I see Mr Birch is involved.................
Kilgallon exit as crunch hits Blades
http://tinyurl.com/kilgallon
Published Date: 18 December 2009
By Ian Appleyard and Greg Wright
SHEFFIELD United defender Matthew Kilgallon will be leaving Bramall Lane
next month – and Championship leaders Newcastle United are favourites to
land his signature.
Click the green PLAY button to hear Sheffield United chief executive
Trevor Birch and financial director Simon Capper discuss the club's
results with the Yorkshire Post's Greg Wright.
Manager Kevin Blackwell has admitted defeat in the battle to keep
Kilgallon after the former Leeds United player rejected the club's final
offer of a new deal.
Kilgallon, who would have been a free agent next summer, is now set to
sign for Newcastle although Hull City, Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic
and Burnley are still in the chase.
Blackwell, meanwhile, will have to wait to discover if money from the
sale, likely to be in the region of £600,000, is made available for a
replacement.
He has admitted that he would like to sign former Stoke City loanee
Andrew Davies on a permanent deal, but knows financial pressures at the
Blades could hamper his chances.
Bosses are today expected to tell shareholders at the club's AGM that
their priority is to balance the budget.
Results out last month confirmed the club would have sunk to a loss of
around £12m without an £18m payment from West Ham following the Carlos
Tevez affair.
In the financial year ending June 30, Sheffield United plc made an
operating profit of £6.3m, against an operating loss of £11.8m the
previous year and new chief executive Trevor Birch has revealed he must
'cut the cloth' according to their current financial position.
Blackwell said: "It is a fete accompli that 'Killa' will be going. He
spoke to Trevor Birch but we can't reach an agreement. At the moment,
this club is not in a position to offer outrageous terms to anyone. We
can't afford to pay the terms we used to.
"With the interest that has been shown, it will be difficult to keep
him. There is significant interest from a few Premier League clubs now
as well as one or two in the Championship."
Kilgallon, 25, has made over 100 appearances for the Blades since
signing from Leeds in a £1.75m deal two years ago and still has three
more games to play before the opening of the New Year transfer window.
Birch told the Yorkshire Post yesterday that he had little choice but to
reduce costs.
"That's how you have to run it in the current climate, apart from some
of the super clubs in the Premier League, most other clubs have to work
within their own budgets," he said. "First of all, it's to make sure
that we are now in a financially strong position to move forward.
Obviously, tied in with that, along with a number of other clubs, we're
looking for investment and looking to take advantage of the current
world interest in football in England and I will play my role with
chairman Kevin McCabe in trying to tap into that market."
The accounts also revealed that a number of directors had provided large
loans to the club. McCabe, himself, loaned £1.49m at an interest rate of
10 per cent, while other loans included £10,000 from finance director
Simon Capper and £10,000 from former chief executive Jason Rockett.
Birch, the man who saved Chelsea and Leeds United from financial ruin,
said this demonstrated their commitment to the club, adding: "It's not
unusual for directors to make loans to football clubs at commercial rates."
The club has also revealed that it has successfully renewed most of its
loans and bank overdrafts, which totalled £37m at the year end. These
include a £13.5m construction loan for the Copthorne Hotel – next to the
Bramall Lane ground – which is being turned into an 18 year facility
with HBOS.
Discussing the accounts, Birch added: "From leaving the Premier League
you get two years of parachute payments and once those stop, if you
haven't readjusted your wage structure accordingly, you'll end up making
a loss, which is what most of the Championship clubs do.
"What we've done is to invest in the squad, with the hope of returning
to the Premier League so we're probably running with a higher level of
wages than your normal, average, Championship club. It's a balance
between risking that additional wage cost against financial hardship."
For the present season, despite the loss of such parachute payments, the
United salary budget is around £12m.
Birch added: "The intention has to be to get back to the Premier League.
It helps the city's psyche to have a Premier League team and helps the
city's image and standing within the world.
"It's a club with potentially a great future. In five years we would all
hope that it was a solid, Premier League outfit, with a fantastic ground.
"Football is not immune to the recession. Domestically, it's obviously
hitting attendances. You see more empty seats these days, and
sponsorship and corporate hospitality have suffered but the fan base is
fantastic. The passion for the club is one of the things I've been
impressed with.
"We want it to have a solid base, because it's so easy to get the
finances out of kilter as we've seen elsewhere. As directors you have to
try and achieve some form of financial parity."
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