Tony Bloom, WAKE UP!!!

[Weststander]

The phrase "recoup his investment" is just barmy though...!

By the time we kick a ball in the Premier League, Tony Bloom will probably have spent something between £250m and £350m on the Albion. As far as I am aware, he has no intention or expectation about "recouping" a penny of this. He is doing it because he loves the club and he dreams of his son being Chairman in 30 years time.

He has clearly set out his stall on a number of occasions recently. He believes in FFP and wants the club to be in a position where it does not rely on massive cash injection every year.

I agree all of this makes a lengthy stay in the Championship more likely than not. In competition with the parachute and FFP flouting clubs we are not going to start a season shorter than about 8/1 for promotion to the Premier League anytime soon.

I personally was fine with Championship football. Wouldn't have got a kick out of the type of season Burnley are having now, until we are truly ready. It's the League One scenario that's frightening. This time it would be with a 31,000 expensive stadium to run and training complex, many hundreds of employees and being locked into Championship level wages in player contracts.

 

[Francesco13]

Hello everyone! I'm Francesco, an italian football fan. I'm a S.S.Lazio fanatic and I support Brighton too since 2012. This year is being one of the most difficult, but i'm still hoping for a change! UP THE SEAGULLS ALWAYS!

 

[Jim D]

Well said, but now just wait for the "ah, but don't forget this includes travel costs" excuse for our high costs.

But why would you ignore this? For those living within the travel zone (I guess you aren't one of them) this can be as much as £7 or £8 per game. Even for those living in Brighton it's about £4. When a Bournemouth fan buys his ticket for £25 (or pays £480 for the cheapest ST - more than ours at £465) how does he get to the ground? Unless he lives within walking distance he'll need transport - and it all costs extra. The BBC cost of football survey seems to assume that transport costs nothing.

 

[Nobby's Betamax Video]

Ironically, League 1 could cost Bloom more money than now to offset the drop in revenue.

Revenues would snowball massively should we get to the EPL, but drop just as sharply if we're relegated.

 

[trueblue]

The most annoying thing is seeing small clubs like Bournemouth spending serious money on their team and having a great season.

But what happens if they don't go up and fall foul of FFP? May not look so good then.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

I personally was fine with Championship football. Wouldn't have got a kick out of the type of season Burnley are having now, until we are truly ready. It's the League One scenario that's frightening. This time it would be with a 31,000 expensive stadium to run and training complex, many hundreds of employees and being locked into Championship level wages in player contracts.

I agree with this. In some ways I think we peaked too early under Poyet. 10th in our first season back was an excellent performance and I would have been content with finishing a couple of places higher in the second season. The trouble was we immediately compared ourselves with Palace because we competed with them so well over the two seasons. I think we all know we would have struggled if we had gone up. Let's not forget that Palace were in the First Division/Premiership for much of the '90s and '00s, as were Norwich and Southampton - beating them to the League One title was a remarkable performance, and Palace have had a top grade academy for a number of years.

What really irks me though is that while we really had no right to be in the Championship at Withdean, and especially achieving our best finish for 14 years and the two relegations were quite understandable, now we have this wonderful £100 million stadium and state of the art training ground, yet we are sleepwalking towards League One after two seasons of Play Offs. I also find the attitude of the my club right or wrong brigade highly patronising. They are always ready to ram the stadium and training ground down the throats of anyone who raises the slightest complaint. No-one with any sense would deny what TB has done for this club, but this lot need to take their heads out of the sand. It is not just the usual moaners who are complaining. Club loyalists are not happy either. I have not heard boo-ing like yesterday's (I did not join in, but did not clap the players off) since Adams MKII.

I am not enjoying going to games at all at present, other than meeting up with my mates. Yes, I will renew (though if they were to reconsider I would too, and I would draw the line at League Two), but I already find it very hard to get to midweek games (I don't currently bother). If we were to go down and there was no improvement, I might well change to going to individual matches.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Yes, I will renew (though if they were to reconsider I would too, and I would draw the line at League Two), but I already find it very hard to get to midweek games (I don't currently bother). If we were to go down and there was no improvement, I might well change to going to individual matches.

Are you a disgruntled "club loyalist"...?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

They're spenidng serious money. And they're having a great season.
But are they having a great season because they're spending serious money?

Birmingham (7th highest wages bill 2012-13) sits 23rd.
Bolton (highest2012-13r) sits 22nd.
The connection isn't automatic.

2012/13 is hardly relevant in 2014/15.

I get the point you are making but Birmingham for example offloaded a lot if players in the summer, as I believe their parachute payments ended. Zigic for was reportedly on £60k per week.

Can't comment on Bolton, I think this is their last year of parachute payments, but I would imagine Birmingham may have a lower budget than us.

Bournemouth on the other hand, as others have pointed out, seem to have spent more with apparently less income than we have.

Of course, it could be argued that they have purchased more wisely as well.

 

[El Turi]

But what happens if they don't go up and fall foul of FFP? May not look so good then.

