Arsene Wenger has admitted he’s a fan of Lille’s Edez Hazard but says that Arsenal have a requirement to make a profit of £15-£20m at the start of each season.
Speaking to Belgian paper, La Dernière Heure, about the winger everyone believes will turn us into Champions and trophy winners again, the boss said, “I like him a lot, and for several reasons. His creativity, his ability to unbalance the opposition, his vision and his consummate art of giving the final ball make him a player coveted by many.
“Hazard has the right profile to play at a top level club, and Arsenal is a top level club.”
Yet with the price tag likely to be very high for one of Europe’s most sought after young players, the boss sounded a warning, “You have to know that at every season’s start, Arsenal must imperatively make a profit of between £15m and £20m. I’d add to that that one of the missions of a coach is to always buy at a price he judges to be right.”
He doesn’t specifically say that the profit must come from transfers but given the way we’ve done business in the past it seems the easiest way to achieve this.
That said, with news filtering through that Arsenal will tour the far east and Nigeria this coming summer, it looks as if the club are looking at other ways of achieving that surplus. If the requirement for that profit is true, however, it might well suggest that Wenger is a manager whose hands are more tied than people think when it comes to the transfer market.
As for Hazard, he has already said he’ll be playing in England next season, it remains to be seen with who.
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Hat tip Ollie for translation.
I was just thinking that this was inevitable. We just can’t afford to spend money like any of the other top clubs. But my question is: By profit did me he mean net profit on transfers?
Weren’t we told we moved to the new stadium to compete with the other top teams or just to make profit? Weren’t this stadium suppose to make us on of the biggest club in the world? wan’t Stan never to do the Glazers and take money out of our club and that Usmanov is the evil that was going to destroy our club if we sold out to him?
I hope we don’t try to find excuse for the board over this we need answers.
Your are indeed right, we moved to the stadium in order to compete with man utd in terms of gate reciepts and profits from football. Plans for the new stadium were formulated towards the end of the 90’s early 2000’s. This is before in influx of Russian Billionaires and oil tycoons that came in, inflated the market and started paying standard salaries of £130 – £200K per week! This is the reality and the reason we can no longer attract/retain players like Na$ri but you know what – I am proud of the fact we haven’t “sold our soul” in… Read more »
So, all our ream collapses at the end of of most seasons down to the Russian and the Arabs!!!! Losing to Brimms in the final? not signing a 10 mil defender Jan 11 while we know TV out for the season? Insisting on Alumina for three years while the likes of Freddle, Given and Schwarzer out there for 2 to 5 mil and that money he was spending it on unknown kids? Letting Pires go too early when we needed experience for the sake of 2 years contract when he could have been our Giggs? Stubbornness and refusing to move… Read more »
Theo Walcott did not ask for 95/100K per week, lets stop the misinformation. He made no demands from the club. He will sign a new 5-year deal according to reports.
Well, I have a different kind of a question: Does he mean profits or net cash flows? In the system as ours Cash flows are more important then making profits. If we can manage our inflows and outflows in the meaningful way then making profits each year may not be as much issue.
I think the fans deserve a full explanation of whats going on at this club. A honest account of what our aims are and what state the finances are in. As a season ticket holder paying the dearest prices in world football I believe it’s the least we should expect. Why people quote man city and a like I don’t no. Most rational arsenal fans no we can’t compete with them and don’t expect us to but as fans we should expect better quality than park and bennyoun. The need for a striker was obvious in the summer and we… Read more »
To me, the message between the lines here is very clear. If we play CL next season, we can (and should in my opinion) expect a player like Hazard at Arsenal.
No CL is “no drama” (according to the board) but in that case, expect no big signing.
Simples.
Its just a pipe dream
No top player would want to come to a team thats not even in the CL and not ambitious at all to win anything, he will be playing with the chavs next season
Arsenal a top level club? you must be high arsene.You made sure we’ve become anything but.
absolutely. He was at fault for our FA cups, Premier league titles, Invincibles season, Moving to a new stadium while keeping us in CL, 14 consecutive years in CL, 1st champions league final, emergence of a new generation of players for England, Changing the way we play, buying players at peanuts and turning them into world class (RVP, Vieira, Cesc, DB10, etc.).
Yes you are absolutely right. WENGER OUT!!!
Wenger didn’t buy DB10 you noob.
and your point is null and void due to the insult. Well done.
