Toast Ben Buckley- "We have less than $1 million [debt] which is very manageable"

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Kimbo

Cancelled
Veteran 10k Posts
Dec 14, 2002
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In 2007 we had turnover... of somewhere between $15m and $20m and debt of about $8m. Debt was about 50% of turnover.

In 2017 we have turnover of $40m and debt of 800k. Debt is now about 2% of turnover.

That's not just 'manageable', it's just bog-standard trading debt.
This is the soundbyte, and I wish the club was better at communicating it, as you have here astroturf.

That said, it would be nice for publicity's sake to be 'debt free', even if briefly, to fully put any naysayers on their arse.
 
Don't mean to be a party poop but I feel our debt has been at this 'manageable' level for quite a while now.

It has been. We had $1,701,500 in interest bearing loans and borrowings in 2015, was down to 1,250,000 in 2016, dropping under $1m is good but with interest rates flooring the cost of managing the debt hasn't been significant for some time.

However, it is worth noting that this is legacy debt which isn't really doing anything productive, we are just repaying money the previous generation accumulated. We shouldn't see as all debt being evil, if we are ever to build anything new or worthwhile, we will have to go into debt to afford it.
 

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This is the soundbyte, and I wish the club was better at communicating it, as you have here astroturf.

That said, it would be nice for publicity's sake to be 'debt free', even if briefly, to fully put any naysayers on their arse.
I agree.

Pay it off. Smash a bottle of Dom Perignon and then go to the bank the next day and borrow again.
 

Peter27374

Debutant
Apr 6, 2017
66
39
AFL Club
North Melbourne
To what extent if any is the debt not being paid off so as to continue having it as a pretext for fundraising initiatives?
 
Apr 29, 2013
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To what extent if any is the debt not being paid off so as to continue having it as a pretext for for fundraising initiatives?

That's a pretty cynical view.

As others have alluded to, the cost of servicing the current debt is f*ckall of a % - committing funds to paying it off now rather than managing over time gives rise to opportunity costs; investing funds in some way rather than paying off the debt can generate more cash than simply paying off the debt would save and equals a net gain.

It's also worth considering that managing the debt while upping/maintaining our football department spending, which was something we'd been sorely lacking in for a long time, is the more appropriate way to designate funds. If we restricted FD spending to pay off the debt, our on field performance may suffer which has further consequences to our bottom line in the way of poorer match day attendance and membership.

Debt is is no way inherently bad, but the debilitating debt we once had is.
 

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Do new members still have to opt out of the "extra debt reduction payment"?
I don't remember even being charged it this year to be honest (as a 10 year+ member).

I thought it was something you had to opt into EACH year as it wasn't a standard membership fee.
 
I don't remember even being charged it this year to be honest (as a 10 year+ member).

I thought it was something you had to opt into EACH year as it wasn't a standard membership fee.
No you have to opt out.

They were bargaining on people like you not even realising it's there.

Interesting end of FY statement coming up soon. Crap membership and attendances, no finals, i doubt we're making a profit this year.
 
No you have to opt out.

They were bargaining on people like you not even realising it's there.

Interesting end of FY statement coming up soon. Crap membership and attendances, no finals, i doubt we're making a profit this year.
I'd need to check again, but I'm fairly certain the price of my membership reverted back to normal. May have just been an anomaly though I have had issues with my membership in the past.
 

Tectonic

8m46s
Jul 11, 2017
3,992
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Interesting end of FY statement coming up soon. Crap membership and attendances, no finals, i doubt we're making a profit this year.
It's great we can afford to have a down year now. Hope they don't go into full 'tighten the purse strings' mode to compensate. I'm sure they won't because this club is being run pretty damn well operationally to get where it is.

Edit:
Makes me wonder, the last few seasons of being almost-rans, winning enough to keep people interested.. maybe a game of 4d chess leading us to be debt free-ish at the right time to strike?
/removes tinfoil hat
 
Mar 17, 2012
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I'd need to check again, but I'm fairly certain the price of my membership reverted back to normal. May have just been an anomaly though I have had issues with my membership in the past.

I'm a true roo for life member, so my money is taken out automatically.

I think I receive a statement before the start of every season just reminding me what type of membership I have. If you want to change things you just contact the club

Initially I gave extra for the debt demolition when I was told that the debt would be gone in 5 years. I opted out at last year because I felt like I was being taken advantage of and that debt demolition hasn't been the clubs main priority.
 

Page8383

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 6, 2007
6,342
4,174
Sydney
AFL Club
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No you have to opt out.

They were bargaining on people like you not even realising it's there.

Interesting end of FY statement coming up soon. Crap membership and attendances, no finals, i doubt we're making a profit this year.


Perhaps - The Tassie deal is lucrative though.
The reserves team next year and the Women's league licence will be new expenditures next year.
I remember them saying the raffle money was going towards these two things, but I doubt will cover all.
I would predict a break even / small loss this year
 
Don't mean to be a party poop but I feel our debt has been at this 'manageable' level for quite a while now.
Interest rates are low and have been for a while so the cost of servicing debt is low. Running a level of debt that you're comfortable with is fine when you weigh it against the opportunity cost of the other things you could be doing with the money.

We should be only be paying it down faster than we need to if we literally have spare money lying around, or via funds that are raised specifically for the purpose.
 

B4Bear

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 6, 2011
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Mate around 2007 we had turnover (how much money comes in the door) of somewhere between $15m and $20m and debt of about $8m. Debt was about 50% of turnover.

In 2017 we have turnover of $40m and debt of 800k. Debt is now about 2% of turnover.

That's not just 'manageable', it's just bog-standard trading debt. Any time we want we could repay the $800k in a heart beat, but there's no real need or purpose. It is now a question of what we want to spend our money on, whereas a decade ago we had no choice in this regard.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - where we are now, our greatest existential threats are the AFL wanting to ship us off somewhere, and trying to keep up with the Joneses like the scum and the filth who happily throw millions upon millions of dollars at football and off-field operations in the desperate belief that you can win premierships by throwing money at the problem. We have lots of millions now but they have lots more millions than us, and their financial silliness creates an inflationary effect in the football operations marketplace - everyone from the coach to the bootstrapper starts think they're worth more money than they actually are. So long as we keep our heads and only spend on football ops what we earn (or less), then we make profits every year (and have been). It's only if we go crazy and start paying overs again that we will find ourselves back in bad debt land.

Really happy with where the club is at.
Why aren't you on the board' for life.
 

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