Wage Bill

[Saintdunc]

Headline BBC Football news.

Chairman Steve Brown says club 'can't sustain' wage bill

Apparently Kirsten has been brought in to slash the wage bill and, despite cash reserves, we are heading for a big loss.

[Pat McGroin]

Time to sell the club Steve...

This guy could put a negative spin on a lottery win.

Right now, Steve Brown could be doing the following: 

Praising our superb recent run of form

Shouting about our superb home grown, young team. 

Encouraging fans to get behind the hunt for top 6. 

Encouraging fans to join in with FCU home and away to create an atmosphere.  

Encouraging fans to attend a Scottish Cup 1/4 final and support the lads get back to Hampden. 
 

Instead, he’s bleating about the budget, which according to Robert Thompson has jumped from 8th biggest 3 months ago, to 6th now. 
 

His negativity is unreal. He makes running the club seem like such a chore. Does he not realise that this has a wider effect? It’s dragging us down. 

Every time I read anything from him, I’m on an instant downer. 

[Indicator]

Without having read the article, I assume the club he is talking about is Sevco.

At least he/they held the announcement until after the match.

 

 

[Saintdunc]

4 minutes ago, Indicator said:

Without having read the article, I assume the club he is talking about is Sevco.

At least he/they held the announcement until after the match.

 

 

Check out the headline in bold, Indicator. It is linked from the match report on BBC Football site.

[ejksjfc]

At the end of the day I would rather have a realist like SB in charge rather than some dreamer like Brooks Mileson. I fully agree that at times Stevie can be overly negative but it is family’s money that is invested in Saints after all.

[Saintdunc]

St Johnstone have "over-egged" their spending on players and are unable to sustain what is a top-six wage bill, admits chairman Steve Brown.

The Scottish Premiership club have been criticised for giving Old Firm fans three stands at McDiarmid Park.

However, Brown says heavy losses have forced the hand of the Perth outfit.

"We're in danger of being hypocrites because we have been outspoken in living within your means," he told BBC Scotland before the draw with Rangers.

"This year we're not going to do that, which is disappointing to say the least. I think our wage bill is the sixth in the league, which is far too high. We can't sustain that.

"We went for it at the start of the season - we thought we could get into the top six and have a cup run but we just haven't performed and that leaves a huge financial gap and concerns.

"We have got reserves, so unfortunately this year we will be hitting them in a big way and posting heavy losses, which is not good."

St Johnstone's form has picked up in recent weeks, having lost just once in their last seven league games to move them clear of relegation trouble and to within five points of the top six with a game in hand.

In January, manager Tommy Wright was outspoken about a lack of signings and had to quell claims of a "divide" between himself, Brown and new head of football operations Kirsten Robertson.

"I still get on with Tommy. Tommy's Tommy," Brown said. "He just gets frustrated. I spoke to him on the Sunday and he was a completely different guy.

"Kirsten got a bit of stick, which was a bit unfair. Her remit was to reduce the wage bill so she is just doing her job.

"The manager wants more and more players in but he is not all that concerned about getting players out. That's just football at the end of the day."

[Pat McGroin]

3 minutes ago, ejksjfc said:

At the end of the day I would rather have a realist like SB in charge rather than some dreamer like Brooks Mileson. I fully agree that at times Stevie can be overly negative but it is family’s money that is invested in Saints after all.

He’s not being a realist though. He’s actively scaring fans away from the club. 
 

I just posted something on twitter, basically saying imagine if you saw an actor on Jonathan Ross/Graham Norton. They’re publicly panning their own film on the press tour. 
 

This would NEVER happen. Why?.. It would have a huge effect on numbers. 
 

Also, that actor would never work again, and Stevie Brown right now basically is that actor. 

Has he actually ever been positive about Saints in the press? It seems like every time he talks, he talks us down. 
 

Where is the encouragement for lapsed fans to return. There’s none. 

[Indicator]

12 minutes ago, Saintdunc said:

Check out the headline in bold, Indicator. It is linked from the match report on BBC Football site.

Sorry - forgot the sarcasm emoji's. Have now read the article, talk about bringing fans back down to earth.

