BBC article on football shares

But don't they have a hard time selling out The Cottage? What about luxury box suites, which are the bread and butter of domestic stadiums, do they have those at The Cottage? Finally, if a bigger stadium is needed, I think further expansion is the only way to go. If The Cottage goes, so goes quite a bit of the mystique, charm, and appeal.

 

I am not sure how much I agree with all of this, especially for a club like Fulham. First of all, which club(s) is this article referring to? I have always heard that each club gets arounbd 20-25 million pounds in tv revenue throughout a season.

I would bet heavy money that there is no way Fulham is paying that much to players and their wages. Bigger teams in the Premiership probably are, but these clubs, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc are surely making money in other ways. Champions League, Manchester United TV, worldwide merchandise sales, etc. Thus, I do not think this really affects Fulham.

Also, it is easy to claim Fulham needs a new stadium and all, but the bottom line is that 1. we currently do not have enough supporters to fill the current stadium on a weekly basis and 2. If we do get a new stadium, it will have to be in a new area and I fear that would really make a lot of longtime loyal Fulham supporters mad and in turn the new stadium would be counter-productive.

Remember, building new stadiums is not always the answer. For some reason in America we think that it always helps, but it does not. Look at MLS teams and look at numerous other sports franchises that get new stadiums...fill them up for two weeks and then draw 12,000 the rest of the season.

The bottom line is that for a club like Fulham to be successful, lots of money has to be invested initially by the owner and there is a chance he may not make that money back. Once you have made some good, strong purchases, the team will likely play better and generate excitement. After this, people will likely start talking about Fulham and coming to the matches. This in turn will raise the profile of the club and perhaps, just maybe, might help more people come to the matches and will help the owner make more money.

Unfortunately, I do not see Al Fayed putting the kind of money into the club that is needed for this to happen. Additionally, the above scenario does not happen overnight. In fact, it takes a few seasons.

 

I would be surprised if the Cottage would ever just go. The history is of Fulham doing everything in their power to keep the Cottage intact. Even to the point of hard-balling with the Royal Bank of Scotland to get the best deal to buy the rights to it.

 

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Green Bay, Browns, Phillies, Cubs .... even cincinnati Reds and Bengals... fans might disagree with:

Now, that said, how is the situation in the UK and Europe REALLY different from the states?

Dont both depend on the local governments going along with their plans?

Fulham, never mind the efficacy of staying up and competing using a small stadium, proves the point, doesnt it?

 

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Don't talk about the Cubs. That is completely different. More than half the Cub fans that go to Wrigley Field just there to get drunk and be a part of the crowd, not to cheer for the Cubs. The park is the biggest bar in America and there are so many non-Cub fans there it is a joke.

If the Cubs played anywhere else, they would not get the kind of support they do. They would still get a lot of fans, but not nearly as many.

The difference between the States and the UK is that here in the States, most stadiums are funded with the help of the local or state government. In the UK and other parts of Europe if you want a new stadium, you have to fund it and build it yourself. That is a huge difference.

 

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Let's just be up front about ownership of a sports franchise......unless you own one of the biggest clubs or teams in either Europe or the US, you are NOT going to make much, if any money.

In fact, most owners have earned their money doing something else which has given them the right and the money to buy a sports franchise. Most of these people who buy do it for the glamour of owning a team. They know they will probably lose money, but the draw of owning a professional team trumps that.

The bottom line is this.....Al Fayed, as we all know, has money from his Harrod's store and other adventures. If he does not want to spend that money to help Fulham get out of the state of mediocrity it is in, he owes it to the club and its supporters to find a sugard daddy who will.

You have to make the product better and stronger over a period of time before it can become profitable. That is not to say Fulham could never be profitable, but the current business plan of barely surviving relegation each season is not the way to go.

Owning a sports team is not the place to go if you are looking to make money. That is a fact in my book.

 

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Something I think we (all Fulham Fans) should be proud of is the fact that as a small club, we are quite financially stable, albeit, it all started with Al Fayed. MOST clubs have major debt and lose lots of money every single year, much of this has to do with spending more transfer kitty than your profit allows.

