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Q&A session with CEO Ann Budge - ANSWERS.


Maple Leaf

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Footballfirst
6 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

Q18. How is your relationship with the Foundation of Hearts and could you provide an overview of the current financial arrangement between Bidco and Fanco with regards to the date for the handover of shares?

AB: We have a very good, close working relationship and the Foundation's £3M contribution towards the Tynecastle Redevelopment Project will be completed by May or June this year. The final Bidco payment is then scheduled to happen in May or June of 2020 at which point the transfer of shares will take place.

 

I'm a bit intrigued by Ann's timescales.  I believe that FOH is currently handing over £120k a month, based on the figures provided in the March Blog. All going to plan the £3m stand funding target will be reached with the first £50k of May's pledges (normally handed over around 20th of the month).  I'd expect that some presentation to that effect will take place at the final home game of the season.

 

May 2020, which is Ann's earliest share transfer date, is two years further down the line.  By that point, at current pledging rates, FOH will have handed over another £2.95m,  24 x £120k or £2.88m plus the £70k surplus from May 2018's pledges.  The loan is £2.4m and the shares £100k, so what is planned for the extra £450k?

 

The loan should be repaid in January 2020 and the shares purchased a month later, unless I'm missing something. There may be a formal handover of a few months if Ann is handing over the reins to a new chief exec., possibly at the end of season 2019/20, but under the terms of the agreement FOH's financial commitments will be met some months earlier than Ann's estimate.

Edited by Footballfirst
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22 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

 

I'm a bit intrigued by Ann's timescales.  I believe that FOH is currently handing over £120k a month, based on the figures provided in the March Blog. All going to plan the £3m stand funding target will be reached with the first £50k of May's pledges (normally handed over around 20th of the month).  I'd expect that some presentation to that effect will take place at the final home game of the season.

 

May 2020, which is Ann's earliest share transfer date, is two years further down the line.  By that point, at current pledging rates, FOH will have handed over another £2.95m,  24 x £120k or £2.88m plus the £70k surplus from May 2018's pledges.  The loan is £2.4m and the shares £100k, so what is planned for the extra £450k?

 

The loan should be repaid in January 2020 and the shares purchased a month later, unless I'm missing something. There may be a formal handover of a few months if Ann is handing over the reins to a new chief exec., possibly at the end of season 2019/20, but under the terms of the agreement FOH's financial commitments will be met some months earlier than Ann's estimate.

 

Maybe just natural caution and giving some leeway. 

 

 

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I would say it was successful and the information especially about new stand much of which was new was welcome. 

Edited by Mikey1874
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3 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

I would say it was successful and the information especially about new stand much of which was new was welcome. 

Agreed. The part about only being licenced to use 95% of the capacity of the stadium explains the 18,600 sell out for the Hibs cup game. 

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4 hours ago, Barack said:

Q&A with Levein next.

 

 

 

giphy.gif

 

 

Don't think this is the best idea in the world.  I can understand that fans like to know what's going on but unless the responses are somewhat restricted, which diminishes the purpose, it means we are telling the world what our plans are.

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Escobar PHM
5 hours ago, Nookie Bear said:

 

Yeah, basically confirmed we will treat our own fans more harshly than away fans.

Actually I liked the politics of her answer in that, given that we’re PROBABLY one of the 4 clubs reported for sectarian singing lately and had it swept under the carpet with the bigot brothers. We need to sort our own minor problem before we go taking unilateral action against ‘other’ clubs

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portobellojambo1
7 hours ago, kila said:

Interesting read.

 

TV studio plans are different again then? They had applied for planning permission to build a studio in the pylon by the Roseburn end. To lose rows of seats in the new stand because of a TV studio being added at the top is a bit ridiculous though. Quite a lot hadn't been thought about enough (directors entrance, toilet design etc), though at least they are looking to try fix that and budgeting for it.

