Re: Serie A Thread - 2008/2009 Season
Abou sent me a pm asking me some infos about roma's finanacial situation and the future of the club (after last week rumours about a new owner who MIGHT take over the club).
i though it might be interesting for the whole serie a fan comunity to get some updates on roma's situation, so i'm gonna reply in here.
so here are the facts.
roma's financial situation is quite a mess. during the 90s franco sensi (former roma chairman, father of rosella sensi, who is the current chairman) spent a fortune. he built up an amazing team trying to keep up with the italian big guns (namely milan, juve and inter).
for many years roma (aswell as many other italian clubs, like fiorentina, lazio, parma, etc..) kept spending much more money than they could afford.
they built an amazing team.... and their overdraft grew.
mind u, their overdraft is still nothing compared to chelsea's or man utd's overdraft.
the thing is, banca intesa wants roma to pay off as soon as possible while chelsea's and man utd's creditors have no hurry (
at the moment).
so, even though this overdraft is not so big (we're still talking about more than 80 millions euros btw), AS Roma, wich completely changed its "management policies" is trying to pay this debt with the club's incomes.
now this is a terrific task, of course, coz u have to mantain the team competitive, keeping up the growth process of the team (paying the players wages, sign new players, etc...)
AND also save a huge share of your annual incomes to pay off the banks (and all of this just with your own funds... no more loans, of course).
the thing is keeping competitive a club like palermo (for instance) costs 5... while keeping competitive a club like roma costs 5000.
miccoli is our most expensive player.... and yet he wuld probably be one of the cheapests in roma.
and mind u, roma today has a pennywise management policy. in the early years of this decade most of serie a clubs were forced to face the consequence of their "uncareful" management. some of them faced bankrupt (like fiorentina or napoli), some others were able to survive (like roma, lazio and parma).
however each of theese teams completely changed its management style and today they all have a very clever and pennywise management policy (just to put things in perspective.... everyone in england keeps raving about arsenal's great "pennywise" management........ well arsenal looks like chelsea, compared to roma).
however, no matter how careful, clever and pannywise their new management is... it's still a top club we're talking about. de rossi, totti, aquilani, mexes, vucinic.... having top class players means paying "top class wages".
now i believe... actually i'm absolutely sure this team reached its best..... it's impossible, for this ownership to go further. the sensi family just can't afford to make the following step (to reach real top class clubs like man utd, chelsea or barca).
actually it's even worse than that. they can't even afford to mantain this club to its current highests standards.
that's becaus every season they have to assign a big share of their incomes to the banks.
and keeping the club to this level will cost them each year more than the previous. just to make an example, next season aquilani's contract is going to expire... in order to keep that amazing talent in roma they'll have to double his wage..
then they'll have to renew mexes contract, then vucinic.
even keeping the same players they already have (without facing new expenses) will cost them each year more than the previous.
however they're not risking bankrupt. roma's managers infact did a great job in the last 6 years and roma can afford to pay the remaining debts.
the big question mark is: will they be able to pay off the banks and keep the club to this level??
the answer is simple: NO, they won't. they're gonna have to weaken the team, by selling some of their big players in order to keep up. and this will have an impact on their league and european achievements, of course.
mexes is not gonna stay... and i believe aquilani too might leave. they're the most profitable assetts (since i can't see de rossi leaving) so they're gonna be sacrificed, in order to restore thge club's financial balance.
the thing is roma fans don't wanna face this sacrifice. when u're a mid class club fan, u're used to see your stars leaving for greener pastures. i wasn't upset for amauri's departure, for instance, coz i know top class players need a top class scenario, and palermo won't ever be able to offer "the big stage" to its players.
but roma is not palermo. roma is a top class scenario. so it's hard for their fans to get used to it.
they already face tough moments, years ago, when the club was close to bankrupt. they already know how hard it is to see your stars leaving (emerson, samuel, zanetti, etc...).
they thought those days were over. they thought that now they were ready for a fresh start....
but the truth is that was just the first step... the debt is still there.... it's gettin smaller each and every year.... but it's not gone yet.
roma's management did a great job in the last 5 years. they were actually so great, tey gave their fans the illusion that bad period was over.
but there's a limit to what a great manager can achieve. u can get some great talents for a cheap price thanks to a great scouting network (like vucinic, mexes, taddei).... u can raise amazing talents thanks to a great academy (aquilani, de rossi, cerci, rosi... or petrucci, who was stolen by manchester utd)...
but once vucinic, mexes, aquilani become great players, after 2, 3, 4 years.. when their contract will expire and u'll have to renew those contracts... well u're gonna need money, a lot of money, coz u just can't pretend aquilani or mexes or vucinic will accept the same wage they got when they signed their first contract...
so a great management can bring to a good level, but in order to make the "following step", u will need loads of cash.
there are many "mistery millionaires" who showed interest in roma in the last 2 years (fisher, soros, some arabian lads, and now the Flick family, from germany).
the point is no one knows (except the sensi family) if this "interest" ever lead to real offers.
the sensi family can't say a thing about it, cos roma is quoted on the stock exchange, so they can't really talk about possible negotiations (to avoid insider tradings charges).
the fans believe those offers actually came and rosella sensi refused. and they're angry about it, coz they would love to see a billionaire to take over, pay roma's debts and buy some "big names".
now i don't know if there were real offers. but one thing is for sure. rosella sensi will always care about roma. and because of this, she won't sell the club unless she gets some guarrantees.
to put it simple she won't sell the club to abramovichs or glazers-like people.
she knows that if a billionaire will take over, he won't pay off the debts.... he will let roma's overdraft grow and grow and grow.
and since she knows which are the consequences of this kind of policies, she won't allow that. she won't sell roma to someone who will make the same mistakes her father did.
i'm a neutral fan and a reasonable person.... and i have all the faith in rosella sensi.
roma fans too used to trust rosella... till this season. coz she did a great job and they know how much she cares about the club..... but now, after such a disappointing season, the fans are getting blinded by the opportunity to become a "chelsea-like" club or a united-like" club....
they probably forgot what they went through.
thank god rosella didn't forget. she knows that is better to be one step behind the great european clubs and preserve a healthy management, rather than becoming giants... who could fall on the ground with a whisper.
it would be great if a millionaire would take over, pay off the debts and build a great squad.... but let's be realistic.... who would pay those debts?
those people who wanna buy roma, they just wanna "pump up" their image. they would buy the next fabregas, the next eto'o, the next kakà. sure they wouldn't clean that overdraft, coz paying off someone else's debts doesn't boosts your image.
and the banks, relieved by their solvency, wouldn't put the same pressure on them they're putting on rosella right now.
so the overdraft would keep growing.....
so abou, long story short, roma won't face bankrupt.... but unless rosella sensi will find a purchaser who will give her guarrantees not to ruin the financial balance of the club, the club is gonna have to face some sacrifices.
sorry for the longest post (as usual
)
