Season 2011-12 Fan Articles
The Current State of Affairs
By Matt Lavery :: 22/07/2011
25 Comments (»Last)
Does anyone feel up to counting up the costs of player wages per week, up-keep of the state-of-the-art training and youth facilities, a decrepit old stadium, loan repayments etc? I genuinely would be interested if someone cared to venture forward with a guesstimate.
Here's only 3:?
Arteta (say generously £45k/wk)
Cahill (say generously £40k/wk)
Fellaini (say generously £30k/wk)
That's £115k per week.That's 460k per month. And that's £5.52M over the course of a year...
Oh, I?ve started now... so I?ll just keep going? as much as I feel comfortable guessing! Who else have we got?
Osman ? £20k/wk
Howard ? £30/wk
Neville ? £30k/wk
Bilyaletdinov ? £30k/wk
Coleman ? £8k/wk
Baines ? £30k/wk
Jagielka ? £40k/wk
Distin ? £30k/wk
Mucha ? £5k/wk
Heitinga ? £30k/wk
Gueye ? £8k/wk
Rodwell ? £15k/wk
Anichebe ? £30k/wk
Saha ? £35k/wk
Hibbert ? £20k/wk
Yobo ? £40k/wk
Yakubu ? £50k/wk
Beckford ? £10k/wk
Plus all the young lads up and coming (I?ll be generous and estimate £50k/wk for the lot of them!)
So that?s £516k a week on wages? Which is a little over £2 million a month and almost £25 million a year. I?m really not counting it up very well because I think we?re all pretty sure Arteta is on £60k/wk and Fellaini is surely on more than £30k/wk but you get the picture?
Although if I factor Arteta?s extra £20k a week at £80k a month, that?s £960k a year alone. Add at least £20k/wk to Fellaini a week, so that?s another £80k a month and £960k a year, equalling a little under £2 million extra.
Now, when we take into consideration their signing on fees, that adds up to quite a bit as well (but we haven?t signed anyone recently).
Does anyone know how much Finch Farm actually cost and costs to run? How much is Moyes on? What about all the coaching staff et al? What about agent?s fees? Council fees? Brand new turf fees? Kit fees (brand new ones used each time ? which I think is a bit daft? my top from 3 seasons ago is doing fine although the wife says it has an ?interesting smell?...
Another one, what about the bonuses players receive for goals, assists, match fees? How much do the shareholders receive? How much is Blue Bill currently raking in at the theatre?
What?s our debt currently? £20M? £40M? (Apparently £45M according to the Echo article below)...
How much does it cost to travel around Austria, USA etc? How much does it cost to travel around England for the match days together with petrol, accommodation, food? TV revenue for the season would probably just about cover this, I?ve tried to find an up-to-date summary but any help would be greatly appreciated?
I did find this from February 2010 on the Independent website but being rubbish with maths I?d like a bit of help with it all:
Turnover: £79.7M
Operating profit: £6.3M
Net debt: £37.9M
Interest payment: £4.1M
Uncertainty reigns... £27M of the Toffees' borrowings ? secured on future ticket sales ? are spread over a relatively long period. But the 7.79% interest rate meant that £4.1M of cash left the club in 2008-09. The plan to increase match-day revenues by building a new 50,000-seat stadium in Kirkby was thrown into disarray last year when the Government rejected the proposal.
I?ve also just found an article by the Echo regarding the finances at our beloved club from February 2011:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2011/02/08/everton-fc-vows-to-keep-star-players-despite-3-1m-loss-in-annual-accounts-100252-28131863/2/
Elstone recently came out to say that ?all the money? went on the club and having just dabbled in the financial section of Everton I?d have to say we certainly don?t look as if we?re swimming in ?extra cash?. Of course, this is all very, VERY casual financing (perhaps why I?m broke at the end of the financial year!) but it would be interesting to see what others think.
I hope someone comes to our rescue soon and that we have the chance to resurrect our glory days.
Anyway, please discuss?
COYBB!
Reader Comments (25)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
2 Posted 23/07/2011 at 07:15:26
One thing that is never taken into account is Employers' National Insurance - so there's another 13.8% on top of whatever total you come up with.
