Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick and CEO Ivan Gazidis believe the club is in rude health both on and off the pitch after the latest financial figures, for the year ended 31 May 2014, were released.
Stressing that there remains much work to be done, Gazidis heralded last May’s FA Cup triumph – the 11th in the club’s history – as a major stepping stone in returning Arsenal to the top of the pile both domestically and in Europe.
“The club is in excellent shape, both on and off the pitch,” Gazidis told Arsenal.com. “We are proud of our 11th FA Cup success and the reward this represents to our fans in the Arsenal community around the world.
“There is always more to do and, whether investing in the team or in training facilities which will provide long-term benefit to the club, our guiding principles are the same and our focus is clear, on delivering more on field success.
“This remains the shared ambition of our majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, the board and everyone connected with the club. We are well placed to deliver against those ambitions.”
Pleased that the club have been able to reinvest significant funds in five new signings this summer, Gazidis also preached that Arsenal’s commitment to youth development remains unwavering with further cash being ploughed into an upgrade of facilities at Hale End and London Colney and extending the scouting network.
“I must stress that our long held philosophy, to identify and develop young players, remains key to our future. With this in mind Andries Jonker has succeeded Liam Brady as our Head of the Youth Academy. Andries joins us from Vfl Wolfsburg and has an outstanding track record of developing young talent. He established the Dutch FA’s world renowned youth development programmes and he will bring this expertise to bear as we build on Liam’s outstanding legacy of the past 17 years.
“We are also putting significant financial investment into our youth development activities. The first phase of extensive refurbishment work has been completed to our facilities at Hale End and work on a second phase is well underway. We are investing in new staff and looking at the very latest techniques in sports science and physical development.
“We are also looking to strengthen our global scouting networks to ensure we find the very best young talent in the game. This is important to our long-term success and it is a policy we will continue to pursue vigorously.
“Investments are also being made in people and infrastructure at our London Colney training centre. We are putting forward plans for improvements which will take us to the next level in terms of fitness and preparation facilities and I look forward to work getting underway in 2015.”
Revealing that gross turnover had increased to over £300 million – thanks predominantly to an increase in funds from the sale of TV rights and the renewed partnership with Emirates – Sir Chips added:
“Our revenues have exceeded £300 million, underpinned by TV and the significant progress made on our commercial agenda, and our improved financial position has allowed us to supplement the squad with important new signings. Our ambition is to put Arsenal Football Club at the pinnacle of the game here and in Europe. We all want to savour a repeat of the joys of last May.”
Key points
- Group profit before tax was £4.7 million (2013 – £6.7 million).
- The group’s total turnover amounted to £301.9 million (2013 – £280.4 million).
- Turnover from football increased to £298.7 million (2013 – £242.8 million) driven mainly by Premier League broadcasting, the FA Cup run and commercial activity including a full year of the Club’s extended partnership with Emirates.
- Taking account of increased costs, principally wage costs, operating profits (before depreciation and player trading) from football increased to £62.1 million (2013 – £25.2 million).
- Wage costs of £166.4 million (2013 – £154.5 million) represented 55.7% of football revenue (2013 – 63.6%).
- Profit on sale of player registrations was reduced to £6.9 million (2013 – £47.0 million).
So….. Can we buy a defender or 2 then?
No. According to Gazidis, the focus is on youth development, not buying proven talent. I think that’s the most worrying thing about his language. Not one word about how this money was going to be invested in top talent, ready to deliver. (Unless there’s more to this response not printed here?) Investing in the academy is all well and good, but how many of them make it at the top? Think about that generation of players that grew up with Jack Wilshere. Only one of them (Wilshere) has made it to a level that would be expected of a top… Read more »
Jesus, get a grip. Are Sanchez, Debuchy and Ospina not proven talent? He was highlighting the further investment into youth development which I think we can all agree is a great idea if it gives us another couple of Jacks over the next 5 years.
Another couple of Jacks? Clearly you haven’t been following our academy for long. It’s one Jack every how many years?
My quibble was with future policy. Yes, it’s great we’ve signed Sanchez et al, but further investment in players READY to perform at the highest level is clearly required. Investment in youth is the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. That is, if you’re serious about winning trophies…
If you were expecting Gazidis and Sir Chips to come out and say we’re going to splash da cash, and spend the big fucking moolah, ching ching, and so on, of course you were going to be disappointed. But it’s there if you bother to read it. “…delivering more on-field success.” “…our improved financial position has allowed us to supplement the squad with important new signings. Our ambition is to put Arsenal Football Club at the pinnacle of the game here and in Europe.” Of course we can only do that with the occasional big money signing. But only occasional,… Read more »
How desperate do you think Barca were for a CB? And the guy they signed (as a first choice!) couldn’t even force his way into our first team. Now you can argue that it was foolish to sell off both Vermaelen and Djourou in the same window but one of them hadn’t played for us for two years. But there were no third choice CBs available, let alone available for the right price, other than the one we had who wanted to leave due to lack of playing time.
