Comments on: What the Bolton News can learn from Gordon Brown

By: Manny Road

Manny Road — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:59:36 +0000

Robert, fans may not be relevant in strict revenue terms but they are the lifeblood of any football club and are intrinsically linked to those other revenue streams you mention. You have to think that half empty stadiums are likely to reduce the amount tv companies and sponsors are willing to pay in the long term. At the end of the day sky are paying because of the draw of the big four. How long will they be willing to share that pot of cash with the rest of us before they break away in to some kind of euro super league. If/when that happens sky will not be paying mega bucks for games between Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan et al played in front of row upon row of empty seats.

By: GudniB

GudniB — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:25:18 +0000

I keep seeing the debt being quoted as £52million.
That is only the interest-bearing debt. Take a closer look at the balance sheet and you will see that total liabilities at 30 June 2008 were nearly double that. The boat was pushed out a lot further than most people realise in the two years to 2008 but over the last season lower staff numbers have hopefully helped get the finances into a bit better shape.

By: Robert Walsh

Robert Walsh — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:52:41 +0000

Whilst it can be argued that Bolton as a business ‘could do better’ they are in better shape financially than Liverpool, Man Untd, and Chelsea who are on the verge of refinacing their loans. On a second note, fans are not an issue for clubs, tv revenue, merchandising, sponsorship and associated income streams are! The premiership as a global brand is a cost effective vehicle for communication to a global audience