Invisible costs

Ive just got Bolton back up to the Premiership after Owen Coyle went and got them relegated a couple of years ago. The squad however is troubled to say the least, and its a miracle we went up last season really. We'll probably go straight back down, but I was anticipating building a much better infrastructure at the club (non playing staff, facilities etc) and hopefully pulling in enough money to put us on a sound footing to come straight back up if we do go down.

However I was shocked to find in the first month after the transfer window closed that we actually lost money, and had an expenditure of over 3 million, despite have a wage budget of only 180k p/w. We have loan repayments of 400k/month and tax of around 130k, ok I can understand that.

I was shocked though to see that we shipped over 500k in 'Other' expenditure, 300k on ground maintenance (bearing in mind the Reebok is less than 20 years old and we re not expanding it) and another 500k in 'Non football costs' (which in September are already the same as for the whole of last year)

So thats 1.3 million in one month that has just disappeared.

Does anybody know what makes up these expenditures? I have admittedly been sending scouts all over the place, what category do those expenses fall under?

I think scouting comes under Other Expenditure. Mine went through the roof when I sent mine to south america

It could be ground maintainance for after matches too, policing etx.

Yeah I do have ten scouts going all over the place and Im sure theyre living it up at the Hilton. But I figured that would account for either the half a mil in other or the half a mil in non footballing costs, not both...

The frustrating thing is that all this scouting has identified one or two players Id really like to buy, but at the moment I just dont have the funds and my balance is still less than a mil. I was hoping to rake it in up till Christmas and then the board would release more funds, but that doesnt look like happening...

Shorlist them and wait till the summer. If you stay in the prem, you should get some money to spend

That's what I had to do with my Rochdale team. Gained promotion to the prem but struggled. Then got some cash and got relegated but now back in the prem with £31m in the black and a new ground to boot

I find it strange how high my footballing costs are so I sacked all me scouts and I still lose about 3m a month.

Have you had the pitch relaid? That might account for the high ground maintenance costs.

Have you had the pitch relaid? That might account for the high ground maintenance costs.

doesnt happen til pre season so that will have already gone and, if i remember rightly, has it's own section

Looking at the next months accounts, non footballing costs are same again but 'Other' is 0. Must have been a one off payment for something last month.

Yeah thats the plan but theres one or two that I expect somebody else will come in and nick if I dont get the deals wrapped up before too long. Oh well, the perils of being a football manager I suppose.

Theodore - I though that all went under Match Day Expenses though? Incidentally thats nearly as high as gate receipts. Bolton really do get **** gates.

Ive looked again at this 'Other' section and the history over the last few years and it seems that when we are in the Premiership we pay around 500k a month on 'Other' which goes down to practically 0 when we're in the Championship...This amoutns to around 6 mil a year! 6 million I could certainly do with...Does anybody know what its for?

It's not just Bolton, most Premier League clubs have a high expenditure under 'Non-Football Costs' which i haven't found an explanation for. Compared to similar teams in other nations, Premier League teams certaintly incur the most costs.

I was losing £3-4m per month as Everton, despite not signing anyone in the 1st season. Very little you can do about it, unless you can get Champions League income.

Tch and I though the Premiership was supposed to be the land of milk and honey...Ive made a net transfer profit this year and I've still got eff all to spend. Theres and 18 year old Scottish winger at Dundee that I'm dying to sign and could probably pick him up for around 3.5 mil but just cant get the money together.