Arsenal Transfers & Pre-Season - Page 12

quote DjedwardSmith

And yet % wise we still have the highest attendance in the league, have sold out our entire club level for next year already, and have a very low % of season ticket turnovers.

Yeah agreed, because the demand is so high, we are a well supported club after all. I know people that are having to give up their season tickets though, and others that aren't going to be able to for much longer because of the prices. The real fans are being shunned out for the posh lot that can actually afford it, ever sat in the upper tier? large amount of posh people who don't sing all game, and probably don't care for the club as much as most. (I realise this isn't true for everyone)

quote DjedwardSmith

And when Uefa finally open there eyes and realise that their Financial Fair Play system isn't fair at all, we'll be in the best position to cope. Major if, but it beats running to a huge loss.

Fair point, but until then we'll just stay at the same level and see breaking even and finishing 4th as an achievement. To be honest with you with teams around us improving we'll do very well to finish in the top four again. First time i've said it too, last few years I've had us finishing fourth. Then again might be too early to judge because we are yet to finish signings etc but probably not.

quote DjedwardSmith

What other teams are getting on fine by spending money, I ask. Chelsea and Liverpool outspend us year on year (Transfers and wages), and we finished ahead of them. Yes, they have trophies to show for it, yet should their season really be defined by one game out of 50 odd?

Was talking purely on winning things rather than league position. Would like to say yes I'd take 4th place over 5th and a Carling Cup though.

quote DjedwardSmith

The first part of that sentence goes to explain why the second part is just downright wrong.

We run to break even. Just. All of our income from the stadium, matchdays, tv revenue, competitions, just pays off our wages. So when a player gets a pay increase (negotiated or as a clause) we have to find the money somewhere. Ticket rise, player sales etc... that's where our profit comes from.

The reason for this is because when we were funding the stadium, we were desperate for steady supplies of finances to prove our worth to banks to secure loans. To do so we signed long term deals (I think 10 year?) with Nike and Emirates, which at the time were above average, but now leave us commercially slacking.

How about taking it out of the boards pockets rather than the fans for the best interests of the club to improve? or not put so much trust in mid table or lower level players by giving them stupid wages to start off with.

quote DjedwardSmith

This is what Gazidis should be doing. Contracts are coming up for renewal soon, and I've seen that he's trying to renegotiate several deals behind the scenes to get a better price. Until we do that, and extend our marketability (hence tours of Nigeria and Malaysia) we're going to have to make do with what we've got.

Of course, we've got money in the bank. But that money is what you'd call a rainy day fund. It's there literally in case we miss the CL for a season, and will cover the shortfall in finances to ensure we break even. It would be reckless to dip into it, but of course none of the above matters if you (not you personally) read the tabloids and think Piers Morgan is a top pundit.

Fair enough, but what's the point waiting until we've dropped out of the top four to decide to actually try and improve the level we're at? we won't be able to get in the same quality of players, and our better players will be off.

I understand what you mean though, and as said before I don't know the ins and outs of our finances. Perhaps I'm just looking at it as a short term success sort of thing rather than long term sustainability. Just to confirm though Piers is an absolute *bleep* and his views on the club are nothing short of pathetic.

It's not on this year. D:

DjedwardSmith well we have the red action section in blocks 5/6/7 but we could do with having one the other side too and put the away fans up in the skies. Give them the more expensive tickets.

I think that most teams running at a loss in spite of FFP will be in a strong enough position football wise to deal with any changes before they (after inevitable time to prepare) come to fruition, probably still leaving them a step ahead.


Not that it's not a positive thing anyway. Would be nice to have the league run a lot more self-sufficiently.

Campbell presented at Betis.

^i agree

i think Wenger would have been given the boot now, but who do you bring in?
and then there's the guarentee that the new manager won't do as well (and sign considerably more-expensive players)

3rd on a shoestring transfer income (compared to the other teams in the top 7) is a good effort imo

though i do wish this "make you captain and then leave 12 months later" thing would die down, we need an experienced captain in the side

If Arsenal went 2 or 3 seasons without losing key players they would be competing for the title imo. Looking forward to seeing Giroud next year. Not too confident on Podolski though. What did Van Persie apparently say to stir all this shit between the owners?

Doffy, he said in the meeting with Gazidis and Arsene, he disagreed with the direction the club was going in.

What right he has to have any sort of voice in that regards is beyond me, but then it's clear that the majority of that statement is a cover up to the fact that he'd agreed terms with City (and in some rag today it says that we're looking to pursue claims of tapping up) prior to even discussing with us what he wanted to do.

Theo allegedly wants out now (same rag, same news from months ago though) because we won't go above 80k a week for him. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

And Exonerate the guy is a creep, another reason why I want him to have nothing to do with us. As useless as Kroenke has been, I'd prefer that to Jabba.