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Some thoughts I've put together in a Google Doc, "How Chansiri can move Sheffield Wednesday forward", that you can see here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pna2WfT5KSeExd8cG9GwtBaTv-r3W01LiH3UaVP8GmA/edit?usp=sharing
It's also below as a 38-tweet thread.
Comments very welcome; abuse isn't :-)
Some thoughts I've put together in a Google Doc, "How Chansiri can move Sheffield Wednesday forward", that you can see here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pna2WfT5KSeExd8cG9GwtBaTv-r3W01LiH3UaVP8GmA/edit?usp=sharing
It's also below as a 38-tweet thread.
Comments very welcome; abuse isn't :-)
tl;dr: Issue shares to fans and convert season tickets into shares, to raise the cash needed to fund losses in the absence of Chansiri’s ability to do so and create a new club culture where fans are involved in making decisions and not just a source of revenue to be maximised.
Claim: Negativity is putting off potential investors.
This was a subject also raised by Chansiri in his press conference earlier this season: That he has been contacted by interested investors, who are then dissuaded by supposed negativity from fans on social media.
This was a subject also raised by Chansiri in his press conference earlier this season: That he has been contacted by interested investors, who are then dissuaded by supposed negativity from fans on social media.
It doesn’t seem likely to be the case, though, when you consider Charlton Athletic have had not one but two takeovers in 2020.
Before the first takeover by East Street Investment, during Deuchatelet’s five years as owner, fans would protest heavily, including delaying kick-off via pitch invasions and having mock funeral processions outside the ground.
Before the second takeover fans even occupied the boardroom at Charlton in protest. Yet Thomas Sandgård bought the club.
In other words: The idea that prospective investors can be dissuaded by fan sentiment, especially as intangible as one expressed on social media, does not hold up against reality.
Claim: Covid is the reason for late payment of wages.
Covid has eroded revenue for football clubs. Most obviously match day income, but also broadcasting (due to the EPL’s rebate to broadcasters).
Covid has eroded revenue for football clubs. Most obviously match day income, but also broadcasting (due to the EPL’s rebate to broadcasters).
Wednesday have the highest reliance on match day income as part of their revenue in the Championship at 42%, so we will be affected more than most. The way that revenue comes into the club - the flow of cash - varies a great deal from club to club, though.
Liverpool, for instance, sell only half their seats - 26,000 - as season tickets instead maximising revenue through football tourists paying higher prices for single match tickets.
That sort of split is a lot more vulnerable to a global pandemic, though.
That sort of split is a lot more vulnerable to a global pandemic, though.
The vast majority of #swfc fans attend with a season ticket. For the 2017-18 season it was announced 17,000+ bought a season ticket and average attendances that season - our highest finish in 17 years - were 27,000, so roughly 2 in 3 attending games were season ticket holders.
The proportion of Wednesday fans attending via a season ticket is very likely to have increased during Chansiri’s time at the club, as match day tickets have increased far more in price than season tickets in a conscious effort by the club to make season tickets a more…
…attractive proposition relative to match day tickets.
Why does the above matter to our current situation?
Because season tickets are paid in advance. Including season tickets for the current season, the number of which has not been released.
Why does the above matter to our current situation?
Because season tickets are paid in advance. Including season tickets for the current season, the number of which has not been released.
That means the club received a substantial amount of cash from fans over the months of January to June, where season tickets for 2020-21 were on sale (it is noticeable Early Bird sales started as early as January, before Covid was a known threat, where in previous years the…
…Early Bird period didn’t start until March).
The average price paid for a season ticket, weighted for type and area of the stadium, can be reasonably assumed to be around £400. Average attendance in 2019-20 before the Covid suspension was 22,500.
The average price paid for a season ticket, weighted for type and area of the stadium, can be reasonably assumed to be around £400. Average attendance in 2019-20 before the Covid suspension was 22,500.
If roughly 2 in 3 of them were season ticket holders that’s around 15,000 season ticket holders. Paying £400 on average means revenue of £6,000,000 from season ticket sales if as many bought a season ticket for 2020-21 as was the case for 2019-20.
According to Chansiri 50 to 60 percent of season ticket holders for 2019-20 have asked for a refund (see image).
5 of the 23 matches at Hillsborough, 20%, were played behind closed doors in 2019-20.
5 of the 23 matches at Hillsborough, 20%, were played behind closed doors in 2019-20.
The amount requested refunded, then, is likely to be around £700,000 based on the calculations above.
Chansiri also said that “everybody know we need cash”:
Chansiri also said that “everybody know we need cash”:
Wednesday have maintained a healthy bank balance during Chansiri’s time as owner of around £2m at the end of the accounts.
The bank balance is obtained by Chansiri loaning the club money to underwrite the significant losses incurred in each of the years under his ownership:
The bank balance is obtained by Chansiri loaning the club money to underwrite the significant losses incurred in each of the years under his ownership:
At the end of July 2018 Chansiri had invested £126m into Wednesday since becoming an owner.
