Arsenal Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/14

bad2dabone

Well gazidis came out in that press conference saying we had money and the accounts certainly back him up.

I'm at a loss to explain why we appear to have had such poor transfer planning done for this crucial window.

Not going to argue with anyone in the thread here as we all just want the best for the club.

Paulegend

arsenal also have one of the biggest operating outgoings do they not?? wasnt there some report that totally quashed the whole "arsenal have loads of money to spend" theory. it was the swiss ramble or something like that

bad2dabone

Paulegend wrote: »

yea he didnt just say it to sell season tickets like every season for the last 5 years:rolleyes:

I think a global club like arsenal or Liverpool will sell out it's season tickets regardless of what the chief executive says at a press conference.

Marty McFly

Paulegend wrote: »

yea he didnt just say it to sell season tickets like every season for the last 5 years:rolleyes:

No despite what many think season tickets would sell anyway, Gazidis this summer admitted and praised Wenger for helping Arsenal through the tough times and rightfully so, but we also didn't need Gazidis to shine a light on the obvious the club has a lot more disposable income now valued at fourth most valuable club in the world by forbes with some serious cash in the bank and and big sponsorship deals coming into play in the next year or two.

If you follow any reliable Arsenal source one thing they all agree on is Wenger decides who to go for and how much to spend it's one the few things they are never in dispute about.

the untitled user

I think it's a bit pointless to blame Wenger and/or Gazidis and the board for the lack of activity this Summer. We were in for a number of different strikers at the start of the summer but we dropped them all when informed of Suarez 'clause.' Agents are an unreliable sort but they usually aren't so badly wrong as to think a good faith clause is a release clause. The whole situation is a complete ****up on the part of Suarez's camp who strung us along as much as they've been stringing Pool along.

Anyway, according to Swiss Ramble we've in the region of 70-80 to spend. So now, we're faced with the choice of blowing the majority of our budget on our preferred target, and leaving little room to maneuver when it comes to signing the much needed backup in other positions. Or dropping our interest in our preferred target entirely (not ideal given our 2nd and 3rd choices have already been sold this summer, who the hell do we get in? there's no one else whom you could consider to be of the same level of Suarez' available).

Marty McFly

Paulegend wrote: »

arsenal also have one of the biggest operating outgoings do they not?? wasnt there some report that totally quashed the whole "arsenal have loads of money to spend" theory. it was the swiss ramble or something like that

No and no in fact swissramble just said we have money to spend, also our wage bill is fourth highest in the league behind City, Chelsea and Uniteds.

bad2dabone

Arsenal have more cash reserves than nearly all the other pl clubs combined . According to the Swiss ramble.
Which is just madness.

As at the end of the 2011/12 season (the latest year when football clubs have published their accounts), Arsenal had an incredible £154 million of cash, which is significantly higher than any of their competitors with Manchester United the closest with £71 million (less than half the Gunners’ cash pile). An even more amazing statistic is that Arsenal have almost as much cash as the rest of the Premier League’s other 19 clubs combined (£181 million).

Marty McFly

the untitled user wrote: »

Anyway, according to Swiss Ramble we've in the region of 70-80 to spend. So now, we're faced with the choice of blowing the majority of our budget on our preferred target, and leaving little room to maneuver when it comes to signing the much needed backup in other positions. Or dropping our interest in our preferred target entirely (not ideal given our 2nd and 3rd choices have already been sold this summer, who the hell do we get in? there's no one else whom you could consider to be of the same level of Suarez' available).

I've seen reports saying we could easily spend 100 million and still have plenty of cash left in reserve. We have saved a huge amount on wages this summer and brought in roughly just over ten million in transfer fees aswell as the cash that was already there.

Marty McFly

bad2dabone wrote: »

Arsenal have more cash reserves than nearly all the other pl clubs combined . According to the Swiss ramble.
Which is just madness.

No I think Swiss Ramble said we do in fact have more cash reserves than every other club in the league combined was it not?