The opponents today have run at a loss since their inception in 2012, have never broke even, are bringing in players they cannot afford and are facing litigation that is likely to see them having to find millions in the near future to simply avoid entering administration.

Saints by his own admission have never operated outside FFP constraints and indeed still have financial reserves.

No need (imo) for that comment today a slap in the face for the manager and players.

Surely he wasn't disappointed with the result.

 

[Pat McGroin]

Fan Ownership... Why not? 
 

SB wants rid. The club couldn’t be in a healthier position for a support based takeover. 
 

It’s the ideal solution to re-engage lapsed fans. 
 

It’s working well at clubs that were in a much worse financial position than Saints. 

[RandomGuy]

Think hes just trying to defend himself from the criticism of giving away 3 stands and not offering new contracts to players.

For all we know half the interview was ignored.

[Templar Saint]

11 minutes ago, Pat McGroin said:

Fan Ownership... Why not? 
 

SB wants rid. The club couldn’t be in a healthier position for a support based takeover. 
 

It’s the ideal solution to re-engage lapsed fans. 
 

It’s working well at clubs that were in a much worse financial position than Saints. 

Ahem............Hearts as an example????

[mainstand]

The interview covered a few things and to be fair he was asked how saints manage it and also suggested that they should stop concentrating on the lack of fans that attend games and praise the fans that attend week in week out. He also said about the number that so go to rangers and celtic from perth.

He said bringing ina  chief exec is partly to support tommy for him to have someone there all the time to speak to. 

Interesting that he has made his kids promise not to get involved in running the club given the amount of time it involves and the other businesses he runs. 

 

[Cagey]

2 hours ago, mainstand said:

The interview covered a few things and to be fair he was asked how saints manage it and also suggested that they should stop concentrating on the lack of fans that attend games and praise the fans that attend week in week out. He also said about the number that so go to rangers and celtic from perth.

He said bringing ina  chief exec is partly to support tommy for him to have someone there all the time to speak to. 

Interesting that he has made his kids promise not to get involved in running the club given the amount of time it involves and the other businesses he runs. 

 

I am sure Tommy appreciates having Kirsten to speak to.

I don't think his other businesses will be too difficult to run. Wiring his dads houses will not be too hard. Its not as if he has to go out looking for work.

I think Random is right ,he is just trying to justify giving OF 3 stands.

[Melbourne Saint]

I agree- don't see anything earth-shattering in what SB says. It seems all to be about the "3 stand policy" and being seen by OF press to be taking advantage of OF fans to balance the books. Well, they've been noising off for decades about how they prop up other teams in the league & the rest depend on 4 home games vs them to balance the books. It's true. Might as well maximise what we can. Think there's a wee bit of cheek with the wages- money reserves to deflect from the fact that yes, we are going to take every pound off you, and we're entitled to do that. So suck it.

[ex-montrosesaintee]

Only thing in his comments that irked me is he claims the budget was based on being top 6 and a cup run.  As far as I can see, and based on current form, both are unlikely but not impossible.

We are, if you put a positive spin on it, 3 or 4 terrific results away from a hugely successful season. Given the appalling start we had, surely this is the ONE opportunity we have to look up and try to make it happen, rather than just give up hope.

He's a fud the way he words things.  I kind of read it as a red rag to a bull for the next few weeks, sort of 'prove me wrong Tommy', but to the punter in the stands it reads like abject defeat.

[sixties saintee]

1 hour ago, montrosesaintee said:

Only thing in his comments that irked me is he claims the budget was based on being top 6 and a cup run.  As far as I can see, and based on current form, both are unlikely but not impossible.

We are, if you put a positive spin on it, 3 or 4 terrific results away from a hugely successful season. Given the appalling start we had, surely this is the ONE opportunity we have to look up and try to make it happen, rather than just give up hope.

He's a fud the way he words things.  I kind of read it as a red rag to a bull for the next few weeks, sort of 'prove me wrong Tommy', but to the punter in the stands it reads like abject defeat.

Welcome back Monty.

[slf]

Which all proves he’s been backing the manager.

 

[SaintJet]

13 hours ago, Pat McGroin said:

Time to sell the club Steve...

This guy could put a negative spin on a lottery win.

