Rich Gunners taunt Kenyon over 'fantasy'

[Sir X]

Rich Gunners taunt Kenyon over 'fantasy'
SPECIAL REPORT By CHARLES SALE - More by this author »

Last updated at 23:06pm on 24th September 2007

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Chelsea ambitions to dominate world football were described on Monday as 'fantasy' by Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who had just announced remarkable financial figures that point to Premier League leaders Arsenal now being the richest club in the country.

Hill-Wood described the blueprint to make Chelsea under chief executive Peter Kenyon the biggest club in the world as 'bulls***'.



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And the outspoken Arsenal chairman added that Chelsea's dictatorial owner Roman Abramovich 'hadn't helped the Russian cause' because his interfering in team affairs had led to the departure of manager Jose Mourinho and put his club in turmoil.

In contrast, the freedom to manage given to Arsene Wenger, added to the 'Emirates Effect' from the first full season in the new stadium, had put Arsenal on top of the Premier League and the money league.

Arsenal's finances for the year ending on May 31, 2007 included:

. Match-day revenue of £3.1million a game.

. Total match- day income doubled to £90.6m.

. Record turnover of £200m.

. Record operating profit of £51.2m.

. A cash bounty of £73.9m that the budgetconscious chairman doesn't want to spend.

Moving to the Emirates Stadium has been worth £55.1m in one year to Arsenal, with the ground able to seat 60,355 fans.

A successful team, a united board and the jackpot accounts plus the millions Arsenal will raise by selling a renovated Highbury and other properties around the ground also allow Hill-Wood to be confident about repelling any takeover attempt by Uzbek predator Alisher Usmanov, who has gained a 21 per cent stake in the club under the banner of Red and White Holdings, chaired by former vice-president David Dein.

Hill-Wood said: 'I found it surprising Chelsea had only 25,000 for a Champions League game. Our fan base probably started in the 30s and it's been handed down from father to son and so forth. It takes 100 years to build and about 100 minutes to destroy. You're got to be very careful you don't destroy it.

'Money is irrelevant to history and how big your club is. Maybe not irrelevant, but it's better not to have too much money because you then don't go and squander it.

'Chelsea talking about world domination is bulls***. I don't want to run Chelsea down, but one has to concede Manchester United and Liverpool are probably the biggest names in UK football and probably throughout the world. For Chelsea to think they are suddenly going to dominate Manchester United and Liverpool is fantasy.'

Hill-Wood lavished praise on manager Wenger, saying: 'Arsene told us in June he was staying and you can take what he says at face value.

'We asked him what he would do if we gave him £100m to spend and he said he would give it straight back. He understands the finances as an economics graduate from Strasbourg University. I do think about who we would replace Arsene Wenger with and I then shut the thought out of my mind because I have no idea.

'There aren't many world-class managers and I think we have been fortunate in having the best one there is.

'I have never enjoyed watching dull football. We did use to win only 1-0, but we are on a different level now and I have never enjoyed football more than I have in the last few years. I will never deny that Arsene Wenger was a very good appointment and David was the person who introduced me to him.'

Arsenal blame the divorce with Dein on him paving the way for American Stan Kroenke to buy the Granada shares in the club without their knowledge.

Hill-Wood said: 'I think David could have handled things differently and if he had then what happened wouldn't have had to happen. He had a lot to offer, but the show goes on and the transition has been seamless.

'The board is united in resisting any attempt to wrest it from us. The idea of us selling out to whoever is simply not on the agenda.

'I feel that Arsenal is a stable business run by reasonably civilised people who understand the values of the club. We are custodians of Arsenal and, although the shareholders control the shares, the club also belongs to the fans. To disrupt the way the club is run would be a tragedy.

'We are top of the Premier League and are committed to providing Arsene Wenger with funds to strengthen the playing squad whenever he deems it fit to do so.

'We are well aware that, even if you have the best stadium in the country and a sound business plan, that plan does not work if you have a lousy football team. We are luckily not in that position.'

Sales from the Highbury site will exceed £300m and, to add to the success story, £205m of the £252m debt has been secured at a fixed rate of interest of 5.3 per cent over the next 25 years — terms that couldn't have been negotiated in the current banking credit crisis.

Managing director Keith Edelman, countering the Dein belief that Arsenal will soon need the financial firepower provided by Usmanov to compete at the top level, said: 'We believe the club must be run for the long term from the cash resources which you drive out of the business.

'There is some kind of view that you need a wealthy benefactor to chuck lots of money at it. We fundamentally disagree with that logic. In the long run, people purchasing businesses will want to see a return.'

