Well September has arrived and the roof hasn't fallen in yet. The early summer strategy of realising some intangible assets (ie selling some players) to meet looming debt repayments fell foul of the collapsed transfer market, particularly acute in mainland Europe. The Spanish press reported that Barcelona, aware of the market situation, would not raise their bid above £2m for a player that has a book value to Chelsea of at least £15m. Bates diplomatically told them to "************ off" and so no deal was done. Although most Chelsea fans will be pleased that such a regular goalscorer has not been sacrificed on the altar of Village folly, the continuing £2m+ pa wages paid to the striker doesn't help the already squeezed cash flow. The lack of transfer cash infusion also leaves the question of how the imminent debt instalments were paid (assuming they have been). Considering that such a large part of the football club's income is cash in advance (23,000 season tickets sold, a year's TV money banked) the only conclusion is that the debts were met out of short term funds. The downside of this move is that the annual cash shortfall will occur that much earlier this season. The situation also demands that the Village auditors Saffrey Champness will have to have another look at the accounts, because the net value of the players in last year's accounts is over £31m, a completely unrealistic valuation in today's straitened market. The debt/asset ratio is spiralling upwards… In this update of Village Eye we acknowledge the current global interest in the Stanley Tollman situation and collate aTollman Timeline to make your research that little bit easier. We have No 2 in our Major Financial Centres of the World feature, dropping in to Patrick Murrin's Guernsey base Harbour Court. And for good measure we are happy to publish Owen Marshall's analysis of Chelsea's press coverage in the latest 'Eye Shout', ""how to win friends and influence people The rivets are popping, and it is making alarming creaking noises, but the Village boiler is still in one piece. How long now until the big bang?
And to think The Share price was once as high as 163 pence per share. But there's no financial trouble right? Riiiiight.
100 million quid...surely not Interesting is it not. Even more interesting is the date. Check this out and the time it was written. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,574906,00.html
Seer Now this guy could have a point perhaps? Wait, when was this written....no, surely not another warning sign that was ignored? http://football.guardian.co.uk/Champions_League/Story/0,5764,98792,00.html
Share price The price of Chelsea Vilklage stock went up a whoping 19% today on the back of the reported...and quickly denied...takeover attempt. The information was leked to the rags by a reported "Chelsea insider" Now, some have gone as far as to say that this reported "insider" was ol Ken himself. Pumping up the price just before a sell out. Nah, not ol ken