Arsenal profits to provide £70m transfer
warchest
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been promised a mammoth
£70million transfer kitty after Arsenal revealed themselves to be
one of Europe's richest clubs.
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Figures unveiled this morning show the Gunners' move to the
Emirates Stadium has driven a near 50% increase in turnover to more
than £200million for the year ending May 31, 2007.
That sum means they are only edged into second place in the
continent's money league by Real Madrid.
But with operating profit of £51.2million, up an amazing 274%, the
Premier League club now have a level of profitability far in excess
of Real.
Match-day revenues of £3.1million per game at their new 60,000 home
are double those generated at Highbury, and have seen the Gunners
leapfrog main domestic rivals Manchester United and Chelsea - whose
respective turnover for the same period was £167.8m and
£152.8m.
The revelation of Arsenal's wealth is an ample response to those
critics who questioned the effect the cost of relocation to
Ashburton Grove would have on the club, and in particular Wenger's
transfer funds.
But after reiterating that Wenger did not spend all his budget this
summer, delighted managing director Keith Edelman claimed the
Frenchman would now have previously unheard of sums available to
reinforce his squad.
'I think we are in a very good position,' Edelman said. 'Clearly
Arsene's performance and the team's performance on the pitch has
been outstanding, obviously backed up by our very strong financial
position.
'We gave Arsene a budget in the summer and he didn't even spend all
of it on transfers and hopefully we'll be able to carry that
forward into future years.'
He added: 'We have got plenty of financial firepower to makes the
transfers Arsene wants to make.
'We had over £70million of cash at the end of the year and if
Arsene wants to spend that money we will make it available.'
The results posted this morning have been achieved despite the lack
of a mega-rich foreign owner, the source to which most rivals have
turned to increase their clout.
With Red and White Holdings Limited, backed by Russian billionaire
Alisher Usmanov, recently increasing their stake in the club to
around 21%, rumours have abounded of a possible takeover bid.
But Edelman insists the results show there is no reason to change
the way in which the club is run.
'We think it's very important as a board that the club develops
revenues it generates itself and is not dependent on people putting
money in every year, because that's not a very stable basis on
which to run a club,' he told the Arsenal's website.
'We regard ourselves as custodians of the club and fans as well.
It's important that the club does have a stable financial
base.'
He added: 'If you look at the shareholders and the look at the
board, we are all here because we love the club. Yes we want to run
it well as a business, but only because we want to be a great
club.
'That could be contrasted with what could be called financial
owners, who come to purchase clubs to make money out of them and
they don't have that affinity to be a rabid fan - to live, breathe
and eat Arsenal Football Club.'
With the new Premier League TV deal yet to be reflected in their
figures and the Gunners also set to launch their own TV channel in
the new year, it seems everything is in place for the financial
success to continue.