Due to the sale of Saha a few season back, we actually turned a profit. Now how many clubs of our size turn a profit...NONE! On top of this, Fulham is now steadily growing its fan base and stadium alike. I don't think we could EVER leave the Cottage as its our spiritual home, a cliche yes, but also the truth. Our club has done what most clubs wish they could've done, kept the old world football feel but added some of todays modern conveniences. Our capacity is now 2000+ seats larger than it was last season...now at 24,600. Not too far off from Al Fayeds 30,000 seater super stadium from 4 or 5 years ago. Overally, with the area so protected, its been very tough for FFC to get planning permission although I can see them increasing the size of CC even further over the next few years.

As for corporate boxes, I noticed Fulham, in the past couple of seasons, has added more of them and have brought in Harrods to do the catering and hospitality. For more info on that you can vist the official http://www.fulhamfc.com/Hospitality/Hos ... yHome.aspx . This year, Fulham has sold more corporate and private hospitality packages than ever before.

Sorry for the jumbled up ranting post...just trying to get alot of info in there. Hope that helps a bit.

 

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Fulham will never, ever be a Leeds United. One of the main reasons Leeds had financial problems is because they overspent for a season or two thinking they would be playing Champions League football and when they did not make it to the Champions League, their finances were a mess. I am sure there is a bit more to their financial mess, but with the way Fulham spends money, this will never happen.

As for Sunderland, the only reason they are struggling is because the team has been bad. If anything, Sunderland has done admirably well not to overspend and put themselves into a difficult financial position after being promoted in two of the last five seasons.

The key to success for small clubs is not overspending. Fulham obviously does not overspend and I would even say they underspend.

A club to watch out for that might run into trouble in the next two seasons is Charlton, who spent a decent amount of cash in transfers this summer to bring in 11 players. In addition to the transfer fees, they have to pay all these players wages which has to be expensive.

Charlton is not that much bigger than Fulham but they are spending like they are an Aston Villa or better yet, a second tier team below the big whigs, which they are not.

I am happy with the way Fulham has no debt, but at the same time, it would be nice to be able to get a few more players during the transfer periods to give this club a serious shot at a top-ten finish or even a European finish. This is a fine line that Al Fayed has stayed to the right of and has been very conservative over the past few seasons. I guess I would rather the team be safe than sorry as being reckless with spending could not only get this team relegated one division, but possibly even two or three over time. Not a wise move.

 

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I don't think EPL teams have trouble unless they bring it on themselves. I read a while back that 17 of 20 EPL made a profit in I belive it was the 04-05 seasons. They didn't say which teams made what but it did say one of the unprofitable teams was Chelsea, which doesn't really count.

 

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From Saturday BBC gossip column:

Louis Saha's transfer to Manchester United is under the spotlight as part of Lord Steven's probe into illegal approaches and bungs. (Express)

 

The issues are around players wages and transfer fees. The bosman ruling really messed up the smaller clubs and those working to a budget as it gave the power to the cash rich and could allow your investment to walk with no payback.

Fulham spend a vast sum on the players wages but Chairman Mo's stated aim was to make the club self sufficient and he has done that. The biggest fear when a sugar daddy comes in is that he will plough cash into the club, get board and bugger off leaving debt and ruin.

There are other considerable expenses throughout the season, running the cottage is not cheap, but the club made some capital expenditures over the last few years to give them a really sound foundation. For example we own the training ground in Motspar Park. It is fantastic with a big old white house in the center. Some days I detour passed it on my way to work to see if any of the players are out.

Corporate hospitality is an unfortunate way of life, I work for a company that deals with the FA and other UK sports bodies. I get given tickets for events as a perk, on the whole I will hand on my tickets to friends who support one of the teams involved. I gave up Chelsea v Man U tickets for the cup final a few years back as I am wating to go to Wemberly to watch the wites. It annoys me when I see hooray henry's in a box getting hammered on drink when people who care and could help the team with support are at home!

However, the reality is that 12 oinks getting hammered can provide more revenue for the club than 50 loyal home fans.

COYW - Stu