Trophies, Not Cash, Drives Arsenal Fans
Arsenal released
their latest financial results today, revealing a pre-tax profit of
£17.8m and cash reserves of £123.3m. I'm no expert, but that's a hell of
a lot of money.
One thing that caught my eye is the £42.5mwe made in player sales. It struck me as odd that a club who like to paint themselves as the model of financial health would rely on player sales to make a profit. So I looked at the figures from the previous results: in 2011 we made a profit of £49.5m, we also made £63m in player sales.
There are various reasons for Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie et al leaving, but a consistent theme has been the desire to win trophies. The comparative lack of investment isn't exactly the sign of a club desperate to win silverware, is it? We are now seeing the results of a gradual decline in the squad's overall quality.
Portsmouth are a harrowing example of how it can all spiral out of control, but there's a balance to be struck. No one wants to see the club's future threatened, but we should be challenging for trophies in the present. We are a huge club with fantastic facilities and a stadium envied by the rest of country, we just need a team worthy of it.
There's a very real possibility that Arsenal will miss out on the Champions League places this year for the first time in Arsene Wenger's reign. It was painfully obvious that the squad needed some extra signings in summer, even more so in January, yet he only bought Nacho Monreal at the last minute because Kieran Gibbs had picked up an injury.
Everyone knew Arsenal had money to spend, today's news just makes the refusal to spend even more frustrating. It's important to note that the fans don't want to see the club spend for the sake of it, or just because our rivals are doing so, as Arsene Wenger seems to believe. It's because we want Arsenal to compete for more than fourth place. We should be better than that.
We might have the best balance sheet around, but if there's nothing to show for it, what's the point? Let's fill up the trophy cabinet, not just the bank account.
One thing that caught my eye is the £42.5mwe made in player sales. It struck me as odd that a club who like to paint themselves as the model of financial health would rely on player sales to make a profit. So I looked at the figures from the previous results: in 2011 we made a profit of £49.5m, we also made £63m in player sales.
There are various reasons for Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie et al leaving, but a consistent theme has been the desire to win trophies. The comparative lack of investment isn't exactly the sign of a club desperate to win silverware, is it? We are now seeing the results of a gradual decline in the squad's overall quality.
Portsmouth are a harrowing example of how it can all spiral out of control, but there's a balance to be struck. No one wants to see the club's future threatened, but we should be challenging for trophies in the present. We are a huge club with fantastic facilities and a stadium envied by the rest of country, we just need a team worthy of it.
There's a very real possibility that Arsenal will miss out on the Champions League places this year for the first time in Arsene Wenger's reign. It was painfully obvious that the squad needed some extra signings in summer, even more so in January, yet he only bought Nacho Monreal at the last minute because Kieran Gibbs had picked up an injury.
Everyone knew Arsenal had money to spend, today's news just makes the refusal to spend even more frustrating. It's important to note that the fans don't want to see the club spend for the sake of it, or just because our rivals are doing so, as Arsene Wenger seems to believe. It's because we want Arsenal to compete for more than fourth place. We should be better than that.
We might have the best balance sheet around, but if there's nothing to show for it, what's the point? Let's fill up the trophy cabinet, not just the bank account.
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