 

 

 

 

 

Does any TV studio have to be situated so that it looks across the park, and as such take up spacing intended for seats. I'm guessing that if, for example, the TV studio was constructed in one of the spaces referred to within the body of the main stand there would also be sufficient hardware and software in place. This would make sure the presenters and their guests would be able to see everything that was happening on the park, would it not ?

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been here before
3 hours ago, wavydavy said:

Thanks for the trouble you guys went to especially typing that lot out must have been a chore.

 

Am I right in thinking that the Police Viewing Box was previously going to be removed rather than as AB said is now staying in situ but being scaled back?

 

That was my recollection too.

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Buffalo Bill
Just now, been here before said:

 

That was my recollection too.

 

No, there was definitely reports previous to the Q&A that it would be scaled back, rather than removed. The question in the Q&A was just to get an update on the timescale. 

 

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Excellent work. Thanks to all involved. 

 

Echoing some of BB's comments, the job that Ann has done in increasing the turnover of the club is fantastic. To see us talking about hitting £15m per annum is amazing. While things have gone awry on the pitch, the work she has done growing 'the business' has been stellar. Once we have both producing then we will be in a very healthy position indeed. 

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shaun.lawson
1 hour ago, Manny1874 said:

Excellent work. Thanks to all involved. 

 

Echoing some of BB's comments, the job that Ann has done in increasing the turnover of the club is fantastic. To see us talking about hitting £15m per annum is amazing. While things have gone awry on the pitch, the work she has done growing 'the business' has been stellar. Once we have both producing then we will be in a very healthy position indeed. 

 

Yep. And that is true 'ambition'. Ambition involves slowly growing the club over the long term. Not chucking money we don't have on players we can't afford. If the club gets all the foundations in place, gets the infrastructure right, the youth system right, the stadium right and so on, then it can look to push forward on the pitch. The great mistake of most owners is to think it's the other way around.

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Brilliant read, my spidey Jambo senses are tingling - AB has done, and continues to do a fantastic job for us - cannae thank her enough :pimp2:

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Cruyff Turn

Only thing that worries me is Q5. 

 

If it's a hybrid pitch with the works needing done it is going to take months. The time scale involved doesn't seem achievable for the start of next season and they don't even seem to have a contractor in place yet. 

 

We'd have to start works the day after our last home game to achieve the sort of timescale for a Hybrid. 

 

Can't see it, then again, if the undersoil heating and drainage is sorted, we probably don't need one and a good grass pitch will be suffice.

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4 minutes ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Only thing that worries me is Q5. 

 

If it's a hybrid pitch with the works needing done it is going to take months. The time scale involved doesn't seem achievable for the start of next season and they don't even seem to have a contractor in place yet. 

 

We'd have to start works the day after our last home game to achieve the sort of timescale for a Hybrid. 

 

Can't see it, then again, if the undersoil heating and drainage is sorted, we probably don't need one and a good grass pitch will be suffice.

 

Could we not have the first few games away from tynie again? Far from ideal, but doesn't yet sound like an insurmountable problem

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Cruyff Turn
Just now, OTT said:

 

Could we not have the first few games away from tynie again? Far from ideal, but doesn't yet sound like an insurmountable problem

Our first games will be League Cup in July. I think the league's been quite accommodating with the new stand, we'd be taking the piss for a new pitch. 

 

It's 5-6 weeks to lay a hybrid. 

 

A week or two to rip the pitch and soil up as it is 'like cement'.

 

New undersoil heating might be a 2-4 week job.

 

12 weeks bare minimum and that doesn't include bedding in time and settlement for the pitch which might be 2-3 weeks. 

 

We're looking at maybe 15 weeks, which is about the start of August from now.

 

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Francis Albert
11 minutes ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Our first games will be League Cup in July. I think the league's been quite accommodating with the new stand, we'd be taking the piss for a new pitch. 

 

It's 5-6 weeks to lay a hybrid. 

 

A week or two to rip the pitch and soil up as it is 'like cement'.

 

New undersoil heating might be a 2-4 week job.

 

12 weeks bare minimum and that doesn't include bedding in time and settlement for the pitch which might be 2-3 weeks. 