For every gem wenger buys there are at least 3-4 that turn out to be horrible. (b52,denilson,squid) He won titles over 7-8 years ago , no one disregards this. How many chances did he have to win more in the past ?. How many times did we say shifting out and bringing in only a few set of players would help us win titles? lol emergence of new generation of english players? you mean world beaters like walcott who will surely surpass messi right? He is so stubborn about spending, sells his best players and made arsenal the laughing stock… Read more »
Please can you name these superior managers but take out all teams that have the financial power of Man City, PSG, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid, etc… and so can afford any transfer fee and any wages they want
In that case: BRUCE RIOCH IN.
you say we’re not in the CL.
really?
i could have sworn we’ve got Milan in the next round.
On each other and the manger whilst the board just sit and watch and say nothing that can help stabilise the situation.
Mr Harry Potter…stick to magic, stay away from football. 😀
Dont be pessimistic, scouse, spurs and chavs drew at the weekend, we are now 3 points away from top four, and Chelsea and tottenham have very difficult fixture lists coming up.
We’re still in the CL and a fairly open FA Cup too. So despite some major flaws and a lack of funding this team is still in the thick of things. Maybe not in the hunt for silverware at the moment but still competing with teams who spend substantially more than us nonetheless.
FOURTH?…FOURTH?!
Let me explain…
Spuds’ luck is running out, their manager is facing time in jail and they have to play us later this month. I expect us to destroy them mentally.
The chavs have clown Cahill and Sideshow Bob at the back ffs! Man Utd are clearly finished when Granddad Scholes is still their best midfielder and City are cracking up.
As for Liverpool, ‘King Kenny’ is resorting to bringing on a cat to help out with goals.
Impossible is nothing, we are going for the league title people. 😀
Up The Arsenal.
Can i have some of what he’s had?
Nurse!!!!! He is out and forgot to take them.
I’m INSPIRED.
I think this goes to show how tied AW’s hands are when it comes to transfers. We may have a fund, but can he spend it? From what he says obviously not. So instead of slagging him off, we should be applauding him for keeping us there or thereabouts, season after season.
I’ll justify my thumbs down – I’m sick and tired of his rambling. He spews rhetoric that is starting to contradict itself and when once I used to look forward to any interviews I now find his charming gallic nonchalance and knowing grin irritating and condescending.
You don’t have to justify anything. We all have different views and although it may be unpopular these days I am still of the belief AW is the best manager we can have and he has less money to play with than we all think. But that’s just my opinion as a person who has been supporting the club for fifty years.
I think the imperative question is, ‘Why do we need to make a profit of £15-20 million each season start?’ We’d be the only team doing so and surely whatever the argument, for one season only we can cope without? Just like Gazidis has said that we can cope without CL revenue.
I’m sorry but this just stinks of age old rhetoric giving excuse for non-purchases.
None of us know the context of the statement, it may simply mean that the wage bill is £20M, maintenance of the building, etc. I would really not read to much into it without getting a bit more colour on it
Good question – I was thinking the same thing. After all, the club hasn’t ever declared a dividend in the last 40 years, so the profit would just roll back into the reserves.
I understand the need for a club to be “profitable” but that could also be 5 million pounds a year.
Unless, of course they are planning on distributing profits from next year – I guess we’ll have to wait & see.
Though I hope it doesn’t happen – we don’t need any more nay-sayers amongst the supporters right now!
Hey HP is the sky falling?
well atleast try and take a risk buying a player like hazard or gotze(or any other top player) and challenge for top spot and reaching further stages of champions league which will eventually increase the profit because you cant keep on increasing ticket prices or sell your best players. Yes its difficult for Arsene to buy this players because there is vast talent of players young coming through. We dont want to be a club developing players and let them leave at their peaks, we want to challenge for the tiltle.
Spot on.
And one more request please Arsene ( i like you) do not say “i like this player” i was so seeing Falcao in our squad which never happend.
Must be the time of pushing the season ticket sell and giving the supporters a false hope.
The last team tried that is Inter Milan. If it fails, it’ll be a big blow. Because Arsene or no no Arsene, money or no money, Success is not that predictable
If they’re going to Nigeria to make some money, I got an email this morning that may help them… apparently there is this bloke who inherited some money, but just can’t access it….
Ollie translated that article? But…. but he’s Frelgian!
So, the club been lying to us about money being available? Didn’t we have 50 mil to spend this summer and what ever we generate from the transfer?
That is what most Arsenal supporters upset about, we don’t know what is going on. One come out and say we have money to spend even if we need 30 mil player and now this!!!!!.
