Tuesday 12 January 2010

Sullivan's Apocalyptic Prediction


I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art.

So says Prospero in The Tempest as he describes the Apocalypse. Sullivan's vision of football finances is just as apocalyptic. If you believe Sullivan, football is standing on the brink, peering into the abyss, and at least one Premiership club will be buried "certain fathoms in the earth" before the year is out.

Sullivan tells us how Duxbury has kept West Ham afloat, by mortgaging our future - future season ticket sales, future television revenue, future sponsorship income, you name it, we have borrowed against it. That explains the debate over the extent of the debt. Sullivan and Gold see that future revenue streams are already being gobbled up to service the existing debt; Straumur only want to admit to the debt currently showing on the balance sheet. The reality is much worse than Straumur wish to admit.

It seems that Intermarket may now be out of the running after the death of CEO Bowe. As each day ticks by, our plight deepens. Franco may be out for a month, Cole isn't yet ready to return: we are left with Sears and Nouble as a strike force. God help us! The trouble is, in the Apocalypse we are all judged, and the Tevez affair may well count as a mortal sin!

6 comments:

pajowa said...

The Apocalypse!

Talk about poetic licence...

Perhaps the article could go on to explain who was the "beast" solely responsible for the global banking collapse?!

The comments made by DS were not directly attributed to West Ham or SD. Rather, he had reviewed the books of 20 clubs and seen the type of problems you describe. Would it be more logical to conclude that West Ham were one of the better options? If not why would DG/DS still be in the frame as potential new owners?

On the accounts, if the club has borrowed money against future income, then this amount should be included as a liability in the balance sheet.

Anyway I am not a fan of SD and your articles amuse me, but I would probably be much better off reading Shakespeare...

T.I.S said...

Does anybody know when Hines is supposed to be fit?

Funny how last season I expected him to be another Kyel Reid yet now he is one of our main strikers. Imagine if we had our 3 strikers fit, would it then be a selection problem mwahahaha

Anton's goofey teath said...

You do wonder how half of these clubs manage to continue when they seem to make losses each year. But I suppose, football clubs, just like all other businesses and the banks got swept away with the boom years and took risky gambles with debt and the chickens are about to come home to roost. We were just the first of many because BG himself was a banker and an Icelandic one at that. But it looks like we will be sorted out soon, where others are about to fall into the credit crunch abyss. Watch what happens to a few clubs next season.

Anonymous said...

Jerked a bit quickly on this one considering Intermarket claim not to be done yet...
This saga will drag on long enough to not spend in January!
lol
Sullivan wants a bargain - he's hardly likely to 'big up' the state of football, yet strangely keen to get back into it?

Problem with the internet is the scope for mind numbing waffle. I suggest everyone sit down, have a beer/glass of wine/joint/hit on the crack pipe and watch it unfold as opposed to firing off bollocks to pass the time.

Hammersfan said...

LOL 0936, that's the beauty of the internet surely? And tothink, most people are being paid a salary whilst they read the waffle and spill forth their own opinions in response. What SHOULD you have been doing at thirty six minutes past nine?

Anonymous said...

I would have to say beauty is at the finger tips of the waffler ;)

The internet may have given everyone a voice and a means to spout an opinion but empty vessels make most sound and all that...

Same thing I do at 9.36am every morning, have a coffee on my break and read up on my favourite East End soap.