I personally don't think a detailed breakdown of the club's cost base should be in the public domain however. Of course, we all want to know where our money is going - and so do all the other clubs, players, agents, suppliers etc. Commercial sensitivity outweighs our right to know.
One final point (which I don't want to detract to how I appreciate all your very pertinent questions) is your calculations assume 48 weeks (4 weeks in a month and 12 months in a year) so unfortunately the costs involved are even higher.
3 Posted 23/07/2011 at 09:40:25
Matt
Your figures are so far out it's laughable.
I mean Arteta is on around 75K per week and the figures you have quoted for the likes of Rodwell, Osman and Beckford are what's currently being paid in the Championship.
5 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:07:06
6 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:12:20
And by the way, I always enclose a SAE with my missives... but still don`t get much response!
But just remember, EFC is not a Public Company and it would be `a breach of care` for their employees if they started publishing salaries and the like.
Just try and enjoy the football and stop worrying about all the other stuff!
7 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:16:37
What is puzzling for you? Do you expect the costs of running a business to remain the same? Everton's operating costs are the lowest out of the top 6 clubs. There is no conspiracy. Instead of asking the club to explain it, consider trying to understand basic business accounting and financial reporting. It won't then keep you awake at night.
But thank you for your very original and hillarious quotes of Kenwright and the CEO. We haven't seen them on this site for at least an hour now.
Mike (#3), Matt made it very clear it was only CASUAL accounting, the point was to try and stimulate debate. Instead of being critical, maybe you could enlighten us on where this around £75k a week for Arteta comes from?
8 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:29:38
Anyway, I truly do not believe that Everton as a company should come out and tell us what they spend on everything, I think that would be ridiculous. They are a company and there are other companies who would love to know what they spend on each different area, enabling them to improve their own business model.
When I said generous, I was meaning in terms of not going "too high" with regards to the weekly wage. I think the players earn far more than I stated but I didn't want to overreach with my estimates. I agree with you Richard Dodd.
I am in favour of showing how closely run our football team is and I do believe we spend what we have on existing outlays. Could I be wrong? I don't know, but I guess that's what my article is about trying to find out. If we could try and get a figure sorted out regarding how much we do spend a year then perhaps it would explain to those who think Bill is pissing it all away and that he's sitting on a fortune, that actually no, he perhaps isn't. I would also be interested to see if my support of Bill is off the mark.
I simply don't think it is.
9 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:45:23
We'll never know for sure but surely we can get near to it?
10 Posted 23/07/2011 at 10:50:39
Dan.
Firstly, players salaries are enlightened to all and sundry when a players agent wants to move that very same player to a new club or re-new an existing contract. The agent wants us, the fans, to know that their player just wants to earn the same as some other no mark earning 2.5 million a year, at say, Newcastle. Now all this information, although confidential, is blazed across all the media outlets for everyone to see.
Secondly, I wasn't being critical. It's common knowledge that Everton's primary bill is players wages, I think we are talking about 73 pct of Everton's income. So if Matt is going to start a debate at least do a tad fact finding.
Hey, whilst I am at it, what is the relevance of your comment; "Everton's operating costs are the lowest out of the top 6 clubs". What does that mean? Everton are not a top six club, fact. Everton do not operate like a top six club. Fact. Finally, I can say without a shadow of doubt, that Everton has the least spending power in the entire EPL. Fact.
11 Posted 23/07/2011 at 11:15:18
"Just try and enjoy the football"
Every criticism about this club stems from this simple obstacle.
12 Posted 23/07/2011 at 11:23:25
"It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be."
Anatole France
13 Posted 23/07/2011 at 12:16:13
14 Posted 23/07/2011 at 13:22:17
Of course we are not yet a top six club Mike, the season hasn't even bloody started yet. FACT. But in my opinion, this is where we will be this season. This is our target group and contains the clubs we want to be competing against. So its not without logic to measure your operating expenses against that group to gauge your performance.
Your other two FACTS you have made are just your opinon, as you have no evidence whatsoever to support this.
15 Posted 23/07/2011 at 14:15:01
Is speculation that the current Board have recouped the cost of their shares wide of the mark? Perhaps the funds are 'ring-fenced' ready for the next proposed new stadium in our long-running series of fiascos master-minded by the current Board.
