Dundee United supporters should prepare for the break-up of their Scottish Cup-winning team in the summer, while also retaining real hope of further success in the future. That is the message from Tannadice chairman Stephen Thompson as he reflected on the financial performance of the club during the period to June last year, covering the memorable day at Hampden.
“I am not going to have a go at agents, but sometimes they don’t always work in the best interests of players, in my opinion, and often the demands put around this table are ridiculous.
“Our manager Peter Houston is already looking at other players and I expect to see a few changes in personnel at the end of the season. That is just the way it is when you have success.
“If you look back, any non-Old Firm team that has won something has had their team depleted two years later. That is the nature of the game.
“But we are optimistic about the future. We still feel we will be able to compete at a high level in the SPL. I really don’t see why we can’t.
“Fans want success on the park and there will still be a lot of the squad who are still under contract next year. I am thinking of the likes of Jon Daly, Sean Dillon, Garry Kenneth, David Goodwillie, Paul Dixon, Danny Swanson and Scott Robertson, to name but a few.
“Also, we are developing our own kids. We have signed two or three up on three-year contracts and we have high hopes for them.”
Thompson stressed that manager Houston is well aware of what will need to happen in the summer as the club strives to cut its cloth accordingly.
“The most important thing is the club lives within its means,” added Thompson. “We have a budget but Peter and I have not really sat down together yet. He does know the limitations and what he has to spend in the summer.
“The budget will have to be reduced for the long-term benefit of the club. We can’t continue to keep putting money in as a family, and Peter understands that. We all want success, and his job is based on success, but the club is more important than anything.”
The Thompson family cash pot will be a lot lighter later this month, when another six-figure sum makes its way to Tannadice to deal with cash flow demands at what is traditionally the toughest time of the financial year in football. That is a signal to any doubters that the chairman and his mother Cath are still four-square behind the club, but the goal remains to make United stand on their own in future.
“We will have to do something in the next two or three weeks,” said Thompson. “This is the worst time of the year for cash flow at clubs. There is just a lack of income.
“I seem to have been getting some criticism about money, but we as a family are still putting our own money in. It is not good for the long-term well-being of the club, though, and we are trying to stop that.
“We have a debt of £5.4 million in the form of a term loan to the bank which has remained the same. I would love to get rid of the debt, and that is a long-term ambition, but we need to steady the ship first of all.
“The relationship with the bank is hard. They have a different attitude towards football than they used to. I met them recently and they are turning the screw on everybody because they want to see every business operate within its means and reduce its debt if it has any.”
It was feared, in the immediate aftermath of the win over Ross County, that stars like Craig Conway, Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis would be on their way, with clubs in England as well as Scotland showing an interest.
However, they have remained for this season, and all three will have major roles to play in what remains of the campaign. But they are almost certain to be on their way at the end of May as their contracts expire and United admit they can’t meet their demands for re-signing.
There could be other familiar faces on their way out the door, too, with the likes of Dusan Pernis and Garry Kenneth possibly attracting bids as they enter the final year of their deals. The Tangerines will also be reducing their wage budget, and you can see why.
The financial reality facing football clubs is hammered home by United’s accounts with the club’s most successful season since their 1980s heyday, during which they added a third-place finish to the cup victory, only yielding a modest £66,000 profit.
Despite the likely departures and pressure on the pocket, Thompson believes there can still be good times ahead for United on the park.
“We made probably half a million pounds out of the cup final alone,” said the chairman. “Success on the park is what makes you money, and had we not reached the final and not finished third in the league we would be looking at some substantial losses.
“It depends what happens with the rest of this season but, as things stand, we are facing huge losses for the year 2010-11. We have an outflow of cash of about £700,000 per annum based on being sixth in the league and being out of all the cups. So that is the kind of figure you have to address, either through getting success on the park, as we did last year, or controlling your costs.
“The current financial climate brings some harsh realities and we will have some difficult decisions to make in the next two to three months with regard to wages etc, but we are not the only club in that position. When I speak to other owners and chairmen I get the impression that clubs will not be able to sustain their current wage structures,” added Thompson, whose club’s salaries-to-turnover ratio sits at 65%, having been as high as 94% in 2004.
“We do have a lot of players out of contract and have tried to re-sign a number of them but only some of them have re-signed the younger ones,” he continued. “Some of the more senior players are not interested in signing contracts it’s as simple as that. Either that or their demands are way beyond what any SPL team outside the Old Firm can afford.
Continued…
It was feared, in the immediate aftermath of the win over Ross County, that stars like Craig Conway, Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis would be on their way, with clubs in England as well as Scotland showing an interest.
However, they have remained for this season, and all three will have major roles to play in what remains of the campaign. But they are almost certain to be on their way at the end of May as their contracts expire and United admit they can’t meet their demands for re-signing.
There could be other familiar faces on their way out the door, too, with the likes of Dusan Pernis and Garry Kenneth possibly attracting bids as they enter the final year of their deals. The Tangerines will also be reducing their wage budget, and you can see why.
The financial reality facing football clubs is hammered home by United’s accounts with the club’s most successful season since their 1980s heyday, during which they added a third-place finish to the cup victory, only yielding a modest £66,000 profit.
