Just don't know why people don't actually quote figures from the accounts!
OSB does a very useful job for everybody posting and dissecting them, then everybody ignores them.
Yes. I agree he does. Staff costs were cited as £9.9m in 2012; this being split across 490 employees - 83 in player/management roles, 45 in administrative roles and 362 stewards.
Trying to cut out what is purely first team squad expenditure is no more than educated guesswork; as there are other aspects which could sit within the 'staff costs' area of the accounts, such as severance for players contracts being terminated (for example, Doyle, one of the biggest earners left on a free transfer having his contract 'settled' in January 2011), or ongoing costs for managers who's contracts might still have been paid - Bothroyd, who left in March 2011; and his backroom staff could still have been included (Coleman was still being paid some £10K a week in the 2011 accounts, so it's not beyond possibility that Bothroyd' and his backroom staff were still being carried in 2012).
As such, I still see Andy Turner's analysis, after his interview with Ken Delieu as being the best estimate of the actual playing squad budget - at circa. £5m. And this does look a sensible estimate based on the £9.9m total figure shown within the accounts. So, it's not a case of 'ignoring accounts'; it's a case of reading and taking a view on them. As I'm sure OSB58 will also tell you, the figures in any given accounts need a whole lot of analysis to give them context. To follow them crudely doesn't even get close to giving an accurate picture