The reason we are where we are quantified perhaps.

The Arsenal turnover

Okay so i actually wrote this for myself as some kind of emotional reconciliation act as i fumble blindly and misguidedly for an answer for arsenal's general rubbishness currently but decided to post it as i am new and all that.This is what losing 4-3 to Blackburn can do to a man.

The Arsenal finances yay.

Gate income
Broadcasting
Retail
commercial
Property
player trading

Right so above is arsenals turnover categories sort of speak. The first thing im going to do is throw 2 of them out for this. Firstly property profits are going because they are a one off payment and cant really show how sustainable arsenal is over a long period. Secondly im getting rid of player trading because no one really knows who arsene is going to buy or sell.

Now the figures

Arsenals 2009/2010 pre tax profit was £ 56 million

This is pretty impressive but if you remove both the unpredictable player sales and expenditures and one off property profits which are:

2009/2010 player expenditure = 30 million

2009/2010 player sales = 38 million

property pre tax profit = 11 million

we get a figure of £ 29 million pre tax profit which is still very good. But you see this is it. This is the money if all factors remain the same we have to spend every year from now on. Split between two transfer windows and that 15 million for each window. Is that really enough to compete with the best .... actually scrap that i mean the richest ? Wenger in the 2009/2010 year spent near enough 30 million pounds which is basically bang on what arsenal are sustainably making at the moment. Coincidence maybe ? Yeah i know its a definite coincidence but still potentially interesting i think.

So how can arsenal increase the amount of money they have for the future ?

Well you have to look at where they are getting the money and what they are spending it all on ... probably ?

Expenditure

Operating expenses minus property expenses 2009/2010 = 203 million

Total wage cost for 2009/2010 = 110 million
Wages = 54 % of total expenditure

Turnover

Football turnover only ( minus property turnover) 2009/2010 = 223 million
Gate income = 94 million 42.15 % of football revenue
Broadcasting = 85 million 38.11 % of football revenue
Retail = 13 million 5.82 % of football revenue
Commercial = 31 million 13.90 % of football revenue

This clearly shows the problem arsenal have. Firstly their wage bill takes up a massive 54% of all football operating expenses but reducing the wage bill would ultimately lead to having to sell players which is going to make our squad weaker and is not really an option. So instead it looks like the board are trying to get more money available by fixing another problem which is weak retail and commercial sectors in comparison to our rivals and an over reliance on gate income. Arsenal have been a frankly a tad slow out of the blocks in the well known " commercial and retail race of thon and are getting minced in this fictional event by people like man u and Barcelona. However arsenal in the past year or two have assembled a pretty mean looking commercial team who are hell bent on ..................... errrr selling more things ? I don't know i was trying to make it more exciting. But overall we should start clawing it back hopefully.

But what does this all mean for wenger and the board. Well for wenger actually i think it makes him look pretty darn good. According to the bleacher report in the 2009/2010 season arsenal were rated the 7th most expensive squad in the league and he managed to come 3rd okay that's one season but i was struggling for more figures but im sure they are out there. Wenger has less transfer funds and less wage capacity than all his main rivals in the premier league and don't we know it. But i don't think his ability to see a bargain is his problem but lets not get into that one. And of course the arsenal board who actually if you look at the figures look to have done a good job. Since 2006 the group turnover has increase by nearly 3 times, assets are up from 130 million to 255 million and the value of the club has just about doubled. So you think right but what do the numbers matter with football but they do because if things were like they were in 2006 instead of having 30 million to play with we would of had 7 yes 7 million pounds. You couldn't even buy Francis Jeffers for that price ! Aww wait he was actually quite expensive wasn't he.............. arr right well anyway you get the idea. Yes that was to do with the crippling debt of the emirates but without the emirates we would of been in a potentially worse place financially.