“I always tell you the truth. I do not always tell you the complete truth.” – Wenger
[…] Belgian newspaper yesterday. For those that wish to cream yourselves on the bits about Eden Hazard, he had this to say: I like him a lot, and for several reasons. His creativity, his ability to unbalance the […]
Get shot of some of the deadwood if possible,should raise at least 10million.tbsitworld should fetch about 6million,vela 2m,park2m,Cham5m that’s 4 players alone who ain’t getting a sniff offload them promote from within the club and buy 1 or 2 big players.in fairness to arsene he done a good bit of dealing in the summer.
“Hazard has the right profile to play at a top level club, and Arsenal is a top level club.”
I also wish he wouldn’t talk about other players that contracted to other club and do Rossie47. Lille to their supporters is a big club they just won the league last year. I wish he will avoid questions that involve other team players and not have opinion in any thing and every thing even outside football to the papers.
They have publicly said they want to sell him ,It’s not tapping….Ok it is it’s the Consensual kind . they want to sell
Hazard’s agent is already shopping for a club. The player came out and said he’ll definitely go this summer. Not tapping up imo.
Mental case,
Tap up or not tap up, it is the right thing he keeps his mouth shut regarding any player that contracted to other club. That is the how a classy club like Arsenal do things not like those trash DNA at Barca or the wheeler dealer at Spuds.
I think our problem is we can afford to buy these players, but others can afford to pay them higher wages. Look at Mata, he was pretty much coming & then all of a sudden he’s off to Chelsea! Arsenal wont break their wage structure & that is why Hazard will end up somewhere else!
meh, I don’t like Mata anyway he’s a bit, *smmmrk*, big headed.
That has been the case in recent times. Although, recently Gazidis or Wenger, I think at the most recent AGM, indicated that the club was going to look at this. (if my memory serves.)
“A profit of £15 tp £20 million per season”…..Hmmmmmmm….Let’s see shall we ? Bendtner £52,000 per week ? Denielson £40,000 per week – at least. Almunia £50,000 per week. Walcott £65,000 per week. Squillachi £40,000 per week. Park – can’t be less than £25,000 per week can it ? Diaby £60,000 per week. Rosicky has just come back to life but for 2 years or more he did nothing on £50,000 per week. Oh yes and Chamakh must be £60,000 per week. Arshavin £60,000 per week. Hit the calculator and you’ve got not much change out of £500,000 per week… Read more »
You would assume that the wages of Bendtner and Denilson are being covered (if not 100% but close to that) by the teams they’re on loan to.
To be fair to him, he did get rid of Bendtner and Denilson. We even threw Almunia out to WHU for a while didn’t we? Now, lets look at others Walcott is a starter and he’s always a threat and if we don’t pay him 65K, someone will pay him 100K or 120K and then we’ll only say we are selling our best players. Then there are Diaby and Rosicky case. We say we’re paying them this much even when they’re injured. But even when they’re injured, they’re contracted to club, aren’t they? And if their contract says they’re to… Read more »
Being out injured you would lose all bonuses that are part of your contract – appearance, goals, assists, etc… so you’d save money there
Well that’s a moot point – I know you’re mentioning specific players and want the club to get rid of them, but you forget that if you do, there are a number of younger players plus any new acquisitions who’ll fill those gaps. This is a cycle so as one player leaves, another takes his place and so on. You’re not gonna make significant cost savings at The Arsenal Football club by reducing wages – you’ll make a lot more going up a few notches in the table, champions league, FA cup etc etc. i.e. play good football (& win)… Read more »
Does anyone know whether Arsenal pays out a dividend to its shareholders? If so, Stan’s probably getting a good return on his investment which could also explain this obsession for net income every year.
If there are no dividend payments, then this makes no sense at all!
a) your paying tax on the profit and
b) you’d want long term value on your investment (i.e. increase the worth of the shares you own) which means reinvesting to increase revenues (win trophies, qualifications, matchday fees, merchandise etc.)
Arsenal have never paid dividends to shareholders. Something Gazidis reiterated here – http://news.arseblog.com/2012/01/ivan-gazidis-interview-with-fox-sports/
I wouldn’t believe Gazedis if he told me tomorrow is Wednesday. When Arsenal Directors have sold shares – either Hill-Wood to Dein, Dein to Usmanov or Fizman and Bracewell-Smith to Kronke they have all made substantial profits worth more than any dividend. More importantly Arsenal have a sum of money close to £60 million sitting on the balance sheet for ‘unspecified purposes’. Gazedis said their electric costs had gone up substantially. But it’s hard to believe they are paying Eon that sort of money. Has Kronke paid for his share purchase in full ? And if he hasn’t, then that… Read more »
1 – Profit from share sales are not dividends.
