It was a light hearted joke and you all seem so jealous.How do you all know how much Stobarts,JST nutrition,Land Rover,Oneills,Tetleys,Riverside College,Halton Borough Council,Halton Buses,Halton Housing Trust, and viqi are putting in each month?Ste oconnor could be putting £10,000 each month towards viqi so it is all possible.Merchandise from 2 rail finals and gate receipts.So jog on and congratulate the next super league team.

I'm not surprised at all by those fantastic results. It's great for the fans of Widnes who must love reading a set of financial results like that. What the club fails to deliver on the pitch they certainly make up for it with a sexy balance sheet and P&L.

It's all good. It's all Super League. (Well, apart from the massive profit of course - that's very un-super leaguey)

absolutely correct griff.

And by the way, this has nothing to do with Widnes getting a franchise - they fully deserve it in my opinion...just not overly convinced by these figures..thats all....

if anyone can get hold of a copy of the accounts let me know..its a bit hard to get them from Canada.,..

Companies house shortly like Every business figures will be... Why lie and risk all the hard work done?

Widnes made a loss of £950k in the year ended 30th November 2008 on turnover of close to £1m. This was the first year of the new regime and included significant costs incurred in re-structuring many of the clubs activities. The expenditure (close to £2m) was funded by the £1m turnover and the remainder by money put in by SOC which in those accounts, was not included as turnover.

The results reported yesterday would be for the year ended 30th November 2009, when Widnes average crowd was still 3,900. In addition to this the club shop (and relationship with O'Niells) was fully functioning. The Dream ticket lottery had had a full year running and new sponsorships had been obtained. Costs were cut by the release of several head office staff (Mike Banks, Pat Cluskey etc) aswell as a reduction in first team costs.

It is entirely feasible that Widnes could have achieved a break-even/small profit position on ordinary trading in the twelve month period.

The headline results of £2.5 million "Turnover" and £1 million profit will almost certainly have been achieved by the inclusion in the Turnover of funds injected by SOC (in years one and two) previously carried as Directors loans but now written off as no longer requiring repayment. This would be an "extraordinary" item in the accounts and , though included as "income" in the accounts would not be included as "turnover". However in press releases and reports such as those we have seen in the last day or two, the term "turnover" will have been used disingenuously to "spin" the figures for License bid purposes.

I would suggest the accounts are not incorrect but that the reporting of them is purposefully designed to make the club look better for the forthcoming bid. Not unusual in these days of "Artists impressions" of new stadiums and 5,000 crowds for meaningless games against Batley Bulldogs!

The above post is pretty much what we have all been saying , let's hope some people calm down a bit now

i actually have a copy of the submitted accounts with me at the moment, and the related parties note is rather telling,

while theres not enough information to either prove or disprove whats written above, given the in theory material amount of 1 million pound being written off, i'd expect that to have been disclosed in order to give a "true and fair" view to anyone reading them. given the lack of disclosure i'd still conclude the press release is correct until concrete evidence to suggest overwise

Reply to ' trash ' not me

Starbug, to descibe your recent postings to be tedious would be an understatement greater than saying the Pope is slightly catholic. It's all well and good picking apart this one press release but to do it with the volume you have says the following. One, you can't claim it doesn't bother you or that you are quite the neutral in this matter. You've been posting about this every place there has been a post, and often. You haven't really added anything since the first post, just repeating the exact same speculation and suspicions you have. Two, you have about the same evidence as anyone else at this point. One press release. You are going over old ground and your initial ground is flimsy. Whether we made one million in profit is largely irrelevant anyway. We have hit the target required and also cleared our debts, debts which recently kept us in dire straits might I add. Anything over that is a bonus.

Stop moaning, stop repeating the same old guff and get over it. You have been attempting to douse a very positive financial statement ever since it has been released and like I said, TEDIOUS.

Chris

Sorry but I am with Starbug on this one! When Halifax came out with a comedy crowd figure - we questioned it. When Widnes come out with a surprising financial report - we question it.

It isn't going to effect the Franchise bid one way or another - as has been stated by other posters the most significant fact emerging here is that the club is debt free.

But if there is a significant difference between the actual accounts and the press release (i.e. reporting non-existent turnover) then that does no credit to the club in my book, and it should also be of concern to the fans of Widnes because what it tells me at least is that their "sustainable business plan" merely turns out to be continuing to rely on SOC to put his hand in his pocket and keep writing off director loans, rather than underlying strength of the "franchise".

A positive press release regarding profit and debt free status should be a concern?

I don't feel concerned.

Show me a single scrap of evidence to back up your accusations.

Heres something I posted on the VT:


It is good advice.

I, as a Widnes fan, will stand by the integrity of my club until it has been proven beyond doubt that there has been falsification of the accounts. Why the wouldn’t we stand by our club?

