Cougars again calling in Receivers : Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:46 pm  

I am very sad to learn of cougars current plight.
I worked at the Cougars from 1998 to 2004 as the Accounts controller - a few of you may know me.
I did the best I could to inform the directors at all times of the current and future cashflow predictions and what may happen if sponsorship didn't come in as promised.
The problem that always cropped up was how much can the coach have to promise winpay or contracts to the players, then the rest of the expenses were sorted and then income was 'made up' to show a small profit on a cashflow prediction.Everyone agreed to it and then the income didn't materialize but the players were still paid. If the coach was only given say £100 win pay and no lose pay he would hold his hands up and say ' why bother-you'll just have academy players'.
The only way a club can survive in any of the two lower divisions is directors to spend and lose say £50,000 - £100,000 a year to afford a team to survive in mid table or be fortunate enough to hae a crowd of say 2,000 a match but only pay say £100-£150 a win. Also too many admin staff cripples the wages bill - I saw this first hand - the only season where most of the criteria above has worked is in 2001-2002 season(1st year after Colin and Neil took over)
The salary cap is there for a reason and I tried to adhere to it while I was there - it is a safety net to keep your house in order until other income streams start to come in.
I wish I could help now but I rather suspect one of the new Directors too be - Gary Fawcett would have other ideas about that. I feel so sorry for Colin Farrar.

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:27 pm  

Jeremy77 wrote:

I am very sad to learn of cougars current plight.
I worked at the Cougars from 1998 to 2004 as the Accounts controller - a few of you may know me.
I did the best I could to inform the directors at all times of the current and future cashflow predictions and what may happen if sponsorship didn't come in as promised.
The problem that always cropped up was how much can the coach have to promise winpay or contracts to the players, then the rest of the expenses were sorted and then income was 'made up' to show a small profit on a cashflow prediction.Everyone agreed to it and then the income didn't materialize but the players were still paid. If the coach was only given say £100 win pay and no lose pay he would hold his hands up and say ' why bother-you'll just have academy players'.
The only way a club can survive in any of the two lower divisions is directors to spend and lose say £50,000 - £100,000 a year to afford a team to survive in mid table or be fortunate enough to hae a crowd of say 2,000 a match but only pay say £100-£150 a win. Also too many admin staff cripples the wages bill - I saw this first hand - the only season where most of the criteria above has worked is in 2001-2002 season(1st year after Colin and Neil took over)
The salary cap is there for a reason and I tried to adhere to it while I was there - it is a safety net to keep your house in order until other income streams start to come in.
I wish I could help now but I rather suspect one of the new Directors too be - Gary Fawcett would have other ideas about that. I feel so sorry for Colin Farrar.

Anybody that has ever had any involvment at a smallish or largeish proffessional sports club will see this as a familiar scenario

1 st priority every year is the playing budget , when in fact it should be the last

Non existant budget for marketing should be the 1 st

I call it the ' Big prop/fast winger/aussie Half back scenario

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:30 am  

The way to solve the cash flow problems, are to have promotion and relegation to all divisions. The reason all the "smaller" clubs are stuggling is because there is nothing to play for in the lower leagues.
In Championship one there is promotion, and that is it, But there is no promotion and relegation to/from Super league, and that is when people say "why should i Go anymore, there is nothing to play for"
Look at the crowds for smaller clubs and how they have fallen.
The Northern Rail cup could be a great Competition if done right, get back to 4 groups of 5, playing home and away, then have the knockouts, bottom 2 team of each group play each other, and then the winners of that plus the remaining 12 go into an open draw, and before the nay sayers go" why should a bottom club get a chance to win it" Why should a team finishing 6th win promotion?
There is the franchise system, but that is Not 100% safe, I still think it will be toulouse and south wales whoget the next franchises.

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:13 pm  

I'd like to see all clubs be given a full and thorough independent audit every season.

Any club found to be operating at a loss (before cash injections by the board), using director or corporate loans to pay players wages or failing to pay the HMRC on time should have their salary cap lowered by a certain percentage depending on how serious the discretion is.

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:00 pm  

Stealth Comic wrote:

I'd like to see all clubs be given a full and thorough independent audit every season.

Any club found to be operating at a loss (before cash injections by the board), using director or corporate loans to pay players wages or failing to pay the HMRC on time should have their salary cap lowered by a certain percentage depending on how serious the discretion is.

Spot on, I advocated the same thing.

I would even encourage points deductions.

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:37 pm  

Jeremy77 wrote:

I wish I could help now but I rather suspect one of the new Directors too be - Gary Fawcett

You are correct. Indeed, on the Certificate of Incorporation for the new company (Keighley Cougars 2010 Ltd) he is named as the sole owner and director of the company.

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:47 pm  

Thats you buggered then Jeremy

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 6:12 pm  

Doesn't he run Link Telecom or is pretty high up there?

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:05 pm  

Jeremy77 wrote:

I am very sad to learn of cougars current plight.
I worked at the Cougars from 1998 to 2004 as the Accounts controller - a few of you may know me.
I did the best I could to inform the directors at all times of the current and future cashflow predictions and what may happen if sponsorship didn't come in as promised.
The problem that always cropped up was how much can the coach have to promise winpay or contracts to the players, then the rest of the expenses were sorted and then income was 'made up' to show a small profit on a cashflow prediction.Everyone agreed to it and then the income didn't materialize but the players were still paid. If the coach was only given say £100 win pay and no lose pay he would hold his hands up and say ' why bother-you'll just have academy players'.
The only way a club can survive in any of the two lower divisions is directors to spend and lose say £50,000 - £100,000 a year to afford a team to survive in mid table or be fortunate enough to hae a crowd of say 2,000 a match but only pay say £100-£150 a win. Also too many admin staff cripples the wages bill - I saw this first hand - the only season where most of the criteria above has worked is in 2001-2002 season(1st year after Colin and Neil took over)
The salary cap is there for a reason and I tried to adhere to it while I was there - it is a safety net to keep your house in order until other income streams start to come in.
I wish I could help now but I rather suspect one of the new Directors too be - Gary Fawcett would have other ideas about that. I feel so sorry for Colin Farrar.

It would probably be a tough thing to introduce flexible wages based on actual income but maybe that is the thing that needs to happen?

I don't necesserily agree with the players receiving no money for a loss as they are still 'working' (and hard at that!) but perhaps wages (including personal drawings and fixed salaries) should flex with income? A self imposed % cap on pay would perhaps permit a small amount of investment in marketting & hopefully growth?

Re: Cougars again calling in Receivers : Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:34 pm  

Stealth Comic wrote: Doesn't he run Link Telecom or is pretty high up there? Aye, thats him

Stealth Comic wrote: Doesn't he run Link Telecom or is pretty high up there? Aye, thats him