Arsene Wenger to (not) spend £70m in transfer market
As expected, the financial results for the year ending 31st May 2007 has been released. As expected, our turnover is through the roof (up 46%), making us the richest club in Britain. Some may argue that turnover does not equal profit, which is true, but that’s how football club wealth is measured by accountancy firms such as Deloitte, so who are we to argue.
Our cash reserves are at a massive £73.9m, and Keith Edelman has said that if Wenger wanted to spend it all, he could (but we all know he won’t).
Other pieces of interests include details of our stadium loan (which Edelman and Fiszman had already covered in the interview with Rick B, see yesterday’s blog post), which is at a low interest rate of 5.3%. That’s much less than what you would be paying for a typical home loan in the UK or here in Australia (I’m paying 7.6%!). Put this in contract with the American-led takeover at Manchester United, and their staggering £100m annual interest payments with interests as high as 15% for parts of their debt - and they don’t even have a new money generating stadium to show for it.
The club is doing well on and off the pitch (long may it continue, especially on the pitch), and the club is in the hands of some very good people who love Arsenal, but also know that it needs to be run as a business (and they have the expertise to do so). We don’t need a billionaire to “come and save us” under the guise of being a good guy, but really is out to get his hands on the profits we will be generating soon (Highbury Square redevelopment is set to earn us more than £100m in 2009, with additional money from property developments and land sales to come soon as well).
When two other clubs in London imploding due to interference from owner and executives, another near imploding due to debt up in Manchester, and another who are still yet to go through the pain of building a new stadium, just be glad that the board at Arsenal are doing a fantastic job managing the finances while staying out of Arsene’s way and letting him build his best team yet.