As you probably know Fulham are in administration again. They've already had to come out of administration once, they finished last season bottom of League One, looking at their team right now I would struggle to sell 2 players for half value from what they have, so to clear £19.3 million of debt seems highly unlikely.
This would mean the next stage of administration, taking a bank loan at a lower interest rate to cover the current debts. However Fulham are actually losing money on their stadium each season, their end of season 8 financial report was more than £2 million in the red. They would be relying on getting a number of players worth £15+ million through the random youth draw to be able to sell them to try and clear the bank loan before it became unmanagable, and as much as I'd like to see that happen, its not going to.
This would then lead to them being shut and replaced by a new team in the game.
Basically, that middle stage is supposed to give teams time to recover financially and start paying off the debt at a slower more managable rate, but I see no way even that would help Fulham in their current situation - what they need to happen to even recover at that stage is too unrealistic to be a possibilty.
My suggestion therefore is to skip the bank loan middle stage and shut the club, replace them with a new club now. The new club would start on Fullhams points tally of 0, and would play out the rest of their fixtures. It seems pointless me dealing with the finances behind the scenes of a team that can't recover, just to do this final stage at the end of this season anyway.
So firstly take your vote on the poll, and secondly, suggestions on which new team should replace Fulham whenever they do get shut down. Leave your team suggestions below.
Where does the £20 million come from to save them then?
I know you're an ex-chairman of them and voted for the "give them time" option, but their players aren't worth anything, its a team of basically free agents, the bank loan will still pick up interest and by the end of the season they could owe about £35 million. They could maximum have had 4 youth players by then, plus they're operating at a loss so could be closer to £40 million debt, so those 4 potential youth players would have to be worth £10 million each to clear debts.
The other alternative is someone buys Fulham for £5 million, and invests £20 million to clear the debts. But that would only leave Adam Goble, Rob O'Brien as the only 2 managers with the funds to do this right now, and to be fair thats £25 million to own a club with no players, operating at a loss. The stadium might be good, but theres no one in it - its costing more to run than it gets in ticket sales.
So if people want to vote the top choice and give them time, please suggest a way forward for them - they've been in administration 2 weeks now and no one has made a bid yet, that's how attractive these players are.
What about Blackpool or Stoke, only teams in the top division that isn't the game, they have a mixture of good and bad players and they are not a mega money club which is going to have at massive impact on League One like Fulham wouldn't have had, Stoke probably have more of a financial backing and infrastructure, both would be great additions though i think and would be neutral to the managers on here as opposed to Swansea!
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Jamie Best Newcastle United Premier League
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I think a relegation system should be brought in to League 1. Stoke are currently the highest club currently without a side and it should be them that's brought into the game. If Fulham need to be thrown out then it either needs to be done immediately or relegated at the end of the season (aslong as its them that's bottom) I think Priceys idea is good where teams that go into administration should be docked points (this may force the relegation issue as-well) Only concerns i would have about doing this tho is 1- the amount of work Rich will have writing up new teams, this could be cut tho and just write up Stoke and Blackpool. Any club that goes down 1 year could then possibly come back into the game in a few seasons time, and 2 - the age of the players. Players ages may vary compared to real life. As it is now players are a lot older than in real life where as if we bring in a new team, the ages of these players will be back to young again. Just my thoughts