Hxj

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

He (Pula) is earning interest on the loan though isn’t he?

I agree 

However any interest paid forms part of the cash flowing out of the group. So currently Pula would need to hand over a demand for say £3 million in interest with one hand and a cheque for £3 million to pay the bill with the other.

So overall (and at that time) Pula, asset wise, is no better off.

2 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Sorry, but my overall tone is negative…because there is an incorrect view that SL has given us £200m…he hasn’t, nor will he in future.

I fully understand what you are saying and why.

However the alternative view is that cash wise SL/Pula at 31 May 2022 had lent the group £77 million in undeniably 'soft loans' and invested about £87 million in share capital. 

As to what he gets back, that will be no where near that amount, at least not based upon the current position.

So I reckon that can easily be considered that he has 'given' the club £164 million.

3 hours ago, Cidre Monita said:

I don’t condone violence or threats whatsoever

So what would you condone?

19 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Along similar lines to the above, Norway is a sovereign state, something which England has not been for more than 700 years. You can have a Norwegian passport and be a Norwegian citizen, but you can't have an English passport nor be an English citizen. The two statuses are not equivalent.

The major problem with your position is that the concept of linking a state to its citizens is a relatively modern concept, it started in the 19th Century, but it wasn't until the aftermath of the First World War that it became of major interest to sovereign states.

I'd also point out that modern Norway came into existence in the early 19th Century.

19 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 Max is keeping out more than he should do.

/Pedant mode on

On a technicality, I would say that Max is keeping out more than the average keeper would do, with the same shot pattern.

Depending upon how talented Max actually is, it could be that he is letting in more than he should.

/Pedant mode off

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

He made it very clear this summer Max is now first choice & an injury aside I can’t see that changing.

Also because if you recruit better than Max I'd expect Max to go and get a first choice Championship gig elsewhere.

On 26/09/2023 at 11:31, W-S-M Seagull said:

Ian Gay says we should wait til Xmas and then only give him a 12 month rolling contract. 

My best guess is that he already has one of these.

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Just to say that living near Leicester

So we could be neighbours!

39 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

As you say there is no standard contract for managers.

So actually it could well be that there is no need for a new contract then, the old one keeps rolling on, as most employee contracts do.

I last signed an employment contract in June 2014, still there, still doing the same job, still getting paid ...

So I'm intrigued.

What exactly are the terms of NP's contract?

If he gets to the end of the 2023/24 season without being sacked does it keep rolling forwards with a 12 month notice period for example?

Be delighted if someone could actually enlighten me.

PS Manager contracts do not operate in the same way as player contracts.

Given the club has got itself into a complete mess and is run by people with no idea of what they are doing - how is the important bit - you know the football - going?

My view is that everyone is in danger of running down lots of rabbit holes with this one.

Personally, following the 'Bristol Sport' reorganisation that took place earlier this year, it doesn't make sense to have a Football CEO and a Group CEO.

The actual operations of the football club are relatively straightforward as are the finances.

Football side director, everything else director, and NP keeping himself far away from anything but his day job - perfect.

8 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Is anybody saying that though? It's entirely Steve's prerogative to reduce the amount he puts into the club. I don't see how he can be criticised for that.

I must be reading a different forum to you then.

11 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Saying on the one hand that what football makes football can spend then saying actually we want to build a nest egg to be used at some unspecified point is contradictory.

How much has football made over the last 10 years?  It has many 'Scots' to go to even look at breaking even.

3 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Otoh owners are happy in the main to fund it, especially if they want promotion.

OK, lets guess that the club needs to raise £10 million a year.  Do you honestly believe that you can find say 10,000 people to contribute £1,000 above their season ticket every year for the infinite future?  Even if you can that is far less than SL is contributing and on here he is a miser who needs to open his wallet even further.

20 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

urely the amount needed is the Cash Flow rather than the Operating Costs vs Income. Disregard factors like amortisation, depreciation etc.