Despite the likely departures and pressure on the pocket, Thompson believes there can still be good times ahead for United on the park.
“We made probably half a million pounds out of the cup final alone,” said the chairman. “Success on the park is what makes you money, and had we not reached the final and not finished third in the league we would be looking at some substantial losses.
“It depends what happens with the rest of this season but, as things stand, we are facing huge losses for the year 2010-11. We have an outflow of cash of about £700,000 per annum based on being sixth in the league and being out of all the cups. So that is the kind of figure you have to address, either through getting success on the park, as we did last year, or controlling your costs.
“The current financial climate brings some harsh realities and we will have some difficult decisions to make in the next two to three months with regard to wages etc, but we are not the only club in that position. When I speak to other owners and chairmen I get the impression that clubs will not be able to sustain their current wage structures,” added Thompson, whose club’s salaries-to-turnover ratio sits at 65%, having been as high as 94% in 2004.
“We do have a lot of players out of contract and have tried to re-sign a number of them but only some of them have re-signed the younger ones,” he continued. “Some of the more senior players are not interested in signing contracts it’s as simple as that. Either that or their demands are way beyond what any SPL team outside the Old Firm can afford.
Continued…
It was feared, in the immediate aftermath of the win over Ross County, that stars like Craig Conway, Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis would be on their way, with clubs in England as well as Scotland showing an interest.
However, they have remained for this season, and all three will have major roles to play in what remains of the campaign. But they are almost certain to be on their way at the end of May as their contracts expire and United admit they can’t meet their demands for re-signing.
There could be other familiar faces on their way out the door, too, with the likes of Dusan Pernis and Garry Kenneth possibly attracting bids as they enter the final year of their deals. The Tangerines will also be reducing their wage budget, and you can see why.
The financial reality facing football clubs is hammered home by United’s accounts with the club’s most successful season since their 1980s heyday, during which they added a third-place finish to the cup victory, only yielding a modest £66,000 profit.
Despite the likely departures and pressure on the pocket, Thompson believes there can still be good times ahead for United on the park.
“We made probably half a million pounds out of the cup final alone,” said the chairman. “Success on the park is what makes you money, and had we not reached the final and not finished third in the league we would be looking at some substantial losses.
“It depends what happens with the rest of this season but, as things stand, we are facing huge losses for the year 2010-11. We have an outflow of cash of about £700,000 per annum based on being sixth in the league and being out of all the cups. So that is the kind of figure you have to address, either through getting success on the park, as we did last year, or controlling your costs.
“The current financial climate brings some harsh realities and we will have some difficult decisions to make in the next two to three months with regard to wages etc, but we are not the only club in that position. When I speak to other owners and chairmen I get the impression that clubs will not be able to sustain their current wage structures,” added Thompson, whose club’s salaries-to-turnover ratio sits at 65%, having been as high as 94% in 2004.
“We do have a lot of players out of contract and have tried to re-sign a number of them but only some of them have re-signed the younger ones,” he continued. “Some of the more senior players are not interested in signing contracts it’s as simple as that. Either that or their demands are way beyond what any SPL team outside the Old Firm can afford.
Continued…
It was feared, in the immediate aftermath of the win over Ross County, that stars like Craig Conway, Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis would be on their way, with clubs in England as well as Scotland showing an interest.
However, they have remained for this season, and all three will have major roles to play in what remains of the campaign. But they are almost certain to be on their way at the end of May as their contracts expire and United admit they can’t meet their demands for re-signing.
There could be other familiar faces on their way out the door, too, with the likes of Dusan Pernis and Garry Kenneth possibly attracting bids as they enter the final year of their deals. The Tangerines will also be reducing their wage budget, and you can see why.
The financial reality facing football clubs is hammered home by United’s accounts with the club’s most successful season since their 1980s heyday, during which they added a third-place finish to the cup victory, only yielding a modest £66,000 profit.
Despite the likely departures and pressure on the pocket, Thompson believes there can still be good times ahead for United on the park.
“We made probably half a million pounds out of the cup final alone,” said the chairman. “Success on the park is what makes you money, and had we not reached the final and not finished third in the league we would be looking at some substantial losses.
“It depends what happens with the rest of this season but, as things stand, we are facing huge losses for the year 2010-11. We have an outflow of cash of about £700,000 per annum based on being sixth in the league and being out of all the cups. So that is the kind of figure you have to address, either through getting success on the park, as we did last year, or controlling your costs.
“The current financial climate brings some harsh realities and we will have some difficult decisions to make in the next two to three months with regard to wages etc, but we are not the only club in that position. When I speak to other owners and chairmen I get the impression that clubs will not be able to sustain their current wage structures,” added Thompson, whose club’s salaries-to-turnover ratio sits at 65%, having been as high as 94% in 2004.
“We do have a lot of players out of contract and have tried to re-sign a number of them but only some of them have re-signed the younger ones,” he continued. “Some of the more senior players are not interested in signing contracts it’s as simple as that. Either that or their demands are way beyond what any SPL team outside the Old Firm can afford.
Continued…