Paul Barber on communication, transparency, finances, the fans and club staff

[JBizzle]

What a well considered and well thought out response. I've had faith in the way the clubs been run for a while mind you, but this reinforces what a good group we now have. I still disagree with some aspects but I don't doubt the club is doing what they believe to be in the best interests of Brighton and Hove Albion. What more can you ask?

 

[Giraffe]

What a well considered and well thought out response. I've had faith in the way the clubs been run for a while mind you, but this reinforces what a good group we now have. I still disagree with some aspects but I don't doubt the club is doing what they believe to be in the best interests of Brighton and Hove Albion. What more can you ask?

It's a simple equation, Barber is employed by Bloom to do a job. Bloom loves the club, therefore what Barber does must be in the best interests of the club. If you follow that to the letter then you can't go wrong.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

This. Basically just pleading with people to spend more money...oh dear: dignity, always dignity. However - making it easier for people to do so while not being left feeling like they're getting decent value for money would seem a more sensible long-term marketing strategy to me anyway, looking at this from afar. "Buy a pie or we'll sell some more players" really shouldn't ever get printed above the club shop.

This. I prefer to be encouraged to spend as opposed to blackmailed.

 

[jimhigham]

Kudos to Barber for taking the time to set out a substantial letter to the supporters on this forum. I find it hard to disagree with any of the points he raises. There was one jarring prick of honesty, which was as follows...

Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget

I imagine that many of us like to think that our attendances assure us of a budget that should be capable of sustaining a promotion chasing team. The sad truth seems to be that match day revenues alone do not produce the footballing alchemy required to get us to the Premier League and that this requires an additional spend on the part of the chairman. Our recent history should serve as a lesson against wanting to "bet the farm" on the goal of promotion.

Sad but apparently true.

 

[Gwylan]

The unanswered questionS.....

If we have the largest number of supporters (STs / attendances) paying the highest prices in the league, and a significant transfer surplus...

............How are we making losses of ~£1m per month?

It will be interesting to compare the results of other clubs, with fewer fans and lower prices. Because if they are making profits / smaller losses then surely something is going wrong!

It's not unanswered at all. As jimhigham has pointed out the key phrase is "Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget." We have the 8th or 9th highest wage bill in the Championship and we're without parachute payments or a chairman prepared to break FFP rules, it's quite easy to see why we're losing so much money.

I don't think any club is making a profit, it's a question of how manageable are losses are.

 

[banjo]

well just I case he's still looking

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Paul Barber took time to read the Albion losing one million a month? thread and responded to me with some points on various aspects raised. I'm posting them in a separate thread so they get the attention they deserve.

As I have a day job, the presentation is pretty raw. I've provided the grouping and headings, not Paul, so blame me for structure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: although there are decisions made that I disagree with, and there are aspects of the matchday experience that annoy me, I have massive amounts of faith in the (off the pitch) team assembled to look after our football club and the detail below only reinforces my view on that.

Anyway, here it is...

Communication and transparency

The one theme that Albion fans consistently relate to me (wherever I go and whenever I meet them) is that the “bad years” - and even some that followed - were typified by a lack of transparency and openness from senior management of the club. I’m sure this is at the root of much of the distrust that exists (from what seems to be a small but vocal group of fans) today – and, as a football fan of 40 plus years, I sympathise hugely with what went on and the struggles that followed.

My style, supported by Tony and the Board, is to be as open and as transparent as I can possibly be; and I'd like to think I’ve demonstrated this – consistently - since the day I arrived. From time to time, I’m prepared (and I’m backed by the board to do this) to tell it how it is; for me, it’s somewhat ironic that all of a sudden, for some supporters, this openness is “spin”, “ill-advised”, “slight of hand” or “disingenuous” (someone will have to explain that to me!).

The club’s openness manifests in a variety of ways but for me is most pertinent when Tony and myself (and other senior people) do more unrehearsed, unscripted, "take on any question that comes" fans forums than this club has ever done – bad years or not.

