St Kilda announces financial result

[bergholt]

So, we've lost $1.4m on depreciation, amortisation and interest. That's a lot of interest, anybody know how much debt we are servicing? It's also a lot of depreciation, can anybody tell me which assets have been depreciated?

D&A was $577k of amortisation of Linen House Centre Leasehold Improvements, $543k of Depreciation of PP&E, $125k of amortisation of the Gaming Licenses.

But you realise those are non-cash and relate to cash payments well in the past? Why would that matter too much in the present?

If you want to be worried about something, as joffa says, check out the Cash Flow Statement. Last year Operating Receipts minus Operating Payments was about $1.9m. This year it's closer to $212k. Overall Net Cash -$422k down from +$1.25m. Not looking very healthy at all from that point of view.

[Rocket]

What a pathetic state of affairs. Humphrey Westaway and Nettlefold have a lot to answer for!!! Nettlefol was a loser from the 80's and the same stamp or stigma remains. Two unsuccessful stints at StKilda.

Can the board be accountable for once and get some decent people running the joint for once and all. Ian McLeod runs Coles successfully but sits on our board that continues to make wrong decisions. Step up or move on. You either do or don't know how to run a football club.

Summers has the presence and presentation skills of a minor - how the hell he runs AV Jennings has me guessing. Prove us wrong Peter as what I have seen there is not a lot of optimism in your leadership.

[BringBackMadDog]

Geez there's a lot of finger pointing at our administration. Should be a lot of looking in the mirror by our so called supporter base. Not more than 3 years ago we had 40,000 members and a waiting list to join our social club, one average season and the sniff of a slide and it was like rats off a sinking ship. Can't count how many games where I sat in my reserved seat in a "members only" area and looked around at the sea of vacant seats.
I manage a successful business in Australia, but if overnight someone removed over $1 mil from my balance sheet, I would struggle to keep the doors open.
Yes we need better sponsorship and there has been some bad calls by our administration, but ALL clubs have had some or all of those issues. BUT membership is the heartbeat of a football lcub when that dries up a club dies, end of story

[Con Gorozidis]

A few elephants in the room here.

Rightly or wrongly and regardless of guilt - perception counts and we have had two rape trials on our books in the last 3 years.

A lot of denial around here.

If people don't think that harms both our sponsorship and membership you are in fairyland.

I dont blame the admin but I have never believed Nettlefold was up to the job.

[WinnersOnly]

What a pathetic state of affairs. Humphrey Westaway and Nettlefold have a lot to answer for!!! Nettlefol was a loser from the 80's and the same stamp or stigma remains. Two unsuccessful stints at StKilda.

Can the board be accountable for once and get some decent people running the joint for once and all. Ian McLeod runs Coles successfully but sits on our board that continues to make wrong decisions. Step up or move on. You either do or don't know how to run a football club.

Summers has the presence and presentation skills of a minor - how the hell he runs AV Jennings has me guessing. Prove us wrong Peter as what I have seen there is not a lot of optimism in your leadership.

Agreed they handed the club over in fine shape didnt they - what a pair of dithering fools !

[BigMart]

People vote with their feet I suppose

Losing champions, coaches, members, big games?

Are we on the nose.... I think so

Have been since Ross left

[The Redeemer]

I wonder if we have the biggest debt of all the Victorian clubs? probably i would say and next year we have SW payments on top of that.

Why is this the case though?

Going from nearly winning the thing a few years ago and a popular side to rebuilding does not equal a 2.5 million dollar hole...

[saintspremiers]

People vote with their feet I suppose

Losing champions, coaches, members, big games?

Are we on the nose.... I think so

Have been since Ross left

Yes indeed.

Our supporter base could best be described as fragile.

When you add an incompetent admin you are destined to fail.

[plugger66]

People vote with their feet I suppose

Losing champions, coaches, members, big games?

Are we on the nose.... I think so

Have been since Ross left

Happens to most poorer clubs.

[plugger66]

Why does anyone care about this?


Seriously, what does it matter to a fan?

makes you wonder whay clubs try and make a profit then. If it effects the club it matters to most fans anyway. And it effects the club.

[Johnny Member]

It's a business, of course they want to profit. Without profit, all these football 'professionals' that jump from club to club each year would have to find real jobs.

But for the fans whom follow the footy itself, this stuff is utterly irrelevant.

[SainterK]

Nice work Michael

[CJC]

Dies anyone know our results the last few years??


We always struggle to make a profit. We're worth millions though... Our main revenue is collected by the afl.

