Financial results

[john@staustell]

I believe they were published on 14th Dec last year, about 2 weeks after the agents' fees were released.

Common wisdom says we have to release them late on Friday to curtail the usual negative press by losing them in the weekend football.

So will tomorrow be the day? I'm hoping to see a big improvement but surely the massive uplift will be in the current season's figures, due next year?

[Ted Hughes]

Each year will show an improvement on the last I should think, thrrefore, even if we fail to comply with FFP, we will still get through due to the deliberate grey area they have left for clubs who can be seen to be making efforts to comply.

[gary james]

Ted's right. The financial picture will keep improving year on year and FFP will be a minor irritant the way our leaders are progressing things. I remember the recorded discussions I had between 2008-10 with our accounts guys, Cook, Khaldoon et al all of whom explained how our accounts would progress and all of whom have been right so far. Great planning on their part (and many of them have since been replaced which shows that this strategy has come from the top and been supported relentlessly ever since).

Other clubs have buried their heads in the sand, ours has faced up to the issues and accounted accordingly and within the law. One of the first things they did a few years ago when UEFA made it clear they were introducing FFP was to meet with UEFA to explain and gain support for their plans. This was at a time when the media claimed the club would never meet it and UEFA would 'sort them out'. We'll see.

[john@staustell]

Ted's right. The financial picture will keep improving year on year and FFP will be a minor irritant the way our leaders are progressing things. I remember the recorded discussions I had between 2008-10 with our accounts guys, Cook, Khaldoon et al all of whom explained how our accounts would progress and all of whom have been right so far. Great planning on their part (and many of them have since been replaced which shows that this strategy has come from the top and been supported relentlessly ever since).

Other clubs have buried their heads in the sand, ours has faced up to the issues and accounted accordingly and within the law. One of the first things they did a few years ago when UEFA made it clear they were introducing FFP was to meet with UEFA to explain and gain support for their plans. This was at a time when the media claimed the club would never meet it and UEFA would 'sort them out'. We'll see.

You can feel the momentum building, with all these multiple commercial deals in the last 12 months, with the Etihad Campus completing and with a stadium heading up over 60,000. It's not inconceiveable we start approaching the RAGs within 5 or 6 years, especially if 'Glazer-management' continues.

But I have a feeling this year is still a little too early to stop the biased press vultures and ignorant fans of others clubs from spouting off yet!

[Ted Hughes]

Ted's right. The financial picture will keep improving year on year and FFP will be a minor irritant the way our leaders are progressing things. I remember the recorded discussions I had between 2008-10 with our accounts guys, Cook, Khaldoon et al all of whom explained how our accounts would progress and all of whom have been right so far. Great planning on their part (and many of them have since been replaced which shows that this strategy has come from the top and been supported relentlessly ever since).

Other clubs have buried their heads in the sand, ours has faced up to the issues and accounted accordingly and within the law. One of the first things they did a few years ago when UEFA made it clear they were introducing FFP was to meet with UEFA to explain and gain support for their plans. This was at a time when the media claimed the club would never meet it and UEFA would 'sort them out'. We'll see.

You can feel the momentum building, with all these multiple commercial deals in the last 12 months, with the Etihad Campus completing and with a stadium heading up over 60,000. It's not inconceiveable we start approaching the RAGs within 5 or 6 years, especially if 'Glazer-management' continues.

But I have a feeling this year is still a little too early to stop the biased press vultures and ignorant fans of others clubs from spouting off yet!

They will all be gutted if they can't start with the the annual FFP scare stories.

Makes them feel safe.

[john@staustell]

Maybe not today.

Xmas day?

[john@staustell]

So - anyone got any inside info?

Why such a delay? Worse than expected? Better than expected?

[Socrates]

They aren't due in to Companies House until 28th Feb, they were released early last year for "political" reasons...

[john@staustell]

Thanks Soccs. Is there any advantage to be gained in some way by publishing later? I guess it's in case something changes in the football or financial environment?

[Socrates]

Thanks Soccs. Is there any advantage to be gained in some way by publishing later? I guess it's in case something changes in the football or financial environment?

Doesn't usually make much difference in any significant way, seem to recall last year was putting a spin on reduced losses ahead of UEFA announcements?

[john@staustell]

I see Chelsea have posted a loss. Revenue is £255.8M, only up 01.1M!!!!

