PKF Survey warn clubs over more cost controls

The fourth annual survey, published by accountants and business advisers PKF, of football club finance directors in England and Scotland showed that football clubs have managed to avert financial meltdown but must look to further control costs through reassessing player wages and considering alternative revenue streams. The survey finds that compared with previous years fewer clubs, some 21% (33% in 2004 and 38% in 2003) are under pressure from their banks showing that the most immediate pressures of football’s financial crisis have been averted. The report warns there is no room for complacency – ticket revenues have soared and are responsible for the biggest revenue growth among 48 per cent of clubs in the last year. Ian Schofield, partner in the Leeds office of PKF, said: "Football clubs can no longer ignore the issue of ticket revenues. “There must be a tidal change in the attitude towards club funding in the next few years because there is simply no getting away from the fact that ticket prices cannot continue to rise at the rate they have. "It means costs will have to be cut elsewhere and the development of other revenue streams considered. The most obvious place to rein in costs is player salaries." The report also revealed that 45% of financial directors do not believe that UEFA licensing will achieve its aims of helping to level the financial playing field in Europe, and that the majority of financial directors thought that clubs should lose their status as “super creditors”.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.