Showing posts with label Guinness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guinness. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 November 2008

Bath's cash woes deepen

So, Bath Rugby has fallen further into the red. It's just emerged that, during the 2007/08 season, the club suffered a £357,000 loss.

I've written about the financial headaches facing the club and the game as a whole before - but it seems the problems are becoming depressingly acute for Bath.

The club is now forecasting a loss for 2008/09 of £750,000.

A statement attached to the end of year results says "The reality is a stark one".

No kidding.

Andrew Brownsword, pictured, will be bailing the club out of the deficit again, but, boy, I bet he's anxious to find someone willing to take this club off his hands.

A couple of months ago, Bath Rugby CEO Bob Calleja publicly appealed for any potential investors to get in touch.

He's desperate for investment, and - given the growing credit crisis - that desperation must be growing by the day.

The underlying problem is that the club still doesn't know whether it has a short, medium or long-term future at The Rec. The only way for the club to get on a financial even keel is for it to boost ticket receipts - and that can't happen until it either expands on The Rec or builds a new stadium elsewhere.

So, the trustees who oversee The Rec need to come up with a decision on the ground's future pronto.

Until the issue of the ground's future is resolved, Brownsword ain't going to find a buyer and Calleja's going to struggle to find more investors.

If clarity over its future is not provided swiftly, then a cash problem at the club could develop into a full-blown crisis.

And all this while the club is flying high at the top of the Guinness Premiership...