16 Posted 23/07/2011 at 15:04:18
17 Posted 23/07/2011 at 15:11:08
You know what you are right ? Everton WILL finish top six and all that hoo haa, I'd say around 18 months ago when Arteta was stalling over his latest contract, was all fabricated by the NOTW. Arteta plays at Goodison for love.
18 Posted 23/07/2011 at 16:27:42
I do recoginse that football is full of mercenaries these days, but I would not count Mikel Arteta as one of them. Had he gone back to Spain in 2006, there's no doubt in my mind that he would have fulfilled his dream of playing for his country.
19 Posted 23/07/2011 at 17:47:32
Bill said: 'Despite us not signing anyone, I'm confident we have a great squad that can achieve things.
It's a great squad that all Evertonians were saying this is our year last year and not only do I think they are good enough, they are a very committed bunch as they prove all the time and they have a great manager in charge.
I just hope this is going to be a truly great year for all Evertonians.'
20 Posted 23/07/2011 at 19:20:30
21 Posted 23/07/2011 at 19:23:38
22 Posted 23/07/2011 at 21:21:02
23 Posted 23/07/2011 at 20:23:50
Your point seems to be that Bill (who has your support) has exercised responsible fiscal management of the club in trying times... and indeed a case can be made for this. The players' salaries ? however obnoxious they may appear to us mere mortals ? are the price of doing business, the price of admission (or membership) to the poptastic Premier League.
I think that focusing on salaries, in Everton's case, is missing the real point, which is unexplained but rapidly increasing costs that are not properly accounted for. What would you think if there was a line item in the published Everton Accounts that had increased some eighteen times in just 10 years? That is an average APR of an incredible 35%!?! What could possibly be inflating year-on-year at such a huge rate?
What would you think if there has consistently been no explanation at all provided for this massively inreasing annual expense? Would you be concerned? Would you think it was the duty of the Chaiman of the Board of Directors to at least address what this item "other operating costs" really covers?
Where has this huge amount of money (£23.8M the season before last... Who knows how much that has risen to last season) been going? An ever increasing drain on the club's dwindling financial resources.
That's the question we should all be asking. It's the question David Prentice should be investigating... 24/7, until we have an acceptable answer.
24 Posted 24/07/2011 at 07:40:59
I would have to say that Everton are not the only company suffering on that point. In the current climate can we not negotiate a bale out? It's good enough for Greece and Ireland.
25 Posted 26/07/2011 at 12:12:22
Its not the fault of the players (anyone in any job would try to bargain for higher pay), its the clubs that should get together (with FIFA/UEFA) to try to sort this out (wihtout going against EU employment law). Hopefully the fair play rules will be a good start although a lot more is needed to stop teams like citeh and cheski artificially screwing up the whole pricing system.
The directors cannot be charged with taking money from the club - there isn't anything for them to take! However, they can run the club a hell of a lot better so as to generate higher income and offer better quality services, which they have neglected (IMO) over the last decade or so.
PS, if you want to know how much is paid on salaries, save yourself the effort and just read the annual accounts.
26 Posted 26/07/2011 at 14:24:17
As a percentage of our turnover our operating costs are up there with the best.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
1 Posted 23/07/2011 at 06:29:39
I'm sure this is just the kind of question that Bill would find 'boring' though. So, I'd be surprised if he knew the answer. I guess he'd probably say, as he has before.. " I don't know, like you I'm only a fan"
However if you were to ask that nice Mr Bob 'can-do' Elstone or Mr Ian
Ross, you may get a response. They always appear eager to please our loyal fanbase & I'm sure they'd be only too pleased to 'bend over backwards' & find out for you.
Indeed, contempt is not a word in their PR Phrasebook, so I'm sure they'd be only to 'Happy to help' !
My guess is that most of our outlay goes on two things :
1 - Tent Pegs.... for our state of the art , executive , corporate hospitality area.
2- Postal charges.... In replying to all the fan mail Doddy sends Moyes & BK.
Though that huge & rising amount for
'other running costs' is a bit of a puzzler eh !