Bristol City Wages - £18.6m

[DonnyNoel]

Jeebus. What SOD or Deano could have done at that level with a wage budget that size. I wouldn't class them as a massive club either by Championship standards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20607144

[wilts rover]

Current debt of over £40m as well.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-City-announce-club-record-loss-14-4m/story-17501918-detail/story.html

[MachoMadness]

I wonder how many other clubs are suffering from years of spending beyond their means? Maybe we got relegated at just the right time, allowing is to rebuild from the ground up rather than continue spending silly money to stay mid-table in the Championship.

[RedJ]

Cov's got 3 weeks to pay back £1.1m apparently too. Bad times.

[RoversAlias]

That is f**king ridiculous. Excuse my language but I am dumbfounded by that. A team of Bristol City's size and calibre...over £18 million on wages? Christ.

[mushRTID]

They deserve to go bust if that's true.

[newyankee]

      The point is is that just the players and playing staff wage bill or does it include all the other employees, If it is the former, then how much extra has to be added for the Commercial staff, groundstaff, matchday staff and office staff?

      Someone has to get a grip on the expenditures and how clubs are run or in ten years time we will have a European league only made up off the top teams. All other teams will have gone to the wall.

      If you think about it that is the case over here in the States. Each State has a team, with some of the bigger states having two with a top number of 36 teams.

     Look at all the teams in England ( a very small country} all vying for existence and trying to get sponsorship from where  they can.    With all the problems at Chelsea, where will they be if, in the next two years Abramovich pulls out his money, just for one. Then multiply all the Premier League clubs owned by foreign investors and none run as a proper business.

    Think of how that would impact the lower clubs like Bristol City running debts like they have and you can see what will happen.

[wilts rover]

Newyankee, the story in the local paper would indicate that it is the total for all employees:

Lee Johnson and defender Nicky Hunt both had their contracts terminated and paid up in January.

A further 11 players were released at the end of the season, including David James, Damion Stewart and Kalifa Cisse, three of the highest earners.

In a bid to further reduce costs, the club undertook a reorganisation of Ashton Gate Ltd, making 13 staff redundant.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-City-announce-club-record-loss-14-4m/story-17501918-detail/story.html

[newyankee]

hanks Wilts Rover for that information. bad as it is, thankfully it is not any worse.

[Mr1Croft]

Doesnt surprise me in the slightest.

In the last ten years, only Norwich reached the Premiership with a wage bill that was less than income. That doesnt apply to this year, although I suspect the story is the same, except perhaps Southampton. The problem is every year there are more than the 3 promoted who overspend, which results in increasing pressure to spend big the following season. If you get promoted then perhaps it pays off. If not then it ends in catastrophe.

[Mr1Croft]

On the topic of Arsene Wenger, he is backed by the most successful business model in English football. In 2010 the club got a pre-tax profit of £56 Million. Their business model is successful because it is sustainable. Arsenal can continue to do what they have done forever, they don't have to rely on foreign owners or Oil money and they have proved it again by making the Champions League Knockout despite the millions poured into the Chelsea and Man City. Yes they don't have the best squad in Europe or the Premier League but the money they make from making these stages of tournaments is still staggering amounts that stand up for scrutiny.

They are sustainable and probably the only club that isn't bothered about the future. Even with our own great run club at board level question marks hang over what happens when JR steps down, relying on a benefactor(s) isn't justifiable anymore. In the last century we saw this benefactor model develop after local businesses became involved in helping clubs financially and the commercial growth that the game undertook, coupled with the likes of Murdoch poisoning the game and the last 20 years have seen that while the success that these rich individuals can bring are glorious time there is just too many failures to even support the idea in the slightest, how many more clubs have to be wound up and how many more fans have to suffer before we (English football) finally realize that we don't have a working model in terms of ownership.

Looking over Europe and the way they have developed the game over there to revolve around Supporters owning the clubs and a licencing system which does feature a "fit and proper" persons test and one has to wonder how we missed a trick to save the national game.

[The Red Baron]

Although I think Wenger deserves enormous credit for what he's done at Arsenal, let's not forget that their ticket prices are the highest in the Premier League. Which is why some of their fans get a tiny bit peeved when they're not competing for trophies.

You also have to question where the profits they make end up. They don't seem to be reinvested in the playing squad, for example.

[Red wizard]

Although I think Wenger deserves enormous credit for what he's done at Arsenal, let's not forget that their ticket prices are the highest in the Premier League. Which is why some of their fans get a tiny bit peeved when they're not competing for trophies.

You also have to question where the profits they make end up. They don't seem to be reinvested in the playing squad, for example.

I could be wrong but i think they are paying the stadium off over a shorter time.

[andysly]

When Arsenal have paid for the ground watch them outstrip the rest of the top teams, provided they can keep making the top 4 in the meantime.

[BobG]

Yes. I think they're paying off the stadium too. Don't know where I got that from so it could be wrong, but that's what's in my head.

BobG

[Mr1Croft]

No you are correct Bob, through financing the Stadium they raised £210 million by issuing 13.5 year long bonds, which are to be paid over a 25 year period, although the accounts of Arsenal show them making terrific progress. It is well publicised because it is the first of its kind in Corporate Finance, the first European Football Club to issue asset backed bonds.

Once it is paid off the club will essentially be debt free and the revenue the stadium brings (which is one of the best stadiums for the turnover it produces) will be available for the club to spend it on what it chooses, which will more than likely be the playing budget. And I doubt that the Russians and Oil merchants of the Premiership will still be around by then to stop in their way...