Paulegend

how come he wont spend then. my brother is a huge arsenal fan and im always frustrated that wenger just wont spend. arsenal have been so close to the top over teh last 10 years and if wenger just bought one or two top players when he could have arsenal could have competed. like this summer ye have cash and there have been players for sale such as moutinho navas lewdewinski cavani falcao and so on and arsenal just wont spend.

TheGunns

Players will be signed, there's pretty much no doubts about that. I think we'll be lucky to get Gustavo before we qualify for the Champions League and it would also surprise me if anyone major was signed before then. Doesn't leave long left to bring someone in but you're looking at someone like Eriksen and Alderweirald who could be cheap at that stage. They'd easily be 2 of the best signings from anyone, I'd be happy with getting the right players late in the window rather than signing someone who turns out to be crap early.

Players not yet available will be before the end of the window and we'd have no chance of them if we had blown 40m on Higuain. More than capable to last the first few games, then we can start slotting new signings in. You're mad if you think we won't sign anyone.

Alfred Borden

This is the first summer transfer window in the Wenger era that Arsenal have not spent money before August.

the untitled user

bad2dabone wrote: »

Arsenal have more cash reserves than nearly all the other pl clubs combined . According to the Swiss ramble.
Which is just madness.

Actually, it's not madness. There were three reasons that led to this:
1) The terms of the bonds issued to finance the emirates required us to keep a certain cash balance minimum (no idea on what the figure was) on top of the oft reported ring fenced transfer proceeds fund.
2) We got burned when we needed to take out a short term loan to finance the completion of the Highbury development, which coincided with the global financial crises stepping into overdrive. We still have property interests and we still may not be able to rely on the markets.
3) We just got ****loads of season ticket renewals and the CL cash. The balances are cyclical, and will rise and fall by as much as £100m once the season commences (depending on transfer activity of course).

Marty McFly

Paulegend wrote: »

how come he wont spend then. my brother is a huge arsenal fan and im always frustrated that wenger just wont spend. arsenal have been so close to the top over teh last 10 years and if wenger just bought one or two top players when he could have arsenal could have competed. like this summer ye have cash and there have been players for sale such as moutinho navas lewdewinski cavani falcao and so on and arsenal just wont spend.

Now you understand why Arsenal fans get so frustrated if there was no cash there it would be easier to accept but knowing the club sits on a huge pile of cash reserves is what drives everyone mental.

bad2dabone

Marty McFly wrote: »

No I think Swiss Ramble said we do in fact have more cash reserves than every other club in the league combined was it not?

We've got 154 million the rest of the league combined has 181. I just dropped in the info from Swiss ramble into my post. 154 million is an incredible amount of cash to be sitting on.

ugsparky

Marty McFly wrote: »

Gazidis said it clear and loud at the Q&A there was money there to spend and we had the money to sign and pay the wages of big players and he said it was up to Wenger who he spent it on.

It's not media speculation at all, if we fail this summer it falls firmly at Wenger's feet and no one else's. Every report also backs it up that Wenger decides a players value and how much to bid, he needs a David Dein there to push him and without that he won't. If this summer end in failure which I'm still hopeful it wont but if it does it will be Wenger's head that hits the chopping block and faces the brunt of the fans anger.

So to be clear about this ...

The man who built double winning teams - fashioned the club and gave it direction including a new stadium - introduced and has been lauded as changing the mentality and culture of football not only within Arsenal Football Club but also within the Premier league is now deliberately bringing the same club to an abyss through his pig headedness and refusal to spend the shareholders money ... whilst Ivan and Stan and Mr Chips/Hill Wood stand idly by and watch it happen ... powerless to do anything about it ...

... or Arsene who has never broken a contract is in fact doing what he believes he should do and honour his contract to the best of his ability given the resources provided ...

The people who have the money can't spend it because their employee won't spend it - so the club becomes uncompetitive and loses valueable revenue streams from TV, Premiership, Champs Lge and gate receipts etc. ... ?????????????

the untitled user

Or people could just read Swiss Ramble's posts on Arsenal in full instead of just looking at the pretty pictures! You don't have to be an accountant to understand why our finances are the way they are. There's nothing 'incredible' about them...

