12 point deduction or pay Smurthwaite's ransom?

[MBE]

He implied he did it every year. But it's madness. If, for example, you know that your income for the year is projected to be £3 million, do you spend it all between August and May or do you budget to spend £250,000 a month during the whole 12 months? I can't see the logic of what he is saying? Can an accountant help me please?

 

I'm no qualified accountant but I can help you out here. Its not madness its ********....as usual.

[newchapel valiant]

Don't worry he won't put us in admin or liquidation he doesn't think before he speaks.

Stop worrying we will be ok.

[Fosse69]

Don't worry he won't put us in admin or liquidation he doesn't think before he speaks.

Stop worrying we will be ok.

That is why I worry about him.

[newchapel valiant]

Trust me mate he won't UTV

[Jacko51]

There's a business in Keele that must have a hell of a time for 11 months of the year. It's the Christmas Tree farm - they probably get 90% of their income in December so it must be a bugger trying to pay the wages for the rest of the year.

[Erniemossrules]

I don’t think we can go back to 1/2 wages in the Summer months.It appears a strange way of doing things.Do you think that he meant the 450k had to found after May ,when he goes,and not in previous years?or has that been the case every year?

 

How can he put us in administration if he received 600 k from the Hugill money in January?

He can’t justify that to the league when putting us in administration.

Also being a greedy bar steward he will want to get his grubby hands on the final Hugill payment next January.

As far as I am aware it is payable to the new owners of the club.

Any season ticket sales will also go to the new owners so there is money available to pay wages during the close season.

Most season ticket holders will be happy for this money to be used for this purpose and pay early to support the club during this period rather than let him have it.

Taxi for Smurthwaite.

[Phil]

The deduction would be this season so we may get relegated unless at least 12 points clear.

 

Hope we get a new owner who takes us somewhere else to play in the short term, and he can keep his ground.

 

No it isn't.

[geosname]

That's the decision for Synectics, or anyone else. Smurthwaite isn't selling Vale Park remember. So the question is do you think the better solution is to buy the club once it is in admin and invest the money saved from buying out Smurthwaite into building a squad strong enough to survive such a deduction, or do you think it is more sensible to pay the man what he wants and avoid administration altogether?

 

Of course prospective buyers have to also take into account the fact that if they decided to not pay his ransom then there might be another buyer prepared to do so, thereby missing out on the chance to take over the club altogether. No doubt Smurthwaite is trying to contact any gullible chancer he can in order to avoid maximize his profits and avoid the prospect of his nemesis next door taking the club for a discount rate.

 

It's a diabolical decision to make but it seems to be one that prospective new owners must debate.

 

Far to many unknown variables to make that decision from the outside...

One possible solution could be to buy the club on the cheap, agree a ground rental deal for a limited period, move the club lock stock and barrel to a new location and make it sustainable.

That would be my preferred option if the ground is not for sale at a reasonable price.

[butt lane vale fan]

Does anybody actually believe him. Sadly he will still be around next season. He's just playing his stupid mind games, by May he will change his mind again, well that if he doesn't change it 15 times beforehand then say he's been hacked and it was someone else on the radio.

[jjvale_03]

He implied he did it every year. But it's madness. If, for example, you know that your income for the year is projected to be £3 million, do you spend it all between August and May or do you budget to spend £250,000 a month during the whole 12 months? I can't see the logic of what he is saying? Can an accountant help me please?

 

Totally agree with what you're saying.

 

I (think) what Mr. Smurthwaite is saying is that (and he mumbled as much during his crazy radio phone in) that because it's a new financial year, it doesn't matter if we made a profit or loss in the previous financial year, we start a-fresh each April and therefore he 'has to' fund the shortfall in the months in which the first team don't play matches - ie. May/June/July.

 

I could understand this argument if he'd just bought the club. What I don't get is why, as you say, he i) doesn't budget based on a 12 month cycle ii) seems proud to be the only club not touching ST money until August - he's obviously right and the other 71 EFL clubs are doing it wrong, right!? and iii) what he's saying is any profit from the previous financial year goes into his pocket, he then 'covers the shortfall' in the first few months of every financial year and adds it as a directors loan, and the cycle continues. It's a double whammy for him - the club makes a 250k profit, he gets that money, then puts it back in as a directors loan. The club then owes him 250k when he's actually already taken 250k. Smart stuff...

 

At least he's admitted what we expected from the start. It's all about the ground. Not for building houses on, but because it's a nice little earner. The weddings, the conferences, the enterprise centre, the kids centre etc. He can even use the emotion blackmail of saying he is doing great work for the community by keeping it open. Going back many years, I'm sure there was a 'Lorne Street Development Fund' where lots of local businesses and supporters dug deep to contribute towards. Ironic that now some clown from Coventry owns it and will milk it and the club it was built to increase revenue for, gets nothing from it. A very sorry situation indeed.

[Santa]

The club’s financial year runs from the 1/7 until 30/6 so any ticket revenue for next season should be treated as deferred income for the subsequent year. The club’s out of contract players are on the payroll until the end of June and the budgeting will have been done accordingly on this basis.

 

Vale (like all the other clubs) have to submit a lot of turnover and salary data to the EFL to comply with Financial Fair Play and Salary Cap Management Protocol. If Norman Smurthwaite is struggling to produce a budget for the year as a whole then I’m sure the EFL can step in and show him how the 71 normal clubs are run.

[onestepatatime]

Rant after rant, without ANY thought whatsoever from a supposed successful businessman. Why should anyone believe anything that spouts out of his facial orifice? We all know today is another day in the life of Gorm and that means he could come up with yet more babble and incoherent twaddle. Sit tight Valiants. He is a frightened individual scurrying about attempting to find a way out of the massive chasm he's got himself into. Vale will survive come what may. This morning actually I woke for the first time in yonks to a sunny day ahead in the knowledge we have at long last got into his head and have him almost out of our lives. UTV.

[osprey]

Does anyone know if it’s actually feasible to buy the club within 5 weeks or would it take longer than that to set it all up?

[Rampant Zebra]

It didn't take long for someone to buy Nuneaton Borough.....

[SFBT]

Rant after rant, without ANY thought whatsoever from a supposed successful businessman. Why should anyone believe anything that spouts out of his facial orifice? We all know today is another day in the life of Gorm and that means he could come up with yet more babble and incoherent twaddle. Sit tight Valiants. He is a frightened individual scurrying about attempting to find a way out of the massive chasm he's got himself into. Vale will survive come what may. This morning actually I woke for the first time in yonks to a sunny day ahead in the knowledge we have at long last got into his head and have him almost out of our lives. UTV.

I agree.

When has he ever followed through on things he's said?

He's trying to throw us off his scent.

Fans are very clear.

Keep doing what you're doing.