 

We're looking at maybe 15 weeks, which is about the start of August from now.

 

Sounds like a job for two close seasons then. As ann in fact says

 

 

Edited by Francis Albert
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Francis Albert

On Q19 it is surprising that maintenance of the new stand is going to cost more than maintenance of the old stand, the cost of which was supposedly one of the main drivers for redevelopment.

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shaun.lawson
19 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

On Q19 it is surprising that maintenance of the new stand is going to cost more than maintenance of the old stand, the cost of which was supposedly one of the main drivers for redevelopment.

 

Sticking plaster v massive investment for the future facilitating various new revenue-making opportunities. Seems fair enough to me.

Edited by shaun.lawson
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Francis Albert
13 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

 

Sticking plaster v massive investment for the future facilitating various new revenue-making opportunities. Seems fair enough to me.

I wasn't questioning the decision to invest in new revenue generating facilities. Just expressing some surprise that the cost of maintaining a 100 year old structure (often referred to on here as one of the reasons we HAD to rebuild) was less than the cost of maintaining  a brand new one.

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heartsfc_fan

See this "only licensed for 95%" quote.

 

We had 19,316 at the 0-0 league game in December v Hibs.

So surely then we might actually have an able capacity of around 20,300 odd?

 

Ann Budge has probably called it safe and said "20,000" because she might not have an exact figure yet?

 

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Unknown user
1 hour ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Our first games will be League Cup in July. I think the league's been quite accommodating with the new stand, we'd be taking the piss for a new pitch. 

 

It's 5-6 weeks to lay a hybrid. 

 

A week or two to rip the pitch and soil up as it is 'like cement'.

 

New undersoil heating might be a 2-4 week job.

 

12 weeks bare minimum and that doesn't include bedding in time and settlement for the pitch which might be 2-3 weeks. 

 

We're looking at maybe 15 weeks, which is about the start of August from now.

 

A pitch can be laid and ready in a couple of days, even the grassmaster guys can do it with pre grown hybrid sods these days. 

It would be a temporary solution and would need replaced properly a year later but it would mean everything else could get done properly this year with just the permanent pitch to come next year.

 

Here's an example of ajax doing it

https://sportsvenuebusiness.com/index.php/2017/09/11/world-class-interview-amsterdam-arenas-henk-van-raan/

 

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Sandy Clark
1 hour ago, Francis Albert said:

On Q19 it is surprising that maintenance of the new stand is going to cost more than maintenance of the old stand, the cost of which was supposedly one of the main drivers for redevelopment.

Its only words FA. Surely we need to see the actual costings of old main stand upkeep against new main stand upkeep. Window washing and heating aside I would be very interested in the costings.

 

The majority of questions were great and thanks to AB for authorisation.

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scott herbertson
5 hours ago, Francis Albert said:

I wasn't questioning the decision to invest in new revenue generating facilities. Just expressing some surprise that the cost of maintaining a 100 year old structure (often referred to on here as one of the reasons we HAD to rebuild) was less than the cost of maintaining  a brand new one.

 

 

In my days of managing council leisure centres libraries etc we had two lines for maintenance in the budget - capital and revenue. I’d imagine she is talking mainly about the revenue side.

 

Revenue Items such as heating and lighting costs, and the running costs of ME will be far more expensive in the new build as they were pretty minimal in the old, whereas we will have offic3 suites and hospitality areas in the new.

 

the irregular capital investment in areas like roof repairs, replacing seats etc  I would expect to be less in the new stand at least for the first 5 years or so.

 

 

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Francis Albert
4 hours ago, scott herbertson said:

 

 

In my days of managing council leisure centres libraries etc we had two lines for maintenance in the budget - capital and revenue. I’d imagine she is talking mainly about the revenue side.

 

Revenue Items such as heating and lighting costs, and the running costs of ME will be far more expensive in the new build as they were pretty minimal in the old, whereas we will have offic3 suites and hospitality areas in the new.

 

the irregular capital investment in areas like roof repairs, replacing seats etc  I would expect to be less in the new stand at least for the first 5 years or so.