Marty McFly

ugsparky wrote: »

So to be clear about this ...

The man who built double winning teams - fashioned the club and gave it direction including a new stadium - introduced and has been lauded as changing the mentality and culture of football not only within Arsenal Football Club but also within the Premier league is now deliberately bringing the same club to an abyss through his pig headedness and refusal to spend the shareholders money ... whilst Ivan and Stan and Mr Chips/Hill Wood stand idly by and watch it happen ... powerless to do anything about it ...

... or Arsene who has never broken a contract is in fact doing what he believes he should do and honour his contract to the best of his ability given the resources provided ...

The people who have the money can't spend it because their employee won't spend it - so the club becomes uncompetitive and loses valueable revenue streams from TV, Premiership, Champs Lge and gate receipts etc. ... ?????????????

In essence yes, that is what pretty much all journalists and people close to the club seem to agree on but not in the dramatic way you put it . Plus a lot of people believe the club could be loosing patience with Wenger and the Q&A in saying that it is up to Wenger who he spends the money on was done to try push him into making moves.

I'm still remaining hopeful he will get the finger out though I haven't lost hope yet like some . Even though time is counting down, despite tonight generally I'm one the optimists .

Marty McFly

the untitled user wrote: »

Or people could just read Swiss Ramble's posts on Arsenal in full instead of just looking at the pretty pictures! You don't have to be an accountant to understand why our finances are the way they are. There's nothing 'incredible' about them...

There are accountants in here who read it and have said we have money to spend , now shove your condescending tone about pretty pictures .

ugsparky

It's so easy being a manager ... on FIFA2013/14 :pac:

I'm thinking Ivan is a tw*t who should have kept his mouth shut. Stan is an investor who doesn't give a fig or know anything about the pains and joys of being an Arsenal supporter - if he did he would have given an interest free loan to buy players when we needed them most (to keep Cesc, Nasri, Van Persie) and Arsene is our manager keeping it all together (ie top 4).

We still have financial constraints - either fiscal through our debt repayment or board of directors (shareholders) determined. I can't believe Arsene Wenger determines our spend - I believe he will spend what he is allowed to spend. Why have no former players said directly it's Arsene Wenger who will not spend Arsenal Football Clubs shareholders money on new players?

Dapics

Sebastian Perez has failed to get a work permit. Wenger tried to sign him whilst he was on trial.
Napoli are now apparently looking at him.... Does Rafa Benitez have it in for us?!!!
There are many sources for this... well mainly twitter....

Luiz Gustavo is in talks with arsenal... wants reassurances of first team game time apparently, which I'm not too sure we can give. Our current squad and tactics may have to be changed to accomodate him. For 20 million euro's he's value for money.
There are many sources for this.

Suarez, nothing new on him I don't think.
I don't think were gonna sign him, for 35 million euro's we could get Lewandowski one would assume. Or alternatively, Leandro Damiao.

The Sp*ds are really doing well in the transfer market. I like their signings.
At the same time, we have trimmed around 500,000 pounds off the wage bill and have an improved squad from last season as Ramsey is back to his best, Giroud is banging them in and Walcott seems to have matured... and of course Bosscielny, nothing needs to be said on him.

Ideally, I would like Gustavo, a Suarezesque player (Complete Forward)/AMC and a young CB (Think Gintner from Freiburg) from this Transfer window.
I reckon this season will be when we will see Giroud really excell and show his true potential.

Oh and Arsenal have been very active this transfer window... its not that Wenger wont splash the cash, its just not been easy.
Many think we made an offer for Higuain... we didn't make an offer to Real Madrid as they had no manager. We instead asked them permission to agree terms with Higuain first, he agreed terms but when RM got their new manager he told Arsene what they would sell him for and Napoli came in with a sneaky bid whilst we were delaying trying to sign Suarez.
We made a 20 million euro bid for Lars Bender which was rejected by Bayer Leverkusen.
So use google first instead of blaming Wenger, Gazidis et all.

First post in this forum after gaining access... phew!

