St Kilda have recorded a massive loss of nearly $2.4m, leaving them close to $9m in debt.
But the Saints are confident the worst is over financially and this sort of loss will not happen again.
St Kilda have been in decline on and off the field since making the 2009 and ’10 grand finals.
They finished last this season and their membership has fallen away since 2010.
St Kilda recorded an operating loss of $2.35m and a statutory loss of $3.9m.
That was despite cutting costs by $460,000.
Their average attendance fell below 24,000, membership was down by about 2000 and they also had only one major sponsor.
“This is not an acceptable result by any means,” club president Peter Summers said.
“It is one which we are intent on never repeating and I’m confident the right changes have been made in the last 12 months to turn around club on and off the field.”
The Saints are forecasting that next year will feature their first growth in membership since 2010.
Saturday’s Victorian election could also be a watershed moment for the Saints, with the two major parties pledging to redevelop Junction Oval in St Kilda.
It has raised hopes that the club be able to leave their isolated base at Seaford and return to Junction Oval, their original home.
Paul D
Roar Guru
We're also not too bad at basket casing ourselves.
alicesprings
Guest
Yeah don't know what happened with the Cats..my only thought is that we ramped up footy department spend.
AR
Guest
"I’m tired of this mob being the biggest basket cases in the entire Australian sporting community!!!" To be fair, I think Cronulla Sarks have the Saints well and truly covered on that score.
NeeDeep
Roar Pro
Well, if they stopped pushing the "self-destruct" button every time things looked to be on the up, that would help! Ken Sheldon - 4 seasons for a 55% success rate and got them into the finals in 1991 & 1992 and was subsequently sacked in 1993 Stan Alves - Grand Finalists in 1997 & played in the Qualifying Final in 1998, contract not renewed and we went off and got Tim Watson, then the very reluctant Mal Blight. Genius type moves??? Grant Thomas - takes over in 2001 and the club is heading in the right direction and finals appearances in 2004, 2005 & 2006, suggest the ultimate glory could be at hand (certainly, 2004 was a dodgy umpiring decision in favour of the eventual premiers, away from the GF and a big chance for that elusive 2nd flag) but we ditch him a few weeks after the 2006 finals and grab Ross Lyon. Ross Lyon - 2007 through to 2011 and the Boa constrictor game plan from Sydney arrives and the club is within reach of the ultimate glory, but Ross doesn't draft for the long term, sees the writing on the wall at the end of 2011 and bails. Scott Watters - 2012 & 2013, saw a guy stick up his hand and have a go and in his first year, the team finishes 9th, with the 3rd best percentage in the competition and as he starts to re-sculpt the list in 2013, he gets the bum's rush (nothing against Alan Richardson, but not sure if Scotty Watters would have done much differently and probably would have ended up with a similar result - so why sack him and pay out his contract, etc?)? The off field stuff reads similar to the coaching history - constant chopping and changing, with contradictory messages left, right and centre. What the club needs in big buckets is STABILITY!!! Choose a path, knuckle down and stay the course. Stop making knee-jerk reactions to situations, because you're worried about what some other club is doing. Settle on a structure, a plan, a system. Then implement it and don't budge from it. I'm tired of this mob being the biggest basket cases in the entire Australian sporting community!!!
Crashy
Guest
Brisbane Lions massive loss as well...... http://www.lions.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/BrisbaneLions/Documents/BL869%20Financial%20Report%202014_LR.pdf
Brian
Guest
Funny about the Junction Oval. I always though of their home as Moorabbin. I wouldn't worry about St Kilda plenty of wealthy Bayside supporters who would dig in if things got out of hand. 1 flag in 117 years hardly going to get people rushing for memberships.
Radelaide
Guest
The Adelaide teams I can understand because the SANFL siphoned off about $15 million from AO but the Geelong one does concern because they get everything from their oval and still they posted a loss.
Kirk
Guest
Heard both Adelaide teams and Geelong had big losses as well, not good signs.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
This is always going to happen in a football competition. Clubs by-and-large primary objective is to win premierships, not make a profit. Real Madrid has always used this as their Tag line and will always buy the best players and concentrate on winning premierships as it's foremost priority. In contrast to this we have ManU - the other Behemoth in the world football. They are a listed company and as such their primary objective is to be a successful business. However, in order to be a successful business, it requires winning championships and thankfully for United, they are very good at doing just that. Now this is very relevant to the discussion, because in order to be a successful club medium to long-term in a competition like the AFL, you need to be successful off the pitch as well relative to the competition. Now I say relative, because many of the bigger clubs are pulling away from the smaller clubs in total revenue, thus allowing them to spend copious amounts on their football operations, which currently is not restricted. Of course the AFL has now begun to address this and as of next year I believe the 'luxury' tax will start to kick in. In my opinion this is a bunch of bullsh***t and in no way should be instigated into a capitalistic society in-which the AFL lives and breathes, especially when you already have a socialist system already in place (the salary cap). Saying all of this, I don't believe you can artificially control this, just like every major government in the world will never be able to have an even distribution of wealth amongst it's citizens. Capitalism and even do not go in the same sentence and the AFL is no different. There will always be the haves and have nots and the same teams always seem to crop up depending on how they are performing. Those teams are St Kilda, Kangaroos, Melbourne and the Bulldogs. These four teams just do not have the supporter base nor corpate support to shield them during their down times. Every team goes through it, but in my opinion a clubs strength is not how well you are doing when you are winning, but how well you are going when losing. St Kilda are in the precarious position now of potentially being a bottom feeder for the next 3-4 years, because I just don't see any team they can jump over in the next few years, except for Melbourne and the Bulldogs who are just as rubbish. These teams have about 7-10 years to prove themselves, because McLachlan is on the record as saying there are no future expansions on the horizon anytime soon. Due to TV rights commitments this means these teams are safe for now, but they would all want to lift their game though.
Radelaide
Guest
In this economic environment it is getting harder and harder to run at a profit, on one hand you want to keep your members by keeping the prices (membership and seats) real but then to keep up with the top half dozen clubs that make a profit you have to do these things, personally I'd rather pay a few more bucks if it means keeping my club healthy although the Adelaide oval situation is a farce that needs to be sorted.
AR
Guest
The move to Seaford was a cyncial one, in no small part motivated by pokies revenue. I think the return to Junction Oval will see a resurgence of the St Kilda FC. With Cricket Vic moving there, the AFL contributing $10M and financial committments from both sides of state politics, it will improve the StK/Albert Park precinct in a very meaningful and community-focused way. The only way is up for the Saints.
Bob Gooch
Guest
Good luck to the Saints and their well overdue muted return to their heartland at the Junction Oval. As a Melbourne supporter I wish that they would wake up and return home but they don't seem to recognise how important this is - still got their head in the sand out at Cranbourne - wake up MFC