Dulieu's figures, do they add up?

Last updated : 10 November 2011 By Covsupport News Service/RD

Coventry City's chairman Ken Dulieu has answered some written questions asked by the Coventry Telegraph, but do his answers just raise more questions as his figures don't appear to add up.

Mr Dulieu  conceded that his club has gone through some tough times, but claims that the 'darkest hour' has now passed and that the club will emerge from the current mire and survive in the Championship in a much stronger position.

In the written interview with the CT, Dulieu said there are still no 'creditable alternatives' to Sisu who are prepared to invest substantial sums in the club.

He also claims that the board have managed to cut costs drastically by halving the estimated £10 million annual losses and cutting the wage bill by a further £1m, but do Dulieu's sums add up?
 
Last year the wage bill was just under £8m, which is a competitive sum for a club like Coventry City in the Championship, but since January this year, ten players have left the club, many of them big earners.

The players and their  estimated wages who have left are Michael Doyle who was said to be on £9,000 a week, Marlon King (£10k), Keiren Westwood (£6k), Aron Gunnarsson (£4k), Michael McIndoe (£7-8k), Lee Carsley (£6-7k), Ben Turner (£5k), Isaac Osbourne (£4k), Stephen O’Halloran (£2k) and Michael Quirke (£1k).

On top of that the club are still paying two former managers, Chris Coleman about £10k a week and Aidy Boothroyd's compensation payments. All of which adds up to about £65k a week or £3.4 million a year.

Three players have been added to the wage bill, Joe Murphy, Chris Dunn and Cody McDonald, but their total wage bill is thought to amount to about £10k a week. Add these sums together and the wage bill has been reduced by about £55k a week or £2.6 million a year.

What this means is the current wage bill is now nearer £5 million a year, £3 million down on last year and not the £1 million as claimed by Dulieu.

Two key players are currently negotiating new contract wit the club. Captain Sammy Clingan and Martin Cranie are both out of contract in the summer and could leave on free transfers if the do not sign new deals, but in his interview, Dulieu appears to suggest that the wage demands of the two players are in excess of what City are prepared to offer and so could be a problem.

Dulieu admitted there are no immediate plans to allow Joe Elliott to resume his former job as Life President. 
 
Dulieu has taken on extra duties at the club on top of his role as chairman. He is now director of football, the post the board wanted former chairman Ray Ranson to take prior to his resignation earlier this year.
 
He has also taken on the role of heading the commercial department which has seen many members of staff leave during the past year. He denied the rumour that former commercial director Raj Athwal, who is currently at Watford, will return to Coventry City. 
 
There are no plans to replace Paul Clouting, who quit as CEO last month after just seven months in the job, but Dulieu will take on some of his former responsibilities with all heads of departments now reporting directly to him