2 – The idea that a business like Arsenal has £60m sitting around for ‘unspecified purposes’ is ridiculous.
If we have that kind of cash it’s for a very good reason, not just to keep under the mattress.
I should point out I don’t know what that specific purpose is
So then its in Stan’s best interest (unless he is paying himself some crazy salary, which I doubt) to increase the value of the football club.
The guys running Arsenal certainly see something and believe in this frugal/conservative business model, which *actually* isn’t about screwing over the club/fans or making short term profits. I just wished they’d be more clear.
@ Arseblog That specific purpose might be security for our Debt. I am saying might be not sure.
If he increases the value of the club too much, then buying the remaining shares will cost him a lot of money.
The cash reserves could be something to do with our loan deals to finance the stadium? Without having read the terms, I wouldn’t speculate what the reserve is for. Also, whilst all the older shareholders did make a ton of cash selling their shares to Kronke and Usmanov, they owned those shares since donkey’s ears – when the club’s valuation was nothing compared to the billion pound valuation they recently got when Kronke bought his 60%. What remains to be seen is how much money Kronke & Usmanov actually make when & if they do sell on their shares, as… Read more »
Well, I have seen accounts, not as thoroughly as when I carry out audits, but Arsenal don’t pay any dividend. We hardly break even before players sales. Only after players sales we make some profit. So get down your horses, when you read we had so and so much Operating profit because in the end what counts is Net profit and not operating. That is why in my earlier comment I said we should be focusing on the Cash flows and not Profits. If we’re generating +ve Cash flows then that is good enough for me cause it tells me… Read more »
“You have to know that at every season’s start, Arsenal must imperatively make a profit of between £15m and £20m. I’d add to that that one of the missions of a coach is to always buy at a price he judges to be right.” No Arsene, a “Football Coach” mission is to win games and win trophies, balancing the book that is an accountant job not yours. as a “football coach” all you have to do is point the player/s you want and tell them that is all I want to win and increase the prize money and fan base… Read more »
It’s not quite as simple as “all you have to do is point the player/s you want and tell them that is all I want to win ” though, is it?
It suggests that he’s not being tasked with finding this profit, if that’s really the case. In which case pointing at anything won’t make any difference.
Any respectable manager would not accept to himself to lie to the supporters and say “Yes, we have money” if he knows we haven’t. No matter how much little money we have or don’t have, it is still the Manager job to point the players he wants and the board deals with it, just like we did with Park, he pointed Ivan went and stole him from Lille. Or, it goes like that, I want player A if we can’t offered him we can go for the cheaper option player B or C but we do need him as we… Read more »
Cygan’s Left Foot – If Arsene Weger is not a respectable manager would you please enlighten me as to who is. It’s very easy to pontificate but as most of us who work in any kind of professional industry know, work is a process of compromise. People who throw their toys out of the pram when they are told they can’t do something generally don’t make it that far.
Yes, that’s what ‘Arry do. DOesn’t he? He won F.A. Cup for Pompeys and season after that Pompeys were in administration. We all know what happened to Saints. Think if Saints were still up and didn’t have financial troubles then for them Theo would have been playing in Center, Bale on one wing and Ox on other doesn’t that frighten you? But ‘Arry did all of us a favor and made sure Saints were Financially broke. So the attitude Arsene has would work best in long term. How long will it take? I don’t know. But I’d rather want to… Read more »
Except he’ll be told how much money he has avaliable by those at the club; so yes, he needs to get a player at a good price to allow him to either invest in more players or allow higher wages. It’s like any business (yes, this is what it is) where he will be given a budget to work with and will try and get the best return for his funds.
Please use some common sense, some of your posts are becoming tiresome with your constant complaints despite not actually knowing what goes on at the financial level.
C.R.F.
One thing Guaranteed with you, is that as you miss the point, I gave Barca as in example how big team operates.
And about Alonso, that is BS, Liverpool were never waiting to sign Barry first before selling Alonso. Alonso had fallen out with Rafa and wanted out, Fab knew and was almost begging Arsene to sign him. In fact, Liverpool sold him to RM without replacing him. And even at 18 mil he was worth it, we waste so many millions in crap players.
