Drewsome Posted June 23, 2007 Report Posted June 23, 2007 Russell's going... Stevie's going... Seve's going... Langfield's going... Congratulations, we have made it to Europe and the scouts of the world are finally taking notice. Speculation talk is what you get when you are a small market club with talented players and some debt. It's made worse when your recent history backs up that your club sells its best assets to fight off the wolves (creditors). Let's not get too carried away in things here though. Like the saying says "you can't step into the same river twice". I'm not so sure our debt is as bad as it was in 2002; I seem to recall we've had a couple of profitable seasons in there even though I have a hunch we lost money this season (not sure when the report comes out on that but I'd think it would be soon). We also have a very passionate former player in the front office in Willie Miller now. I would hope his voice would be heard by the right people and keep our better players for progress. I'd like to think that the club have the view that this time we didn't sneak into Europe. The spot was our's to lose and we qualified on merit. That changes your outlook. You can operate with thoughts of extra home games, TV revenue, moderate but increased exposure to increase strip & souvenir sales, etc. So I don't think the v But we the fans have an obligation here too. The last time we qualified for Europe, and I remember it well, the home leg of our first qualifier was grossly underattended. 9894 were in the stands to see the Dons play Nistru Otaci. OK yes they were a relatively unknown club but THIS WAS EUROPE!! 10180 attended the home half against Hertha Berlin. A club that has some international reputation. 2 games at less than 50% of our stadium. Not too intimidating is it? What I'm saying is that it looked like we didn't care about Europe 5 years ago. Do we care now? We certainly have a team worth following and that should get to the group stage at least! Are we going to go with the attitude of "I'll go IF they qualify for the group stage" or "HELL YEAH, I AM the 12TH MAN"! The draw is on June 29th, Let's be behind our team no matter who they face. STAND FREE! Quote
kelt Posted June 23, 2007 Report Posted June 23, 2007 I'm not so sure our debt is as bad as it was in 2002; I seem to recall we've had a couple of profitable seasons in there even though I have a hunch we lost money this season Sorry, but the debt is worse than it was in 2002, since we've announced losses every season for something like the last 10 years. When you lose money each season (including the 1 season we supposedly 'broke even, because that didn't include servicing the debt) your sum debt increases, not shrinks. So every year we get further into the red. The plan to arrest this is "sell the stadium". At which point we're debt free but homeless. So, our options are... 1/ We can't sell the stadium, and eventually our debts massively outstrip our assets or ability to repay said debts... at which point we go into administration.. or cease trading. 2/ We sell the stadium, at which point we are theoretically debt free and homeless. This means we either get a free stadium from somewhere (not going to happen), ground share with Inverness, or cease trading. Quote
sooth_stander Posted June 23, 2007 Report Posted June 23, 2007 I'm not so sure our debt is as bad as it was in 2002; I seem to recall we've had a couple of profitable seasons in there even though I have a hunch we lost money this season 1/ We can't sell the stadium, and eventually our debts massively outstrip our assets or ability to repay said debts... at which point we go into administration.. or cease trading. 2/ We sell the stadium, at which point we are theoretically debt free and homeless. This means we either get a free stadium from somewhere (not going to happen), ground share with Inverness, or cease trading. In otherwords, what you are saying is, apart from groundsharing with ICT, we are fecked? Jeez, that's a happy thought on this wet saturday night. Quote
Reekie_Red Posted June 23, 2007 Report Posted June 23, 2007 ... or we hope for some AWESOME revenue generation during our European stint, and we service the debt the way most leading clubs do ... through merchandising and advertising. Quote
Leerichardson40yrds Posted June 24, 2007 Report Posted June 24, 2007 Or we try to be a bit ambitious. Try to make the group stages, and get around 5m from TV money. I'm still not sure this is the right thing to do, but if there ever was a time to gamble on keeping the current squad together so they can kick us on a level (even short term) then it is now. Quote
Reekie_Red Posted June 24, 2007 Report Posted June 24, 2007 5m would be realistic. We made about 800k from the home tie against Hertha Berlin alone! All we had to do was change the kickoff time to suit German TV. It was quite surreal being that way, as the crowd at kickoff time was probably around the 5000 mark, and by full-time it was sitting around 11000. Very strange, but a very unique atmosphere!! But 5m is definitely realistic for reaching the group round-robin stages. Knocking 5m off the debt would be a MASSIVE help to us, as we wouldn't be accumulating so much interest on the debt and we may even find ourselves in a position where servicing the debt is manageable! Quote
sheepheid Posted June 25, 2007 Report Posted June 25, 2007 I remember reading (P&J I think) a few weeks back that if we made it to the group stages it would be worth £11m to us, even if we get pumped every game and finish bottom of the group! Quote
BrownyBrown Posted June 25, 2007 Report Posted June 25, 2007 Realistically, no-one wants to invest into a club which simply serves the purpose of fulfilling debt repayments. AFC needs to show that it is capable of the sort of financial management which suggests that we are able to get out of the debt which hangs around us. With some results on the pitch and prudent management off it - its possible, but will be a long, hard slog. Once we are no longer operating at a loss I hope that would signal the return of investment in AFC, both from SM and other investors. We're going in the right direction at the moment, but it is so easy to go backwards at this stage. UEFA Cup is the key to this, and if its not to be this season then we have to make sure we are back up there at the end of next season! Quote
Reekie_Red Posted June 26, 2007 Report Posted June 26, 2007 Well. We're paying off a massive overdraft at the moment, and all we seem to be doing is servicing the debt. If we wiped out the debt by, for example, doing quite well in Europe, imagine what we could do. We'd be taking in the same sort of cash (perhaps more once the glory-hunters start to return to Pittodrie) and the money we would normally put towards servicing the debt could now be used for our own means!! Kind of puts this season's UEFA Cup into real perspective for us, doesn't it?! This could break our financial stranglehold. Nae putting any pressure on our boys, like! Quote
Drewsome Posted June 26, 2007 Author Report Posted June 26, 2007 Well at least we're all in agreement. Don't sell the farm just because we get offers for players. Get rid or debt by earning our way in Europe. Quote
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