[Junction Oval]

I see that "another" 5 year plan will be announced in the new year. I have seen these so-called wonderful "plans" being announced for decades now, but none ever come to realisation. The Club is not a formal business, so there are many political players with huge egos, but not too many business smarts and/or the will to follow through and make things happen! It's about time that Board members and Senior Management were held accountable for "performance," or be pushed aside.

Today, the concern is that if Clubs cannot run themselves profitably, then they are on a downhill slippery slope and not too far into the future - Club Rationalisation. Melbourne/Victoria is too small in tough times, to financially support 10 Clubs at their current and future expenditure projections. Living off TV rights and total AFL control would not be a pretty picture.

[WinnersOnly]

Wow just read the fox sports article we are as big a basket case as melbourne! Seriously our club goes from one disaster to another. If the AFL had a relegation system the Saints would be playing in 3rd division... amatuers.

[66 Saints]

Outoing president, outgoing CEO. Hopefully some creative accounting to wipe the slate and painting a case for the incoming exec to put pressure on the AFL to assist in righting the wrongs of poor stadium deal and getting invest in Moorabbin.
For those complaining about Footy First spending - we would not have made 2009 and 2010 grandfinals with injury lists like we had in 2005.

[joffaboy]

Just had a quick 5 minute glance at the Consolidated Financial Report.

Oh s.hit.

The Cash Flow is hideous, our net Assets to Liabilities have decreased dramatically, our revenues have dropped away, and scariest of all, our net cash position has gone from 500k to 80k.

Dont want to sound alarmist, and we have big daddy AFL hovvering so it is not too bad re revenues, AND we are not a real business (due to AFL "equalisation"), but really the Financial reports make very poor reading.

One thing in our favour, looking at the board of directors, we yhave a lot of CA's. Now the old adage is never put an Accountant in charge of a business, but we are not a real business.

Membership, sponsorship, and merchandise sales have taking a pretty bifg fall.

Well done top all who bagged the crap out of me for having the temerity to question Footy First and their outrageous spending plans.

I suppose many feel happy now we are back where we belong, at the foot of the table and completely broke. Feeds nicely into the victim mentality of many Saints fans.

[saintsRrising]

Just had a quick 5 minute glance at the Consolidated Financial Report.

Oh s.hit.

The Cash Flow is hideous, our net Assets to Liabilities have decreased dramatically, our revenues have dropped away, and scariest of all, our net cash position has gone from 500k to 80k.

Dont want to sound alarmist, and we have big daddy AFL hovvering so it is not too bad re revenues, AND we are not a real business (due to AFL "equalisation"), but really the Financial reports make very poor reading.

One thing in our favour, looking at the board of directors, we yhave a lot of CA's. Now the old adage is never put an Accountant in charge of a business, but we are not a real business.

Membership, sponsorship, and merchandise sales have taking a pretty bifg fall.

Well done top all who bagged the crap out of me for having the temerity to question Footy First and their outrageous spending plans.

I suppose many feel happy now we are back where we belong, at the foot of the table and completely broke. Feeds nicely into the victim mentality of many Saints fans.

I posted a little while back that Westaway had destroyed the Saints, and was howled down by a few. While my language may have been a touch blunt, the Westaway legacy is a terrible one. Too many let him off the saying the schoolgirls affair brought us down. If he had been doing his role well it would have just been a bump along the way.

Having Nettlefold as a job for the boys CEO only compounded the matter as we had both a lame duck President and CEO. You reap what you sow.

[BringBackMadDog]

Just had a quick 5 minute glance at the Consolidated Financial Report.

Oh s.hit.

The Cash Flow is hideous, our net Assets to Liabilities have decreased dramatically, our revenues have dropped away, and scariest of all, our net cash position has gone from 500k to 80k.

Dont want to sound alarmist, and we have big daddy AFL hovvering so it is not too bad re revenues, AND we are not a real business (due to AFL "equalisation"), but really the Financial reports make very poor reading.

One thing in our favour, looking at the board of directors, we yhave a lot of CA's. Now the old adage is never put an Accountant in charge of a business, but we are not a real business.

Membership, sponsorship, and merchandise sales have taking a pretty bifg fall.

Well done top all who bagged the crap out of me for having the temerity to question Footy First and their outrageous spending plans.

I suppose many feel happy now we are back where we belong, at the foot of the table and completely broke. Feeds nicely into the victim mentality of many Saints fans.

