Toffeeweb - The Mail Bag - How Can We Compete?

How Can We Compete?

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I read an article in the Times this morning about sheik Mansoor's investment in Manchester City. According to their figures which I dont doubt they believe he has bankrolled City to the tune of £1.3 billion. Also remember that they didn't have to purchase a ground so the majority of the money has been spent on the playing staff. Now having spent this fortune he is still not guaranteed to win the Premier League.

When you also consider what the present Champions have spent, and what Liverpool have spent to try and get into the top 4, where does that leave us?

Even if there was an investor out there, based on these figures, he would have to be prepared to spend nearly as much as the owners of City, because we need a new stadium as well as players. Now does anybody in their right mind believe such an investor is out there? Somehow I don't think so.

So that leaves us to run our club as a business that means maximise our profit and reduce costs ? in short, sell the best players till we can pay off the bank and increase admission charges. Seeing as we are one of the cheapest grounds to watch Premier League football, that needs addressing first as well as selling players.

Then we will be in a position to buy new players provided we don't go down the route of paying over £50,000 per week to any player. Not very palatable but the only solution.

Brian Harrison, Liverpool Posted 31/08/2011 at 13:33:13

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Ciarán McGlone
1 Posted 31/08/2011 at 15:17:52

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That's not a solution. That's a stop gap, that will only serve to keep the Wolves away from the door (no, not Mick McCathy). It will not provide money for the transfers we need.

I'm not convinced you need to spend Man City money - or anywhere close to it, to make a meaningful challenge for the title.

Erik Dols
2 Posted 31/08/2011 at 15:21:05

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In theory one of the "solutions" for Everton would be to have a fire sale and raise enough money to clear all debts and may be some cash for redeveloping the Park End.

In practice we would get relegated and the decline in TV money and fan income would hit us just as hard. Selling players is not really a solution.

Colin Fitzpatrick
3 Posted 31/08/2011 at 15:10:14

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Brian,

Everybody knows that control over revenue and expenditure is vital; match both and you?re happy, increase revenue and decrease expenditure and you?re delirious.

Some of the major areas of concern, regarding costs, are player?s wages and their agent fees, there?s no doubt whatsoever they are indeed scandalous, but until the clubs move on them multilaterally, they remain a fact of football life that Everton need to accommodate, regrettably they have no choice in the matter, the management are hamstrung due to market forces at work in this respect, we have to pay the going rate or we won?t hang onto or attract new players and the consequence of that for a competitive football club is obvious.

My own view is that the problem at Everton isn?t simply their inability to generate sufficient revenue to meet the required expenditure of a competitive premiership club, including players wage demands; the real root cause of the problem is the inability to develop a deliverable strategy that would increase that revenue and we all know what that strategy must contain, it must contain a solution to the stadium issue, then commercial revenues will begin to climb through more attractive sponsorship and advertising deals, better commercial contracts with partners, increased matchday revenues and, hopefully, increased merit payments.

We haven?t been able to control the costs since the last published accounts, the next will show a small increase in turnover but wages have taken all of this and more. Selling players will control costs but will leave the club vulnerable to its existence in the top flight.

We need to continue to attempt to control cost and maximise revenue, increasing prices would be one way but the downside could be a drop in attendance. The real solution lies in identifying a suitable buyer and closing the deal, something the current board have demonstrated a complete lack of ability in delivering.

Erik Dols
4 Posted 31/08/2011 at 15:26:54

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I mean that selling players without getting new ones is not a solution. Obviously there is no harm in refreshing the team now and then.

Karl Meighan
5 Posted 31/08/2011 at 16:06:16

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The problem with the idea of selling your best players and raising prices is that only people who eat prawn sarnies will be watching the team and relegation could see a long dark period outside the Premier League which is unthinkable.