Right now, Steve Brown could be doing the following: 

Praising our superb recent run of form

Shouting about our superb home grown, young team. 

Encouraging fans to get behind the hunt for top 6. 

Encouraging fans to join in with FCU home and away to create an atmosphere.  

Encouraging fans to attend a Scottish Cup 1/4 final and support the lads get back to Hampden. 
 

Instead, he’s bleating about the budget, which according to Robert Thompson has jumped from 8th biggest 3 months ago, to 6th now. 
 

His negativity is unreal. He makes running the club seem like such a chore. Does he not realise that this has a wider effect? It’s dragging us down. 

Every time I read anything from him, I’m on an instant downer. 

I listened to the interview in the car on the way to the game and I thought he spoke pragmatically about running a club with a small fan base. He's not the most charismatic or articulate speaker but he's got the t shirt from years of fighting our corner and he's just following his fathers's blueprint for susutainability. I can never understand the negativity he catches - he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I hope he has his hand on he tiller for another 10 years.

[slf]

15 minutes ago, SaintJet said:

I listened to the interview in the car on the way to the game and I thought he spoke pragmatically about running a club with a small fan base. He's not the most charismatic or articulate speaker but he's got the t shirt from years of fighting our corner and he's just following his fathers's blueprint for susutainability. I can never understand the negativity he catches - he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. I hope he has his hand on he tiller for another 10 years.

I agree

[garydavidson]

14 hours ago, ejksjfc said:

At the end of the day I would rather have a realist like SB in charge rather than some dreamer like Brooks Mileson. I fully agree that at times Stevie can be overly negative but it is family’s money that is invested in Saints after all.

Is it not the case that the Browns have zero invested in Saints? As people have said before Geoff helped out with the Billy Dodds transfer and apart from the initial take over hasn't put any money into the club apart from maybe the more recent sponsorship. 

We are a self sufficient club as per the way Geoff designed it.

I don't see anything too outrageous in the interview but he is a very glum guy. I feel some of the comments about 'going for it' could have been retained as his own thoughts.

[Cagey]

48 minutes ago, garydavidson said:

Is it not the case that the Browns have zero invested in Saints? As people have said before Geoff helped out with the Billy Dodds transfer and apart from the initial take over hasn't put any money into the club apart from maybe the more recent sponsorship. 

We are a self sufficient club as per the way Geoff designed it.

I don't see anything too outrageous in the interview but he is a very glum guy. I feel some of the comments about 'going for it' could have been retained as his own thoughts.

Yeah,I am sure you are right on the fact that they have not contributed anything but their time & expertise to Saints but I will be eternally grateful to Sir Geoff who hasn't even got an OBE yet.

[Abernethy Saint]

Not sure we should be rooting for Geoff to be given some embarrassing symbol of a dead, fascist empire. Deffo name a stand, though, or even the ground. At least we would know how to fecking spell it.

[callander saint]

Timing of this interview/comments a bit strange but I basically agree with what S Brown is saying. With our limited support it is important that the club lives within its means. With our cash reserves ( available through good previous  financial controls ) we can cover a few loss making seasons but if this becomes a trend then the reserves will soon disappear . I feel the Brown Family have been excellent custodians of St Johnstone F.C. and I hope S Brown is at the helm for a good few more years. 

[perthandproud]

Courier article here clicky link

“So it’s led, unfortunately, to apathy from our own fans. Obviously, if you have a demand, you sell tickets."

I certainly know a good few people that wont go to these games, don't know if i would call it apathy.

[perthandproud]

1 hour ago, garydavidson said:

Is it not the case that the Browns have zero invested in Saints? As people have said before Geoff helped out with the Billy Dodds transfer and apart from the initial take over hasn't put any money into the club apart from maybe the more recent sponsorship. 

We are a self sufficient club as per the way Geoff designed it.

I don't see anything too outrageous in the interview but he is a very glum guy. I feel some of the comments about 'going for it' could have been retained as his own thoughts.

They would have invested in the initial takeover of the club, cant remember how many shares they have or at what price they paid, so don't think they haven't put anything into the club and how much time has been invested and how much is that time worth?

Lets be honest there's not many of us that have much of a clue what goes into running a football club, but I guess we could put ourselves forward at the next AGM!