Why should we bow down to the conjecture of fans from a rival club?

anyways.....................the fact remains WE ARE SUPERLEAGUE! i for one cannot wait for big greg inglis wearing a widnes shirt and putting ryan bailey well and truley in his immature, tantrum throwing, cowardly place

well i can dream

Chris , have you read Trashs post on the subject ? , it tells the truth of the matter , which is pretty much what I said from the start

Last year when Widnes posted accounts showing a ' loss ' of around a million pounds I spent 2/3 days defending those accounts , trying to explain them to our fans and others from other clubs ( mostly Fax fans as I remember ) that you had not actually made a loss but that it was just an anomaly of the input of funds from your owner

Short memories maybe on yours and one or two others part

As Trash has explained , yes on the books it will show a million profit on 2.5 million turnover , but in reality you have broken even , or made a slight profit on the years trading

Why have I spent a couple of days trying to calm down lots of Widnes fans from boasting all over RLfans boards ? , basically because all it is actually doing is making you sound like arrogant SL fans , you are on the whole mostly better than that , you are on the whole loyal level headed RL fans

I don't want you to look stupid , unfortunately one or two of you , really are that stupid , in the end I gave up , but even then the likes of J 20 still wouldn't let go

As I said , read what trash has posted , In fact it is quite strange that nobody has replied to him or asked him to explain further

Just because you will become SL fans in 6 months time doesn't mean you all have to become (removed) now

All the best

First off, I've told you before recently about swearing. You know better than that, stop getting around the swear filter or you can cool off.

Secondly, suggesting widnes fans in general are all in danger of becoming ANYTHING speaks volumes about your recent postings. This isn't about our accounts. It's about us. Your projections on how we are going to start behaving and how you are all that is bravely standing between us and extreme obnoxiousness. There is some hypocrisy here. I have noticed an upturn in trolling emanating from yourself recently, so those in glass houses.

Thirdly, nothing you have posted has actually negated anything I have said. You are going over the same old ground since the very first post, and yet nobody on here, not the supporters, not the negaters, not people neutral, have the finances of widnes rlfc at hand. You're boring. And as you're having this post everywhere, you're not just boring, you're tiresome. Why don't you go back to patronising people on the VT and change this broken record.

Sounds good to me

So does that £2.5m turnover include the £1.8m which was provided by SOC as part of the trust or some other such financial arrangement?. If so, that would mean that the club only generated a turnover of £700k itself and actually has operating losses of £800k for the financial year in question?

I am honestly not having a go as I am not really that bothered by Widnes accounts and I am sure you will never have financial problems while SOC bankrolls the club, but you have to admit it does trather smack of getting carried away while doctoring a disappointing school report

Why don't you email the club and ask them.

Eh?

I struggle to see how people think that Widnes can't run at a profit but Workington can, especially with the NW Business man of the year in charge!

Were operating at an 800k loss? Would hate to see what Barrow's losses our then eh?

I've been away for a couple of days and returned to this news... absolutely amazing stuff.

Do I suspect that SOC has had a hand in his pocket to help with things? Of course I do... but there are a couple of things that have been done at the club that haven't been mentioned here. In the last year or two I believe that it has been negotiated with the HBC that all corporate boxes, tickets etc now goes back to the Vikings in the new rental agreement.
Anybody who has been down will have noticed that pretty much all boxes are always full on a match day regardless of the opposition. Also these ticket prices that are being thrown around of £10 -£12 average could be well off when you take into account the number of Gold and Silver ticket holders that we have at the club. Again. All you need to do is look at that central section of the south stand to see just how many people are paying 'a lot' more than the £15 for a ticket for a bit of privilege.
Vikingstorm is now turning in a nice bit of profit and all concessions sold on a match day go towards the club also.

I'm not saying this makes up the extra £1.5 million turnover from last years figures but it goes towards it.

Fantastic figures... fantastic leadership.
The accounts will be available soon for all to scrutinise anyway so the detractors should just wait and if they are confident they will have their day.

In all honesty SOC probably has a lot to do with it. Im not sure its as fantastic as it looks. I mean its great for the club looking at the figures you could go in to SL and still turn a profit, something that most SL clubs cant do. Its fantastic for the fans knowing that when you get in to SL if SOC keps ploughing his money in then at least you might be able to compete with the mid table teams and who knows but on the flip side if he decides to leave which in this current climate could just happen like that then your team will probably go belly up again. I do however believe Widnes deserve their place in SL its just a shame that they havnt done more on the field which IMHO is where it should really count. I do admit to having a bit of a green eyed monster when i look at where Widnes are going compared to my own club. We would have no chance competing in SL without a wealthy backer and who knows what will happen when we get turned down for a franchise.

He is a fan now and the sponsors are here for a long term.It wont go belly up again.

Greg... the key word is sustainability....

I don't doubt that the figures include some personal donations from Sir SOC. However the club is trying hard to increase revenue and has done that with these new arrangements on corporate hospitality. I don't think these factors should be overlooked. Also the merchandise sales has rocketed...

For years all the club had for sale was the season's shirt, a geometry set, one mug, a light pull and some faded car stickers. I kid you not. You had to tootle along to the club (which no-one ever did because there was nothing to browse)
These days the range of merchandise is fantastic and the location of the shop is far more accessible.. this year I have bought the shirt, two hoodies, a gym bag, a polo shirt. My wife has bought some training kit, a polo shirt and we have bought our son a baby grow. We have probably spent close to £250 in the shop. I don't think this is unusual and other users on this board probably have spent similar sums. We will almost certainly be purchasing more stuff from next seasons range.
A big thing now is the website which sells merchandise and the number of people that can now order online and have goods delivered should not be underestimated.

It's easy to trot off numbers like 3,000 people buying tickets at £10 ticket average prices and 750 people buying a shirt at £40 but that is nowhere near reflective of what is acutally going on at the club. Throw in occasions like the NRC final and the spending shoots up.

In SL I would expect crowd figures to at least double, we would be getting the golden ticket of Sky money and sponsorship should increase. I think we would do okay... but no-one's pretending that having SOC at the helm doesn't help. If he did keep ploughing his money in there is nothing to say that we couldn't emulate what Warrington are doing now.

I can't wait for Widnes to go up either. At least who ever replaces you should provide some on field competition