Since then, in the following two seasons, I’d project the club to have lost a further £46m, with another £19m on top at the end of the current season.
Since then, in the following two seasons, I’d project the club to have lost a further £46m, with another £19m on top at the end of the current season.
Losses in 2020-21 are likely to be around £1.5m a month or £360,000 a week.
If, as we estimated earlier, £700,000 of season ticket income for 2019-20 is paid as refunds, the loss for the season would increase to around £20m. £1.7m a month or £400,000 a week.
If, as we estimated earlier, £700,000 of season ticket income for 2019-20 is paid as refunds, the loss for the season would increase to around £20m. £1.7m a month or £400,000 a week.
The overview of ownership investment above shows an increase in investment from Chansiri of £40m from 2016-17 to 2017-18. Cash Chansiri loaned the club. His investment, then, in the 14 month accounting year of 2017-18 was £2.9m a month or £660,000 a week.
Considering the above it appears puzzling that the club now “needs the cash” according to Chansiri, when in 2017-18 Chansiri was loaning the club, every single week on average of that season, the same amount of cash the club now struggles to refund season ticket holders.
In another quote Chansiri says “cashflow is difficult. My own business has slowed” (see image).
It suggests that the reason cashflow is difficult is the lower generation of cash in other businesses under Chansiri’s control.
It suggests that the reason cashflow is difficult is the lower generation of cash in other businesses under Chansiri’s control.
Chansiri also discussed the prospect of outside investment as we saw in an earlier quote (see image).
“If you want to be a shareholder, you must be able to help us”.
“If you want to be a shareholder, you must be able to help us”.
Considering Chansiri admits cashflow is the issue, and he is seemingly not able to make up the difference himself, there is actually an elegant solution to the issue that keeps season ticket holder cash in the club, increases cash in the club, increases fan engagement and…
…increases transparency and fan oversight:
Conversion of 2020-21 season tickets as well as the remainder of 2019-20 season tickets into shares in Sheffield Wednesday plc.
Conversion of 2020-21 season tickets as well as the remainder of 2019-20 season tickets into shares in Sheffield Wednesday plc.
Considering the projected losses for the current season are around £19m, the loss for the rest of the season from here on in there is around £10m left to finance before season’s end.
If you combine the conversion of season tickets into shares with the issuance of new shares to fans and other interested investors it would be likely to keep and raise cash of maybe £5m-£8m, a significant proportion of the cash needed to fund losses until season’s end.
This is markedly different from Chansiri’s other attempts to raise revenue, and thus cash, for the club, for instance Club 1867, in that it is not just an expense paid by a fan, but the acquisition of a part of the club.
That would mean oversight of decisions made and the transparency required to better constructively criticise decisions and offer alternatives.
It would mean fans would have a voice, and not just be told they’re “sometimes worse than customers” by Chansiri.
It would mean fans would have a voice, and not just be told they’re “sometimes worse than customers” by Chansiri.
We don’t want to be customers, let alone bad ones. We want to be involved in the decisions made by the club, because it’s our club.
Why is transparency and fan oversight so important?
Why can’t we just “stop being negative and support the club”?
Why is transparency and fan oversight so important?
Why can’t we just “stop being negative and support the club”?
Well, supporting the club is criticising the owner and acting CEO of the club, when he makes mistake after mistake.
If Chansiri feels that criticism is unfair he needs to invite us, via representatives, into the room where decisions are made, so we can see for ourselves the dilemmas he is facing.
Doing so, however, also means he may face opposition to the solution to those dilemmas he chooses.
Fans cannot be derided for negativity and treated merely as a source of revenue to be maximised while also seeing losses of £50,000 a day and with the appearance of an owner currently not able to loan the club cash as in previous years.
Raising the cash needed can be done and it’s how most businesses raise cash: Issue shares.
But it would mean an end to Chansiri’s absolute ownership of the club and the creation of shareholder oversight.
But it would mean an end to Chansiri’s absolute ownership of the club and the creation of shareholder oversight.
Including oversight of any prospective investors interested in buying Chansiri out of the club.
The best can be made of a bad situation, then, if Chansiri has the will to put the wellbeing and existence of the club first and his control of it second.
The best can be made of a bad situation, then, if Chansiri has the will to put the wellbeing and existence of the club first and his control of it second.
Press conference sources:
The Sheffield Star:
Dejphon Chansiri RECAP: Everything he said on refunds Tony Pulis, finances, fans and more
Yorkshire Live:
Recap everything Chansiri said during his mammoth press conference https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/dejphon-chansiri-wednesday-manager-alonso-19540385
The Sheffield Star:
Dejphon Chansiri RECAP: Everything he said on refunds Tony Pulis, finances, fans and more
Yorkshire Live:
Recap everything Chansiri said during his mammoth press conference https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/dejphon-chansiri-wednesday-manager-alonso-19540385