We are proving that abiding by FFP results in struggling in the league. That's why pretty much every club is ignoring it. I suppose we can take the moral high ground when we are playing the likes of Crawley and Orient in a half empty Amex next season.

 

[Clive Walker]

“Hopefully we can turn it around so they are happy and we get three points somehow, somewhere."

Probably the most worrying quote I've heard so far from SH. Clearly has no clear plan on what needs to be done to turn this around and is now sounding desperate.

 

[trueblue]

We are proving that abiding by FFP results in struggling in the league. That's why pretty much every club is ignoring it. I suppose we can take the moral high ground when we are playing the likes of Crawley and Orient in a half empty Amex next season.

Or we can reap the benefits when the sanctions kick in against other clubs.

 

[father_and_son]

Ironically, League 1 could cost Bloom more money than now to offset the drop in revenue.

Revenues would snowball massively should we get to the EPL, but drop just as sharply if we're relegated.

Revenues increase substantially in the PL, but then so do costs. Very few PL clubs turn a profit and those that do, do so because they have a huge commercial income from being an internationally recognisable brand.

For Tony, promotion means the opportunity to lose two bucket loads of money a month instead of one OR face fan abuse for not "splashing the cash" that we are now awash with.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

On the flip side, I'm not utterly convinced that L1 means a dive in financial fortunes (a drop maybe, but not a dive).

How many people are actually ready to walk away from the club if we get relegated? How many are currently leaving their seats empty because of our table position and how many because the football is dire and we are losing? (yes, the two are connected, but think root cause)

A BHA winning L1 games week in week out will probably attract larger crowds (in attendence rather than tickets sold) than a BHA losing championship games. Prices would probably be frozen rather than dropped (let's be realistic... do you see any busy willing to slash its prices when demand increases!) and a larger crowd means a larger incremental spend, even at the wallet busting prices we face this season.

I'd love to see the numbers, but I'll bet a win on the pitch massively boosts the additional sales during and post match. People stay and have a pint and enjoy the post match with friends as opposed to heading for the train/bus early with their heads down.




Yes, I'm frustrated we're losing and our lack of goal scoring is dire. But let's not pretend that L1 football will be the death of this club - in terms of fan numbers or finances. The economics of going up or down are not as straight forward as "snowballing" in either direction.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

For Tony, promotion means the opportunity to lose two bucket loads of money a month instead of one OR face fan abuse for not "splashing the cash" that we are now awash with.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

With the football club entity (BHA FC Ltd) showing a loss of the best part of £15M in the last set of available accounts (2012/13) and exceeding the FFP requirements for that period by some way I'm interested in anyone's view of what "awash with cash" actually means.

 

[father_and_son]

"Awash with cash" is the supposed scenario post promotion (I was replying to a specific post regarding our respective fortunes after promotion/relegation). I personally don't believe we are in anyway awash with cash now or indeed, if promoted!

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

"Awash with cash" is the supposed scenario post promotion (I was replying to a specific post regarding our respective fortunes after promotion/relegation). I personally don't believe we are in anyway awash with cash now or indeed, if promoted!

Sorry, my misunderstanding.

 

[father_and_son]

Sorry, my misunderstanding.

*nods* s'ok.

 

[Murray 17]

But why would you ignore this? For those living within the travel zone (I guess you aren't one of them) this can be as much as £7 or £8 per game. Even for those living in Brighton it's about £4. When a Bournemouth fan buys his ticket for £25 (or pays £480 for the cheapest ST - more than ours at £465) how does he get to the ground? Unless he lives within walking distance he'll need transport - and it all costs extra. The BBC cost of football survey seems to assume that transport costs nothing.

I do live inside the travel zone.

I know we can't change the situation but I used to walk to the Goldstone, and only drive part of the way to Withdean, so my travel costs were lower than what I am paying now. Last year I also paid extra for Seagull Travel (my choice I know) because I didn't want to be queuing for a train for ages and then be packed in like a sardine.

 

[Weststander]

“Hopefully we can turn it around so they are happy and we get three points somehow, somewhere."

Probably the most worrying quote I've heard so far from SH. Clearly has no clear plan on what needs to be done to turn this around and is now sounding desperate.

There was a more worrying quote than that, in Saturday's programme from Board. Optimistic about us getting in the playoffs this season. Ostrich-effect with regards to the squad that they & Burke have handed SH, especially in terms of lacking pace, power, height, creativity, fight, and most criticallly CHAMPIONSHIP QUALITY REGULAR GOAL SCORERS. Frightening if they think the current squad is really top 6.

 

[robbie c]

I am mortified at the prospect of going to Luton Town next season

 

[Surf's Up]

“Hopefully we can turn it around so they are happy and we get three points somehow, somewhere."

Probably the most worrying quote I've heard so far from SH. Clearly has no clear plan on what needs to be done to turn this around and is now sounding desperate.

Hyypia is totally clueless, it's like he's given up because he doesn't know what to do or say. His latest idea is that the players should toughen up - cue bookings, red cards and suspensions. Bloom is getting this wrong and the longer he delays taking a decision the worse it's getting and the more difficult it will be to turn the situation round. And Jones has to go too.