Well, I say, never say never. If the PL was so easy to predict, the pundits would have a much better record than they do. Virtually nobody picked City to win last year, it was all United and Chelsea.
Oh dear, we are now into the realms of personal insults. This happens when someone cannot back up his case by giving facts, and hard evidence and resorts to a strident attack on an opposing view. For your information I was a Director of a major Japanese corporation based in Germany, so yes I do know what asset stripping is, I used to do it. I played semi-pro football though I admit it was in the 70's. I have supported Arsenal for over 50 years, so don't tell me I'm not sane, that I'm a liar, that my opinion is worthless, I reserve the right to criticise (not insult) the board and manager when I see fit. If you want to slavishly follow the boards line that's up to you. Just be careful when you start your throwing insults you will find that you are not qualified
Excellent!! Fans are lambasted for being concerned about a lack of strengthening after just 2 league games, but everything is fine after one win? Classic. If you can't respond to the points made, admit to it, don't just post a link to a terrible newspaper that happens to (rightly) praise a good Arsenal performance and believe that answers all questions posed. I respected you, and others who had posted, enough to answer all the points raised. If you can't do the same, perhaps it's time to modify your views and realise all is not brilliant with the Club.
Not joining in the current 'debate' but we still have Wilshere, Rosicky and Sagna to come back. I'm not one of those fans who start getting over excited after one game, I feel we have more depth than last season. Do I think we will challenge for the title this season? Honestly, no, because we've sold some top players but we have brought in some new ones. Let's just wait and see what the season brings.
OK Asset stripping works like this. First a company is selected with the following attributes, an excellent reputation, unique selling points (USP), significant "assets" a high debt to turnover ratio. The "assets" can be machinery (plant), personnel, intellectual patents, premises/property, customer goodwill. The purchaser, in this case Kroenke, will then sell off the best of these assets to service the debt incurred in the purchase. He will replace these assets with other less expensive alternatives. Not bad replacements, just cheaper. There will be a period when the reputation stays intact until there is a marked degradation in performance. Sometimes no-one notices for years, if ever. Mostly it becomes obvious after a short period of time. My criticism of the board is that they have sold excellent players, and replaced them with merely good ones, I am not particularly bothered by the lack of silverware, I have known worse times. However I was proud to be associated with a team that was a byword for excellence, great football, skill and artistry. By and large we play good football now but on a much reduced level. Piskie, in my short time on this forum I have found myself in agreement with most, not all, of your views, can you really compare the legends that were Bergkamp, Henry and Fabregas, to today's team. Please remember that we are a FOOTBALL CLUB (sorry for the over emphasis) not GM we don't need to make a large profit every year. We make money from gate receipts sponsorship and commercial activities, recently we make 3~4 million a year on transfers, where is this money going? For me it is going to Kroenke, ergo he is taking money from our club.
The next set of accounts will, I assume, like many many previous years, show that no share Dividends are paid. If it doesn't, expect a major revolt from the supporters. There is no money being taken out of the club at all, that's why it's so perplexing as to where it's all going!!
True but Diaby is the one that concerns me. I just hope he can stay for for the next month or so until Wilshere comes back. If we have a fit squad our options look pretty good... -----------Cazorla/Rosicky/Arshavin/OXO--------------- -----Diaby/Wilshere-----------Arteta/Coquelin-----------
Personally, I think our squad at the moment is much stronger this year. It is extremely unlikely that we will have 8 full backs out at the same time this year. Cazorla is better than Song. We were incredibly reliant on RVP last year, whereas now we have 2 players to replace him, both of which I think will be good. We have Diaby and Wilshere who didn't start a game between them last year. The likes of Santos, Gervinho and Jenkinson (could include chesney as well) have a years experience of playing in the prem. With Steve Bould as no. 2, we look stronger defensively. Plus I think the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Man U have declined and Chelsea have a lot of weak areas.