Alfred Borden

In Arsene we trust

bad2dabone

Welcome to the forum dapics

the untitled user

Marty McFly wrote: »

There are accountants in here who read it and have said we have money to spend , now shove your condescending tone about pretty pictures .

Apologies, I should have said economist. Accountants wouldn't know how to do a proper CBA even if you lit a fire under their arse. :P

Alfred Borden

Luis Suárez has told top Uruguayan journalist @MartinCharquero he will not be leaving Liverpool.
Great

speedboatchase

Dapics wrote: »

Sebastian Perez has failed to get a work permit. Wenger tried to sign him whilst he was on trial.
Napoli are now apparently looking at him.... Does Rafa Benitez have it in for us?!!!
There are many sources for this... well mainly twitter....

Luiz Gustavo is in talks with arsenal... wants reassurances of first team game time apparently, which I'm not too sure we can give. Our current squad and tactics may have to be changed to accomodate him. For 20 million euro's he's value for money.
There are many sources for this.

Suarez, nothing new on him I don't think.
I don't think were gonna sign him, for 35 million euro's we could get Lewandowski one would assume. Or alternatively, Leandro Damiao.

The Sp*ds are really doing well in the transfer market. I like their signings.
At the same time, we have trimmed around 500,000 pounds off the wage bill and have an improved squad from last season as Ramsey is back to his best, Giroud is banging them in and Walcott seems to have matured... and of course Bosscielny, nothing needs to be said on him.

Ideally, I would like Gustavo, a Suarezesque player (Complete Forward)/AMC and a young CB (Think Gintner from Freiburg) from this Transfer window.
I reckon this season will be when we will see Giroud really excell and show his true potential.

Oh and Arsenal have been very active this transfer window... its not that Wenger wont splash the cash, its just not been easy.
Many think we made an offer for Higuain... we didn't make an offer to Real Madrid as they had no manager. We instead asked them permission to agree terms with Higuain first, he agreed terms but when RM got their new manager he told Arsene what they would sell him for and Napoli came in with a sneaky bid whilst we were delaying trying to sign Suarez.
We made a 20 million euro bid for Lars Bender which was rejected by Bayer Leverkusen.
So use google first instead of blaming Wenger, Gazidis et all.

First post in this forum after gaining access... phew!

Great first post. Bear in mind though that we're likely going to go for a RB rather than a CB, and we've been linked with Malaga captain Jesus Gamez in that role as part of a possible deal that involves selling them Bendtner.

Marty McFly

Raf32 wrote: »

Luis Suárez has told top Uruguayan journalist @MartinCharquero he will not be leaving Liverpool.
Great

We shall see the same reporter followed that with Suarez is likely to sign a new contract would be some turn around. But like I said before doubt this is the last we have heard of this saga will probably drag on until the window closes one way or another.

speedboatchase

Raf32 wrote: »

Luis Suárez has told top Uruguayan journalist @MartinCharquero he will not be leaving Liverpool.
Great

Meh, I think we all resigned ourselves to failure after JW Henry's quotes. Onwards and downwards - though hopefully not too far down from a player of Suarez's ability

speedboatchase

Marty McFly wrote: »

We shall see the same reporter followed that with Suarez is likely to sign a new contract would be some turn around. But like I said before doubt this is the last we have heard of this saga will probably drag on until the window closes one way or another.

No, I genuinely think it's over this time. Apparently Suarez is gonna sign a new deal (with CL clauses, I'm sure) and told the guy that Liverpool fans' appreciation changed his mind.

Alfred Borden

Would rather see the market shut now, just been one big disappointment. rather focus on current team and get behind them for saturday.

Alfred Borden

Anyone else worried about the pool if they add one or two more and we dont add at all? not to mention Spurs.

speedboatchase

Raf32 wrote: »

Anyone else worried about the pool if they add one or two more and we dont add at all? not to mention Spurs.

Both of them are linked with Willian now. That worries me.

Alfred Borden

speedboatchase wrote: »

Both of them are linked with Willian now. That worries me.

at least we got 16 year olds! we have champions league football, yet get outdone in the market by spurs for few years now, imagine if it was them with champions league!