Currently yes - but have you read the posts on here?  £30 million is based upon:

£13 million for FFP purposes

£7 million to cover costs outside FFP

£10 million to improve the squad.

The issue is that banks will not lend funds without proof of income.

14 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

If he's sick of it but still loves the club/city he could give the club ownership to the fans. Why not? Now THAT would be a legacy.

And who would fund the £30 million odd a year needed to pay the bills and get the squad necessary for promotion.  Assuming there are 10,000 fans able to pay the bills that's a £3,500 annual season ticket.  Total pipe dream.  Shows a complete lack of reality.

13 minutes ago, lenred said:

This continuous retort from you and a couple of others of ‘what proportion are you paying’ is just crazy.

We will always differ on this.  It's a business, it needs to make money.

I work for a company owned by a billionaire, aka "The Boss"  The customers pay us for a service and we are required to make a cashflow contribution to the center and not lose money.  

Coincidentally I spent Thursday morning in a meeting discussing my 2024 Business Plan (an excellent one I thought) and my request to add two staff to the team.  If I'd gone in and said 'The Boss' will pay I would have been laughed out of the room.

My plan showed exactly who was going to pay - the customers, eventually.  We are increasing prices for the work we do, and the additional staff members will enable us to have more customers.  If any customer wants a special project those fees are increasing significantly.  Now we just need to deliver.

3 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

the astonishing statement by the club that we are ‘ maxed out ‘ on our wage budget

So how much more do you think that the wage budget should be increased by, who will that enable the club to acquire, and what proportion are you paying?

16 hours ago, The Constant Rabbit said:

OR - a property developer, that can see the hard yards have been done, and will pay much much more for the very desirable location.

I think that people need to go back and read the planning permission details for both 'The Sporting Quarter' and 'Ashton Vale'.  

I just see this as Nige being Nige.  Direct and honest. Nothing else.

There is a budget - I keep to it.  I'd like more but so would everyone.  

Not my job to explain the budget.

Seems to me that everyone hated the apparent 'pointless splurge' under the previous characters and now hate the 'pointless restraint' under the current characters.

4 hours ago, Superjack said:

If I were him, I would think that I wasn't valued. 

Not everybody values themselves by the amount of somebody else's money they get to spend.

2 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

The Allams eventually got their cash back out of Hull

And how much did Mel get out of Derby?

15 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Surely the prospect of promotion in a couple of years is factored into a lot of these new savvy investors plans and mindsets. Go big, go up..reap the PL cash and maybe flip at a profit.

Nah - buying a championship football club is a vanity project.  You invest £20 million a year, £13 million for FFP plus all the other 'non-FFP costs' and you might get it right, and win promotion.  If it doesn't work out in five years you are £100 million poorer, and have an asset basically worth nothing.

Mind you if I could find £200 million behind the back of my sofa it would be a fun way of losing half my fortune and imagine the hate I would get on here for spending £100 million of my own money! 

On 27/08/2023 at 18:12, Davefevs said:

AG Ltd hasn’t posted a profit for the last 5 accounting years!

The company isn't there to make a profit.  It is there to ensure that if the football club goes bust again, the ground is protected from the creditors of the club.  The ownership structure is such that whilst that protection exists the club and the ground are there to sell as a single entity by selling BC Holdings Ltd.

As to the P&L, AG Ltd has made a profit before interest, depreciation and amortisation for the last five years, a positive EBITDA is a good thing.  It absorbs a huge sum of costs that would otherwise fall on the football club, and spreads it out amongst the other activities of the wider Bristol Sport empire and the other commercial activities,

9 hours ago, fisherrich said:

Lansdown has not backed NP financially. Give him some £££s and see what he can do.

NP does not want to be backed with lots of cash.  What he wants is an agreed budget and to manage the team within that budget.  Both of which he has.  As I have said many times before we all know which pool we are paddling in for players and to be fair on balance the recruitment has been pretty good.