1-2 Million Loss Or A 10-12 Million Loss

[screech]

Which do you think Steve Lansdown prefers each season, a league 1 deficit or a championship one. Some supporters are convinced he's pulled the plug on the funding and personally I hope he has for our own sake. Some have also said Lansdown seemed to not like the difference in players attitude towards the club, now it's all about the money. Football at this level is not sustainable for our club, or for 99% of the others around us. What exactly does Steve Lansdown get out of it, personally I would never bankroll a football club no matter how wealthy I was.

Back in league 1 our crowds were close to what they are now but the wage bill is about a fifth of it is now, we were always competitive in the league, and we seem to produce academy players for that level too, so would it be a massive disaster for the club to go back into League 1, I don't think so. Big fish in small pond or small fish in big pond? Which do you prefer?

[Brislingwood Red]

Prefer championship football by a mile.

[screech]

Prefer championship football by a mile.

So do I. That's not really what I am getting at, Lansdown can only go on losing 10-12 million for so long before it really starts to hurt. He can lose 1-2 million for a much longer period. The club would be in a much healthier state if we were still in league 1 though.

[Atlanta_Red]

So how about his stadium plans? He's looking at a much bigger picture.

[nickolas]

He is saving £80m per year in tax alone i understand so technically, although it is stil HIS money, what hes spending on us is far outweighed by his tax saving. Thats not to say a £12m loss is acceptable, it isnt. But i dont think hed be overly bothered by it, in a monetary sense atleast. Without him we r nothing so please 'Sir Steve', carry on!!!

[the1stknowle]

He is saving £80m per year in tax alone i understand so technically, although it is stil HIS money, what hes spending on us is far outweighed by his tax saving. Thats not to say a £12m loss is acceptable, it isnt. But i dont think hed be overly bothered by it, in a monetary sense atleast. Without him we r nothing so please 'Sir Steve', carry on!!!

I totally agree with your general point that we need to move towards self-sufficiency and away from reliance on SL and spending his money for him. That's just in our best long term interests.

But on your first point - Can you be a bit clearer what you're referring to? How do you think he is saving 80m a year in tax? With some knowledge on the subject, I suspect it would be almost an impossibility for this to be true.

An 80m annual tax avoidance is reasonably difficult for a FTSE100 company to manufacture with an army of offshore subsidiaries and teams of specialist accountants and tax lawyers. But for one man!! For it to even be feasible, an individual would have to be earning nearly 200m pounds a year and then avoid every single penny of tax owed.

[Donald]

Which do you think Steve Lansdown prefers each season, a league 1 deficit or a championship one. Some supporters are convinced he's pulled the plug on the funding and personally I hope he has for our own sake. Some have also said Lansdown seemed to not like the difference in players attitude towards the club, now it's all about the money. Football at this level is not sustainable for our club, or for 99% of the others around us. What exactly does Steve Lansdown get out of it, personally I would never bankroll a football club no matter how wealthy I was.

Back in league 1 our crowds were close to what they are now but the wage bill is about a fifth of it is now, we were always competitive in the league, and we seem to produce academy players for that level too, so would it be a massive disaster for the club to go back into League 1, I don't think so. Big fish in small pond or small fish in big pond? Which do you prefer?

The problem is Wages have gone up (as well as past managers wasting ALOT on poor players) and TV money has gone up

But long term Crowds haven't gone up.

The same fans that were turning up week in week out in league 1, are the same ones that are turning up now, the only real difference is bigger away crowds.

We need money to be incoming from other methods, which is why they are so desperate for the stadium.

Steve does save a couple of million a year from living in the Channel Islands.

[nickolas]

Im no expert on tax, its just what i was told by an ex board member recently who is aware of SL's worth. Bearing in mind hargreaves lansdown are massive, and SL moved away to b a tax exile, without understanding the figures, i would say we r covered by his 'savings'!!! ( hopefully ). Im sure a new ground would loosen the purse strings somewhat too.

[oldstandrobin]

My god,everyone is missing the point by a thousand miles.

12 million is approx a pint a week to most of us compared to lansdowns TOTAL worth.

The major danger to BCFC is when, and it is WHEN , Sir Steve gets bored.

The club needs the right manager ,right now.

End of.

And again,to Lansdown, 12 mil is like a fiver a year to most of us.....

Couldnt agree more...this is one of the most important signings in years for all of us.SL included. We cant imagine SL thinks differently to the majority of City fans, he craves success like us,only difference is he has more dosh than us ! it will be down to our 11 on the field, motivated by a motivated manager, to bring us what we all want......or dowe want to be owned in the future by Sheik RattlenRoll

[the1stknowle]

His interest earnings on investments alone would not even be scratched by a tax-deductable 12 mil loss.

For him,its like a factory worker spending a fiver a year.

The mans PERSONAL wealth,not including any investments,business wealth etc has been valued at anything upto 750 mil so god knows his total assets should he decide to liquidate them.

1 billion pound would be a very realistic figure so no, 12 mil is absolutely nothing.

The loss of his personal TIME and ENJOYMENT spent on BCFC is entirely a different question.

The next appointment must be spot on, as with all unimaginarily rich people, when interest in one toy fades,yhey usually tend to go looking for another,and Sir Steve has been playing with this toy for a long time...

I'm not suggesting SL doesn't care about City, but more of a 'is it worth the bother' stage being reached.

As someone said with no doubt more than a touch of irony,maybe it would be more fun and less hassle to get a Guernsey team into the football league.

No problem attracting players to live and play there I wouldn't have thought!

It's not really that interesting a point to get into, but when you see those estimates of "personal wealth", they include every single asset of worth that can be attributed to the person (and do so to make the article seem more interesting). SL's stake in HL is included in any estimate and is very volatile at the moment due to the stock market volatility around financials. So his wealth is going up and down daily and were he to sell he wouldnt be able to get the market price for such a large sale. But regardless, Ive never seem any estimate so high as 750m and certainly nowhere near a billion.

But the point is he wants us to be in a position where if something happens to him, we carry on. Which seems like the most sensible succession planning there is. 12m to SL is not a pint of larger. Were that the case, he could stay in one friday and buy us the new stadium with the savings.

He's sold around 100m pounds of shares in the last few years (a bit less) and anyone with the will can see the amount of money in salary, bonus and dividend he takes out of the company with a quick look at HL annual accounts.

Like I say, not that interesting a point, especially on a day when we might be on the verge of appointing a man who for many is an exciting upandcoming manager. But some of the estimations of SL's wealth on here and how easily he can afford to squander 12m a year on one hobby seem a bit wide of the mark.