Matthew Benham

Matthew Benham

Having supported Brentford since 1946 ,I say we are bloody lucky to have someone like MB who chose BFC .The trouble is that apart from the last 4 years we were littlt old Brentford,now we are in the upper echelons of English Football.
Most of the critics have probably been with us since we got promotion to the Championship.When Denis Piggott was around our signings were mostly freebies.Now we are playing the likes of Aston Villa,Newcastle etc.thanks to MB's financial input.
It wasn't so long ago we were playing the likes of.Workington,Halifax,Scarborough,Darlington.All clubs not now in the league.
Workington,Halifax Scarborough,Southport
 

Matthew Benham

wanderer paul said:
Could easily be Brentford though... What happens when mb stops funding?
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Benham has said he wants to build Brentford to be self sustainable for the log term future. Including when he's gone.
Hasn't he even got something in place if the unthinkable happens and pops his clogs unexpectedly ?
 

Matthew Benham

jlove said:
There really is no excuse but, if they know nothing, they really should say nothing.
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Sadly that cannot be the excuse of some who should know better
 

Matthew Benham

The Pipe said:
Conversely if you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen!! And then again " you will reap what you sow"
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I think I get what you're saying & I may under other circumstances agree with you. However, I've had my warning from Les about "witch hunts" & therefore I'm keeping my opinions to myself. I do find it strange though that I've seen loads of swipes at them good old boys who don't read this board anymore (& who therefore can't respond; human rights?) & I've seen no rebuke. I'm all for free speech but as I said, "what's sauce for the goose...............
 

Matthew Benham

greenland said:
Having supported Brentford since 1946 ,I say we are bloody lucky to have someone like MB who chose BFC .The trouble is that apart from the last 4 years we were littlt old Brentford,now we are in the upper echelons of English Football.
Most of the critics have probably been with us since we got promotion to the Championship.When Denis Piggott was around our signings were mostly freebies.Now we are playing the likes of Aston Villa,Newcastle etc.thanks to MB's financial input.
It wasn't so long ago we were playing the likes of.Workington,Halifax,Scarborough,Darlington.All clubs not now in the league.
Workington,Halifax Scarborough,Southport
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Lovely post
 

Matthew Benham

Based on what I hear on the local radio you could add Reading to that list, sounds like the owners are focused on building a new shopping centre in the car park there.
 

Matthew Benham

The Pipe said:
Difficult to give a simple answer as I also struggle to understand the viewpoint of some of his critics. However for some there is a personal agenda and you can make your own mind up who those people might be

For the rest I guess it's the fact that they are only interested in the product that is put in front of them on match days. There is a presumption, or sheer bloody ignorance, that we should be able to spend large amounts of money in buying players or, when they want to leave, chuck massive wages at them.

This view point is probably caused by the obscene amounts of money paid to players and is the view regularly put forward by the so called experts, generally ex players who are now enjoying the media gravy train. The assumption being that clubs need to pay big bucks to get the players they want and eventually get to the ultimate money pit, the Premier League. This without any thought to how the club fimances the transfers or wages.

This I would suggest is why the " new" supporters have this negative view of MB as he let the likes of Moses and Grey go instead of giving them massive pay rises. This together with the departure of Warburton and his clever media manipulation just assaserbates the situation

For the older fan they have no excuse as it is pure laziness in not understanding the difficulties in trying to progress a tired old club like ours into the top levels of football. There is a lot of information available but it is easier to just moan. Interestingly the vast majority of the information regarding the club, its finances and its plans are on the Internet, something that posters who use social media obviously have access to.

In summation then it's; stupidity, laziness or a seperate agenda. And it does my bloody head in !!!!!
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Can't like this on the mobile version it you've pretty much nailed this
 

Matthew Benham

Basically we have never had it so good thanks to MB - and the day he does call it quits and walks away will be a sorry sorry day.

