Mike420 wrote:Am I right in thinking that every transfer fee and all the wages are coming out of Gold and Sullivan's pockets as all the money the club makes is paying off the debt or did I just make that up?
If so, I've been too critical of them, while they're rich, they're not rich in football owner terms and I doubt they have lots of spare cash sitting in banks. A lot of their net worth is probably tied up in assets.
This is a question in my mind too Mike, with my profession (accountancy, but not a qualified accountant), I know that the owners cannot simply put money into the club out of their pockets without it being recorded in our books (interest bearing or interest free loan or such), if they put in say 10M out of their pockets into the club, it increases our net worth and accordingly, if it is not a directors loan into the club, then the Icelandics (and other minor shareholders) would need to match it pro-rata to maintian their investments into the club.
I seem to recall seeing a few loans from Directors (owners) (both interest and non-interest bearing) within the past couple of years of accounts, so it is my thought that everytime they dip their hands into their pockets to buy us a player or bail us out, then it is made via a loan basis, hence our indebtedness increases, or at least who the club owes the debt to changes if they are paying off a previous loan (ie Shitfield Utd's Tevezgate money).
So whilst I applaude having the Dave's as owners, who are willing to continue to help us, I do feel they put too much positive spin on their "we paid out of our pockets/savings line", as technically, they are loaning the club money, probably with a preferred status, which means if they sell, they will get back every penny loaned to the club. The positive is that if it is interest free, then it is a cheap way for the club to aquire cash so we can trade.
Maybe Pinky or another more qualified poster can elaborate more?