Dundee United chairman 'upbeat' about club's performance on and off the park
Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson has declared himself satisfied with the way the club have combined finance with football.
Thompson stressed the figures don't take into account the money raised by the sale of David Goodwillie.
- By Ian Roache
- Published in the Courier : 11.01.12
- Published online : 11.01.12 @ 11.42am
The Tangerines supremo unveiled the latest set of accounts to June 2011, which revealed a loss for the year of £523,000 — caused primarily by an £844,000 reduction in turnover.
However the figures do not include the £2.8 million windfall received for the sale of David Goodwillie to Blackburn Rovers in August, nor the £300,000 compensation package they will get for Scott Allan's switch to West Bromwich Allan, which was completed on Monday night.
That cash will help United reduce their term loan to bankers HBOS to £3.8 million. It stood at over £6 million just four years ago.
There is also the £1 million overdraft facility, which is not viewed as long-term debt, while directors' soft loans remain at £435,000.
Thompson was obviously not pleased to be reporting a half-million-pound loss for the year the accounts cover and the figures contrast with a £65,000 profit for the 12 months to June 2010 — the period enveloping their Scottish Cup victory and third-place finish.
There has also been a decrease in season ticket income of 18%, only highlighting the hardships faced by even clubs of United's size and stature in this age of austerity for Scottish football.
However, there is satisfaction at Tannadice that they have significantly reduced their debt while at the same time maintained a good standard of play on the park.
''I am more upbeat now about the club than I was even a couple of years ago because we are getting there regarding the finances,'' said Thompson. ''Of course I would have preferred to make a £500,000 profit rather than a loss but I would emphasise that these accounts are historical with regard to the financial situation at the club, being up to June of last year.
''The Goodwillie deal was done after that period and there is no doubt that it was one of the best deals done for a long time. Other people in the SPL tell me that, so we did well.
''The bank wanted us to accept £1.2 million for him and I said no because I thought we could get more for him and we did. I had to stand up against them and that was hard to do.
''It has made a big, big difference to the financial stability of the club. We had a bit of a ding-dong with the bank at the time (the money came in from Blackburn) but we reached a common sense solution, which is all I was really looking for."
Continued...
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