“A risky business built on ambition, not balance sheets’ is how West Ham’s vice chair Karren Brady described Championship Football’s finances in her SUN column yesterday, suggesting aspiring Premier League clubs were spending way beyond their means in their attempts to escape the second tier of English football.
See if you can spot the – ah – “disconnect” of West Ham’s vice chair, who has presided over a Premier League football club posting record losses of £105 million in the last audited accounts: Writing in her sun.co.uk column, Brady passed judgement on the possibility of more money tricking down from the Premier League to the second tier, maintaining that :
“Championship football is heading towards collapse and the Premier League can’t be expected to foot the bill.
“The problem is not what it earns. The problem is what it spends.” Wrote the Baroness.
Championship clubs generated close to £1bn of revenue last season — yet still spent £1.2bn on player wages. That is 125 per cent of revenue before you even consider other expenses. In any normal industry, that is a collapse waiting to happen.
Wages are out of control. Transfer spending is out of control. Losses are out of control. Championship owners had to inject £417million just to keep clubs functioning.
Sharp – eyed West Ham United fans might just have noticed the fact that West Ham’s turnover fell £42 million and the loss posted was a staggering £104 million: As even the good ol’ unbiased BBC.co.uk put it:
“West Ham must sell players in summer after £104m loss”
(credit – matchdayfinance.com)
Posting a loss of £105 million and being reliant on player sales next summer is hardly a sustainable model for a football club either.
I’m not sure if I were a chairman in the Championship I’d be particularly happy to be lectured by the vice chair of an ailing, struggling Premier League football club with no assets save its players – having sold its own ground – about financial solidity.
What did Baroness Brady call it? “A collapse waiting to happen.” Quite.
As long as her fat salary is protected the rest of the club and its fans can go to hell
She’d last 2 minutes if she was a contestant with Sugar on that show. He’d see right through the BS and pose her questions she’d never be able to answer. He probably right takes the urine in private off air.
Baroness “Business Brains” Botox has the self-awareness of Donald Trump.
She’s not the sharpest tool in the box, just like him as well.
That doesn’t stop her from being arrogant, egocentric, and narcissistic despite being devoid of any real skills or talent.
She’s an embarrassment, just like Sullivan, and everyone knows that they’re two bob, incompetent, and clueless despite their desperate façade to prove the public otherwise.
People in Glass houses