So if we had reduced or remained status quo with our football spending then how are we supposed to compete? More importantly in an era of free agency how do we attract or keep talent? Players will most likely join clubs they feel will offer them the biggest opportunity to improve as footballers and win premierships, why would they choose to come to us if we spend upwards of 40% less than other clubs on their primary assets?

Surely the aim of all football clubs is to win premierships and to do this you need to keep pace with the competition. Even Melbourne, the Doggies and Nth increased their footy dept spend over the last few years.

Again, our biggest problem is our extremely fickle support base. We must have the largest non-paidup supporter base in the country.

[saintsRrising]

So if we had reduced or remained status quo with our football spending then how are we supposed to compete? .

Spending was on the rise. ie Football department greatly expanded with Misson, new physios, etc all already appoint.

Thing was FF swept to power based on claims that that they would greatly lift sponsorship, and had deals already on the table etc etc... Westaway and FF failed to deliver on this.

We now need Summers to deliver. Whether he will or not I have no way of knowing. He is making some promising noise at present.
However FF beat a huge drum prior to coming in, but revert to a tom tom.


We need a LEADER, we need a DOER. We need vision and drive, and successes. Not everything will work, but we need at least several things to.
Richo is a very important appointment that we need to work. However we equally need Summers to be a success. Right here and now if we back up a lame duck Westaway era with a lame duck Summers era , then that will become a situation that will be extremely difficult to recover from.


Our football appoinrments and drafting give me hope. However I am hoping like hell that off-field we can dramatically improve. Status -quo is a death spiral.

[saintspremiers]

Our business plan should be to achieve the following by 2016 season end:

(1) increase sponsorship and match day functions revenue by in total $1M

(2) increase membership back up to 40,000 which means rengaging a lot of 8,000 lost souls plus another 8,000 to actually get close to hitting 40K. That ads another $1M

(3) Saints Marching Fund needs to contribute another $1M to $2M

The above is simplistic but a basic framework to keep our head above water and basically just recovery not the full picture required for longer term viability. I'd be stoked if we could nail 2 out of the 3 points above.

[tweedaletomanning]

What a pathetic state of affairs. Humphrey Westaway and Nettlefold have a lot to answer for!!! Nettlefol was a loser from the 80's and the same stamp or stigma remains. Two unsuccessful stints at StKilda.

Can the board be accountable for once and get some decent people running the joint for once and all. Ian McLeod runs Coles successfully but sits on our board that continues to make wrong decisions. Step up or move on. You either do or don't know how to run a football club.

Summers has the presence and presentation skills of a minor - how the hell he runs AV Jennings has me guessing. Prove us wrong Peter as what I have seen there is not a lot of optimism in your leadership.

Agreed they handed the club over in fine shape didnt they - what a pair of dithering fools !

At least Westaway wasn't paid 3/4 of a mil per year to stuff things up.

That Knucklehead Nettlefold, which I have always known to be fraud, should be buying AT Least 100 memberships per year to put back IN to the club rather than just Take, not deliver and then say "see ya later suckers".

As comic book guy from the simpsons would say "WORST CEO EVER"

[Solar]

The question is why have our membership fallen so drastically.

Couple of reasons could be we are seen as not being a top 8 side in the next 3 years..... so is there a section of our members who are fairweather?
The bad media we have copped. Some deserved and some not.
They have reduced the "value" of getting a membership. Must say that when they made the social club area on level one a reserved area it hit us hard. We were very upset. If anything it stopped us going to as many matches. But we never waivered on buying out membership. But perhaps some want more value like in the past.

But the basis of selling ourselves to sponsors and the AFL for Friday night games in membership. Compare ours to the top 4 sides... hell compare it to Collingwood. No wonder no-one with any money wants to go near us. Throw 50,000 signed up members at a sponsor and it's not hard to argue there must but a couple of million interest but not signed up.

[markp]

Nettlefold should've been sacked after the Lyon contract debacle.

[Con Gorozidis]

2 main reasons -

1. fall from premiership contender to cellar dweller with no hope of a flag until at least 2018-19.
2. RAPE charges.

I know its the elephant in the room. I know none wants to talk about it. I know all the mitigating circumstances (Milne was stitched up/Lovett was a Bombers player etc etc etc) but it doesn't change the perceptions out there. There would be a lot of people - especially those with kids out there who would not be buying memberships based on this. I also would hazard a guess that there are sponsors who will stay away until this is over with.

I think 2014 will be tough - be we seem to be on the right track. Summers seems to be pretty clued up. Good times will be back but we can't afford many more f*ck ups - or as some people have alluded to we will be ripe for the picking for a relocation or merger.