As an aside I was lucky enough to meet Matthew at the MK Dons Stadium in April (I was staying there during my recent trip and he happened to get in the lift with his kids as I was heading out to the game). I introduced myself as a fan from Australia and thanked him for all of this efforts in keeping the club alive and moving it forward - he mentioned that this season was a bit of hangover from the upheavals of last Jan but we look good moving into the 2016-2017 season - bring it on!

Thanks again Matthew - You really are a nice unassuming bloke!! :)
 

Matthew Benham

When Brentford get promotion and are challenging for top honours, do you think international teams will start asking him which players should be used for which system? That would be interesting. A stats analysis informed squad and way to play, not the team the media wants.
 

Matthew Benham

Frothybaby said:
A stats analysis informed squad and way to play, not the team the media wants.
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Yet already a very big part in today's football . Seems the media ( I hesitate to add alot of our fans too ) need to realise this.
 

Matthew Benham

Aussie Bee said:
Thanks again Matthew - You really are a nice unassuming bloke!! :)
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Most of the seriously rich people I've ever had anything to do with have been d*ckheads, as well: they either got where they are by being unpleasantly ruthless, or their money made them believe they were better than everyone else. Massive respect should go to anyone who avoids this.
 

Matthew Benham

teesbee said:
Most of the seriously rich people I've ever had anything to do with have been d*ckheads, as well: they either got where they are by being unpleasantly ruthless, or their money made them believe they were better than everyone else. Massive respect should go to anyone who avoids this.
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Don't think you'll meet too many cuddly, likeable multi millionaires in a work environment. They have to be focused, single minded and more often than not impersonal.
 

Matthew Benham

Aussie Bee said:
Basically we have never had it so good thanks to MB - and the day he does call it quits and walks away will be a sorry sorry day.

As an aside I was lucky enough to meet Matthew at the MK Dons Stadium in April (I was staying there during my recent trip and he happened to get in the lift with his kids as I was heading out to the game). I introduced myself as a fan from Australia and thanked him for all of this efforts in keeping the club alive and moving it forward - he mentioned that this season was a bit of hangover from the upheavals of last Jan but we look good moving into the 2016-2017 season - bring it on!

Thanks again Matthew - You really are a nice unassuming bloke!! :)
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Exactly.
 

Matthew Benham

sonofabee said:
Don't think you'll meet too many cuddly, likeable multi millionaires in a work environment. They have to be focused, single minded and more often than not impersonal.
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That's an unusual spelling of '*****', but I do agree with you.
 

Matthew Benham

Sorry for being thick but I was talking to someone at work about the recent figures and he said"so your turnover from everything is less than 10m and your wage bill is nearly 16m so arent you breaking the rules"

I never really follow the financial side of it all but can someone tell me why he isnt. I know we arent but thats not a real comeback! Is it cos it is all loans
 

Matthew Benham

wibs said:
Sorry for being thick but I was talking to someone at work about the recent figures and he said"so your turnover from everything is less than 10m and your wage bill is nearly 16m so arent you breaking the rules"

I never really follow the financial side of it all but can someone tell me why he isnt. I know we arent but thats not a real comeback! Is it cos it is all loans
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But we got 15 million plus in transfer fees recieved??
 

Matthew Benham

Hullbee said:
But we got 15 million plus in transfer fees recieved??
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ithink he meant general turnover, so effectively that explains why we have to sell players
but why didnt we sell hogan for say £8m if we were so reliant on transfer fees?
 

Matthew Benham

wibs said:
Sorry for being thick but I was talking to someone at work about the recent figures and he said"so your turnover from everything is less than 10m and your wage bill is nearly 16m so arent you breaking the rules"

I never really follow the financial side of it all but can someone tell me why he isnt. I know we arent but thats not a real comeback! Is it cos it is all loans
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Because clubs are allowed to lose up to £13m per season?

