Riddle of the missing millions solved as Arsene Wenger confirms my worst fears…

On the 12th of April, I broke an exclusive on the blog entitled "The Riddle of the missing millions" it began thus:   I am confused, and reports in the Times newspaper yesterday make me feel that someone on the Board had better come clean. On September 24 2007, the Times proudly proclaimed "Arsene Wenger given £70 million to spend as profits rise" Now it seems that the Kitty has shrunk by half to £35 million. Now either the Times level of Journalism has tumbled since September 24 or somebody thinks that Arsenal Fans can’t remember facts and figures. Here is what was said…

Keith Edelman, the Arsenal managing director, said that much of the funds would go to Wenger to spend on squad strengthening. "I think we are in a very good position," Mr Edelman said. "Clearly, Arsene’s performance and the team’s performance on the pitch has been outstanding, obviously backed up by our very strong financial position. "We gave Arsene a budget in the summer and he didn’t even spend all of it on transfers and, hopefully, we’ll be able to carry that forward into future years. "We have got plenty of financial firepower to make the transfers Arsene wants to make. We had over £70 million of cash at the end of the year, and if Arsene wants to spend that money we will make it available."

Fabregas the King has asked Arsenal Football Club and The Times to clear up this confusion.   Well the reply that I received from Arsenal Football Club was brief and to the point, after speaking to Mr Keith Edelman, the Arsenal Spokesman confirmed the following to me 

When the half year accounts were announced, Keith Edelman stated that there are ‘ample funds’ should the Boss want to purchase players, however he did not give an actual figure. Hope this helps!

I received no reply from the Timesonline, which means either someone at Arsenal football Club is telling porkies and The Times does not wish to embarrass them or it really does confirm that you should not believe what you read in the newspapers. What does Arsene Wenger have to say on the subject of transfers and the money available? Well in a far reaching interview with the official club website yesterday he revealed some rather worrying facts… 

"There’s money there, but not as much as I read in the newspapers, because that’s not true, but there is some money available. But I feel that this is my financial package, and the first thing I have to make sure is that we keep the players we have at the moment. That is what people forget… 

 

My first target of the summer is to make sure what we have here stays here, and after, if there is still money available, to buy players. That’s what people do not understand because It is not as simple as it looks when you read there is so much money available to buy players, the transfer budget includes the improvement of the wages… The new rules put you under threat to lose your best players because after three years any player can walk out and after two any player over 28. So the rules and the structure of the wages bill is always under threat."

Arsene Wenger went further, and in his comments I believe it suggests that he has clearly been stung by much of the recent criticism from fans and the media: 

"You know you will be criticised for that, but you don’t need to accept everything. People say you make mistakes, well that is professional. When people say you don’t know what you are doing, that is a little bit disrespectful." "In the last season, we have heard enough that we have not won any trophies and all that, but then again you have to take some distance with that. What is better? To win the Carling Cup or to be in the Champions League final in 2006? We want to do more, but not to recognise the merit of this team would be a professional mistake and I would not stand for that." 

So, what ever dreams you have about David Villa, Kaka, or any other expensive name linked with the club, the message is clear… Forget it. The books must be balanced. We do not have even the 35 million suggested in the papers as NEW money, because this is the entire player budget. Current and future contracted earnings and the excess for new players must be supplemented by selling players to raise the funds. So we can expect only one major buy and more kids basically.  

So we cannot afford the likes of David Villa, because that would consume most of our budget for players, especially if Villa costs 20 million+. The half yearly profits announced in February this year shows an increase in pre tax profits of 8 million pounds to 20 millions. HOWEVER the net debt seems to have increased from 268 millions to 307 millions due to the Building estates division of Arsenal PLC. So the riddle of the missing millions is solved… 39 million pounds of losses have been incurred with the Highbury development project so that appears to be the reason why Arsene cannot spend big this summer.  

I don’t know about you, but my priority is what we achieve on the field of play, and not what bijou residences are created on the old Highbury site. I find this all very frustrating at a time when we clearly need to strengthen our squad. It is even more annoying when you consider that the player transfers dealings made 7 million pounds extra profits compared with the year before. So it seems that the development of flats and the shareholders are more important than the fans aspiration to more silverware in the short term. I suppose that we cannot really complain, because the Board did tell us in the report, but with all the hype and spin, it was missed. Peter Hill-Wood’s business objective is that Arsenal football club pays its own way. 

The rationale being that we can manage our debts and eventually reduce it by selling off the real estate. My big fear is that all the Board is managing to do is avoid dipping into their own pockets to fund transfers, and by so doing, they leave the club lean, well managed, devoid of star players and ripe for takeover by one fat Usmanov….People who keep having a go at me for knocking this Board please note!!!  

So no jam until 2010 at the earliest then and expect more of this season, next season. In essence we will be going only for the Premier League and Champions League, so forget the FA Cup and Carling Cup, where we will be playing youth/second string squads. So let’s hope that there are several players of the potential of Bacary Sagna out there on offer, or I dread to predict what will happen. Comments invited, when you have picked yourself up off the floor….  

Fabregas the King.