The current state of our club means we operate in a self sustaining model. This means that we don't receive any money from outside sources, whether it be from the owners, shareholders or even donations. Shareholders currently only make their money from profit of Arsenal shares. We only operate with what we earn from transfer sales, tickets, merchandise, sponsors etc.
At this time the majority of our income goes towards the debt we are in, caused by the new stadium. This why we are lead to believe, why we are so tight with our money on transfers and contracts.
So this has lead me to ask, once all of our stadium debt is payed for and that a new and improved sponsorship deal is agreed upon.
Do you think that we will start to see a more competitive approach from us in the transfer market i.e big money transfers to lure clubs to selling players like Eden Hazard to our team, to better competitive contracts and structure within the club to keep hold of our best players and be more attractive to new prospective players.
I say this because currently with all our debt issues, we are the 7th most valuable sports team in the world (teams from other sports across the world). We also have the the 5th highest income in football across Europe (which would drastically increase depending on our next sponsorship deal). So we WILL become a huge force, if played right.
When this debt is cleared, there is absolutely no point in saving huge amounts of money in the bank when it can be spent on the team, after all this is why we follow our favorite team, to be entertained, excited with quality and the prospect of quality and to enjoy watching the highest possible achievements that our team can reach.
Or do you think that once this happens, the owner and shareholders will make ways to start taking money out?
How would you feel given a scenario where we have no debt, and are earning huge amounts of money, yet FAIL to use the money to invest in the team in a way where we are being competitive and spending within our means, and also due to the high levels of income, are actually able to spend big. Do you also think this could be a likely scenario?
any thoughts please.
ok, genuine question here.
posted on 1/9/12
How much do we have in the bank? I heard it was around 130m.
posted on 1/9/12
Wenger or not, the question remains. Iam getting a feel that im supporting more of a business than a football team.
posted on 1/9/12
Not sure how true it is but it has often been said that Arsenal hvae had this equality mentality which has meant our fringe players getting vastly superior contracts to what their ability and contributions deserve and it will be some time before the club sorts that situation out. Hence why in recent years on our big names players have left for permanent transfer fees while we keep loaning our our back up players. Also it is the huge wages on top of the transfer fees which has often been our issue and will continue to be the same until the wags structure is finally sorted out.
posted on 1/9/12
mikeymax, that is exactly what i couldn't believe when i hard about it. to pay unproven players that were youngsters (i.e denilson, bendtner etc) on wages very close to our top players, and this also meant bringing the potential wage of our top players down to be closer to the youngster as completely ridiculous and this is what caused our club to rot from inside, hence rvp, nasri, clichy, song and others to leave. whoever was responsible ruined the team and should have be accountable for it.
posted on 1/9/12
I don't think Wenger will be at the club much longer, and although I still think he is the right man for us and is working miracles, a change of management will probably be a breath of fresh air when it comes. I don't know why he would keep so quiet if he really doesn't have the financial support of the board.
posted on 1/9/12
He is the only manager of an elite european club who is under no pressure to win anything (when you consider there have been managers at other clubs who have won the Champions League and still shown the door) so therefore in a win win position. If he wins a trophy it is an out standing achievement but if not we have a great bank balance. True test would be if Wenger would still be in charge if we did not finish in the top 4?
posted on 1/9/12
I've just seen figures that show that since 2008 Arsenal have made a profit on transfers of £42million (todays Times).
We are constantly told that money is available, but Wenger says that he will only pay for quality. (Like Squillaci and Park?!)
Something is going on at our club that we don't know about.
I think it's up to The Arsenal Supporters Trust to burst this boil and finally find out the truth. Not from smooth talking frontman Gazidis. Not from Wenger, who is loyal to his employers, but from the crusty old Board members - Kroenke and his yes men.
Come on Arsenal Supporters Trust, challenge The Board to answer questions direct, in full view of the supporters.
They can no longer hide behind Wenger and Gazides, unless you let them.
posted on 1/9/12
wincolgooner, its because he is part of the problem too. he is still stuck in his old ways where he thinks he can sill buy quality players for little money. He never spends big and wants to prove everyone wrong and achieve with his mentality. but the youth system he brought up from six years ago, well none are still with us bar walcott.
players get discovered by everyone when they show any signs of ability these days, gone are the days were you could buy vieira or anelka for less than a million. clubs will hold out for silly money when their players show signs of ability, we can all blame chelsea and city for that one.
posted on 1/9/12
We are constantly told that money is available, but Wenger says that he will only pay for quality
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i unserstand this but also agree with you. you cant say this yet waste large wages and money on bringing in players like chamakh, park, gervinho, squilaci and others yet easily let go of the decent players.
posted on 1/9/12
But they are not responsible for our wage structure which has lead to some of the problems at the club. If we were serious about winning trophies the continued blinkered approach to buying young unknown quantities would not be tolerated. All the top clubs have quality scouting systems now that allow them to spot the next big thing thing which immediately puts us out of contention as the preferred transfer fee often exceeds £20M which rules us out.