Are we broke?

[del75]

This has already been mentioned in a few blog's, but does our current transfer policy suggest that we have infact NO MONEY for new signings!

And the party line spewed by PHW and AW is just spin?

Can we really maintain the debt of the new stadium without it affecting the transfer/salary budget?

The appartments at Highbury have not been sold yet - is this a problem for the club?

With all the injury problems we've had why are we not signing players to challenge for honours, instead of signing has been/injury prone players who will never challenge for a regular first team place?

[QuartzGooner]

Not broke, but tight for cash.

P.S. Post this type of thing in The Forum...it will get a better response, than this part of the site.

[g88ner]

Can we really maintain the debt of the new stadium without it affecting the transfer/salary budget?

The evidence suggests not. Since we have moved into the Grove, we have made a profit in the transfer market. That must surely suggest that finances are tight, at the very least.

However, lets not be too hasty...our financial report seemed to suggest that the club had £70m, which - after running costs, debt payments and a set sum being put aside for contractual reasons - the club was left with around £20m..presumably to be made available for transfers and player contract renewals.
- At the time of writing, we still have 5 days before the window closes, and Arsenal notoriously leave transfers late (eg, Diarra & Denilson) - so if we do end up spending £10m or so, on a player..then that £10m plus wages, will mean that the financial figures we expected are about right. Less than a week to find out

The appartments at Highbury have not been sold yet - is this a problem for the club?

Didn't I hear that 80% of the apartments are sold, or at least the deposit has been paid? Considering they won't be available for another 2 years, I would imagine - I'm not an estate agent, mind - that that's a healthy proportion, isn't it? I'd like Quartz' or Kev's opinion on that though.

One source of optimism might be that in a couple of years, we will hopefully benefit from the sales of the Highbury Square apartments. If I remember rightly, a conservative estimation of £100m profit was forecast (again...Quartz? Kev?)

And the party line spewed by PHW and AW is just spin?

I don't know if PHW's comments were fabricated or hopeful, but the official line was that the building of the new stadium wouldn't significantly affect the transfer kitty....something that is clearly not the case.

As for Wenger's comments over the summer, I don't think he's fabricated anything, but he keeps his cards close to his chest, and leaves it up to us to interpret his comments in our own way. Sadly, the media have mischievously twisted almost everything Wenger has to say, and when these "media promises" fail to materialse, it creates a negative atmosphere toward the club.

For that, the club are to blame...the Arsenal press office is supposedly very sharp when it comes to player/staff controversies, but when it comes to transfer activity, the clubs silence only seems to fan the flames of discontent

[TonyA]

maybe they are waiting for Champions league qualification and a guaranteed £10m+.

[QuartzGooner]

To answer G88ner:

Only two deposits were given up out of all the Highbury flats.

Latest figures were around 85% were sold.

Profit to club around £100M mark.

Possible problem is land at South of stadium in Queensland Road.
The club own it, but with prices falling, and it not being as prestigious as the site of Highbury, and the sales value not as great. should the club sell it to a developer for a less than expected profit to get instant cash, or sit on the land for an indeterminate time until prices rise, then sell it on for development?

[meatflowers]

what's the real evidence that we don't have any money?

is it just that we haven't been spending much? if so i think people are forgetting that in general we haven't needed to and it's not something wenger seems to greatly enjoy doing anyway.

i mean is it really a lack of money that's the case at all. we sold henry, brought through ade into the first 11 -seems like wenger's only trying to save money at first but we didn't miss henry in the end, it was good business. losing flamini was obviously a disappointment but he didn't ONLY leave for the money. as soon as he knew of the interest from milan he was stuttering over the contract and you can only pay a player so much. if he's demanding something too high then it's not surprising if you don't pay him what he wants (whether it turns out to be the right decision or not).

basically what i'm getting at is i don't remember there being any evidence that we don't have any money other than the fact that wenger isn't spending much and we refused to pay flamini massive wages after one good season. under any other manager i'd question why he hadn't splashed the cash, but it's wenger we're talking about, the simple truth is he just won't pay over the odds most of the time. doesn't seem as complicated to me.

besides which if we have no money surely wenger wouldn't be spending a precious 5m on ramsey and that would have gone towards a more immediately useful player....

[I Hate Hleb]

Welcome to the forum, Meatflowers. Hope you enjoy your visits here.

One question for you though:

Were you a member of the Jury at the OJ Simpson trial, perhaps?

[I Hate Hleb]

To answer G88ner:

Only two deposits were given up out of all the Highbury flats.

Latest figures were around 85% were sold.

Profit to club around £100M mark.

Possible problem is land at South of stadium in Queensland Road.
The club own it, but with prices falling, and it not being as prestigious as the site of Highbury, and the sales value not as great. should the club sell it to a developer for a less than expected profit to get instant cash, or sit on the land for an indeterminate time until prices rise, then sell it on for development?

Again though, can we really trust those figures? Arsenal's own advert on their television station has been claiming '90% sold' for the past 6 months!!

I'm normally a very trusting man that gives people the benefit of the doubt - often to my own cost. Yet given the Arsenal Board's track record for being 'economical with the truth' at best, and 'disingenuous' at worst, I just don't trust anything that comes out of their piss-poor PR machine any more.