League 1 General Chat Thread

[masi51]

Pictures of the design for the new Kop have been published, due to be complete for summer '26.View attachment 21519View attachment 21520View attachment 21521

 

[Conker]

L1 accounts starting to appear.

A £2.9m loss last season for us, but that doesn't include the sale of Jensen to Millwall (£500k-ish). Mentioned it a few weeks back but confirmation that our budget last season was mid-table and even with an increased budget this season, we're now bottom 6. To maintain our budget position we'd have to have increased it by 67%, which is mental. Basically income for most L1 Clubs has flatlined but overheads/wages keep increasing at a far, far faster rate.

We're effectively debt free, there's about £500k owed to supporters as part of a bond issue for the Stacey West Redevelopment but that's it and will be down to £350k next year.

Only other ones I've seen:

Leyton Orient - £3.7m loss
Bristol Rovers - £6.2m loss

It’s absolutely mental, I imagine we will be running a budget similar to Lincoln which will put us not far off the relegation spot budget wise.

Birmingham coming down and Wrexham and Stockport coming up with top end budgets is a big factor in this change. Must be very unusual for two sides promoted out of L2 to go straight in and around the play-off spots financially.

 

[EnglishRed]

Straight away I thought Walsall and Battersea Power Station.

Like most stands when they're re-built at old stadiums, it'll look completely out of place with the rest of it especially with the height. Why would they not look to incorporate some corner stands into it and try and wrap around what's already there?

I'm not sure that would work, the Mold road stand (stand from the 90s) doesn't really lend itself to being incorporated like that. Was a bit of a short sighted design really, particularly when you consider the Kop was condemned less than a decade after Mold road was built.

Ultimately both of the big old stands from the 70s will need refurbishment/rebuilding at one point so there might be scope to get a design that makes the stadium look less piecemeal.

Tbh it will be nice to have a proper four sided stadium again so fingers crossed we do actually see this one built.

 

[Luke Imp]

It’s absolutely mental, I imagine we will be running a budget similar to Lincoln which will put us not far off the relegation spot budget wise.

Birmingham coming down and Wrexham and Stockport coming up with top end budgets is a big factor in this change. Must be very unusual for two sides promoted out of L2 to go straight in and around the play-off spots financially.

L1 wages are also up 58% on last season.

Next season it might settle down slightly depending on who gets promoted but also who comes down from the Championship (going to be decent budgets but they don't look like Birmingham or Wrexham level of spending) and up from L2 (don't look to be any genuine high spending sides this season?).

Just to put some further figures to L1 budgets, this is what we were told last night:

“League One seemed pretty mad at the start of the season. We get the benchmarking, we see where we are—19th in the budget table. We see we’re two million off 10th, and three and a half million off playoff positions."

 

[Stocky]

Our forecast for the season was a top 10 budget. We're nowhere near Birmingham, Wrexham, Bolton and Huddersfield for example.

I would have our budget around Blackpool, Barnsley and Rotherham.

 

[Pilot_Phonic]

Straight away I thought Walsall and Battersea Power Station.

Like most stands when they're re-built at old stadiums, it'll look completely out of place with the rest of it especially with the height. Why would they not look to incorporate some corner stands into it and try and wrap around what's already there?

We are. Just not in these plans as essentially we have a blank canvass and got to get it right and seems like they have with the size they want to increase it to as and when the opportunity arises.

I've heard that depending on what league we are going to be in, potentially the new kop won't get built straight away but will look to add seating into the corners.

 

[Conker]

Our forecast for the season was a top 10 budget. We're nowhere near Birmingham, Wrexham, Bolton and Huddersfield for example.

I would have our budget around Blackpool, Barnsley and Rotherham.

Yeah you’ll be in and around the play-offs spots.

The Lincoln DOF figures if true say a lot, he claims they sit 19th and 10th is 2 million higher, play-offs £3.5m higher.

We may up the ante eventually, JR can afford to do that financially, doubtful under Clough we are going to massively splurge, but I would like to think he will get the transfer profit from this season on top of the usual budget for the summer rebuild.