Hyzepher

It looks pretty apparent now that CL football is miles behind money in the eyes of most players.

Soups123

speedboatchase wrote: »

No, I genuinely think it's over this time. Apparently Suarez is gonna sign a new deal (with CL clauses, I'm sure) and told the guy that Liverpool fans' appreciation changed his mind.

I think this is all bull**** tbh. Not you but the source

speedboatchase

Raf32 wrote: »

at least we got 16 year olds! we have champions league football, yet get outdone in the market by spurs for few years now, imagine if it was them with champions league!

We get undone because we don't try hard enough, don't have a Director of Football and generally just lack ambition. Cardiff have spent £30m this summer and we've made a £10m profit. Baffling, really.

speedboatchase

Soups123 wrote: »

I think this is all bull**** tbh. Not you but the source

I hope so but Charquero has broken a lot of Suarez stories in the past and is apparently very close to him. We'll get an update in the next 48 hours I reckon.

Dapics

So much conflicting information regarding Suarez out there.
I couldn't care less about him anymore. I'm just ignoring all the hype and rumors surrounding him and us.

Until I see him holding up our shirt with a cheeky grin on his face showcasing his sharp teeth I ain't listening or paying attention to a single thing surrounding him.

Right now, the deal is dead in the water.

Rather, we should just look forward to our first actual signing instead of concentrating on Suarez.

Dapics

Raf32 wrote: »

Anyone else worried about the pool if they add one or two more and we dont add at all? not to mention Spurs.

I am FAR more worried about Tottenham to be honest.

Daniel Levy has authorised some amazing signings. I actually hope Bale dosen't get sold because if he does, Tottenham could just sign more players.
Think about their signings, they all make sense. And they all add to the team.

I really fear this will be the season the Spuds finish above us. If we make just 2 or 3 good signings however I am very confident we can get top 4 again.

AdamD

the untitled user wrote: »

Actually, it's not madness. There were three reasons that led to this:
1) The terms of the bonds issued to finance the emirates required us to keep a certain cash balance minimum (no idea on what the figure was) on top of the oft reported ring fenced transfer proceeds fund.
2) We got burned when we needed to take out a short term loan to finance the completion of the Highbury development, which coincided with the global financial crises stepping into overdrive. We still have property interests and we still may not be able to rely on the markets.
3) We just got ****loads of season ticket renewals and the CL cash. The balances are cyclical, and will rise and fall by as much as £100m once the season commences (depending on transfer activity of course).

Not true at all, I read that piece and IIRC the club have had positive net cash flow balances in the last few seasons (haven't got the piece to hand mind), so the cash flow won't vary that much at all. With a lot of transfer activity it may drop below 100m, shock horror.

the untitled user wrote: »

Or people could just read Swiss Ramble's posts on Arsenal in full instead of just looking at the pretty pictures! You don't have to be an accountant to understand why our finances are the way they are. There's nothing 'incredible' about them...

I have a good understanding of accountancy and its the figures seem fairly incredible for the footballing world. A higher cash balance than any team in Europe, nearly as much as the entire league combined. We aren't the only ones paying for a stadium, its beyond prudent, its far too conservative. Cash sitting in a bank is bad for a business, its not earning any money or helping any investments.

Raf32 wrote: »

Anyone else worried about the pool if they add one or two more and we dont add at all? not to mention Spurs.

No. Their squad hasn't improved much at all, they're missing Suarez for the first 5 games (and possibly the entire season) and they were 12 points behind us last year. The top 5 is nailed on with United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs, the individual places are up for grabs however.

the untitled user

AdamD wrote: »

Not true at all, I read that piece and IIRC the club have had positive net cash flow balances in the last few seasons (haven't got the piece to hand mind), so the cash flow won't vary that much at all. With a lot of transfer activity it may drop below 100m, shock horror.

Eugh... it's cyclical on a yearly basis, hence the reference to season ticket. The accounts are produced annually so you're not going to see the variation in them! I thought that was obvious...

