David Gold: Birmingham City face tough financial choices

Mar 26 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post

And what if Birmingham do return to the promised land?

“That’s the balancing act that we have been confronted with every time we have got promoted,” added Gold.

“The difference will be that when we budget next season, whether we are in the Premier League or still in the Championship, we know the economic situation. It was not true last June, nobody predicted this downturn – whether you are in football or whether you are in business.

“If you are in business and your turnover is £100million, for example, you know sales are going to be down 10 per cent so that’s £10 million off your turnover. You can go to work the following day and say ‘We’ve got to find £10million worth of savings’ and you go about it there and then.

“In football you can’t do that, your biggest single expenditure is the wage bill to your players who are 100 per cent contracted. There is no way out of that, even if you go into administration.

“That is why football is more complex. What we will learn from this is when we look at our projected income as being, for example, £30million, then I think you’ve got to write down £28million and budget for that.

“Because football is driven by dreams and passion, what you tend to do is instead of projecting £30million most clubs will be optimistic and go up to £32million.”

Meanwhile, Gold also expressed his surprise at claims from the manager of the Australian club Perth Glory that he had made inquiries about signing Birmingham’s top-scorer Kevin Phillips.

Perth coach Dave Mitchell has expressed an interest in bringing the former Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion striker to the A-League next season.

However, Gold insisted that he had heard nothing about an approach for the 35-year-old and also added that it would only take a “substantial” amount to prise him out of his remaining one-year contract at St Andrew’s.

Wolves’ finances robust, Page 63