 

 

Thanks that makes sense.

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Francis Albert

Good news on flyers/leaflets and some sort of pop up stall in the city centre to attract some tourist traffic to games, and on an airport shop or stall (currently the only strips you can buy at the airport are Rangers and Celtic and I have no problem with sharing with Hibs), and improvements to club store stock (including the right colour for the tartan scarfs!) It sounds like we are making long overdue improvements on the marketing and commercial side of the business.

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Allowayjambo1874

Think the airport shop idea could be quite expensive with little return. Wonder if we could trial a shop somewhere really central with hibs and Edinburgh rugby, split cost 3 ways (but obviously reduces our floor space by a third). Try it for a year if possible and see how it goes. 

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Francis Albert
10 hours ago, heartsfc_fan said:

See this "only licensed for 95%" quote.

 

We had 19,316 at the 0-0 league game in December v Hibs.

So surely then we might actually have an able capacity of around 20,300 odd?

 

Ann Budge has probably called it safe and said "20,000" because she might not have an exact figure yet?

 

Puzzled me too. 95% of the stadium capacity would mean temporarily losing 1000 seats or one seventh of the new stand due to the police box which is clearly not the case. So I think she was referring to 95% of the new stand capacity, equivalent to losing about 350 seats which sounds more like it.

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heartsfc_fan
11 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Puzzled me too. 95% of the stadium capacity would mean temporarily losing 1000 seats or one seventh of the new stand due to the police box which is clearly not the case. So I think she was referring to 95% of the new stand capacity, equivalent to losing about 350 seats which sounds more like it.

Probably it, yes.

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davemclaren
11 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Puzzled me too. 95% of the stadium capacity would mean temporarily losing 1000 seats or one seventh of the new stand due to the police box which is clearly not the case. So I think she was referring to 95% of the new stand capacity, equivalent to losing about 350 seats which sounds more like it.

I think you could be right as it is a limitation on the safety certificate. I imagine the certificates for the existing stands are unaffected by the recent building work to create the new stand. 

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Footballfirst
11 hours ago, Jammy T said:

Is FOH subs officially included under the banner of our ‘turnover’

 

Apologies if the answer is in there and I missed it.

 

No.  It is technically still a loan although its has been written off by FOH as it will not be repaid.  In the club accounts, it is now referred to as capital reserves.

 

As the club's turnover goes up, the relative value of the additional FOH funds to the club is lessened.  When we had a turnover of £7m, the FOH contribution of £1.4m represented a 20% boost to turnover.  If we have a turnover of £15m, then FOH's £1.4m will only be a 9% boost.  However, It confirms that spending FOH funds on infrastructure projects that generate an increase in the club's income is a good thing for the long term, as the return on investment over a number of years will dwarf the original sum handed over.  It's a much better approach than spending FOH funds on dodgy left backs.  

Edited by Footballfirst
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Buffalo Bill
12 hours ago, Cruyff Turn said:

Only thing that worries me is Q5. 

 

If it's a hybrid pitch with the works needing done it is going to take months. The time scale involved doesn't seem achievable for the start of next season and they don't even seem to have a contractor in place yet. 

 

We'd have to start works the day after our last home game to achieve the sort of timescale for a Hybrid. 

 

Can't see it, then again, if the undersoil heating and drainage is sorted, we probably don't need one and a good grass pitch will be suffice.

 

I think that’s why they’ll phase it over two summers. 

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Nookie Bear
4 minutes ago, Buffalo Bill said:

 

I think that’s why they’ll phase it over two summers. 

 

One half of the pitch this season, the other half the season after :happy:

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That was a good read, hopefully the player recruitment will be resolved after this summer. Another 9 players coming in is ridiculous.  we need to see that number coming drastically down.

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Pasquale for King
13 hours ago, Francis Albert said:

On Q19 it is surprising that maintenance of the new stand is going to cost more than maintenance of the old stand, the cost of which was supposedly one of the main drivers for redevelopment.