This only makes us look like bigger assholes for not addressing needs. Way to go Ivan and Chips.
It wasn’t for financial reasons we didn’t bring in a central defender if thats what you are referring to. Apparently Arsene couldn’t find anyone to fit the bill
I’m not in the Wenger out camp but FFS all of us Gunners fans need to stop making excuses for Wenger. I mean come on he couldn’t find a CB/CDM in the whole F**** world for 3-4 years now come on. We’ve been seeing the same problems in the teams for years and nothings really changed tbh. 8-2 at Old Trafford years ago, 5-1 against Ac Milan in the champions League( 2011 I think), 6-0 last year against Chelsea, etc I really don’t want to re live anymore of those so I’ll stop there. Our record against the top 4… Read more »
300 million Turnover does not mean we can buy like the Sheikh of Agrabah! Our operating profit was a mere 4 million. That’s wht you should be looking at.
Also, the dividends declared to the shareholders perhaps.
Our wages itself accounted for 160 mill.
Fellow gooners, perspective before mouthing rubbish.
The club doesn’t pay dividends and I’m sure they could have afforded a defender, with the apparent £170m cash reserve being reported.
Bro, our monthly overheads for 2013-2014 averaged 24 million. That’s 24 million to be paid in salaries to run our club… per month. Our short term creditors is at 203million – Short term creditors are people we need to be paying within 1 year. Our long term creditors/ loans – 260 million. We might have 170m in cash reserves, but we need to survive as a club too. Sure, we can immediately buy a player for atleast 35m. But what impact would that have on AFC as a going concern? Unless we want Usmanov to play sugar daddy for us.… Read more »
Ivan has planted his employees on Arseblog too.
Are you really saying spending 35milion pounds for a club with reducing debt, 300 million pounds coming from Emirates and Puma alone, highest ticket prices in Europe cannot afford to spend an extra 40milion pounds on defensive cover and a class CDM?
And you say 4 million pound profit?
I am pretty sure most of us fans started following Arsenal not because they were impressed by the profits the club was making.
Dude seriously. I’m not an employee and that was a cheap shot.
Just trying to see why we didn’t purchase a central defender from a Financial point of view. Which whether anybody likes it or not is relevant if we are to continue as a self sufficient club.
Btw, a breakdown of our 300 million turnover.
Gate and other match day revenues 100mill
Broadcasting 120mill
Retail and licensing 17 mill
Commercial 59 mill
Property development 3 mill
I’m just curious, does that £4.7m include any losses/profits from transfers? I think we had a pretty heft loss on transfers this time around, and it looks to me like we might not have been able to spend much more than we did.
If we start winning major trophies it’s no harm to make profit but making Arsenal FC as a profit making machine bothers me a lot especially when we are paying most of the money week in and out. It’s a high time when we start dominating teams rather than starting a game as the underdogs.
Yet somehow Bellerin is starting in the Champions League already (Even though Wenger said he might not be ready), and Flamini & Arteta are still our starting CDM’s.
Last year no one had a problem with Flamini and Arteta as our dms. Instead everyone was praising Flaminin for his performances(granted they rather tailed off towards the end of the campaign). It just shows that fans just repeat what the press says. See the matches carefully. We have looked vulnerable on the flanks and other teams have taken notice. The problem largely arises because both ramsey and wilshere bomb forward(as do the 2 full backs) at the same time leaving lots of space behind them. No dm can cover that amount of space. Combine that with the fact that… Read more »
First, I was not one of those people praising the Arteta/Flamini partnership, and I’ve been saying for YEARS now that we need someone more solid and physical(At least a good athlete) in that Cdm position. That the media covers that often I could ***** care less about, It’s just that It’s a weakness that by know everyone knows about. Second, you mentioned the problems on the flanks, but that’s just another problem in the team make up, that only makes us more vulnerable defensively. For me thought It’s separate then us having or not having proper Cdm. We have looked… Read more »
If all teams can exploit our weaknesses so easily then how come we ended up in 4th place(79 pts) and a cup in hand?
So what have they done concerning the recurrent injury crisis that always rip the team apart when it looks set to mount on title challenge
So, business is operating efficiently and bringing in more money, which in turn is being invested in the future of the club. We’ve just won the FA Cup and are committed to achieving more success.
Get a grip / some perspective – the negative comments on these pages are totally out of proportion to the reality of Arsenal football club.
Amen
I feel this is one of those things people will use as ammunition against Wenger’s transfer policy. I’m going to be honest, I have no clue what to take from this.
People are negative because we pay the most to watch our team, yet still have a manager who makes the same mistakes every year.
Have you considered the possibility that most are just entitled twats?
We are still unbeaten in the league and have already faced city and everton. Things might not be perfect but its still a long way from a crisis.
Entitled twats?! No, perhaps just properly perpared to compete, like maybe having enough defenders, or a porperly balanced team (12 first team midfielders and not one that can defend). Losing i can accept, losing the same way for several years i cannot.
