How Bad Is Our Financial Situation? By Dan Smith
So, the Premier League got their way, for better or worse football in the UK will be resuming in June. Most owners would be breathing a sigh of relief, at least knowing how much of the TV contract they now have to pay back. Knowing how much revenue they will now make from now till the end of the season should at least make it possible to now draw up a shortlist for transfers.
What do Arsenal do?
Less than 24 hours after confirming a restart date of June 17th the club released 10 of their scouts. This is having already got the majority of our squad to agree to a 12.5% salary cut.
The likes of Sky and BT are still owed approx. 340 million by all 20 topflight sides although discussion is ongoing about a compromise, such as added matches on the next contract.
Purely based on business we have always been known as a club well run financially, so all cutbacks could simply be a precaution until we know what the future looks like.
It’s hard to read the government right now. The 20/21 campaign could go on for months inside empty stadiums, could be delayed due to a second spike, or everyone’s safety yet again ignored for the sake of money.
Stan Kroenke didn’t become a Billionaire by splashing cash without knowing what his overheads are. First, he will want confirmation the new season will be happening, then an estimate on how long the Emirates will be empty.
Only Man United make more matchday revenue then us, so if the worse was to happen we will miss out on 96 million we normally can rely on. Every home fixture that goes by with zero fans is 3.3 million maybe already catered for. In fact, we rely on this revenue stream more than anyone else in the topflight as it is a quarter of our income in total.
This is where all those years being tight with their spending has helped. Yes, paying Champion’s League wages to a Europa League squad for three years is catching up on us, but based on figures for last season we still have the 2nd most cash in reserve (167 million). The Kroenke family might argue the reason we have that in the bank is due to how they operate, and therefore they should be trusted in these hard times.
But are our American owners being overly cautious or are they safeguarding our future?
Man United are happy to be in debt, we are not. Chelsea and Man City have benefactors who have proven they will pump their own wealth into their clubs to get them through this period, Silent Stan’s never done that for us.
A Liverpool and Leicester know how much money they will be getting from UEFA Champions League qualification.
We are in a unique position in terms of having one of the highest wage bills, in receipt of one of the highest match day revenues, yet we don’t earn the maximum from Europe’s Governing Body. We have become too big to be small and too small to be big.
Yet are we the only club who have mismanaged? Are we the only squad who have underachieved in terms of their pay slips.
There are poorer clubs then us? Our owners are one of the richest families in the world. So why are we the only ones who seem to be cutting corners?
Players taking pay cuts, scouts sacked, possibly Luiz’s contract not being renewed ……all based on this Pandemic. Are we right to be basing everything on the worst-case scenario just in case? It would be foolish to hand out expensive contracts and transfer fees based on money we assume might come in.
As usual our biggest problem at our club is the lack of clarity? Gooners deserve to know just how bad would things look if we went a whole season with no Match Day Revenue? I always assumed if a crisis like this happened, we would be okay because of how much money we kept in the bank over the years. Yet the news we have sacked 10 scouts has scared me.
One day we are reading we are interested in a Coutinho and Dembele, but the next we are firing 10 of our staff for cost cutting measures.
If fans were told of our predicament, we wouldn’t put any pressure on the next window instead of having false hope, at the moment, that the intention is to still build a team that can challenge for trophies.
I’m asking all gooners because I don’t know the answer.
Fair enough if suddenly we can’t hand out contracts worth 200,000 pound a week or it re-addresses the inflation in fees, but that’s football adapting together, this feels like we are on an island on their own.
How bad is our financial situation and how bad could it get?
They say actions speak louder than words?
Our club have asked players to take pay cuts and now are sacking staff. Is this Stan Kroenke being tight or are we in trouble?
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Dan Smith