I know they won the CL in 2012 but they must be desperately worried that City are about to steam past them in terms of revenues, never to be in sight again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... lines.html

Jose Mourinho was given a stark reminder on Tuesday that the days of virtually limitless spending at Chelsea are over when the club posted a huge annual loss of £49.4 million but still promised to meet Uefa’s strict new financial rules.
The losses for the 2012-13 season arose in spite of a record £255.8 million turnover and represent a significant step back from the previous financial year, when the club posted a small £1.4 million profit. That was the first time that Chelsea have been in profit under Roman Abramovich and ensures that the club will meet Uefa’s Financial Fair Play guidelines for the first formal monitoring period at the end of this season.
Uefa’s acceptable variation for the first two years of FFP is £37.5 million and, after subtracting spending of around £15 million on youth development and infrastructure, Chelsea expect Uefa to calculate a combined loss for 2011-12 and 2012-13 of £33 million.
Crucially, however, Uefa’s acceptable variation for the next monitoring period, the three accounting years from 2011 to 2014, is also £37.5 million. It means that Chelsea must not lose more than about £4.5 million in the current financial year, 2013-14, to comply with FFP.
The challenge then gets even harder, with Uefa only accepting losses on a rolling three-year basis of a maximum of £25 million. Given that these new 2012-13 accounts will form the first year of that equation, Chelsea will actually have to make an overall profit of around £9 million over the next two years to meet the Uefa guidelines at the end of the monitoring period in 2016.

Uefa is adamant that its FFP regulations will be backed up by ­meaningful sanctions that range from warnings to fines and possible exclusion from the Champions League. However, it will also take into account a club’s direction and there has been a very clear sense that Chelsea have made an effort to control their spending and move towards the Uefa principle of self-sustainability.
Chelsea remain adamant that they will continue to meet the FFP regulations but the club’s reliance on owner Abramovich and also the need to limit spending is clear. Clubs that do not have an owner willing to turn losses into equity are not permitted to lose more than £4.2 million over any monitoring period.
The accounts also place a question mark over the extent to which Chelsea can keep making major signings at the same time as funding a wage bill that is second only to Manchester City in the Premier League.
Mourinho has recently said that Chelsea would be vastly improved with two major signings and has repeatedly outlined his concern that other clubs follow the FFP rules.
City spent £90 million on four new players during the summer transfer window despite running at a loss of £97.9 million in their most recently published accounts.
“Next year Chelsea will have a phenomenal team,” said Mourinho. “Between the work we are doing and evolution of the players and a couple of clinical signings – two clinical players to complete the puzzle you are building – Chelsea next season will have a very good team.”
In Chelsea’s favour are their growing revenues and a commercial income that rose in these accounts from £67 million to £79.6 million. New deals with Adidas – worth £300 million over 10 years – and Audi will also take effect from next year’s accounts.
The difference of more than £50 million in Chelsea’s profit/loss figure of 2011-12 compared to 2012-13 is largely explained by the cancellation of BSkyB shares in the club (worth around £17 million) and the fact that Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012. Although they win the Europa League last year, the Champions League triumph brought in around £60 million compared to about £43 million in Uefa competitions in 2012-13. Chelsea are also relatively well placed in terms of the age of their squad after signing younger players in recent seasons, including Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar, David Luiz and Ramires.
Ron Gourlay, the Chelsea chief executive, said: “To achieve a record level of turnover despite our first group-stage elimination from the Champions League shows we have structured our business and are growing in the correct way for long-term stability.”
Chairman Bruce Buck added: “From the beginning of the current ownership, a long-term objective was financial sustainability, and the implementation of Financial Fair Play brought that to the top of the agenda. We are pleased that we will meet the stipulations set down by Uefa in their first assessment period.”
Blues in the red Why club’s finances suffered so badly in 2012-13
Transfers
Chelsea were highly active in the transfer market in 2012-13, spending £57  million combined on Eden Hazard and Oscar. Even if not all that money was due immediately, that is still a large outlay, and it was not balanced by many significant sales. It may now be that Jose Mourinho will have to do without a large spending spree this month.
No Sky windfall
A major reason behind Chelsea’s 2011-12 profit was BSkyB’s cancellation of shares they owned in a subsidiary of the club, Chelsea Football Club Ltd. That was part of a deal that saw Chelsea take full control of Chelsea Digital Media, a joint venture with BSkyB. Chelsea banked £18.4 million from the deal, but it was just a one-off windfall.
Manager pay-offs
Chelsea insist they no longer pay their former manager Roberto Di Matteo following his sacking last November, but his dismissal would still have incurred a hefty severance payment given he was reported to be earning £130,000-a-week. Hiring his replacement Jose Mourinho and his staff could dent next year’s figures, too.
Champions League exit
Having banked £60 million in 2011-12, when they won the Champions League, Chelsea made 'only’ £43 million from Uefa competitions last year, having been knocked out of the competition at the group stage. Even that figure would have been far lower had Rafael Benítez not won the Europa League for the club.
Key figures
£49.4m: Chelsea’s annual loss for 2012-13
£255.8m: Chelsea’s turnover in that period
£4.5m: The amount they can lose in 2013-14 to comply with FFP

[nottsblue]

The wheels on the bus are coming off, coming off, coming off
The wheels on the bus are coming off, fuck off Chelsea