AdamD wrote: »

I have a good understanding of accountancy and its the figures seem fairly incredible for the footballing world. A higher cash balance than any team in Europe, nearly as much as the entire league combined. We aren't the only ones paying for a stadium, its beyond prudent, its far too conservative. Cash sitting in a bank is bad for a business, its not earning any money or helping any investments.

As I said... we have legal requirements to maintain a certain level of cash. These are requirements that other teams do not have!

Here are some observations that might help you understand why we are the exception:
Man City: Bankrolled.
Chelsea: Bankrolled.
Bayern: Bankrolled (through commercial and state interests, not an individual).
Real: Bankrolled (by the government of Spain and Santander)
Barca: Bankrolled (Santander)
PSG: Bankrolled
Milan: Bankrolled... well they used to be.
Inter: Bankrolled.
Juve: were bankrolled, now operating on a shoestring...
...

Get the idea why most clubs couldn't be arsed maintaining the cash balances we do now?

The only two comparable clubs to us financially speaking are Bayern and United (and that's fairly tenuous). But they have commercial revenues way in excess of ours so their brand has better stock which typically means credit tends to be cheaper.

One final point: We've taken a decade to accumulate those cash balances. Misspend tomorrow and that's it, the cash is gone and we're waiting another decade before we'll have the opportunity to complete with the big clubs again.

the untitled user

the untitled user wrote: »

Eugh... it's cyclical on a yearly basis, hence the reference to season ticket. The accounts are produced annually so you're not going to see the variation in them! I thought that was obvious...



As I said... we have legal requirements to maintain a certain level of cash. These are requirements that other teams do not have!

Here are some observations that might help you understand why we are the exception:
Man City: Bankrolled.
Chelsea: Bankrolled.
Bayern: Bankrolled (through commercial and state interests, not an individual).
Real: Bankrolled (by the government of Spain and Santander)
Barca: Bankrolled (Santander)
PSG: Bankrolled
Milan: Bankrolled... well they used to be.
Inter: Bankrolled.
Juve: were bankrolled, now operating on a shoestring...
...

Get the idea why most clubs couldn't be arsed maintaining the cash balances we do now?

The only two comparable clubs to us financially speaking are Bayern and United (and that's fairly tenuous). But they have commercial revenues way in excess of ours so their brand has better stock which typically means credit tends to be cheaper.

One final point: We've taken a decade to accumulate those cash balances. Misspend tomorrow and that's it, the cash is gone and we're waiting another decade before we'll have the opportunity to complete with the big clubs again.

Did you read the Swiss Ramble article?

12gauge dave

cant believe we are going into our first premiership game without any signings been made.

the untitled user

Deleted User wrote: »

Did you read the Swiss Ramble article?

I did. Did you? If so, do you remember the bit about wages rising 38% in the same period as revenue grow 5%? Does that not raise alarm bells to you?

wandatowell

Its been a farce of a pre-season.

wandatowell

the untitled user wrote: »

One final point: We've taken a decade to accumulate those cash balances. Misspend tomorrow and that's it, the cash is gone and we're waiting another decade before we'll have the opportunity to complete with the big clubs again.

So what you are saying is that currently we cannot compete.

12gauge dave

wandatowell wrote: »

Its been a farce of a pre-season.

As long as they keep getting 4th place nothing will change

speedboatchase

12gauge dave wrote: »

As long as they keep getting 4th place nothing will change

And as long as many fans are happy with only achieving that, nothing will change either.

the untitled user

the untitled user wrote: »

I did. Did you? If so, do you remember the bit about wages rising 38% in the same period as revenue grow 5%? Does that not raise alarm bells to you?

You might have noticed me posting over the last few days mentioning our ridiculously high wage bill.

From the graph the lowest cash reserves we've had at any point has been £100 million, that's the absolute lowest. Subtract the £25 million that has to be kept and that's still £75 million that's been sitting doing nothing for the last 4 years.
Again, this is before the at least £15 million wages we've cut, which we can say would be offset by 3 big new players.
All this is before the extra TV money and increased sponsorship and we have plenty to spend.

Oranage2

Gorcuff is 27:eek: I thought he was only around 24, anyway his positions are fully stocked I can't see us buying him.