And one thing with you is that you will choose a club that is financially an unrealistic comparison. In your posts you have quoted Man City – Richest owner in the world, PSG – Qatar Investment Authority (making it one of the richest clubs in the world), Chelsea – Oil Baron owner and Real Madrid and Barcelona – Both protected by the banks due to their value to their countries. If you went with clubs that needed to make a profit or at least break even to stay afloat, then at least choose more realistic targets (Norwich, Swansea, Everton, Aston… Read more »
CLF : u are speaking as if u were near fabregase(may be his housekeeper) when he apparently “begged to arsene to sign alonso”.
I’ve won everything on Football Manager. Maybe I should be coach.
Oh wait, it’s not that fucking easy, is it.
Depends on whether you are manager of Man City, PSG, Real Madrid or Barcelona
Arsenal business model is poor and will cost the company money.unless we buy two world class players we will lose revenue from champions and premere leagues,gate and sponsorship. We can easily afford to buy ,what about the extra revenue from the new ground,plus the money we made on transfers this summer. Has this money been been taken away from the club?
Surely a business model built on the lazy assumption that two world class players would make everything right is even poorer?
I agree, imagine if we had spent £85m on bringing in Torres and Carroll. At least when Wenger does get it wrong with a signing it costs the club very little compared to others.
Imagine if we spent that 15 mil in Alonso to play next to Fab? Yes, we need one/two extra world class players to push a good team that extra, nothing wrong with that. Every team do that even the greatest team EVER Barca did that Dropped Pedro and Villa and signed Alex and Fab after winning the CL with those players.
Barcelona also have the highest wages of any club and, along with Real Madrid, have been bailed out by banks numerous times. We don’t have that back up plan, so their models are unsustainable in England.
You’ve also added the age old mindset, that fans think every club should just sell their players to Arsenal because of who we are. Would Liverpool have really sold him to a title rival? Also, they reportedly wanted 18-20m and not the 15m you have quoted. Gareth Barry incidentally ended up at Man City and not Liverpool, which is why Alonso was available sooner.
I love how Cygan’s Left and Right foot are so contrary in opinions 🙂
like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 🙂
I don’t necessarily agree with Brian’s comment but surely Graig’s comment equating a “world class player” to a “85M Torres/Caroll” is disproportionate too.
1) You CAN get a top/world class for less
2) Torres is not a world class player
Vladiziv,
He is giving The Cygans a bad name, he is the black/blind sheep of the family, we disowned him a longggggg time ago. That is why he is the only right footed in the family.
Apparently the Cygan’s all hop around….
I think the sense of humour lost on you and all the Arsene’s knows blind sheep losers there.
Shame on you calling yourself a Cygan.
Lost sense of humour? Oh the irony…
Hang on a second. All we keep hearing is that it wont be a disaster if we fail to qualify for the Champions League. Now we’re being told we have to make a profit of about £20m per season which could easily be raised from the Champions League.
If we’re so desperate to make a profit why the hell are we paying players like Squilaci, Denilson etc. such big wages for their poor talent?
1. Why it won’t be a disaster if we don’t make to CL: We go to Europa League. How would that help us? 1.Europa has a lot of many matches that will help us bleed in plenty of youngsters in the team. Think of it as second Carling Cup. Plenty of players that may keep on playing in Reserves might get a chance to step up a notch and play directly in Europe. That will help us showcase their talent to whole of Europe. With that we’d know how many are of Arsenal quality and who are not. Those who… Read more »
I wish I could live in your own little world.
I’m sorry but I don’t see how swapping arguably the biggest competition in world football for a “second Carling Cup” is in any way not a disaster. I can’t see any bright side in swapping AC Milan for Dzgjgdokjfbljfnlb FC.
Sorry this isn’t meant to sound as shitty as it does, just an observation!
I think the point was that the competiton allows us to play more reserve players to get them up to speed and to see who could make it at Arsenal and who could be used to turn a profit. As the Carling cup matches are spread out, extra matches against higher standard of opponent, not other reserve players, would aid development. In terms of money and high-end transfers the CL is key but in terms of player development, 15-20 games (or however many it is from start to finish) for reserve and youth players compared to 6-13 (i think) for… Read more »
I got to thank CRF. At least, some one got my point. And I exactly mean the same. Look at the youth we have. They’re all so exciting, promising and bloody technically sound. And reserves competition is worse than League one of English competition. I mean every week I wish to see kids like Ozyakup, Afobe to see on the bench at least. Look at the core of the new team likely to be playing in a couple of years. Startin with defense: Scez, Martinez, Fab,Koz, Verm, Per, Ignasi(if Cahill is 12mln, then this kid at 17 is 10mln at… Read more »
Assuming we get to Europa League…..