I imagine we sit middle to lower mid all considered, we clearly have a bit of financial muscle to get the likes of Lee Gregory/Flint etc who will require a good contract.

 

[chief]

Next season it might settle down slightly depending on who gets promoted but also who comes down from the Championship (going to be decent budgets but they don't look like Birmingham or Wrexham level of spending) and up from L2 (don't look to be any genuine high spending sides this season?).

Barring Plymouth and maybe Pompey, I'd argue you've only got bigger spenders than ourselves with a chance of coming down. Luton were only Premier League last season, their budget would dwarf ours.

We're rich, but we're not THAT rich.

I'd have us 3rd or 4th in the big spenders table currently, comfortably behind Birmingham and Huddersfield, and comparable with Bolton.

 

[White horse]

These are the figures from period ending June 30 2023, lost 5.46 million and wages are massive. Dread to see the figures going up to June 2024 which should be released in March. They seem to be predicting a healthy picture though despite the losses.

Bolton Wanderers FC has scored a financial boost after seeing its turnover jump in the year ended June 30, 2023.

However, its pre-tax loss increased, fueled by continued investment in the playing squad in search of elevation to the Championship.

Accounts filed at Companies House show the Trotters achieved revenues of £19.429m during the period, substantially ahead of the previous year’s £13.829m figure.

But losses widened from £3.694m in 2022, to £5.460m.

The directors’ report to the accounts said: “The financial year has seen significant progress as the group continued to invest in the first team squad and stadium improvements, which has resulted in a managed trading loss.”

The club is currently vying for promotion from League One to the lucrative Championship. As of April 12, it lay third in the table, just outside the automatic promotion spots, two points behind Derby County, but with a game in hand on its nearest rival.

Bolton was saved from expulsion from the league in August, 2019, after its sale, by administrators, to new owner, Football Ventures.

Former owner, Ken Anderson, came in for stinging criticism from joint administrator, Paul Appleton, following the sale, who said: “Sadly, Mr Anderson has used his position as a secured creditor to hamper and frustrate any deal that did not benefit him or suit his purposes.”

Football Ventures was set up by current chair, Sharon Brittan, and Parminder Basran in January 2019, with the purpose of buying the club.

The club’s shareholders now include a group of Geneva-based oil traders, part of an entity called BMLL Limited, led by Ben Luckock, global head of oil at trading house Trafigura Group, and the brother of Nick Luckock, who led the rescue of the Whites in 2019.


The latest reporting period represents the fourth year of trading since the buyout and the directors’ report in the accounts revealed that attendances have increased, impressively, from an average of 15,439 the previous season to 18,814, including around 16,000 season ticket holders.

Bolton narrowly missed out on promotion in the year of the latest accounts, losing 1-0 to Barnsley in the second semi-final leg, losing 2-1 on aggregate.

However, it tasted success in the final of the Papa Johns EFL Trophy, beating Plymouth Argyle 4-0, the biggest win in an EFL Trophy Wembley final, in front of a 79,389 crowd.

Accommodation and leisure activities, including the stadium-based Bolton Whites Hotel facility, brought in £4.336m (£3.682m in 2022), while food and beverage income was £2.246m (£1.632m).

Commercial income almost doubled from £693,418 to £1.158m, and retail also showed a healthy increase, from £950,545 to £1.156m.

Total staffing increased from 384 to 416 people, including 198 linked to management, administration and players, up from 130 previously. However, hotel staffing fell from 120 to 92.

Employee wages and benefits increased from £10.264m in 2022 to £12.834m. Directors took no remuneration.


The accounts also show that, post-reporting period, the club issued 673,664 new shares to BMLL, for a total of £4,499,947.

Cash at bank and in hand stood at £4,072,754 by June 30, 2023, compared with £1,221,971 at July 1, 2022.

The directors’ report said: “Despite the loss to 30 June 2023, the group has a sound base from which to further improve the business.