Not on the topic of finances, but on the team's performance. I don't think anyone can say that the win against Liverpool proves all the doubts wrong, especially when it comes to our attack. Liverpool went at us meaning we had a lot of space to work with in their half and had the opportunity to counter attack, which led to our goals (and should have led to a Giroud goal). I'm still worried about how our attack will fare against teams who go all out defensive against us as we really struggled to create anything against Sunderland and Stoke, so I think there's still a lot of work to be done with going forward and we haven't necessarily turned a corner yet in terms of scoring goals. But on the upside, the Liverpool game showed exactly how improved our defence is as they couldn't manage to score against us and I think we stifled Suarez for much of the game, which is no mean feat.
The real answer is that if you really are highly educated and if BalhamGooner is a Director of a major Japanese corporation based in Germany, then the balance sheet should be a fairly easy read for you. There is no real mystery to be found in any of the published accounts or any of the economics facing football clubs. I think there are a few mistakes made by a lot of fans. 1. There are not a large number of players capable of playing on a title winning team. 2. There are even less that can play on any given team in a style that would have them fit the team's system. 3. It takes a lot of skill to determine which players could or could not fit into a team. If managers like Mark Hughes, AVB and Kenny Dalgliesh with a lifetime of experience at the top level can can make a total hash of building a team the average fan (in fact 99.9% of fans) have absolutely no chance. 4. Most fans have completely underestimated the impact that the increase in wages have had on the game of football. If you really want your questions answered, this document is a good read http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_file...1318409853_Arsenal_Holdings_plc_-_Annual_.pdf This is a legal document and lays out the club accounts, understand that despite popular novels and fantasy, these records have to be correct. I will highlight a few numbers for you: Staff costs rose to 124M from 110M. This year most estimates have our staff costs at 135M+. Turnover rose to 225M from 222M. So that means, all things being equal (and they mostly are) Arsenal needed to find an extra 11M from somewhere to cover wages. This year, they probably have to find another 20M - 25M. Winning the FA cup gains the club less than 3M, getting into the CL earns about 25M. Selling RvP just about covered the shortfall. The only final thing you need to know (although you must know it already) is that running a business isnt an exact science. You don't want to run a business too close to the line. Having a buffer of cash or liquid assets around is sensible and prudent. If we dont make the CL for a year or two, then it is a good idea to have the buffer there to deal with those eventualities. Each year you estimate your budgets and you err on the side of caution, You try and make a small profit. That is what Arsenal do. If you can run your business closer to the line than this. Well my hat's off to you. Now, just by comparison, whereas we have to find the 25M shortfall by selling players, Chelsea can just go to Abramovich and have him wipe out, and this number is really staggering in comparison, 340M in debt! So the answer to your question is that in all honesty, we can't compete. Not in any way shape or form. Not even close. Not financially anyway, so stop even dreaming about it. Just marvel at the fact that Wenger manages to mount a challenge even sometimes.
Not sure what school of economics you went to, but your definition of asset stripping is so wrong headed It's laughable. First of all, the main feature of asset stripping is the "Undervalued company". At the time Kroenke came in we were in the top 3 most valuable clubs on the planet. The value has only gone up since then and he has only continued to buy more of a stake. This alone flies in the face of the true definition of asset stripping. Secondly, playing staff do not exist on an asset sheet the same way factory machinery does. Your "cheaper" alternative could end up being sold for more down the line as has been the case with all the major transfers out of the club we've seen, which also began long before Kroenke showed up. Your cheaper alternative could end up being more valuable than that which he replaced.
So how many have you done Highbury Ghost?. And by the way an asset is an asset whether player or plant. Get your facts right before you start to laugh.
Two points Toledo I WAS a Director of Japanese European company, and if what you claim is true we are almost insolvent, which means that all the talk about having a pool of cash available for players, quoting Mr. Gazidis is rubbish. Perhaps you ought to let them know.
I don't think you are using the term insolvent correctly, because Arsenal are about as far from insolvent as you can get. We have no problem paying off our debts, in fact we would pay them off quicker if we could. So when Gazardis says that there is a pool of money for player transfers he is saying that transfer fees can be covered. That doesn't mean the wage budget is available.