Hell of a lot of lights on in the stand at night, theyve started turning the badge off though ?.

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1 hour ago, Footballfirst said:

 

No.  It is technically still a loan although its has been written off by FOH as it will not be repaid.  In the club accounts, it is now referred to as capital reserves.

 

As the club's turnover goes up, the relative value of the additional FOH funds to the club is lessened.  When we had a turnover of £7m, the FOH contribution of £1.4m represented a 20% boost to turnover.  If we have a turnover of £15m, then FOH's £1.4m will only be a 9% boost.  However, It confirms that spending FOH funds on infrastructure projects that generate an increase in the club's income is a good thing for the long term, as the return on investment over a number of years will dwarf the original sum handed over.  It's a much better approach than spending FOH funds on dodgy left backs.  

 

At 9% or less it becomes easier and more obvious to ring fence the FoH funds. 

 

While I generally agree with making them general funds it will help with success and feeling involved with fan ownership to point to actual benefits from the money. 

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2 hours ago, Ron Burgundy said:

Good stuff apart from her admitting defeat to the Old Firm support who get away with murder.

Depressing.

 

She was maybe thinking of the renewed regular sectarian singing by Hearts fans at away games this season. 

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sairyinthat

The club can insist on Police Scotland taking action against offenders inside the club property.Visual action no less.

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9 minutes ago, sairyinthat said:

The club can insist on Police Scotland taking action against offenders inside the club property.Visual action no less.

 

Can they though?

 

My understanding is they don't take action against the OF on the day because there is a legitimate chance of it kicking off big time. As the police are failing to deal with the problem there and then can we not apply to reduce how much we need to spend on the police on site? I.e it makes no difference if there is 10,15 or 20 police on site as no one is arrested. Why pay out money needlessly? 

 

I understand they deal with perpritators after the game every so often but I don't think that deals with the problem. If folk knew singing the billy boys would lead to immediately being ejected and arrested I don't think certain groups of away fans would be so keen to fill Tynie with their bigotry.. 

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Ron Burgundy
20 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

She was maybe thinking of the renewed regular sectarian singing by Hearts fans at away games this season. 

She clearly wasn't.

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2 hours ago, Footballfirst said:

 

No.  It is technically still a loan although its has been written off by FOH as it will not be repaid.  In the club accounts, it is now referred to as capital reserves.

 

As the club's turnover goes up, the relative value of the additional FOH funds to the club is lessened.  When we had a turnover of £7m, the FOH contribution of £1.4m represented a 20% boost to turnover.  If we have a turnover of £15m, then FOH's £1.4m will only be a 9% boost.  However, It confirms that spending FOH funds on infrastructure projects that generate an increase in the club's income is a good thing for the long term, as the return on investment over a number of years will dwarf the original sum handed over.  It's a much better approach than spending FOH funds on dodgy left backs.  

All true but 'only 9%' is a massive understatement. To receive close on a tenth of our income from foh is phenomenal given the hoped for increase in turnover.

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See this sectarian singing thing, it really annoys me. Budge absolutely cannot win here and it ****s me off that Hearts supporters are using it as a topic to attack her with.

 

After the first Celtic game on her watch, Budge went after the Celtic support and lambasted their behaviour in the media. In order to try and do this successfully, she also had to address the sectarian singing from our own fans. Result:

 

The Scottish media formed a ‘huddle’ and concentrated only on her daring to criticise the Celtic support, while apparently Tynie is full of bigots. Nicholas, Walker and Proven were all over it like the tramps they are on chips.

 

The Hearts supporters who enjoy a wee bit of offensive singing themselves started screeching about how unfair it was to criticise them when Celtic and Rangers are much worse. This then evolved in to Budge wanting to turn Tynie in to a “library” and not wanting fans to sing or create an atmosphere.

 

At least one or two on here are honest and just admit that they like the mutual hatred and enjoy that atmosphere at games v certain clubs. The others who act all offended at her trying to keep her own house clean in order to tackle the OF and Hibs supporters behaviour at Tynecastle are just doing more damage than good.

 

 

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