Danny Broderick
6 Posted 31/08/2011 at 16:37:28

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We need to get rid of some of the high earners for starters ? we can't continue to spend 71% of our income on wages, that's for sure. We need to face facts and sell some of our big name players. Arteta would be an obvious one, as we are not in a position to be paying £75,000 a week. I also don't think his input in the last season and a bit merits such large wages. I would also sell Jagielka and buy a younger, cheaper version i.e. Scott Dann.

Get our business plan in check, and eat away at the debt, this is the first step. After that, we need to increase revenues ? bringing the catering and retail operations back in house would generate some profit, and we drastically need investment from somewhere. Here's hoping we get some...

Jim Knightley
7 Posted 31/08/2011 at 16:43:37

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Since Moyes has taken over, he has spent 1/5 of the money spent by Tottenham in the intervening period, Whilst Aston Villa spend 26million more than we do on wages.

It's amazing how many people forget how utterly financially mismatched we are and HAVE BEEN. Constantly Moyes is criticised, but I think his achievements are outstanding in view of what we have had to deal with.

Hopefully our publicity of late, bad as it may be, will turn eyes on Everton and maybe we will finally get an investor.

Although I doubt it somehow...

Jim Knightley
8 Posted 31/08/2011 at 16:48:05

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I think our best bet for interim financial security is for Felliani or Rodwell to have a super few months and then we sell them for big bucks in January. Given Rodwell's form of late, I think Fellaini's sale providing a cash injection is our best bet whilst our depth in the centre of mid make's the loss of either less harshly felt.
Yakubu going is good news (if it true and he does of course...) And I would have gladly seen Jagielka sold for 15million but unfortunately it doesn't look like we are getting that for him.

All in all our debt is bad but not horrendous. One big sale, a couple of the ones we are not using out (Yobo, Yakubu) and we are in a very easily manageable situation.

Brian Harrison
9 Posted 31/08/2011 at 16:49:42

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Colin

I agree that the medicine will be very hard to swallow, and a buyer would ease all the problems. But as I suggested the investment needed would be massive, and I dont think we can wait.

We will have to cut expenditure or raise revenue or both before the bank steps in and demands they have their own people on the board to sell the club. And as I have said before, should that happen, we will really need to worry. As their criteria will be to get anybody in as long as the bank is paid off, they won't care about preserving Everton and we could end up like Portsmouth, god forbid.

Dennis Stevens
10 Posted 31/08/2011 at 18:02:04

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Compete? - Survive!

Colin Fitzpatrick
11 Posted 31/08/2011 at 22:08:12

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Brian,

The scenario you are describing has been happening for the past twelve months, we?ve been shipping players out for a long time and sadly the bank is already calling the shots.

This scenario was foreseen by some almost three years ago, I?m not saying we shouldn?t be doing what you describe but I am saying that we need to change the people who have caused this and for the sake of OUR club pressure should be applied to ensure the possibility of these people taking the decision on the future of the club is removed; I simply don't trust them not to sell to someone that Liverpool, Portsmouth and West Ham experienced, for me this could be a distinct possibility.

I'm sure that some people will point out that legally there's nothing that Everton supporters can do, well if yet again the fans are to be ignored maybe the fight is going to get very dirty indeed, who knows.

John Feeley
12 Posted 01/09/2011 at 10:04:35

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Toffeeweb - can you open a thread called 'Protest to remove the board?'

Dick Fearon
13 Posted 01/09/2011 at 10:01:11

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A serious problem is too many players having little or no respect for their contracts. That situation can be easily rectified without in any way impinging on a players freedom.
When a contract is signed it should be lodged with an appropriate body that would hold it and not allow a player to sign another contract until the original has run its full course.
A number of benefits would accrue from such a system.
Players receive a guaranteed income for the duration of a mutually agreed term.
Clubs cannot be held to ransom by greedy players or agents.
Without the ability to cash in on the transfer market clubs will have to take a longer view of their financial commitments.
Depending on which side of negotiations you come from I admit that my suggestions have their up sides as well as their downs

The way things are heading with the viability of our game the status quo is not an option.

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