How much Debt does the club currently have?

[Loftus Road Stone.]

Didn't catch the interview personally but apparently Oliver was quoted as saying after a new press box a new 3G pitch a new toilet block and a Eco boiler the remaining fa money would have to used service current debts. So as the title says how many debt is there?
The ground was built 12 years ago now a main stand extension was added a few years later than the Genco was built a few years after that so are we still paying that back? Or maybe COVID was the main issue or was it last seasons relegation?

[Deleted]

He may well mean the loss from last year or perhaps directors loans, or calling back some of the cash he pumped in. Probably the former

[Deleted]

Debt from last year ~£200,000. Should be covered by the cup run.

find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06402198/filing-history

I’ve always assumed this figure is what is owed to the owners. Hasn’t changed much over the years.

[andrewthehat]

The two directors are indeed owed about £3m - this is a big part of what they invested in 2010 to enable the club to build its infrastructure and its new presence.

The published accounts carry this debt as “creditors due within one year” - I assume this rolls over from one year to another. However, I can see that this item is carried in the accounts of Maidstone United Ground ltd - the company that owns the stadium, pitch and other fixed assets. It has 20 so employees who look after those assets.

The Football Club - which is a separate company - has 29 employees, who play in, manage and support the various football teams and their operations; this has very little debt.

So - the directors appear to me to have benefited from little, if any, debt retirement (repayment).

What I don’t understand are the two Charges against the freehold as cited in the Ground accounts - one is held by the Ministry of Defence. Nothing suspicious here - but I’d love to know who owns the freehold and what these two charges relate to - does anyone know?

[Deleted]

So if the directors are owed money, they will get that back in the sale of the club surely ? or maybe they will take money out the club from 11 years of proffit plus this cup run so they can give the club away for free as they wont be owed anything

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2024 22:13:55 GMT @grovergreenstone said:

So if the directors are owed money, they will get that back in the sale of the club surely ? or maybe they will take money out the club from 11 years of proffit plus this cup run so they can give the club away for free as they wont be owed anything

That is the more likely option as very few people will be willing to stump up £3million for a club that needs another £2-3million spent to get the ground finished and up to EFL standard assuming that is where new owners want us to be. I still hear little murmurs that we have an interested party but nothing concrete as of yet.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2024 22:13:55 GMT @grovergreenstone said:

So if the directors are owed money, they will get that back in the sale of the club surely ? or maybe they will take money out the club from 11 years of proffit plus this cup run so they can give the club away for free as they wont be owed anything

All the profits go back into the budget and infrastructure.

[Deleted]

One option would be to do nothing. Sort the segregation and tidy up the ground. Go part time and repay themselves £200,000 a year for the next 15 years. Maybe more following cup runs and player sales. At the end their heirs own a debt free club that ticks over nicely from year to year.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2024 7:29:32 GMT Benny said:

One option would be to do nothing. Sort the segregation and tidy up the ground. Go part time and repay themselves £200,000 a year for the next 15 years. Maybe more following cup runs and player sales. At the end their heirs own a debt free club that ticks over nicely from year to year.

 with no ambition. 

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2024 6:38:29 GMT pwoodstone said:

Feb 27, 2024 22:13:55 GMT @grovergreenstone said:

So if the directors are owed money, they will get that back in the sale of the club surely ? or maybe they will take money out the club from 11 years of proffit plus this cup run so they can give the club away for free as they wont be owed anything

All the profits go back into the budget and infrastructure.

SO why is this year different ? Or will all the FA cup money go back into the budget and infrastructure ?

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2024 7:38:59 GMT @grovergreenstone said:

Feb 28, 2024 7:29:32 GMT Benny said:

One option would be to do nothing. Sort the segregation and tidy up the ground. Go part time and repay themselves £200,000 a year for the next 15 years. Maybe more following cup runs and player sales. At the end their heirs own a debt free club that ticks over nicely from year to year.

 with no ambition. 

Aiming for NL playoffs with occasional cup runs while turning a small profit would have once been seen as very ambitious. Aiming to always spend every penny to reach a level we can’t afford to be at is just a different kind of ambition. People can decide which they would prefer. The latter would certainly enrage our newer “Ash out” fans.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2024 7:48:30 GMT Benny said:

Feb 28, 2024 7:38:59 GMT @grovergreenstone said:

 with no ambition. 

Aiming for NL playoffs with occasional cup runs while turning a small profit would have once been seen as very ambitious. Aiming to always spend every penny to reach a level we can’t afford to be at is just a different kind of ambition. People can decide which they would prefer. The latter would certainly enrage our newer “Ash out” fans.

We just got to FA Cup round five as an NLS team.
It’s our level.
National League is a financial nightmare and one we don’t want to yo-yo in and out of losing money every time.
Lack ambition? Absolutely not - but reality says without someone putting in as much as Terry and Oliver have done and prepared to leave it in the club as they have done we are better off in NLS.
That’s just the way it is.
Get over it!

[Deleted]

There are always folk (too many really), who don't get the bigger picture. We get promoted and therefore the league above the next one automatically becomes a target? Might work for ex FL clubs, who already have the infrastructure and/or backers with deep pockets. Maidstone United have neither.
The disasters of the COVID season and relegation from the NLP should tell us all we need to know. The Club has neither the means to pay NL wages, nor the capital to develop the ground much further without new, richer investors.
This season should rank as one of the greatest in the club's history and unlike our promotion to the NL, carries little in the way of penalties or threat. It may yet attract the sort of investors necessary to carry the club to the NL, but beyond that? Get real. Maidstone United is an NLS club. Cup runs yes. Flirt with promotion? Of course. Actual promotion? There are too many basket cases out there already without wanting to live beyond our means and compared to our season in the NL, this one has been a breath of fresh air.

[Deleted]

Wise words indeed.
The truth is the accounts demonstrate that the owners have not taken a single pound out of the club, only ever put money in. Some people quite wrongly refer to that as an investment. Hardly !.
They will only ever get their 'investment' or interest free loans returned to them when they sell the club.
As has been clearly stated, every season bar 22/23 has returned an operating profit, which in turn has been reinvested in the club, either in the infrastructure or sadly last year 'running costs'.
No question 22/23 was a financial blow, losing £200k instead of 'making' say £100k. Bang went £300k which would have largely paid for the new 3G playing surface.
So it is hardly surprising that the first element of the FA cup run windfall will be earmarked for the new playing surface.
Its a pity, but understandable and essential.
Other infrastructure improvements, be they toilets, TV/Press gantry, Police/Security buildings will bite deeper, leaving a much smaller windfall.
Maybe enough though to reconfigure barriers, entrances and facilities to target the Genco stand as the main exclusive viewing area for Stones supporters (along with the Main Stand) ?
I hope so.

[Dan]

One option surely is for the riverside to be set aside for away support and including the town end covered terracing just for those half dozen matches or so when there is a decent size away following.
Entrance turnstiles already exist, just needs proper security/segregation barriers and fencing.
Where there's a will, there's a way !