A long thread on Twitter by Swiss Ramble detailing just why our finances are a bit tight. I've long doubted our apparent budget this summer but looking at that analysis, it doesn't look ideal for trying to get to where we want to be. For those who can't be bothered to read it: - The £70m profit recorded for the 17/18 season was in fact made up by £120m worth of player sales. The likes of Szczesny, Gabriel, Ox-Cham, Coquelin, Giroud and Walcott were all sold that season. This means the club actually made an operating loss of £42m - Considering there were no significant sales last summer, it's expected the club will make a big loss for the 18/19 season. - we were the only top 6 club whose revenue FELL from 2017 to 2018. The revenue of the club has risen just £60m since 2016. In that time, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs' revenues all increased by over £100m - In 2010, our revenue was second only to Manchester United. We're now 5th in the league and only £10m ahead of Spurs. - Of the top 20 financial clubs in Europe, Arsenal had the worst performance for revenue growth. - This is mainly due to not being in the CL. If we compare to City who made the quarter-finals for the last two seasons, they've earned £80m more than Arsenal have for reaching the semi and final of the Europa. - Commercially, the club is standing still. Since 2015, our commercial income has risen just £4m. Hardly any commercial growth at all. Those around us have grown from 30% and as high as 70% - However, with the new Emirates and Adidas deals kicking in plus the Visit Rwanda deal coming into affect from the start of last season, it should see an extra £50m a year come into the club. It was these deals that were driving my belief that our £45m budget was a lie. - The one big advantage we've had over the years was our matchday income. Since moving to the Emirates, we've steadily bought in £90-100m every year. For a long time it was twice as much as what Liverpool and Spurs were making. But with the stadium expansion and new stadium going on at those clubs, that advantage has slowly whittled away. We've hamstrung ourselves for nearly 15 years for absolutely no reason now. - Another problem we have is our inability to sell players at the right time. The £120m figure mentioned for 17/18 is the exception, not the norm. Take away that figure and we made just £45m in sales since 2013. Compare that to Chelsea (£337m), Tottenham (£265m), Liverpool (£260m) and you can see the difference. When you look at some of our sales, it's not a surprise. Oxlade-Chamberlain was sold with a year left, therefore only fetching us £35m. Kieran Gibbs got us just £7m....Matty Targutt is close to joining Aston Villa for £17m Serge Gnabry....£4m! Let't not forget Alexis Sanchez. Broke off a £60m deal to swap him for Mkhitaryan just 4 months later And that's before we get to the players we lost for free. Ramsey, Wilshere, Welbeck, Cazorla....at a push that's £100m right there. Add it to all I've just mentioned and you could argue Arsenal have pissed away nearly £200m of potential reinvestment over the last 3 years. - Also, what money we have had to ourselves, we've misspent badly. We've spent £450m on 25 new players since the summer of 2013. And it could be argued that just 6 of those transfers have been irrefutable successes. - The wage bill. Also a problem but the worry here is it's a strain on our current position. Words like inflated, overpaid etc etc yet we're still dwarfed by our rivals. Liverpool for example have a wage bill £40m higher than ours. To put that into perspective, that's roughly 4 players on £200k a week. Not only is our wage bill falling behind but it's also a strain on our resources. - Thankfully, it should be eased a little this summer with the likes of Ramsey, Cech, Welbeck, Lichtsteiner and Ospina all out the door. However, these figures do not include last season's new additions. Leno, Torreira, Guendouzi and Sokratis. It would be ideal to shift Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Koscielny too. - As simplistic as this sounds, Arsenal need to do one of two things. Either make more money or spend less money. - Finally, Ivan Gazidis pocketed £22m in his 10 years at Arsenal.
Sorry mate. You're a top 6 team so you're not allowed to complain about your owners apparently. Think of the Bolton's of the world yadda yadda yadda etc etc etc
Have you really only got a 45 million budget to play with this summer. Cannot see much progress if that is the case?
It's the amount which is continually bandied around (various sources). However, this being AFC the reality will always be 'clouded' - but on the bright side, if this becomes an established fact, then it will promote the nurturing and (hopefully) utilisation of more youthful squad members.
Not in this day and age unfortunately. When we reportedly spunk money on what at best are slight improvements. City frightening spend levels in assembling title winning sides. Spurs spending big. Even LFC realised you have to buy titles over past 2 seasons. £45m is probably the expected budget for most teams from 7th downwards tbf.