1)The last team which relocated their stadium in EPL (before us ) is Bolton and it was in 1997. They got relegated next season. So we cant really get a comparative study of the task of Arsene Wenger under these situations. 2)It is like buying a new a mansion with loan, paying the interest and then decide to go for Ferrari and going to Vegas for a sweepstake. 3)Arsenal let the managers go on amicable terms when the performances dropped to mid table (6-7) for 3-4 years. In last 6-7 years we’re so close to winning the league twice and… Read more »
I like how the club is run ,but it’s the small things that piss me off . Like why no sign Per,Arteta and Santos early , that could have prevent our poor start
I may be wrong on this, but as frustrated as I am by AW’s apparent unwillingness (or inability, given the alleged imperative to have a yearly 20m£ profit) to buy his way into the top 2 of the EPL, I am starting to think a bit longer term. AW’s model was spot-on for the 1995-2005 decade, will have seen the club decline in the 2005-2015 decade, but may be back in fashion sooner than we expect because of UEFA’s fair-play regulation. While I don’t expect AW to stick around for another 10 years (and I guarantee you that he will… Read more »
I know we don’t pay dividends to shareholders, but if I owned say 65% of the shares wouldn’t it be in my financial interest to pay off as much of the stadium debt as quickly as possible? I can therefore argue that I am acting in the best longterm interest of the club but in reality increasing the value of my shareholding considerably when I sell the club with considerably reduced debts in a few years.
I don’t see why we have to make a profit at all, surely breaking even after transfer purchases is what matters.
Certainly possible.
That could explain things.
But its not like this debt can be paid back faster than agreed – and if it is then there will be a ‘penalty’ to ensure the that the lender doesn’t lose out. Also, assuming that this is possible, the increase in equity valuation this generates could well be offset by not obtaining CL qualification (and the other revenue downsides associated with bad on-field performance).
Actually no. There’s nothing wrong with having debt on your books as long as you can service it – which Arsenal can. If you were a 65% shareholder and just paid a fortune for it, what you would want it a dividend. So you’re getting some immediate return on your investment and not just holding on to your shares for the long-run in order to make some money when you sell on. Imagine putting millions of pounds in a bank and not getting any tangible interest on it. I guess they’re trying to get the best of both worlds here… Read more »
A business model built on the requirement to survive on Champions League revenue is basically a house of cards waiting to crash once we don’t make it. That’s not to say the Champions League is not important football and finance-wise but you can’t spend what you don’t have yet and expect to get away with it every time. It’s a fine line to balance on really. Back when Denilson was a steady presence and starter in almost every game I’m sure nobody argued against giving him a pay-rise. Until we discover that he plateau-ed right after. Hindsight is always 20/20… Read more »
[…] is crucial; Arsène noted in the Belgian Press that Arsenal require £15-£20m of profit each year. What profit is undefined; transfer, […]
Just read the article:
Firstly, la derniere heure is a Belgian Tabloid.
Secondly, the interview was about Belgian football as a whole. Arsene also pasts comment on Fellaini, Kompany and Dembele.
He does say that he would take Hazard straight away, but it is a financial question as well.
Certainly, strategic on the part of Arsene. He invited the Belgian reports into his office at Highbury.
I m just curious how did Belgium not qualify for euro. Witsel,fellaini,kompany,vertonghen,vermaelen,hazard, dembele and many more . Yes verminator was injured for most of their games but still.
From watching their matches, they didn’t seem to play as a team. Players with great ability but clearly don’t play together enough.
The 15 mil is to fund the stadium debt and it is due at the same time as the the transfrer starts in the summer,he is once again trying to con you and make it sound like the club is skint and if you dont believe me try to get a copy of Arsenals finances.
you can easily get a copy of the clubs finances, they are publicly listed every year.
It’s there for all to see.
It is available online on Arsenal site.
AHA! so they are hiding it from the people without Internet access , those BASTARDS
I miss highbury
It’s time to move on. FORWARD!
