West Ham financial accounts released earlier this week show that the Hammers have borrowed £30.1m from ‘Pay Day lenders’ James Grant Funding (JGF).
The cash has been borrowed against future TV money and is paid directly by the Premier League to the mysterious British Virgin Islands lender.
The sole director of JGF is called Jonathan McMorrow as recorded on the West Ham loan paperwork filed with companies house, who was an employee of the James Grant Group until April 2015 which is chaired by Spurs Chairman Daniel Levy. Both companies shared the same registered address at companies house until earlier this year when JGF moved changed to a P.O box.
However a West Ham insider told Claret and Hugh that “JG Funding Limited confirmed to both WHU and the FAPL that it is not in any way connected, affiliated or associated with the James Grant Sports Agency.”
Just a complete coincidence then, the source of the investor or investors behind JGF are unknown but they also recently lent money to Everton. Irons financial accounts also reveal that joint Chairman David Gold and David Sullivan injected none of their personal wealth in the previous financial year after injecting over £49m over the previous 4 years in shareholder loans.
The board have made it clear from day one this is not just a football club but a business as well and as a business we need to find money,
Don’t think this should be a worry to any fan unless you have shares in the club,
Just keep buying the class players of players we have this year and I might worry when we owe the sort of money Real or Barca owe
No thought about it that won’t worry me either
MerryMichaelW, the truth banks stopped lending to football clubs after the financial crash of 2007/2008. Before then clubs like West Ham relied on over drafts or revolving credit facilities as they called them. Football clubs like West Ham were seen as too risky to lend to so alternatives needed to be found. Enter the Vibrac corporation who we have been borrowing from for four years in increasing amounts as we spend more on players as our ambition grows. James Grant Funding is claimed to be from the same stable as Vibrac. Fulham, Reading, Southampton and Everton have all borrowed from the same lenders.
The chairman have loaned the club over £49m of their own money and this has attracted over £9m in accrued interest which has not been paid out. The debt to the shareholders on unsecured loans stands at £58m including interest but there are further loans from David Sullivan after he acted as a bank of last resort. This adds another £4m so the real total in excess of £62m
It is interesting Sean, one of the biggest loans the owners made to the club, was after our relegation in order to help bridge the gap between £15m parachute payments and the then PL TV money at the time (£50m ish) around £25m+…….
That relegation was based on a number of factors but their deciison to hire Grant was ultimately a mistake……and not getting rid of him halfway through was another. Therefore they’re earning interest (eventually) off thier own mistakes 🙂
Not having a dig at them, very grateful of the work they’ve done over the years,
Am I alone in finding this really creepy?
Dismay is surely the only reaction to this piece of news. What else lies behind it? I do not want to **** on our parade, but this has left a sour note with me.
Also, the presence of the Mayor is less than welcome.
Does this mean that the accounts are in red still, or are they in the black?
The club hasn’t said. The spreadsheet is all bull****.
The fans just want a one word answer. Yes or No, simples!!!!!
Deefers it is not as simple or black or red but put simply we were over £100M in debt so unless you make over £100m in profit we will continue to be in debt.
The difference is that the majority debt is now owed to the shareholders instead of banks. Over £62m is owed to Gold and Sullivan with around £23m left owing the Icelandic 10% shareholders. This £23m ultimately came from David Sullivan too after he purchased 25% of the shares from the Icelandic’s for £25.5m on the condition they loaned it back to the club.
There are additional debts such as playing for players in installments.
It’s been a way of doing business for a number of years…….it’s nothing new a means to an end.
This is more to do with cash liquidity, such like an overdraft. The cash can been drawn down against future TV earnings. Although Sullivan and Gold have an estimated wealth of over one billion, the majority is tied up in assets. In Sullivan’s case that is hundred’s of millions in a massive property portfolio and Gold’s case that is the company Ann Summers. They have previously invested £49m of liquid funds into West Ham over the past 5 years but they can’t keep on doing that. These short term pay day loans do attract interest as high as 10% though.
Seams strange to me. Why borrow £30m when the Chairmen are worth over £1 billion.
But Im sure they know what they are doing