The likes of flamini, arteta, coquelin and diaby can all defend and do it well.
Of course they all have their weaknesses but lets needlessly criticize our own players Support can do wonders you know
Still Wenger will only spend a pound from all that money.
To be honest. I understand less of those stuffs. Just surprised at the timing of this publication. After a woeful lost in the CL?
I believe the plan is to build a team rather than buy one. By the time sanchez is 28, I believe Arsenal will have world class players in a minimum of five of six positions.
Let me ask you all a simple question. Do you believe this team can win the league? Not hope but analytically look at the firepower we have on the field and from the bench and think we can win? If not then I believe it’s our right to question Wenger and his transfer policies. We must hold AFC up to those standards or else we are deluding ourselves that we are a top club anymore.
It seems that the gap between Arsenal’s long-term plan and on-field success is closing more and more. I think in 1-2 seasons, we’ll at last get “there”. Yet AW still cops an inordinate amount of heat; I assume that one of the main reasons those who give AW serious flak do so is because they feel he is not doing in the transfer market as much as he can with what he has available right now to close that gap quicker. In the last 12 months he’s signed Ozil, Sanchez and Chambers for hefty fees who all look (like they… Read more »
To stonroy…good perspective. If I’m honest, this is largely the same team that held the top for so long, yes we can win the league…It’s a marathon, not a Sprint…We will right the ship
Wake up.
I think the biggest hindrance to our success is not our players as much as Wengers tactics on the field. Other managers know exactly what they are going to be facing; no surprises. The dismantling we received from the bigger clubs last season was because of this.
The two onfield problems are :- 1/ Wenger’s inability to motivate his players for big games. The players don’t believe they can do it – so they don’t ; and Wenger’s incapable of convincing them otherwise. Clough, Mourinho and Simone to take three examples – Ferguson’s a fourth – were/are all supreme motivators. 2/ Wenger refuses to adapt for the opposition. So weaker teams can be dismissed but better teams leave us floundering. His inability to make key tactical substations at the right time compounds this. Both of these characteristics have been apparent for years. And I don’t see him… Read more »
I’d say not having a world-class striker is also a problem. Rumors are that Wenger wants to get Cavani in January, but it sounds a bit too far fetched.
For the record I think wenger is becoming a bit of a dinosaur in terms of tactics and the way he runs the football side of things. Football has changed and he seems unwilling to adapt. But that said, no one else would of been able to get a us a top 4 finish every single year with the budget he was working with. Just look at the records of the likes of Liverpool and spuds. So with that in mind and with his past achievements and the way he has transformed the club from top to bottom, I think… Read more »
Worthy of The Onion, Blogs. Well done.
David moyes to replace AW. What could possibly go wrong…
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but 173.3 million Cash Reserve was for the year ending May 31, 2014,
So having spent around 70 million Net, we would have only around 100 million Cash Reserve..
Adding to that, wages for sanchez and the new signings, current cash reserve would be significantly less.
This is why the board love AW and will NEVER sack him and as we all know he is a bit stubborn so will not walk. Maybe he is being pushed out by the playerpower that has got many good managers the sack or they really ARE happy with 4th. Its all about the money. Arsenal till im skint, im Arsenal…….
If wenger keeps playing players out of position see how long they stay around
Who should succeed Wenger? Ive heard people say Martinez others Klopp. Personally would love Arsene to somehow have an epiphany and start to change but I dont see it happening.
how about reducing ticket prices a little bit? Seems unfair to always be the highest in the league…
Surely, no one can thumb that down 🙂
Let’s remained focused on what’s really important, 3 points this weekend please!
This cash reserve is after receiving all season ticket money, somewhere around £60-£70m and before spending £60m on transfers. It is not a true reflection on where we are during the season. The club is earning more money and finally spending it on top players – exactly what everyone wants right? Admittedly we’d all like to have seen atleast a another CB, and ideally a DM (although always unlikely given the money we had spent this year already). Either way we just broke the trophy drought and are moving in the right direction. It’s still early days in the season,… Read more »
@ANDR Diaby can defend? Since when?
How do people think of him as this bruising DM, he’s the polar opposite. Is it just because he’s big and black?
Coquelin? Not good enough.
Arteta? Too slow, maybe good enough if we replace Mertesacker
Flamini? Headless chicken
I don’t think that I am the only one sick to death of this self congratulatory bullshit very 6 or 12 months.
Swap Edleman for Gazedis and Hill-Wood for Keswick, juggle the numbers a bit and it could have been anything we’ve been told in the last ten years.
Yada-yada-yada……….’Tractor production rose 300% last year….all the peasants and delighted…..Yad-yada-yada….
When we and not Chelsea are London’s top team, by league placement; when we’ve really done something in the CL – SHOUT IT OUT. Otherwise spare us the propaganda.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph!! 170+m in cash reserves.. The Arsenal is all about that paper.. Was carvalho or lars bender too much of an ask? They still would have been in a ‘robust’ financial position if they bought either of them