@arseblog,. I seem to remember a few weeks back, you posted a link in your blog to an article by one of your buddies, in it he listed in quite a bit of detail, the figures of which we might be dealing with at arsenal. incl costs, transfer budget, wages, etc etc, it was a very interesting read, although I can’t remember what it was titled, or who it’s author was, but if it is still around I think it would be great to read it again in light of this story. Hope you can recall the article I am… Read more »
May have been The Swiss Ramble. If not, it’s still a good place to start.
http://swissramble.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Arsenal
Maybe he is smarter than we give him credit for and is saying this so that selling clubs think we have less money to spend. I know that if I was selling a player I would look at our financial statements and think that we had lots of money available, and that would make the price go up. I would definitely think that if I was a greedy bastard of an agent trying to negotiate my player’s salary. Arsene managing expectations downward a little bit is no bad thing.
can any one logically answer me why arsenal need 15-20 million profits every year??
I guess it might be to pay wages/running costs without needing to use money that would otherwise go towards transfer fees. Just a guess.
I would say it a fair few things: You have contract bonuses, chance of increased interest rates for the loans, lower attendances during the colder winter days, have to purchase a bulk load of bin bags, etc…. I guess there are a lot of ‘what if’s’ and ‘just incases’ rather than specific items.
No,and neither can Arsene,he is basically conning us into believing that we are the most skint team in the world so he can have a ready made excuse for not spending in the summer and if we fail to qualify for the cl his excuse is signed and sealed.
Do you expect him to say, ‘we have exactly £55 million to spend this summer, so stick another 5million on any possible targets’. I just don’t get why any sane fan with a basic grasp of negotiation or even poker would think it sensible to show your hand. If he did say what we had to spend and we paid over the odds for a player I’m sure you would blame Wenger for that too.
I sometimes wish Arsene would leave just to make these so called fans realise how lucky we are to have him! Be careful what you wish for! If there was so much money to spend & considering our recent lack of sucess, why haven’t the club/board forced his hand? It’s common sense, just think about it. We constantly struggle to pay top wages, we sell our best players without replacing them adequately and you morons think it’s because Wenger just refuses to spend!!! Come on, open your eyes, I don’t know what the problem is but I can guarantee there’s… Read more »
I think what wenger is trying to say is arsenal cannot afford to live on the edge financially. Living on the edge would mean the club would be breaking even year after year. That is not stable for any business to be run like that, as the economic cycle might bite hard and the club may not be insulated on the downside. So I understand his comments, we cannot be ending everything we earn, afterall arsenal is not a government institution and does not have government guarantee and backing. It’s a self sustaining and cautious model that is always weary… Read more »
@goonernugget,
Thanks for posting that link, it is the one I was referring to.
Here’s a comment in that article from Peter Hill-Wood,.. “Our business goal is not to generate profits as such, but rather to grow the club’s revenues, so that they can be re-invested in the team and the long-term success of the club.” kinda clashes with the above reported comments from arsene,.
who knows what’s going on,..
Something stinks thats for sure. These contradictions arent doing much for getting fans behind the team and the manager.
Not a contradiction pal, just a one sentence quote with no context..
Ivan Gazidis said it perfectly a few weeks back: “You know, it’s interesting – there seems to be some mystery about this, but we’re about the least mysterious club in the world [Warren laughs], we’re a public company. We publish our accounts. Anybody can have a look at them, they’re publicly available, you can look at them, and you can pretty much work out what our monetary situation is.” Well I can tell you, you don’t have to be a qualified accountant (which I am) to be able to calculate our current financial state. You merely need to have a… Read more »
I do agree with you and I have said it time and time again, it is not wengers fault, his hands are tired, you only have to look at the sale of nasir to know that he is not completely in charge of transfers, yes wenger can be stubborn but he is not stupid, he was not the one who allowed nasir contract to run down and then sell him, he was not the one to agree a price with baca, it is unusual for the owner of a club to keep quite when your club is not going well,… Read more »
Yes I believe the board is mainly to answer simply because, if it is Wenger who is refusing to spend and he is not using the resources available to him to their maximum potential, then the board need to apply pressure. What is needed is clarity! If it is Wenger and the board are refusing to act then the fans voices need to be heard, and as you have stated above the best way will probably be with your feet. Again I don’t know the answer. However I must say the more likely scenario in my head is it is… Read more »
spend some f*%King money wenger
Disregarding the financial aspect of things, let’s suppose Hazard is signed.
Where would he play? Would Walcott/Arshavin be shown the door then? Gervinho-RvP-Hazard would be quite tasty. But then you need depth, so keep Walcott? Ox has shown he can play out wide too…hmmmm
@ trevor
It would be a nice problem to have. The word “depth” comes to mind
Surely against a tired defence, bringing Walcott and Chamberlain on would scare the fullbacks into making all kinds of mistakes and also allow them far more space.
