Last weekend AFCB fans were told the news by the Bournemouth Echo that the club had total losses of £39.1m in the 2014-15 season which included a £7.6m fine for breaking the financial fair play (FFP) rules. The real eye-opener on where the money has gone came in staff wages which were up to £30.4m.
The figures were not unexpected to be fair, but they are amounts that would have been unimaginable for the club to be able to cope with only a couple of years ago. Now that the club sits in the Premier League, I suppose those losses will soon be balanced by the new TV income that will flood into the club this summer. Still, it underlines that it was a decision made to try and win promotion from the Championship knowing that the club would mount up some big losses in the short term and the fans can now see why Maxim Demin is owed such a lot of thanks for allowing the club to operate with his financial backing under such conditions.
It still baffled me why FFP is considered as a mechanism why when clubs spend too much unfairly they are slapped with more fines, but I suppose every club knows the rules and will make their own decisions on whether they want to cross that line or not. It is all about attracting the best players to come and play for the club and while the wages have rocketed there should be some management to ensure that the club operates within its means now that it has reached the top table.
I am sure the fans and the owners want another push in time to become a club that might even challenge for silverware and a place in Europe in coming years, but it is not a backwards step to have a period of stabilisation and maintaining Premier League status for a couple of years. That in itself will soak up much of the new funds coming into the club. AFCB can't run up front with the Arsenal's Man Utd and Man City just yet, but it can play against them on the field and as a fan that is already beyond my wildest dreams.
There is always another side of the story though and had the club failed to win promotion from the Championship within a couple of more years it would have had to contend with even greater financial losses. The speed of AFCB climb up the leagues is what has helped make success more financially manageable in the short term.
The figures were not unexpected to be fair, but they are amounts that would have been unimaginable for the club to be able to cope with only a couple of years ago. Now that the club sits in the Premier League, I suppose those losses will soon be balanced by the new TV income that will flood into the club this summer. Still, it underlines that it was a decision made to try and win promotion from the Championship knowing that the club would mount up some big losses in the short term and the fans can now see why Maxim Demin is owed such a lot of thanks for allowing the club to operate with his financial backing under such conditions.
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| Rising up the leagues comes at a cost. |
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| Was it worth it? You bet, yeah! A year ago today. |
There is always another side of the story though and had the club failed to win promotion from the Championship within a couple of more years it would have had to contend with even greater financial losses. The speed of AFCB climb up the leagues is what has helped make success more financially manageable in the short term.
What's surprising is the increase v's 13/14 with the same squad plus league one recruit Callum Wilson. Can only assume huge promotion bonuses were paid, give FAPL contracts would not kick in til 15/16 accounts!!
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