Just Arsenal News

Is Wenger a genius? by NS

A big statement.

However, looking at the figures of nett spends…it’s difficult to argue. The only argument against is that he’s refusing to spend money or the board have been restrictive.

Personally, I feel he’s stretching everything he can from what we have. We do have 8 wins and two draws from our last ten league games, but over a season, I doubt we have what it take with our current squad.

David Moyes, the Manchester manager incumbent, quite rightly has received praise for working on a shoestring.

Well, so has Wenger. And Wenger’s record is much better. .......Read the full article here

The breaking news today that a Middle East consortium has prepared a massive bid to take Arsenal off Stan Kroenke’s hands is likely to be welcomed by the American with open arms.

Anyone who saw the miserable miser who is the ówner’ of Arsenal trying to hide from the freezing English weather while in the Emirates watching his “investment” getting destroyed by Bayern Munich last week will be under no illusion that Stan Kroenke was enjoying himself, in fact he hid himself under a big red blanket and may well have been asleep for all we know! .......Read the full article here

Yesterday we put this guest post from William Patey about Pride and Profit on Just Arsenal and the topics raised mirrored a letter from another reader and Arsenal member, Derek Burt, who also sent a letter to the club. This is his reply to William…..

Dear William,
I don’t hold out much hope of Mr Wenger’s office replying, but my mail to Ask@arsenal.co.uk and their reply will be more grist to your mill! They need to understand that they have an incredibly successful money making business model, they’ve just forgotten one small matter, the purpose that a football team exists is to win football matches and thereby trophies. .......Read the full article here

The facts about Arsenal’s decline since 2006 by William Patey

Well the debate goes on. Should Wenger go? should the board go?, should Arsenal buy more experienced players?, should we increase our wage restrictions?. Everyone has an opinion and as fans we all want what is best for our team and club. Me personally I am at a stage where I do not know anymore what can be done to turn this club around. Wenger is a great manager, he has proved that but in the last eight seasons he has been unable to present a team who can win trophies. Yes we have great individual players who can win trophies, but unfortunately not with us. So is it the players fault? We can all speculate and give our opinions which we always believe to be right, put forward what we believe should be done or should have been done on forums like this, but what I want to say is this………. .......Read the full article here

Why Arsenal haven’t won anything in seven years by Ix Techau

The plan was never to sell Henry, Pires or Vieira, instead the hope was to follow the same pattern as Man Utd did with players like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. But as the long-term plan was in place, the financial benefit of selling these players would mean accelerating the reduction in debt, and that’s where the first big mistake was made. It wasn’t solely the board’s or Wenger’s fault though, the players themselves had expressed a desire to move on. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal have posted a £36.6m profit on last season’s figures which have seen the club’s turnover increase by £10m to a record £235.3million. As revealed on JustArsenal earlier this week the cash reserves have been posted as £153.6m, with the debt at a very reasonable £98m which is mostly serviced by a long-term mortgage on the stadium. £26million of that profit came directly from player-trading (i.e.selling Nasri and Fabregas).

This is a very basic summary but it looks extremely healthy in the financial sense and Ivan Gazidis is obviously very pleased. He said: “Clubs, fans and other stakeholders in the game are demanding a more rational financial approach and this reinforces our conviction that our club is strongly placed to succeed over the long term. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal are set to reveal their final figures for the end of last season, with reports saying that the profits from the sales of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri means that the club yet again made a very healthy profit in the season 2010/11.

It has been leaked that that the figures in the bank in June came to over £100 m in cash, not including the £25m windfall from the property deal for the Queensland Road development. That £125m is not pure profit though as some of it includes sales of season tickets, and around £50m of that will be used for operating costs during this season, but that still leaves £75m surplus for the club. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal will certainly struggle to challenge for any silverware this season! by Adam Kemp

In February Arsenal’s end of year report stated ‘Arsenal holdings is now operating free of short term debt’ – unaudited net debt stands at £137.05M whilst its cash reserves have risen to £115.2M. Arsenal was in a very strong position financially before the end of last season which proves wrong that the Emirates are no longer a restriction. On turnover alone, Arsenal is one of the wealthiest clubs in the world and consistently makes a healthy pre-tax profit in excess of £30M year on year. Wenger could have spent a further £50M on players this summer without making a dent in our financial constraints. .......Read the full article here

Yet again Arsenal fans have been extremely disappointed at the end of a transfer window, and despite buying three promising talented players the Gunners have ended up this morning with £10 million from their summer dealings.

Arsene Wenger said yesterday that we just have to trust him and the Board to do the right thing for the club. “We are paid to make the right decision, or what we think is right,” said Wenger. “Spending in itself is not a quality. Buying better than you have is a quality. Last year on the same day, we were predicted to finish 10th-15th and we finished third.” .......Read the full article here

All the latest Arsenal transfer rumours concerning Robin Van Persie appear to indicate that Juventus and Man City are the front-runners for his signature, with Man United as outsiders, although a partnership with Wayne Rooney would make more sense if he stays in the Premier League rather than fighting for a place in Man City’s star-studded team.

It is being reported that Robin’s favoured destination is Italy with the Serie A Champions, but it is a matter of record that they simply cannot afford to compete with the likely bids to come out of Manchester. .......Read the full article here

It is becoming fairly obvious that Arsenal have the funds to blow all-comers out of the water in the transfer market (if they wanted to) as it has been revealed today that they have sold yet another development site for super-luxury apartments next to the Emirates.

Arsenal came a bit unstuck when they developed the Highbury site themselves and they have decided to sell the Queensland Road development site to Barratt and London & Quadrant for a quick profit instead. .......Read the full article here

It has been revealed this morning that the Arsenal board (including Stan Kroenke and Arsene Wenger) are set for their regular monthly meeting on Thursday this week, and the respected English newspaper The Telegraph relates that the discussion will focus on the recent disappointments and future plans.

They also say that Kroenke will announce his full support for Arsene Wenger to turn around the misfortunes of this season, and his faith in the Frenchman to take the club forward, whether the Gunners finish in the Top Four or not. .......Read the full article here