Some problems i have surmised with this an attempted to correct

I'm sure some of you will think just because that profit from the 2009/ 2010 season isn't sustainable or likely to be recurring next year does it mean we cant spend it now on the squad and your right it doesn't. To be honest i have no real answer to this. I really don't know why we haven't spent it. Perhaps it helped pay back some of the loans. But its probably contributed in some form to this little well hidden gem / war chest of power the board are sitting on.

Yes there is a small matter of that 110 MILLION POUNDS burning a hole in the arsenal bank account. I mean to me 110 MILLION POUNDS is a ridiculous amount of money to have lying about doing nothing except gaining large amounts of nice interest. There must be much better things you could do with that surely ? Personally id like to see the board split it up and use some of it to offer more attractive wages to players we want and some of it to fund some quality players transfer fees soon but i doubt it some how. You could just give it to me alternatively.

anyway thanks for reading this i feel better already. If my figures are wrong which they are very likely to be i apologies and please correct me.

WOW what a first post, welcome to the forum.

Yea very nice post.
The only issue that I see is if this is the mentality of the board I think that they got it wrong. Not all of it, just the big picture part of it. If you want to increase marketing as a team what do you really want?
WC players - Arsenal do not get them. They try and make them.
CL football - Unfortunately, there is a real good chance we will not have it next year.
Silverware - Well I try not to remember how many years it has been now.
I do think that the entire marketing portion of AFC is what the board seems to be very small minded about. The portion that I think that they are missing is that in today’s game of football it is an international market. Not a small market dedicated to English football. When I watch TV and see the commercials selling shoes, Jersey’s and other stuff. I do not see Wilshere or Rambo or any other AFC player. In todays “Instant gratification” view on marketing you see winners selling stuff. You see Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney and Kaka.. It has been said that the reason we went and got Park was to open up marketing in Asia. My guess is that if a Park jersey is really going to be sold it will be a Man u Jersey. Because that Park is on a team that wins and he has proven himself to be a capable piece of a winning team. Same thing goes for Santos. Look at the current Brazilian squad and from an international standpoint, try and figure out how many players jerseys will be sold before you get to Santos. Not to mention Arteta, if I am a fan and follow Spanish players will his name ever come up as a jersey I need to have? Doubt it. If you look at the 3 main players we sold this off season Cesc, Nazari and Clichy. My guess is that Cesc’s sale has now been completely funded by Jersey sales. Leaving the next few years of marketing as profit. If Man C continues to play like they are then the same will be for Naz and Clichy.

The other part that I think the Board, Owner and some AFC fans are getting wrong is the portion that is related to rebuilding. For those that actually believe that they can allow for Arsenal to fall out of CL football next year and that everything will be ok. It is my belief that they are wrong. I do not think that you need to look any farther than ManChity to prove this. It took them getting a Sugar Daddy of an owner that was willing to pay over the top for average players. Just so that they could say “We have ambition and want to win”. Then they were able to start bringing in the better players. Created and excitement around the team, increased the marketing potential. If AFC lose out on the money that we get from CL football next year what is that going to do to our finances? Who will we sell then to try and balance the books? I hear people say all the time it is ok. We went through dark time’s way back when. I always think yea way back when English football was English football. Back when there was no international broadcast, back when there was no live streams on that new inter web thingy. Back when all players actually did play for pride and the badge. Back when marketing was a small section of London. Not in today’s Instant gratification international marketing. Not when the players understand that their professional accolades are tied to winning. Not now when the players understand that there is international money to be made through endorsements for winners. Not now when there is another paycheck with an additional 0 somewhere else. The players seem to get it. Just not the Board.

Friend.. Welcome to the forum..
Nice article.. An important step.. I think the club will have to spread its reach to Asia.. Having Asian players like Ryo and Park is a nice step towards that direction.. And this years Asian tour is a certainly a step forward from the management...
And trophies really matter in this aspect as lot of the fans in my country are new including me.. I see a lot going with Chelsea and nowadays even City..!
Barcelona and United are dominating the markets here..