culmstockgull wrote: 07 Jul 2020, 13:45
Grecian 71, exactly what part of my post was garbage,
Where to start...
"Ajose who has only played six times this season"
- Make that sixteen. Sure, he's been disappointing, but he had a flipping knee operation in mid-season. Let's see how he does next campaign.
"Their new stand was funded by a combination of finance form the football trust and Exeter university so no great outlay there".
- Yep, we did well to effectively get the stand essentially for free, but have you had a look at the away end recently? That had to be paid for.
"They have a premiership training facility"
- Cliff Hill compares well with most League One and Two set-ups. And new artificial pitches don't come cheap. But you wouldn't mistake it for Cobham or Carrington.
"similar to us, we built a stand that we cannot fill at our level"
- we've already filled it at least once for certain, and come close on a number of occasions. Decent seated accommodation has always been a problem at SJP and depressed crowds. (The wooden stand was quaint, but the obscured views and loos from the dark ages put off plenty). As soon as the new stand opened during the season before last there was a notable uptick in attendances.
"what has happened to all their money"
- football clubs are very expensive. As I say, the club has underlying operating losses year-on-year. (Something like £750K last year alone I think - without looking). And then there was the small matter of then making a thumping one-off profit in one financial year due to transfer fees. Do you know what profits lead to, if you play by the rules?? Taxes. We had to cough up over £500,000 in corporation tax to HMRC for the year ending June 2018. Makes me spit when I think of the multinationals who use various devices to avoid tax.
The Trust gives out a lot of information, and it's pretty easy to follow the money if you know how. The problem is that all clubs have fans that are full of s*** and assume there's conspiracies when they can't be bothered to put in the work to figure out what's happening.
None of this is to underplay the tightrope that Exeter City have to walk, but compared to most we are pretty well-run with a very clear strategy. You can argue whether the strategy is right - and plenty of City fans do. And the club gets things wrong, and like every club the manager signs a duffer now and again. But there is no mystery where the money goes - investment in the ground, investment in the training facilities, a Category 3 Youth Academy for 9yos upwards, and a heavily-subsidised wage bill.