I think he would have played behind RvP, kind of like Fab…
the more i think about it, the more i’m drawn to blaming the board.
I don’t believe wenger would stand by and do nothing with obvious deficiencies regularly on show. He’s not an idiot. But he’s also not the kind of guy to come out and cry foul about his employers. He’s trying to show a united front.
As its been mentioned above maybe he’s not completely in charge of transfers, it would clear up the situation with park somewhat.
I think its time we got behind the team and wenger, seems like they need it more now than ever.
[…] a small story about a quote from Arsene Wenger about Arsenal’s profit imperative has made it a… and I will attempt to not address it in the manner befitting a story of this size and […]
I think the fans deserve a full explanation of whats going on at this club. A honest account of what our aims are and what state the finances are in. As a season ticket holder paying the dearest prices in world football I believe it’s the least we should expect. Why people quote man city and a like I don’t no. Most rational arsenal fans no we can’t compete with them and don’t expect us to but as fans we should expect better quality than park and bennyoun. The need for a striker was obvious in the summer and we… Read more »
Well said. I’m not gonna invest any time thinking about whether or not we sign Hazard. I’m more curious about Wengers statement about the need for a certain level of profits and things being a little more transparent for the sake of the fans. We all love Arsenal and should be treated a little better whether or not it’s a season ticket holder, one who can only make it to a few games each season, or those like me who live across the pond and dream one day of making it to London to see a game at the Emirates.… Read more »
Nick I was coming purely from a season ticket holders point of view. But I’ve never been one of those that feel I have more to say because of that. Every fan no matter how you support the club has as much right as anyone else to have your opinions heard.
What I realy hate is those people that say go and support someone else when they read a post that disagrees with their cosy view of all things arsenal.
Go support Queen of the South, Voldermort.
Then you could end all your posts
COYQOTS
Actually I’m *really* not fond of this “COY…”
Unless it’s Queen of the South. Then it’s mildly OK.
don’t understand all the vitriol about spending the ox was £12-15m by most peoples’ reckoning. not exactly small change and something of a risk when you consider his age. of course the alternative view is that it’s a fucking piece of genius, because waiting for 2 or 3 years would have meant he was a £30m player we’d have no chance of signing. or he was maybe worth £8m and called Theo, who knows? Kos – £10m TV – £10m Gerv – £12m Arteta – £10m Personally I’d rather have those four in the squad than one or two so-called… Read more »
Nice point (s) Sam – my main concern remains that 4th would constitute a successful season by AW & the board. Going out of both cups in the next couple of weeks I think would be willingly sacrificed if it meant that we could do that. If that scenario unfolds, then I think we would have to accept that there wouldn’t be the changes that I think most Arsenal fans want to occur. A sort of smug told you so. Would people take a 6th place finish & a FA Cup win if it meant we could keep Perse? I… Read more »
[…] few interesting quotes around. Wenger on Hazard and money. On Hazard, he was asked by the reporter if he liked Hazard, so the answer is hardly surprising. […]
I was just about to write a long post when I read Cygan’s Left Foot’s second post on this page and decided not to bother. He said almost everything that I wanted to. The reason why we are in such an awful mess right now is because of Arsene Wenger’s lousy management. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Wenger is a brilliant coach but a useless manager. There is plenty of money at the club! The problem is that we have a manager who makes ridiculous decisions when it comes to signing the correct players and playing… Read more »
Queen of the south ? Sammy mate you been at the cider ? You have totally lost me or maybe these pain killers are playing with my head.
I wish to correct my post – the only way Wenger could manage a hot dog cart is if I were not his employee. For obvious reasons.
P.S. This post not really by fatgooner. That’s why it’s both funny and sensible.
So would you then be called fattergooner?
Done 🙂
RED ARMY!
I remember Arsene saying something very similar a few seasons back, but I think the figure then was more 20-25 mil. still, it would be nice if we actually new what the situation was once and for all
I always thought the appartments did NOT sell at full value with the dip in the economy and that the stories going around a few years back about selling one of our top players each season was plausible. However to counteract that we have to get rid of all the players who are not working out and sell those that we have loaned out and dont want anymore to free up cash. I look at diaby and then think of frimpong 2 knees knackered in 2 seasons and only 18yrs old hes talented yes but I wouldnt want to see… Read more »
what i don’t understand is that if the club has to make £15 – 20 million profit a year then by definition it is not profit it is a cost?