Why does everyone think we're skint?

[Alexone234]

I keep hearing that "we have no money" but we have been consistantly in the top 2 since 1997, played in the Champions League each season, had a full house for every home game for the last 8 years and spent very little on players in comparison to other top clubs.

We have also sold Anelka, Petit and Overmars for £50m

In addition to this, our new stadium is being financed by third parties and we have secured a huge £100m (1/4 of the stadium costs) in a deal with Emirates. Not forgetting a hugely improved deal by Nike, seen our merchandising income rise and seen ourselves rise to the top tier clubs being marketed by Nike across the globe, alongside United and Barca.

We have also operated a wage cap, stopping our players earning silly money basic salaries, unlike say Chelski, who re-abramobitch had players like Boegard (sp?) on £50K+ per week to play in the reserves.

So tell me, how do we not have any money for players?

 

[mood]

We do have money, the board gives Wenger a decent spending fee every transfer window. Wenger was just reluctant to spend in recent years. It seriously looks to me as if he's collecting. He went for Reyes, and I'm sure he's got some other long term targets.

 

[solthegunner]

What happened to the money that graham saved? Wages are high and our capacity is low.

 

[informed1]

What happened to the money that graham saved? Wages are high and our capacity is low.

are you seriously asking about inheritance?

Look we may have money but certainly not the grand amount everyone is thinking about. I dont think we have £20 Million and even if we do how do you think we are going to get an experience goalkeeper, midfielder and maybe another defender with only that amount. We went out on a limb to get Reyes and if we keep splashing out people really are going to think we have money; prices are high enough as it is, last thing we want to do is increase it.


Anyway is everyone forgetting that we had to put up some funding for the stadium, I know its paid for but that loan is a bit of a *****. We have a high wage bill one of the highest in the premiership, we are in london and all that adds up.

 

[KingReyes]

The sale of Anelka(23 million) helped us bring in Henry and pay off the new training centre, when we sold Overmars and Petit for 30 million we brought in the likes Wiltord, Pires and Lauren and they alone cost 27 million so that didn't leave much from those sales.

Regarding the wage cap its been broken, before Wenger we never gave anyone more than 40K a week. Now Vieira, Sol, Henry are earning much more than that and likes of Cole, Pires, Freddie are up in the 40-50K range.

At the moment Champions league football and our stadium Highbury is not enough to keep a World Class side together and at the same time pay huge transfer fees for new players which is the reason why we are moving into a new stadium.

Which brings me to that, a 350 million debt is not going to be easy to pay off, the club are being patient on how they will spend the money. Wenger probably does have money to spend but both he and the board are making sure they make their move when the time is right.

If we had Chelsea money we would have more since now, for all we know Wenger's targets are not available at the moment and he's willing to wait till the summer. I'm sure Wenger and the club know what they are doing with the money we have.

 

[Jose_Reyes_2005]

We have loads of money to spend over the next 5 years - but the club arent exactly going to come out and say that are they ?

Arsenal adopt a strategy in the transfer market which is made to grind out the cheapest possible prices for the transfer targets. That, combined with wenger being extra cautious in the transfer market - is the reason why we spend so little.

Its who he is really, he will not spend money on anyone until he is 100% convinced that player is going to succeed at the club. Hell it took him 5 years to make up his mind on Reyes !

At the end of the day - this club is not exactly known for having money just flying in and signing big fat sponsorship contracts, but now that we have - they are trying to use it as wisely as possible.

 

[Mark]

The reason I don't think there's much money there is because we're not spending a penny in a time when we really need to. I know Wenger likes to wait the summer but Ramos, for example, was cheaper a few weeks ago than he is now. Fair enough he's only played half a season of first team football, but so did Flamini.

 

[JoseReyes29]

we HAVE SOME money. that is a fact because. we tried to buy angulo and trabelsi in the summer, that means we must of had money.

 

[seb_afc]

we have money...but when you have just spent 367 million on a stadium...it does hurt the bank a bit.

 

[omdtm]

Wenger clearly won't buy someone who makes a difference right now...

All we should focus is in winning our games to close the gap in the EPL and try to win the CL and FA Cup, as they look closer...

 

[mood]

We'll buy someone big in the summer.

 

[goonerkads]

Wenger clearly won't buy someone who makes a difference right now...

All we should focus is in winning our games to close the gap in the EPL and try to win the CL and FA Cup, as they look closer...

Correct, on our day we can beat absoloutely anyone. We should just focus on winning our games with what WE ALREADY HAVE.

 

[dsurg]

I really think AW has money to spend if someone he really fancies becomes available

I think he'll bid for Gerrard in the summer.

He knows Gerrard may be tempted to leave Anfield sooner rather than later and he's already said he cant move to the **** of OT. Leaving only Chelsea and us as real suitors. Somehow I think he'd rather come to us if we can afford his asking price

 

[Spike]

But can we afford Gerrard's wages? :wink:

 

[Jkreffer]

But can we afford Gerrard's wages?

Doubt he would fit into the wage structure at Highbury.

 

[KoLo28]

if we were to purchase a gerrard like signing, i think we'd have to say goodbye to cole, campbell, henry or vieira.

not saying i want this, but with our current financial situation, i feel we have to sacrafice one of our guns, for a new gun, not something i'd like to see.

 

[Gunner4Eva]

No doubt people think we're "skint". We haven't purchased any players during the transfer window and I think everyone - or at least a hell of a lot - of people thought we would, and Im not just talking about people in the forum.

But as people have said before, there is so much mopney going into the new stadium, and obviously the sale money of Anelka, Overmars and Petit would be used up by now, thats just common sense.

But herein lies the beauty of Arsenal, the fact that we've managed to build such a great team, a team that'll go into the history books forever, I feel, as the Unbeatables of 2003/2004, all without "splashing" the cash. We didnt need to spend some 175mil pounds to get that.

No doubt in the future when we move into Emirates Stadium and we start seeing the money come in we will be in a stronger position to bring in those stars, but we've stuck to a plan from since Wenger showed up, and its done us well, and I dont see why we should change it. Im not worried about not signing anyone in the January transfer window, and we'll just have to wait until the summer to see what Wenger and the board decide to do, and who they decide to bring in.

 

[the dawn raids]

I can see a SWP bid more than a Gerrard bid personally.

I just think that Wenger isnt going to overpay for anyone, for good or ill (and youre definitely going to overpay in January). But hes got us this far, so doing something right. Even if it is awfully frustrating at times; for example, seeing a keeper like Hildebrand out there and we make no move, especially with their interest in Lehmann making a possible deal that much more likely.

 

[AfC_li4nGht]

I jus love Arsenal the way it is... Our youth policy is going to serve us good for the future...

Of coz it hurt us as fans because we are as if giving this season to chelsea...

Like all of u hope wenger wuld sign playeRs in the summer...

 

[air]

I can't say I'm able to estimate just how much money Wenger has available, what I can remind you about is the financial situation of some major clubs in Europe, take Dortmund and Lazio, for instance. I think Wenger is just being smart.