Wfc Finances

I am not an accountant but I think that even if there were such fees paid as long as the directors -SD- as Gino is not - have a legitimate invoice behind it and it’s not to a related party ie Udinese or a Pozzo entity then it’s just a cost.

Maguire cannot look into it as there is no more detail in the public domain. The third party lenders are secured on specific assets like transfer fees and TV revenue so no one can probe further .

All a few of us can highlight is why have our costs been c£100m higher than comparable clubs like Palace, Norwich and Burnley since in PL This is real cash that has left our club- a factor that is now very important as we face another season in EFL

If the vaunted fans forum actually takes place it could be asked but I suspect the response would be - “the auditors are happy” which is of course factually correct.

If the owners/ directors choose to spend £100m on consultancy fees maybe to people they know, that is their choice. From the Gino point of view he might not have had to inject £50m over the past few years had this £100m remained in the club.

 

Stunned you aren’t an accountant (no insult intended . Great analyses and interpretations of the financial releases.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Gino sells Udinese, takes his loan back from Watford, which will effectively put us in admin, while he disappears of to his villa

 

Gon 2 villa m8?

 

https://www.epe.es/es/deportes/20230408/juez-propone-procesar-quique-pina-granada-85434565

Spanish case against Pozzo has been updated - magistrates are accusing Gino of launching a ‘criminal plan’ whilst owner of Granada and using his Luxembourg company to illegally evade tax on player trading.

EDIT: Second article below outlining more details. Worryingly, it sounds suspiciously similar to how we have traded over the years.

https://www.epe.es/es/investigacion/20230409/quique-pina-granada-prestamos-fichajes-85439686

 

There are laws to prevent owners acting to prefer their own position vs 3rd parties in the event of funds being inadequate to cover business continuity. Certainly the 3rd party loans would have a deed of priority and would have to approve, and be confident they would be repaid, before allowing Gino to repay himself.

 

Thankfully the Pozzo family respect all laws and have never been found guilty of breaking any.

 

Riva mentioned in the first article too I note.

 

Was he the one thrown under the bus for the dodgy bank letter? Wonder what he's been up to since...

 

Working for Udinese and overseeing his two employees that sit on the board of our parent company mainly...

 

Not the best or most comforting read it's fair to say!

 

Anyone got translations?

 

Be interesting to hear an explanation on how these alleged crimes in Spain are nothing to do with Gino and all the fault of Duxbury, Giaretta, Giradli, Rob Edwards, Eric Roy...

 

It doesn't appear that Gino will suffer any repercussions? The article says that:

"However, the club's management specified in an audit that as of December 31, 2014, this Italian family was not the owner of the club, a fact that Pedraz regrets that he could not verify since the audit did not have access to the club's shareholding structure."

Quique Pina appears to be taking the rap for it.

Spanish tax law will not be the same as Italian or UK tax law.

Schemes to reduce tax also aren't always inherently illegal.

Also, from my albeit only limited observations on the topic over the years, the Spanish authorities are much more keen on getting every penny they can from its residents and prosecuting what they see as work-arounds.

This does all add to the assertions I've made though that many of our dealings with Bayat - and the apparent fees we paid for certain players eg Bayo - had very little to do with the fee itself and actually draining the club of limited funds, but were in no small part to help serve tax benefit purposes.

 

The opening of the article states that the judge has recommended that the case proceeds against Pozzo and others.

Tax investigations like this across multiple jurisdictions are expensive and slow moving beasts. They're often settled without any need for a court case, with defendants paying a proportion of what's disputed, incidentally, something which was reported as happening when Pozzo was investigated by the Italian authorities over very similar allegations at Udinese.

 

Blimey, Eric Roy. He was around for a whole minute.

 

Case closed then.

 

Already seeing plenty of ‘fake news’ comments across our base along with ‘you’re not a criminal unless you go to prison’ reasoning. The Boris Johnson view of the law.

 

Would I be right in assuming these other companies that are loaning the club money are making a profit from the club? They themselves get a loan and lets say pay £10k a week, loan the club the loan money and charge the club lets say £12k a week so are making £2k a week profit? I dont know the exact numbers so the figures I use are just examples.

 

They will make money from the interest rate they charge which will be disclosed in the accounts. As long as they recover the full balance that they leant us at the end of course, ie we don't go bust, or if we do, they have security over various assets to make sure they get the loan itself repaid.
eg if someone leant us £10m, they get that £10m repaid depending on the repayment terms, and they get an agreed interest on the amount borrowed throughout the period. The loan will be secured against assets of the club or in our case, when you run out of assets to secure, secured against guaranteed future income.

 

I imagine not, but does anyone subscribe to Swiss Ramble. Would be interested to see how apocalyptic his take is.

https://swissramble.substack.com/p/watford-finances-202122

 

I’ve seen a few screenshots floating around. Seems we were 2nd lowest in the PL for transfer spend (£24m) but highest other than the big 6 in agent spend (£12m).

 

Yeah I saw that - but I think we have known that since January 2022. I’d like to see his analysis of the debt situation.

 

Passed without mention on this thread.

 

https://theathletic.com/4449791/2023/04/25/fa-watford-bayat-agent/?source=emp_shared_article

 

I’m sure we haven’t done anything technically wrong.

 

The club say everything is by the book and it's a normal relationship. Also, knowing Gino, he probably won't break any FA Laws. Would he find loopholes? Yes. Will he take other risks, probably not.

 

Yeah, a family that have been found guilty of match-fixing and tax evasion aren’t known to break any rules or laws.

 

Not saying he won't. But just tying to be positive. Also didn't know about the match-fixing at Udinese.

 

Here's hoping we get burned into the ground.

 

Said like a true fan.

 

Pozzo has already taken my club from me as you delivered your weasel defence over the years. I hope this club and especially its vile owner get all they deserve. The end game is here. Bring it on.

 

So you hate the club you used to support now because you don’t like the owners ? You want it burnt to the ground ? Who do you “support” now then or have you given up on football ?
I get your hatred for the owners and your OTT posts on the subject but to want the club to be destroyed ?? Give your head a wobble .