The open approach means that I make myself totally accessible to staff, sponsors and supporters - and I personally answer every e–mail I receive and, where appropriate and wherever possible, I will tell supporters how it is even if it’s not what they want to hear. I don’t duck questions asked of me in any forum but, by the same token, I’m also prepared to defend the club when a supporter is unfair, unreasonable or plain offensive.

I take time to explain things in detail where I feel it’s necessary (but for some this is patronising), while other times I’ll be short and to the point (or, as some would have it: arrogant). Sometimes I feel I can’t win in this job!

I don’t expect medals or praise for this; it’s the way I have chosen to do the job (although some of my fellow CEOs think I’m crazy!). Regardless, for me, this is the best way to run a football club because people know where they stand, they feel more connected, and there are a minimum number of surprises.


Club finances

Like most Championship clubs, this club is losing a lot of money; we know this, the owner knows it, the board knows it, the staff know it, the media knows it – and, yes, the supporters should know it too. We don’t make a secret of it because we’ve nothing to hide; there’s no creative accounting, no tricks, it is what it is and there’s nothing for us to gain by presenting things any other way

We’re managing it, (we like to think!) we know what we’re doing, and, closely monitored by a board made up of 7 vastly experienced non executive directors (and only 3 executive directors), it’s part of a controlled strategy to get out of this division, backed by our owner (who some people seem to forget - or gloss over - has already invested over £200 million in this football club).

As I've repeatedly explained, Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget. As such, and as much as we want to be self-sufficient, we rely on Tony’s generous subsidy (other Championship-challenging clubs are similarly subsided by their owners or through parachute payments or, in some cases, both!


Fans working with the club, not against it

It’s why everyone in this club gets hugely irritated when they read supporters encouraging others to "stop buying season tickets", "stop attending matches", "don’t buy the merchandise", or "drink and eat elsewhere" when everyone at the club is trying so hard to raise revenues to support our playing budget and reduce the dependency on Tony.

Everyone is of course entitled to spend their hard earned money how and where they wish, but often those behaving in this way are the same characters demanding a bigger playing budget or criticising the club for failing to sign certain players; to us, to be totally honest, it’s a very odd mentality and it makes little sense. Thankfully, again, it’s a very small number of people .


The BBC 'Price of Football' survey

We’re not a public company, so, even though we could, we do not need to “steer” people on our annual results - or feel the need to use information at certain times to defend a BBC survey!

With the greatest respect to the poster that suggested this, we are simply responding to questions the survey raised not orchestrating some Machiavellian plot to divert attention from our own accounts or from something – season ticket pricing - that’s been in the public domain for five months or more!

Again, let’s be clear, we have never claimed to have the cheapest tickets - and the BBC have not revealed anything that wasn’t already in the public domain about our pricing or anyone else’s. They have created headlines by taking a simplistic view of ticket pricing and failing to reflect the added value that we – and some other clubs – offer to their season ticket holders. For me, this is disingenuous at best, mis-leading and unfair at worst.


More on Club finances

Given that we do have a small number of shareholders, I do however need to be respectful of their investment on our club and therefore the timing of our accounts follows our financial year and the statutory reporting period we are required to follow; again, nothing sinister in this: we have reporting deadlines to our auditors, to the Football League and to Companies House – and we follow them.

Unfortunately, without getting in to the specifics of last year’s numbers, I’m not a miracle worker so the notion of me “eliminating” losses in just over 2 years is a little ridiculous and for the poster that suggested this was my job shows a lack of understanding of how any business operates, let alone a football club’s finances.

However, as I state in this week’s programme notes, we continue to increase income and to reduce our costs; of course, this work is ongoing but most importantly it has allowed us to maintain our football budgets despite a lower central contribution from the Football League and new FFP constraints meaning Tony’s contribution must be reduced.

At the same time, we have opened and are running a hugely expanded (and therefore expensive) training ground and academy; from our work to increase income and reduce (other) operational costs, we must fund this (and all that sails in it).

We will not always be able to give supporters what they want; we will not always agree with every complaint they make; we won’t always give in to unreasonable demands. We must establish policies and procedures that reflect the size of our club and the season ticket holders we now service. Yes, this is different from the Withdean and Gillingham years, but so are the numbers involved!


