With such a hullaballoo regarding money and BFC right now, today seems to be the perfect day to publish this little piece.
The last set of accounts for Blackpool Football Club were filed last year (for the 2008/9 season), and we’ve managed to get hold of a copy of them.
The main thing that is clear to see is just how much reaching the Premier League is going to improve the club’s finances – rumours of Ollie being given a £4 million transfer budget this summer would be the stuff of dreams if we’d not reached the Premier League having looked at our accounts!
Now I don’t really understand fully the complete ins and outs of how football club finances work and how such financial accounts are run and produced, but here are (from what I can tell!) the key points from the accounts:
1. There was a decline in turnover of £299,000 (from £7.2 million to £6.9 million).
2. The wage bill increased by £988,000 (from £4.3 million to £5.2 million), the effect of the countless loan players no doubt!
3. There was a trading loss after tax of £1,117,887. This is compared to £263,003 the year previous.
4. The club, at the time of the accounts being published, had tangible assets of £8,575,206.
5. The accounts show a purchase of £1,234,890 by the football club relating to the ground and Squires Gate. It has been suggested that this relates to the new training ground.
6. Karl Oyston has a loan from the club of £42,523 (up from £30,321 the year previous). This loan is interest free.
7. Blackpool Football Club Limited owe £3,022,753 to Segesta Limited.
8. There is a payment on account of £3,022,763 to Promenade Construction Limited for construction of the first stage of the South and South West Stand. This company is owned and controlled by director and majority shareholder Owen Oyston.
9. There is a loan of £227,500 to Oystons Estates Limited (owned and controlled by Owen Oyston). This loan is interest free and will be paid back by 30 December 2010.
10. There are two interest free loans on the books for Valery Belokon. One is for £2.7 million (his original investment as the accounts show the same amount for the year previous?) which is owed to Vlada Belokon (his daughter, possibly listed as the loanee for tax purposes?). The second is for £2.5 million and is owed to VB Football Assets Limited, which is owned and controlled by Mr Belokon. The accounts do not list any shares as being owned by Mr Belokon, despite him apparently owning around 20% of the club.
11. There are several amounts of money owed to Owen Oyston, including £435,214 owed to Protoplan Limited for work related to the construction of the ground. Protoplan will be repaid all monies from occupiers of the North and West Stands less a 10% administrative fee. Segesta Limited have also paid £331,094 to Protoplan Limited by way of an interest free loan.
12. There was a grant of £2,640,792 from the Football League in 2001 for the redevelopment of the West Stand.
13. Other companies noted in the accounts for varying reasons that are also owned by Owen Oyston are Denwis Limited, Ridings Publishing Company Limited, Oystons Limited and Promenade Interiors Limited.
As I say, I’m not really a financial whizz, but the accounts certainly make for interesting reading, and it will be really interesting to see how the money from the Premier League is broken down and where it is directed to.
Whilst these accounts show us stretching our financial muscles to sign the likes of Marlon Broomes, hopefully the next set will show us stretching them for the likes of Patrick McCourt and DJ Campbell!
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