Saw this link in another thread, well worth reading so I thought I'd post it again.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,6903,1345317,00.html

As much as I hate wednesday, it's actually found it sad and quite worrying reading about such a well supported club being ruined by money-men.

you know while reading this report,
a few thoughts sprung to my mind!!


one of them being that, if wednesdays fanbase did start to dwindle, and go to a level of say 18,000

Now as it stands they get say 22,000 and are not even covering costs with that (money going on bank charges etc)

now as it stands them debts are just getting bigger and bigger, so if the crowds do start to go and they're not doing very well, then these debts will get larger!!

Now, in this scenario the debts are getting big, and wednesday's debts get that large they can not carry on, forcing the fans to get behind them with amounts of money for support, to actually keep them going,

now i ws wondering in this scenario whether any blades would get behind the wednesday situation and pledge some money to them

I for one personally would, it would be a tragedy for such a team to go in to extinction, it would be a sad day if wednesday was to go down this avenue, as they are part of sheffield heritage!!

perhaps im just reading far too much in to it, but it is a possibility

I would like to get more info about the supporters trust. Have they got a website?

The trouble is, if Wednesday get themselves sorted out then the money men will go and find new clubs to exploit.

The reason this is happened is because so many supporters have been kidded onto thinking the only things that matters is being rich and successful.

Obviously that is desirable, but the main thing of being a fan is to follow your team through thick and thin, and clubs risking their future for a shot at the big time is not helping their fans in the long run.

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
now i ws wondering in this scenario whether any blades would get behind the wednesday situation and pledge some money to them

I for one personally would, it would be a tragedy for such a team to go in to extinction, it would be a sad day if wednesday was to go down this avenue, as they are part of sheffield heritage!!

perhaps im just reading far too much in to it, but it is a possibility

I think most blades fans find it expensive enough forking out to support one club, without forking out to keep the other club going as well! Sounds a bit similar to the merger argument, and I don't think many fans from either side of the city would support that.

Wednesday epitomise what is wrong with football in general in western europe. If one club sums up how football has become so f***** up with the amount of money in the game then it is Sheffield Wednesday.

To sell the training ground is a big non starter to begin with. No developer will touch it with a bardge pole. Why should they? Its on green belt land.

Two men messed the club up- David Pleat and Dave Richards. Pleat was a tosser, I don't apologise for saying that. He swapped and changed the side every week, even if we won the week before. The players didn't get on with him, Hirsty being the most notable one- hell, he even sold him to Southampton just to keep Carbone happy.

Richards was only bothered about his FA career. How much did he spend on the south stand? I wonder if that money could have been spent more wisely on making a better team post Sheridan, Hirsty and Waddle et al.

Speaking of which, Waddle and Hirsty and that were entering the twilight of their careers in the mid nineties. If we'd have kept them and brought along our own youth like Humphries and Junior Agogo to play alongside them as well as keeping our foreign talent like Carbone, Di Canio and Stefanovic happy then who knows what great side we'd have become?

But thats all in the past now. Instead we got rid of them all, bought in mediocre foreigners who earnt more than even the early nineties side like De Bilde, Sibon and Rudi. The rest is history, i'm afraid to say- thats all it is- history.

Originally posted by carcrash
I would like to get more info about the supporters trust. Have they got a website?

www.owlstalk.co.uk

Funniest line from article has got to be.....

A season-ticket holder, asked to name the last time he saw a really good game, needed time to think about it, before giving up and cursing: 'F**k knows.'

And i agree with him, but you can't let it get you down.

Up The Owls.

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin

Now as it stands they get say 22,000 and are not even covering costs with that (money going on bank charges etc)


Not being close to the situation myself, can you help me understand why they can't cover ongoing costs from this kind of attendance figure.

I keep seeing the overall debt figure going up, but thought they'd overhauled the team getting rid of the high earners.

Like I said I'm at a distance to the situation but have a fondness for the club.

Originally posted by gettingon
Not being close to the situation myself, can you help me understand why they can't cover ongoing costs from this kind of attendance figure.

I keep seeing the overall debt figure going up, but thought they'd overhauled the team getting rid of the high earners.

Like I said I'm at a distance to the situation but have a fondness for the club.


the only thing i can really think of is the crippling intrest on loans from banks directors etc

Originally posted by gettingon
Not being close to the situation myself, can you help me understand why they can't cover ongoing costs from this kind of attendance figure.

I keep seeing the overall debt figure going up, but thought they'd overhauled the team getting rid of the high earners.

Like I said I'm at a distance to the situation but have a fondness for the club.

Im told the club need to sell 9,000 season tickets just to pay the interest payments to the bank and director loans.

They have sold 13,500 season tickets so effectively they are running the club on 4,500 season tickets plus whatever they take through the gate. That means players wages, academy costs, ground costs etc etc etc. For a club the size of Wendy, this is very small.

If Wednesday can clear the debt, how long will it take? 15 years?
Can fans wait that long to see a realistic tilt at promotion to The Premiership (or whatever it will be called then)
Better for the club and fans to go into administration even if it's bad news for the bank and Dave Allen who are owed money. Trouble is, the major creditors won't call in the debt because they will lose out. They are prepared to wait 10 -15 years or more to recover the debt but are the fans prepared for the same?
Robbie is right, a dip in gates and the debt spirals even further out of control...there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel for Sturrock as I did for Jewel, good men on a slowly sinking ship.

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
If Wednesday can clear the debt, how long will it take? 15 years?
Can fans wait that long to see a realistic tilt at promotion to The Premiership (or whatever it will be called then)
Better for the club and fans to go into administration even if it's bad news for the bank and Dave Allen who are owed money. Trouble is, the major creditors won't call in the debt because they will lose out. They are prepared to wait 10 -15 years or more to recover the debt but are the fans prepared for the same?
Robbie is right, a dip in gates and the debt spirals even further out of control...there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel for Sturrock as I did for Jewel, good men on a slowly sinking ship.

Problem is if they go in adminstration they are automatically docked 10 points and that would probably mean relegation rather promotion. Also by doing so, Dave Allen would be in real danger of losing his gaming license and that is his living. So rule that one out.

Interesting what you say about Allen's license (although he's not going to risk losing the million(s) he put into Wednesday either.)
10 points would be worth it though.
Then there is the Leeds example. Haven't their creditors accepted a deal which writes off 2/3rds of United's debt and haven't been docked points?
Something similar could turn things round for Wednesday...£10M wouldn't be too bad

Originally posted by MobileB
Im told the club need to sell 9,000 season tickets just to pay the interest payments to the bank and director loans.

They have sold 13,500 season tickets so effectively they are running the club on 4,500 season tickets plus whatever they take through the gate. That means players wages, academy costs, ground costs etc etc etc. For a club the size of Wendy, this is very small.

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like a bad situation. You've got a premiership level gate with league 1 salaries, and still can't get by. I guess the away game receipts in league 1 aren't much to write home about though.

I wonder what kind of interest return allen and other investors are receiving, for it to take 9,000 season tickets to pay for that alone?
It sounds like alot.

Wilson was to blame for the start of the decline but our other managers since then have made the situation no better.
Sturrock will do it for us though!
W E D N E S D A Y T I L I D I E !

Man U offered 5 million for Hirst. You kept hirst and they got Cantona and you have looked downwards ever since