That would mean we can spend (if our turnover is £10m) £23m a season. However, the limit is just £5m if the owner does not inject equity.
Having spent £16m on wages and I'm assuming less than £7m on incoming transfers, we are in the boundaries of FFP.
If MB is not injecting equity, then we can lose up to £5m a season (£15m then, with £10m coming in as turnover) therefore at £6m we are over that limit by £1m. But with transfers (outgoing), we would have made that £1m back and then some with the sales of Moses Odebaju, Andre Gray, Stuart Dallas, and even James Tarkowski and Toumani Diagouraga. Did I miss anyone?

However, from this season a club is allowed to lose £39m over a 3 year rolling period. This means that you can lose £20m this season, £10m next season and £9m the season after. But if you lose £20m this season, and lose £10m next season, you must also have lost £9m last season too..........
 

Matthew Benham

Absolutely. Can't praise the man
Enough...
And you get Stupid ! prats saying he is taking money out of the club...
 

Matthew Benham

barry said:
Absolutely. Can't praise the man
Enough...
And you get Stupid ! prats saying he is taking money out of the club...
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I've never actually read that bit but enough say that they've seen this sort of stuff, any heads up as to where you've seen or heard it, quite right by the way.
 

Matthew Benham

I hope his wife wasn't reading the figures at the breakfast table today and said Matthew WTF are you doing? How much have you laid out at Brentford? You need your head examined.
 

Matthew Benham

Leonardo said:
I hope his wife wasn't reading the figures at the breakfast table today and said Matthew WTF are you doing? How much have you laid out at Brentford? You need your head examined.
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I'd just reply back with when you've made that amount of money, then you can tell me what to do with it. Lets face it if she doesn't like it, with his money not hard to find a replacement!
 

Matthew Benham

ladbroke said:
Because clubs are allowed to lose up to £13m per season?

That would mean we can spend (if our turnover is £10m) £23m a season. However, the limit is just £5m if the owner does not inject equity.
Having spent £16m on wages and I'm assuming less than £7m on incoming transfers, we are in the boundaries of FFP.
If MB is not injecting equity, then we can lose up to £5m a season (£15m then, with £10m coming in as turnover) therefore at £6m we are over that limit by £1m. But with transfers (outgoing), we would have made that £1m back and then some with the sales of Moses Odebaju, Andre Gray, Stuart Dallas, and even James Tarkowski and Toumani Diagouraga. Did I miss anyone?

However, from this season a club is allowed to lose £39m over a 3 year rolling period. This means that you can lose £20m this season, £10m next season and £9m the season after. But if you lose £20m this season, and lose £10m next season, you must also have lost £9m last season too..........
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I fell asleep half way through that. Thank god there are some brighter people out there who are on top of all this stuff.
 

Matthew Benham

The financials make interesting reading and show just how reliant we are on MB. Quite simply we would run out of cash pretty bloody quickly if he didn't commit to funding us through equity or providing loans.

Another thing that struck me was our annual revenues, being around £10m (not including any player sales). To put it into perspective, the PL relegated clubs get parachute payments in the region of £90m over 3 years (£40m of which in the first year). To think that we can remain competitive with these clubs on the pitch (and I think there are 6 clubs in the Championship still benefiting from parachute payments this season) is a testament not just to MB but the whole management of the club. Easy to forget when, as supporters, we're mostly just focused on the team and how we're playing.
 

Matthew Benham

Rob-BEE said:
The financials make interesting reading and show just how reliant we are on MB. Quite simply we would run out of cash pretty bloody quickly if he didn't commit to funding us through equity or providing loans.