Albion staff and directors

I’m incredibly proud of the hard work our staff – all of them - have put in to help us boost income and become more efficient in the past two years or so – and, indeed, since the Amex opened; this stuff doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a lot of planning, effort, and skill to deliver. This club is very lucky to employ some very talented and very hard working people at all levels. Fortunately, many fans appreciate this and regularly email the staff with messages of support and thanks – which helps!

Finally, around the board room table, we have 10 people – including one that has invested over £200 million of his own money, several others who have spent a lifetime following and supporting this football club (and have intimate knowledge of everything that’s happened before), a few that have spent the best part of half a century of their career running professional football clubs, and a few others that have built, run, and, in some cases, sold businesses far bigger and far more complex than this one; the vast majority of our board live locally and face supporters every day.


Summing up

If there is a more open, transparent, accountable, hard-working group of people than those that own, run, or are employed by this football club, then I’ve not come across them in my business career – and I’be been lucky enough to work with many great people in some fantastic organisations; I'd really like to think that the majority of supporters would take heart and confidence from the way we do things.

I am sorry Paul but that is a very well constructed reply however it has no new information that we did not already know or were aware that was happening. The fans like myself continue to support the club by coming to the Amex purchasing merchandise, and food etc. We are well aware that Tony, yourself and the board have done a fantastic job injecting vast amounts of time, money and effort. However no where in your reply does it say why we are losing one million a month, how you are working on this. The concern of the general level headed fan is this is happening to one of the best supported and we'll run clubs we all love and want to do well and i would like to know why, and how can we in all honesty compete for promotion under these pressures.

 

[chaileyjem]

how can we in all honesty compete for promotion under these pressures.

Presumably in the same way we did last season when we finished 6th under exactly the same pressures.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Kudos to Barber for taking the time to set out a substantial letter to the supporters on this forum. I find it hard to disagree with any of the points he raises. There was one jarring prick of honesty, which was as follows...

Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget

I imagine that many of us like to think that our attendances assure us of a budget that should be capable of sustaining a promotion chasing team. The sad truth seems to be that match day revenues alone do not produce the footballing alchemy required to get us to the Premier League and that this requires an additional spend on the part of the chairman. Our recent history should serve as a lesson against wanting to "bet the farm" on the goal of promotion.

Sad but apparently true.

I think the comment about our revenues and championship/ premiership football is very telling. So basically what is bring said is even with a sugar daddy bankrolling us, we can't compete with teams with parachute payments....well notts forest and derby buck that trend, as did palace really!

I wonder with it being TB's club, if some other director said I will put in £50 million to get us in the prem, if he would be prepared to give up some power, or are we saying that what barber said above is really the reality and we will never be in a position to compete unless some of these youngsters come off in the same way as ferguson's babes did at Manu some time in the future

 

[GT49er]

The unanswered questionS.....
If we have the largest number of supporters (STs / attendances) paying the highest prices in the league, and a significant transfer surplus...
............How are we making losses of ~£1m per month?
It will be interesting to compare the results of other clubs, with fewer fans and lower prices. Because if they are making profits / smaller losses then surely something is going wrong!

It's not unanswered at all. As jimhigham has pointed out the key phrase is "Championship revenues – even the best of them like ours – do not produce income to support a promotion-chasing playing budget." We have the 8th or 9th highest wage bill in the Championship and we're without parachute payments or a chairman prepared to break FFP rules, it's quite easy to see why we're losing so much money.

I don't think any club is making a profit, it's a question of how manageable are losses are.

Both good points, and not at odds with each other. It's just that last sentence that worries me - let's change one word:
"It's a question of how sustainable such losses are".........
And therein lies my concern. A business (and football is a business these days, no matter how much some of us would still like to be 'fans' rather than 'customers'!) haemorrhaging (apparently) £1M a month can't go on doing that forever - so how long can our club, even in its fantastic stadium with some of the highest crowds and prices, go on? Indeed, how many of the 92 clubs can go on indefinitely haemorrhaging money?
Will English professional football as we know it be around in 20 or 30 years time, or will a combination of the Taylor report and Bosman ultimately prove to have caused its demise? Hope I'm wrong...........but I am concerned.

