Steve Gibson writes off nearly £107 million of loans

Bruce said:
Gibson is literally getting a piece of paper worth £1 for each £107 he previously owed the club.
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That piece of paper is only worth what a potential buyer is prepared to pay for it. Nominal value isn't important.

This doesn't affect MFC's spending power in transfer windows. If the club commits to buy an expensive new player then it will have to borrow money from GON to cover the ensuing losses and the cycle starts again. It does give the club a bit more FFP headroom but doesn't change the fact that it loses money on day to day operations.
 
When Gibbo took over the club, his fortune was enough to enable us to compete with the big boys. Since then, there has been astronomical inflation in football and it seems that any owner now needs billionaire status to compete at the highest level. Would we be happy to continue as we are - a perpetual lower division side owned by one of us, with the occasional pop at promotion (and inevitable subsequent relegation), or would we rather be like Newcastle and have the club taken over by dodgy foreign super rich owners who use the club to sportswash their reputation? I hardly ever watch premiership football these days because I just cant connect with the monster it has become. I find it hard to watch players like Mo Salah knowing that he earns £1m a week!!!
 
iamborome said:
I find it hard to watch players like Mo Salah knowing that he earns £1m a week!!!
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Which effectively is what Gibson has to pay for his season ticket every month with the ongoing losses adding to the debt pile.

To write off almost 9 years of losses at this football club is remarkable and we are incredibly lucky to have an owner who remains so invested in the club that he is prepared to do this.

In the meantime let the experts on here rant on about ticket pricing etc whilst still expecting to put a team out that gets us back to the Premier League.

There have been bad "business" decisions with transfers and magerial appointments but that level of debt goes way beyond that. To make up for simple trading/operating losses would mean a hell of a lot more burgers having to be sold which seems to be the ambition of reducing ticket prices to get the crowds up from our experts.

Yes, that quote of matchday revenue per head of less than £12 is still haunting me. God knows what it did to Gibson.
 
Soutra said:
That piece of paper is only worth what a potential buyer is prepared to pay for it. Nominal value isn't important.

This doesn't affect MFC's spending power in transfer windows. If the club commits to buy an expensive new player then it will have to borrow money from GON to cover the ensuing losses and the cycle starts again. It does give the club a bit more FFP headroom but doesn't change the fact that it loses money on day to day operations.
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Exactly.
It's nigh on impossible to value a football club. I think we now have around 65m shares with a paper value of £1 each. In the Championship, I could imagine a buyer paying £90m+ for us because of the excellent infrastructure. We also have players like Hackney and Jones who are worth nothing on the balance sheet but probably a combined £30m in real cash if sold so have a proven ability to develop young players. That £90m would be the shares and the remnants of GON's loans.

As far as I can see, GON had to convert some loans to equity or face a points deduction. He didn't have to convert as much as he did so there is clearly a reason for it.

I've long thought that his plan was to maximise his FFP allowance in 24-25 but he may be keeping his options open if a prestige loan or even purchase appears to be available this winter.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
Thanks for the explanations, but why do people think he’s preparing to sell up? My immediate sense is that he’s putting things in place to have another real go at it under this coach, with this set-up in place, not that he’s thinking of selling.
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As others have posted, nobody can be remotely sure of his motive or timing.

But they can be sure that it is not just a gesture or gimmick.
That money was owed to Group, but effectively Bulkhaul where the Undertakings were offset. It impacts the look of Bulkhaul if it were a Stand alone company - markedly.

Converting that debt to equity when you already have all the shares and they are not listed is effectively taking money from the Balance Sheet of Bulkhaul and adding it to MFC.
Prior profit earned by Bulkhaul had effectively been sat as a loan (liability) on MFC's books. Bulkhaul's Nett Value was maintained, but that loan has effectively been cancelled, writing down the Book value of where it came from, but making MFC look much less disastrous and in fact more in line with lots of other clubs.
That the losses will continue in this league, means GON will still have to cover them.

Stuff Ive been posting for ages is still completely valid.
MFC needs promotion to access revenues that give it a chance of being self sufficient. In the Championship there is no chance and somebody has to cover them.
The Bank of Gibson O'Neill does not have a bottomless pit.
Not going up last season was a huge blow for him once it looked highly likely we would.
 
newyddion said:
Bored of competing with himself? I doubt it.. it’s never going to be how it was in the first decade? Like having an ex Man Utd captain a team playing in errea gear aiming for promotion? Having a pretty good cup run at the same time?

Bored of being the most respected football chairman in the uk? (If not the world) having the seat at that premier league table requires the finances of a small country.. and he makes it possible.

Is he going to stop living the dream? Because someone said something on a social media platform.. that quickly gets squirrelled away after the next victory.. the next linked player.. the next update from one of our highly sought after players and staff.

Nah, I’m not having it. Building teams, building dreams.. SPORTING GLORY
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I wish Mr Gibson could read that - inspirational!
 
Steve Gibson was like a lot of us a fan from an early age, maybe in the Holgate in the 1970s. There are not many Chairman of higher level clubs now who came from local council estates, if any.

Like many of us he had been through lots of footballing ups and downs and stayed loyal.

Purely on an emotional and human level its difficult not to want him as an owner or major part owner.

I know the Host and Stay guy wants eventually to own the Club, and he is another local hero - not sure if he can raise £125m and act as a regular benefector, putting say £6/7m a year in.
 
Just a little info for the discourse, a close family member works for bulkhaul when I saw him in March he said their profits were about 30% down on the previous year.
 
Decent_Left said:
Which effectively is what Gibson has to pay for his season ticket every month with the ongoing losses adding to the debt pile.

To write off almost 9 years of losses at this football club is remarkable and we are incredibly lucky to have an owner who remains so invested in the club that he is prepared to do this.

In the meantime let the experts on here rant on about ticket pricing etc whilst still expecting to put a team out that gets us back to the Premier League.

There have been bad "business" decisions with transfers and magerial appointments but that level of debt goes way beyond that. To make up for simple trading/operating losses would mean a hell of a lot more burgers having to be sold which seems to be the ambition of reducing ticket prices to get the crowds up from our experts.

Yes, that quote of matchday revenue per head of less than £12 is still haunting me. God knows what it did to Gibson.
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Think it was £12.50 per game, per season ticket. With the increases this season, that figure is probably north of £15 per game, plus average 6,000 'day/away sales each game. Still leaves a black hole mind...
 
atypical_boro said:
He doesn’t have the same spending power now though newy, which makes it much, much harder.

Maybe he does think it’s all possible again, but I still think that if someone came along with a big offer, who looked like they were serious and had the same beliefs as him about what the club should be (were a fan etc), and had the ability to throw more money at it, he’d listen.
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of course he would listen. but us not having the same spending power does not mean it’s fake over. being a top twenty club is a feat in itself.. also the bigger boys can fail just as we’ve seen we punch above our weight consistently and that alone makes us a great club to be a part of.
 
morrissey said:
Think it was £12.50 per game, per season ticket. With the increases this season, that figure is probably north of £15 per game, plus average 6,000 'day/away sales each game. Still leaves a black hole mind...
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VAT takes a fair chunk of the ticket money. Its 20% and there are not alot of outgoings with VAT @ MFC to claim it back against. The £12.50 might be less 20% VAT.
 
This is the option indeedido has touted for some time, I think it’s a significant statement of intent. I actually think if we could get promoted in the next couple of years we could be more sustainable as a top flight entity than we were back in the late 90s. We are looking to develop players now out of necessity, indeed more like we were late 80s. Only my take and am no expert, but imho it’s a great thing.
 
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