Another thing that struck me was our annual revenues, being around £10m (not including any player sales). To put it into perspective, the PL relegated clubs get parachute payments in the region of £90m over 3 years (£40m of which in the first year). To think that we can remain competitive with these clubs on the pitch (and I think there are 6 clubs in the Championship still benefiting from parachute payments this season) is a testament not just to MB but the whole management of the club. Easy to forget when, as supporters, we're mostly just focused on the team and how we're playing.
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Spread over three years, there must be nine clubs, which puts our performance more into perspective. Our revenues have more than doubled in the past few years, which highlights the extent to which MB has transformed the club.
What interests me is the fact that the loss can be up to £39 million over a three year period. If I were MB, I would be spending disproportionately (gambling) over one of the next two seasons to get into the Premier League, thereby not falling foul of the three-year cumulative loss. But then, so will other owners.
 

Matthew Benham

But not one other club owner is anything as good as ours. Thank goodness for MB!
Shirley Bee said:
Spread over three years, there must be nine clubs, which puts our performance more into perspective. Our revenues have more than doubled in the past few years, which highlights the extent to which MB has transformed the club.
What interests me is the fact that the loss can be up to £39 million over a three year period. If I were MB, I would be spending disproportionately (gambling) over one of the next two seasons to get into the Premier League, thereby not falling foul of the three-year cumulative loss. But then, so will other owners.
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Matthew Benham

I think next season WILL be the one as the foundations are in place.
 

Matthew Benham

NorthamptonBee said:
I've never actually read that bit but enough say that they've seen this sort of stuff, any heads up as to where you've seen or heard it, quite right by the way.
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Only bloke I know who spouts it in the Hive is a strange bloke who I recognise but avoid like the plague. He never ceases to explain to anyone near that Matthew is fleecing the club!

I'm too old and usually too sober to bite anymore
 

Matthew Benham

sonofabee said:
Only bloke I know who spouts it in the Hive is a strange bloke who I recognise but avoid like the plague. He never ceases to explain to anyone near that Matthew is fleecing the club!

I'm too old and usually too sober to bite anymore
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ive seen him in the inverness too.........also try to avoid him like the plague lol lol
 

Matthew Benham

We fans may start each season with a fresh set of expectations but I would guess that MB and his management team have some longer-term scenarios in place for the PL.

A quality squad with an average age around 26 in a couple of year's time provides a platform to take that step, underpinned by a stadium with, by then, a reasonably accurate projection of net revenue and the cost recovery on the development. They will know what is the additional cash injection required to enable a decent chance to sustain a PL position and MB will be able to evaluate whether it is his money or someone else's.
 

Matthew Benham

Shirley Bee said:
Spread over three years, there must be nine clubs, which puts our performance more into perspective. Our revenues have more than doubled in the past few years, which highlights the extent to which MB has transformed the club.
What interests me is the fact that the loss can be up to £39 million over a three year period. If I were MB, I would be spending disproportionately (gambling) over one of the next two seasons to get into the Premier League, thereby not falling foul of the three-year cumulative loss. But then, so will other owners.
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If that doesn't work we then would have two years where we can't make any losses without incurring fines / transfer embargoes etc
 

Matthew Benham

Shirley Bee said:
Spread over three years, there must be nine clubs, which puts our performance more into perspective. Our revenues have more than doubled in the past few years, which highlights the extent to which MB has transformed the club.
What interests me is the fact that the loss can be up to £39 million over a three year period. If I were MB, I would be spending disproportionately (gambling) over one of the next two seasons to get into the Premier League, thereby not falling foul of the three-year cumulative loss. But then, so will other owners.
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I make it 6 as 2 of the relegated clubs have gone back up again (Burnley, Hull) and Norwich have been relegated twice in 3 years (not sure if that qualifies them for two separate parachute payments?!?)
 

Matthew Benham

I will never ever forget MB till my dying day. What this bloke has done for BFC is unbelievable. He never sounds off what he has done, and a lot of people probably do not even know. I look at the money he puts into our club each year just to keep it alive, and think How the hell can he keep doing this. and this club will never be self sufficent. Then I think hang on this club was one of the top London clubs in the thirties, and I have every faith Matthew will get us back there. You only have to look at Bournemouth. God bless you Matthew, bloody incredible.
 
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