However, Arsenal regard their other substantial foreign shareholder, Kroenke, in a better light, with Edelman saying: ' We have a good relationship with Stan and a continued dialogue with him, and will have to see how events unfold.'

But Edelman doesn't know the American's future plans regarding his Arsenal stake.

ARSENAL'S RIVALS

MANCHESTER UNITED
£41.1m profit on £167.8m turnover

LIVERPOOL
£20.1m profit on £121.7m turnover

CHELSEA
£15.3m loss on £152.8m turnover

(figures for season 2005-06)

[Sir X]

Liverpool are probably the biggest names in UK football and probably throughout the world.......Coming from an Arsenal Chairman.

Ahhm

[Karl]

Arsenal bullish over £200m income

Arsenal bullish over £200m income


Arsenal's move to the Emirates Stadium has reaped rewards

Arsenal claim their new position as Britain's richest football club shows they do not need foreign investment.

Latest figures reveal the club's turnover has broken the £200m barrier after the move to the Emirates Stadium.

"These results demonstrate we really don't need any outside investment," managing
director Keith Edelman told BBC Radio 5live.

"We secured all the players we wanted in the summer and manager Arsene Wenger did not spend his budget."

Interview: Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman


The Gunners have been subject to takeover rumours after Alisher Usmanov increased his share in the club to 21% with reports suggesting that he wants to increase his stake to 25%.

American billionaire investor Stan Kroenke has a 12% stake and, while he has met with Arsenal, the club have yet to hold talks with Usmanov.

"I am unsure what he (Usmanov) can do with 25%, and I do not believe he can stop us operating the business on a day-to-day basis," said Edelman.

"Usmanov has a stake, (Stan) Kroenke has a stake and we get on and run the business every day.
"It is a distraction for us to keep talking about it, but we are trying to focus on the team getting the job done and we do not think it affects them."

He added: "As far as Usmanov is concerned, we have always stated our belief as a responsible corporate body, we meet anybody who requests a meeting, and that is still our policy."

Uzbek businessman Usmanov's company, Red and White, is chaired by former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who claims foreign investment is needed to compete with the likes of Chelsea.

But Edelman told the BBC: "We are looking at a position where we don't believe we need additional monies.
"We had £73.9m cash at the year's end and we are telling people today we've got increased cash balances at this juncture."

The move to the new stadium from Highbury means the Premiership leaders are generating more than £3m a game.
A statement from the Arsenal Supporters' Trust said the group was delighted with the club's current financial position.

"These results are a testament to the success of the Emirates project. These results are the fruits of opening the new stadium on time and on budget," the statement read.

"The club have sown the seeds for a bright new future.
"The AST studies carefully the different models of how football clubs are run. Arsenal's model, based on sensible borrowing to invest in facilities that generate an increased income stream, is a model we commend.
"AST reiterates its opposition to any hostile takeover at Arsenal."

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose says Arsenal can now argue that this brings them into the big league of European earners, just behind Real Madrid.

"Manchester United will have to put on another £32m from last year to match the Gunners - Chelsea will have to show an increase of nearly £50m; Liverpool £80m and Tottenham £127m to match Arsenal," stated Bose.

He added that Arsenal project that the "Emirates effect will continue to produce vast sums of money for years".

And on Dein's ambitions?

"One well-placed Emirates source told me: 'David always sees himself as number one. He wants to be chairman. The Arsenal board puts Arsenal first. They see themselves as the custodians of the club. That is the difference'," said Bose.

The stake held by Red and White Holdings Limited could see them seek a seat on the Arsenal board - and a return for Dein.

But Edelman said: "The board can review anybody being a director at any time, and either accept or decline it.
"If he had 49.999%, but the board did not think he would add value as a director, it would say no. "It would have to go over 50% for the board not to have a choice."

[Hortical]

This is only the start of the disaster, and Chelsea will continue to struggle. Some wealthy owners who are successful in their own business often feel that they have the tools to select players and interfere with the running of the team.

We saw this happened with the Dallas Cowboys when Jimmy Johnson was run out of town, and it took a while before Dallas became respectable in the NFL. Archive this -> No silverware for Chel$ea in 2008.

[Jamaica2099]

'We asked him what he would do if we gave him £100m to spend and he said he would give it straight back. He understands the finances as an economics graduate from Strasbourg University. I do think about who we would replace Arsene Wenger with and I then shut the thought out of my mind because I have no idea."
Was AW a "Professor of Economics" at one of France's prestigious "schools"