that the last time we were promoted, our wage bill for the entire business was £752K less than last season, with a very similar headcount. So this notion that Cook is delivering more for less is tripe, he’s delivering more at a cost.

Given Dave Allen’s objectives for the business, reaffirmed again last night, for it to trade profitably and reduce the level of debt, the summer that Turner had in the media and this latest set of results, I’m surprised he’s still in a job. Dave Allen aside, we have a couple of Directors that have done well for themselves, would Turner still be in employment in their businesses had he produced those results and shown the lack of financial understanding that he has, I suspect not.

I must admit, Turner left me speechless last night, when he claimed that the only way to repay the debt would be to get into the Championship! I had considered asking him by how much would the debt have to increase by to get into the Championship and how many years in the Championship would it take to clear the debt, but I thought better of it, the answer would have been long winded and without any numerical reference.

Thankfully, the problems at CFC are not my concern.

Wouldn't the pay-off of Sheridan and co be in these accounts?

DA interview with Chesterfield Post
http://www.chesterfi...c_00001048.html

Wage bill for players £1,800,000

1.6-1.8

Wage bill for players £1,800,000

Over £2M elsewhere then

yes, but if it was 1.6 you would say 1.6. 30% sell on to Hull for Cooper as well.

That surprised me too.

No disrespect to any of the other media outlets, but that lass can interview!

At the last AGM, Dave Allen told fans not to worry about the debt and that it was under control. 12 months on:

1) An 18.2% increase in Turnover from £5,360,735 to £6,335,342.

2) Our wage bill for the entire business increased by 20% from £3,330,671 to £3,995,123.

3) Our trading loss increased by 142.7% from (£438,459) to (£1,063,818).

4) We’ve seen the amount owed to Creditors increase by 21.8%, from £6,730,946 to £8,200,427.

5) A 38.2% decrease in the net worth of the business, from £2,786,730 down to £1,722,912.


Even last night, Dave Allen assured Shareholders that the debt was under control and that the business is heading in the right direction. Now either Dave has took leave of his senses or he thinks a lot of us are naïve.

As far as I’m concerned the business was clearly out of control last year and I suspect, still is:

1) We budgeted for gates of 7,000, yet failed to monitor our greatest income stream and continued to spend as if we were actually achieving the target. Turner actually revealed last night, that all the staff had a pay increase last financial year, was he not monitoring the P&L statement each month when he/the Board decided to award salary increases right across the business?

2) We entered into fixed bonus agreements with the football staff without assessing the liability to the business and whether or not the business could adequately fund those payments.

3) We failed badly to manage and promote the concerts, a weekend that should have been a massive pay day for the Club.

Chris Turner has been on my radar for a long time now, he’s well & truly out of his comfort zone. Even last night, when he was trying to make Sheridan out to be a sh’head in terms of player salaries, etc, what both Turner & Cook failed to mention was that the last time we were promoted, our wage bill for the entire business was £752K less than last season, with a very similar headcount. So this notion that Cook is delivering more for less is tripe, he’s delivering more at a cost.

Given Dave Allen’s objectives for the business, reaffirmed again last night, for it to trade profitably and reduce the level of debt, the summer that Turner had in the media and this latest set of results, I’m surprised he’s still in a job. Dave Allen aside, we have a couple of Directors that have done well for themselves, would Turner still be in employment in their businesses had he produced those results and shown the lack of financial understanding that he has, I suspect not.

I must admit, Turner left me speechless last night, when he claimed that the only way to repay the debt would be to get into the Championship! I had considered asking him by how much would the debt have to increase by to get into the Championship and how many years in the Championship would it take to clear the debt, but I thought better of it, the answer would have been long winded and without any numerical reference.

Thankfully, the problems at CFC are not my concern.

Wouldn't the pay-off of Sheridan and co be in these accounts?

That was my understanding, and CT also mentioned that in total (if my memory is correct) around £700,000 had been paid out to cover redundancies and paying up previous suppliers contractual requirements during his time at the club.

I wonder just how much DA really knows about day-to-day events at CFC.

I wonder if he's a bloke more interested in his pigeons, who occasionally ventures down to Sheffield Road only to be told what folk want him to hear, and has a 'black and white' view of the World meaning he's all too ready to accept simplistic stories for failings and losses.

It's the old regime to blame...Sheridan...Marc Richards...the punters...Tom Jones...

If he's cool with the situation then I'm truly grateful, but I wonder if he's being let down by individuals either incompetent or worse.

There was even a jibe at the old Finance Director who left the business last November for the way he recorded 'other operating costs'. Now considering the fact that Dave Allen's been on the Board now for 5+ years and in that time Chaired many Board Meetings, I'm surprised it's taken this long to change the way in which management information was presented if he wasn't happy with it.

Out of interest, I've looked at some of the Club's old accounts:

2003
T/O: £1,992,807
Loss: (£212,950)

2004
T/O: £2,064,516
Loss: (£181,724)

2005
T/O: £2,401,223
Profit: £144,359

2006
T/O: £2,318,768
Loss: (£59,948)

2007
T/O: £2,846,513
Profit: £88,069

2008
T/O: £2,642,408
Loss: (£24,706)

2009
T/O: Abbreviated Accounts
Loss: (£166,231)

2010
T/O: £3,030,218
Loss: (£936,822) A lot of this loss was attributed to initial works at Dema

2011
T/O: £5,804,119
Loss: (£22,377)

2012
T/O: £6,348,724
Profit: £80,559

2013
T/O: £5,360,735
Loss: (£438,459)

2014
T/O: £6,335,342
Loss: (£1,063,818)

I'm not a fan of the old Board, but prior to Dave Allen's involvement we averaged losses of £59K pa (2003-2009), now we're averaging losses of £476K pa (2010-2014). In fact, since Barrie Hubbard was pushed out and Chris Turner given free reign, we've averaged losses of £751K pa (2013-2014).