OK, if your natural response to this question is "nothing" you're probably right... but here's what happened.
(It's summer and we have nothing better to do anyway so go with me on this one)
The Prelude:
I started a game with Everton in the 2011/2012 season. Over the next 3 seasons, the team finished 5-7th, got to semis/finals of domestic cups and once past the group stages of the Europa League.
In the second season, the club was taken over by a "local businessman" who paid off all the club's debt but did not inject any transfer cash into the kitty.
In the third season, GP was expanded to around 48,000 seats.
In the fourth season, we qualified for the CL by finishing third in the league.
In the fifth season, we suffered in the league due to CL commitments but managed to win the CL
Transfer Policy
During this entire time my transfer policy was based on 3 principles:
1) Investment in youth, i.e. buying youngsters for 200-500k and grooming them into first team players or selling them for 2-3 million if they didn't make the cut.
2) Keeping the wage bill down. In the fifth season when we won the CL, my wage bill was only about 75k more than it was 5 seasons prior.
3) Neutral or negative net transfer spending, i.e. I spent what I got by selling players or didn't even spend that much.
The (Financial) Result
This is the worrying part:
Over the first 4 seasons (finishing 5-7th, then 3rd in the fourth season and good cup runs to boot + 0 net transfer policy) the club made a loss every single month of every single year. At the end of the season, this was compensated by PL prize money and next season's TV money, resulting in a positive balance of between £2 and £3 million at the start of the season. During the subsequent season, the club would again make an average monthly loss of £500-900k, meaning that the club was in the red by January. Note that this was after a new owner had wiped out all the current debt, i.e. the situation was much better than it is in reality.
The season in which we won the CL was the only one in which we weren't making a loss every single month but still, from a financial PoV, we'd have to keep playing in the CL every season just to avoid being in the red all the time.
The Reasons
I don't know much about the reality of the situation so it would be interesting to hear if you think this corresponds to reality:
1) Average attendance by capacity was hovering around the 85% mark, even when the team was exceeding expectations.
2) Fellaini monthly payments were killing me for the first 2 seasons.
3) Expanding the ground didn't have a huge financial benefit given 1)
4) To keep the best players at the club (Fellaini, Baines, Heitinga) I had to keep offering them increasingly lucrative contracts (Fellaini was on £110,000k a week by the fourth season).
In summary, despite not spending any money, despite a new owner coming in and wiping out the club's debt, despite real on-field success, the club continued to struggle financially.
We have an old ground that needs replacing, we don't have the fan base to fill a bigger new ground, the club is running an unsustainable debt load and even on-field success will not change that.
Is this why Bill is struggling to sell the club?
Discuss.
(It's summer and we have nothing better to do anyway so go with me on this one)
The Prelude:
I started a game with Everton in the 2011/2012 season. Over the next 3 seasons, the team finished 5-7th, got to semis/finals of domestic cups and once past the group stages of the Europa League.
In the second season, the club was taken over by a "local businessman" who paid off all the club's debt but did not inject any transfer cash into the kitty.
In the third season, GP was expanded to around 48,000 seats.
In the fourth season, we qualified for the CL by finishing third in the league.
In the fifth season, we suffered in the league due to CL commitments but managed to win the CL
Transfer Policy
During this entire time my transfer policy was based on 3 principles:
1) Investment in youth, i.e. buying youngsters for 200-500k and grooming them into first team players or selling them for 2-3 million if they didn't make the cut.
2) Keeping the wage bill down. In the fifth season when we won the CL, my wage bill was only about 75k more than it was 5 seasons prior.
3) Neutral or negative net transfer spending, i.e. I spent what I got by selling players or didn't even spend that much.
The (Financial) Result
This is the worrying part:
Over the first 4 seasons (finishing 5-7th, then 3rd in the fourth season and good cup runs to boot + 0 net transfer policy) the club made a loss every single month of every single year. At the end of the season, this was compensated by PL prize money and next season's TV money, resulting in a positive balance of between £2 and £3 million at the start of the season. During the subsequent season, the club would again make an average monthly loss of £500-900k, meaning that the club was in the red by January. Note that this was after a new owner had wiped out all the current debt, i.e. the situation was much better than it is in reality.
The season in which we won the CL was the only one in which we weren't making a loss every single month but still, from a financial PoV, we'd have to keep playing in the CL every season just to avoid being in the red all the time.
The Reasons
I don't know much about the reality of the situation so it would be interesting to hear if you think this corresponds to reality:
1) Average attendance by capacity was hovering around the 85% mark, even when the team was exceeding expectations.
2) Fellaini monthly payments were killing me for the first 2 seasons.
3) Expanding the ground didn't have a huge financial benefit given 1)
4) To keep the best players at the club (Fellaini, Baines, Heitinga) I had to keep offering them increasingly lucrative contracts (Fellaini was on £110,000k a week by the fourth season).
In summary, despite not spending any money, despite a new owner coming in and wiping out the club's debt, despite real on-field success, the club continued to struggle financially.
We have an old ground that needs replacing, we don't have the fan base to fill a bigger new ground, the club is running an unsustainable debt load and even on-field success will not change that.
Is this why Bill is struggling to sell the club?
Discuss.
