Post by QPR Report on Jun 4, 2010 6:00:31 GMT
Guardian/Digger -
Hull City struggle on despite £6m shortfall• Club must reduce running costs to £15m a year
• Biggest liability remains the players' wage bill
Matt Scott The Guardian, Friday 4 June 2010
Relegated Hull City officially handed over their share in the Premier League at the annual meeting of shareholder clubs yesterday, marking the start of a potentially ruinous future in the Championship.
The club must reduce running costs to £15m a year and have identified achievable savings to shave outgoings to £21m. That leaves another £6m in necessary cuts and although Hull intend to honour their debts in full, there is little chance they will be able to do so when they become due.
Season-ticket renewals have been healthy and an £8m parachute payment is due from the Premier League in August, but solvency tests are still required on a daily basis.
There were signs last month that insolvency proceedings would be inescapable. Indeed directors such as Adam Pearson and the Jersey-based financial advisers Darren Hocquard and Bernard Le Clare stepped down from the board in apparent anticipation of a collapse they would not wish to be associated with.
The owner, Russell Bartlett, has taken sole charge and the mood at the KC Stadium has improved, with progress reported on discussions with the principal lenders and the taxman.
However the club's biggest liability is the player wage bill and although last month talks began with the Professional Footballers' Association to discuss a deferment, nothing has been agreed.
Bartlett's real trouble lies in the fact that due to the football creditors rule the players are guaranteed full payment from the game's central funds if the club fall insolvent but would risk missing out on some of their deferred wages if Hull carry on trading.
Impasse down at Palace
Crystal Palace fans' euphoriadelight, pictured, at Tuesday's stadium-purchase agreement, which removed an obstacle to the CPFC2010 consortium's proposed takeover, should perhaps be tempered: the club still has no cash.
Last month's player wages went unpaid and player sales, lined up to generate the cash required to meet obligations running at almost £1m a month, have been blocked by the purchasing consortium.
There are strong hopes that a funding agreement will be struck between CPFC2010 and the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, over the next 24 hours, that would allow the club to get through the next two months before the takeover can be completed. But no money has been received yet, and it is a stark truth that without it the club are closer to liquidation than salvation.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/04/hull-city-shortfall
Hull City struggle on despite £6m shortfall• Club must reduce running costs to £15m a year
• Biggest liability remains the players' wage bill
Matt Scott The Guardian, Friday 4 June 2010
Relegated Hull City officially handed over their share in the Premier League at the annual meeting of shareholder clubs yesterday, marking the start of a potentially ruinous future in the Championship.
The club must reduce running costs to £15m a year and have identified achievable savings to shave outgoings to £21m. That leaves another £6m in necessary cuts and although Hull intend to honour their debts in full, there is little chance they will be able to do so when they become due.
Season-ticket renewals have been healthy and an £8m parachute payment is due from the Premier League in August, but solvency tests are still required on a daily basis.
There were signs last month that insolvency proceedings would be inescapable. Indeed directors such as Adam Pearson and the Jersey-based financial advisers Darren Hocquard and Bernard Le Clare stepped down from the board in apparent anticipation of a collapse they would not wish to be associated with.
The owner, Russell Bartlett, has taken sole charge and the mood at the KC Stadium has improved, with progress reported on discussions with the principal lenders and the taxman.
However the club's biggest liability is the player wage bill and although last month talks began with the Professional Footballers' Association to discuss a deferment, nothing has been agreed.
Bartlett's real trouble lies in the fact that due to the football creditors rule the players are guaranteed full payment from the game's central funds if the club fall insolvent but would risk missing out on some of their deferred wages if Hull carry on trading.
Impasse down at Palace
Crystal Palace fans' euphoriadelight, pictured, at Tuesday's stadium-purchase agreement, which removed an obstacle to the CPFC2010 consortium's proposed takeover, should perhaps be tempered: the club still has no cash.
Last month's player wages went unpaid and player sales, lined up to generate the cash required to meet obligations running at almost £1m a month, have been blocked by the purchasing consortium.
There are strong hopes that a funding agreement will be struck between CPFC2010 and the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, over the next 24 hours, that would allow the club to get through the next two months before the takeover can be completed. But no money has been received yet, and it is a stark truth that without it the club are closer to liquidation than salvation.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/04/hull-city-shortfall