 

[El Turi]

I don't expect us to challenge for promotion until something is done about parachute payments and other unfair elements. However, the board need to be careful that their controlled approach to get out of the division doesn't result in us going out of the division at the other end as this is looking like a realistic possibility this season.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Presumably in the same way we did last season when we finished 6th under exactly the same pressures.

Oh like being what is it 18th at the moment..... come on we got lucky last year, teams were tripping up over themselves not to get in the play offs and we took advantage of that and did well.

So on your way of thinking we should be performing the same, and finish 6th ha, that with solid teams progressing all the time like Ipswich Derby Forest etc and Norwich oh and we have no Ulloa or Bridcutt...... No I'm sorry it's not the same and the now the board are telling us we are losing money hand over fist and we cannot compete with parachute payments or sugar daddies willing to break the rules of FFP. I am not asking for us to, or want us to, however what is the plan its a fair question.

 

[Giraffe]

I don't expect us to challenge for promotion until something is done about parachute payments and other unfair elements. However, the board need to be careful that their controlled approach to get out of the division doesn't result in us going out of the division at the other end as this is looking like a realistic possibility this season.

There is absolutely no chance of us being relegated this season. That would go completely against the plan so it isn't going to happen.

 

[Machiavelli]

With the greatest respect to the poster that suggested this, we are simply responding to questions the survey raised not orchestrating some Machiavellian plot to divert attention from our own accounts or from something – season ticket pricing - that’s been in the public domain for five months or more!

I've said it before: I'm from the Bill Hicks' school of thought on marketing but, despite this, Paul Barber is deeply impressive, and this is just another example of it. That said, why's he singling me out for 'special' treatment?

 

[Beach Hut]

It is a good response however the issue concerning catering needs to be addressed if that is an avenue of revenue stream the club want to follow which clearly they do.

I must be a bad fan as I just go and watch the game albeit do buy a program every two games now.

What is not really addressed is the spiralling cost of football however it does not need to be as there appear to be other fans waiting to join the party as some leave.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Without ploughing through accounts etc can someone enlighten me as to how important catering is in the grand scheme of things? As has been mentioned, I feel it is the biggest area of disappointment within a great set-up at present and could so easily be rectified with simple, non expensive changes.
I would willingly spend, irrespective of the alleged high prices, money on food and drink to a considerably higher level were it consistently good quality, easier to buy and generally hassle free.
As of today, that is not the case. We all want to help the club, so make it easier for us to spend.

 

[portslade seagull]

If we are still losing 1m a month something is very bad .... Also I must be a bad fan as I've stopped buying the programme and pint and beer and just make sure I eat before I leave for the match

 

[drew]

I am sorry Paul but that is a very well constructed reply however it has no new information that we did not already know or were aware that was happening. The fans like myself continue to support the club by coming to the Amex purchasing merchandise, and food etc. We are well aware that Tony, yourself and the board have done a fantastic job injecting vast amounts of time, money and effort. However no where in your reply does it say why we are losing one million a month, how you are working on this. The concern of the general level headed fan is this is happening to one of the best supported and we'll run clubs we all love and want to do well and i would like to know why, and how can we in all honesty compete for promotion under these pressures.

Because we are spending more than we are earning and we have competed for promotion in the last two years, the evidence is there to see, on the same basis. As far as I'm aware, level headed fans do know this and know it it going to be difficult. What we don't know is how other clubs are faring!

 

[Mowgli37]

Top, top bloke Paul Barber is.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Because we are spending more than we are earning and we have competed for promotion in the last two years, the evidence is there to see, on the same basis. As far as I'm aware, level headed fans do know this and know it it going to be difficult. What we don't know is how other clubs are faring!

Are any clubs breaking even or making a profit? At what point do all the chairmen turn to each other and say " this is just ridiculous"?