The walls are closing in

by .

The walls are closing in, 2019/20 seasons are gasping for breath, the Premier League is clawing desperately to survive… but it’s not looking good. Ligue 1 is cancelled, PSG has been crowned champions with an *. The Dutch league is over without a champion, Belgium is finished, the Sports Minister in Italy reckons they are likely going to follow suit. Germany, England and Spain are still clutching, but it seems ever more likely this is optimism in the extreme.

The Premier League is absolutely desperate to dodge a voided season. July TV money is due soon and the clubs are fearing the nightmare of having to give back £37.5m they have probably already spent.

There is some hope, Arsenal players are back at training, there are some fun shots of the players on shooting practice. However, the solutions being put forward by the league look utterly desperate and fragile in the extreme. They are somehow going to guarantee twice-weekly testing for players and supporting staff. Quite the number considering that testing for everyone else is so badly lacking. Someone worked out that could be 1800, how will that work for the normal person on the frontlines?

What happens if ONE player gets the disease and infects 8 players during a game? You cannot account for how bad that PR would be. It’d look very reckless.

There are also lots of reporters indicating the players aren’t exactly over the moon about being thrown into the mixer. Statistically, the chances they’ll have longterm problems is low. However, there are plenty of horrible side effects that athletes would want to avoid. Scarring of the lungs (lowering lung capacity would be horrendous for pro athletes), strokes, even brain damage. Even though the risk is minor, who wants to be the one? The bigger concern will be for their families. No one wants to take a disease back to the family pug.

Starting the season is not about sheer greed, it’s about surviving death. The finance wizards at the AST have DIRE news for Mesut Ozil and his team that are currently thumbing through our finances as they pontificate on whether to take a pay cuts.

Covid-19 is likely to take Arsenal from a situation where they would have reported a small profit of £4m for this current season to one of recording a loss of £19m. If behind closed doors (BCD) becomes an issue that affects all of next season then the club could face reporting losses of £144m.

“So we can see that the reduction in income from playing BCD for the rest of the season will knock £23m ($26m) from available cash at the end of the season as will the absence of season ticket renewals.

“The combined impact will leave little spare cash this summer, especially if sponsors withhold part of their advance payments for season 2020-21.

“Arsenal’s available cash reserves heading into the summer of 2020-21 could be wiped out and a new borrowing requirement of over £50m ($62m) being required by the end of July if the club is to meet its commitments to pay other clubs instalments due on player transfers and finance wages in June and July. So we certainly don’t predict a big spending transfer window!

“Whilst the money set aside as security for the bondholders, who have lent the remaining £170m ($210m) of stadium related debt, cannot be touched, it is almost inevitable that Arsenal will be drawing on its short term £50m ($62m) loan facility made available by Barclays.”

Absolute stinger.

If you believe that a club run sustainably should look to internal solutions to solve downturns, then you have to say, the 12.5% wage cut really does look like a drop in the ocean given the severity of the monster hiding under the bed. Bigger concern is how the club reacts if the worst case happens? They might have to go back again.

Back to the original theme, if Europe is anything to go by, it would seem very unlikely we’ll bring the game back, which makes it more likely the worst-case scenarios come to fruition.

On the podcast, Matt and Aash argued that this sort of nonsense works for the ambitious billionaires. It’ll be disaster capitalism. My view is that we’re more likely to see clubs come together as a cover to get the game under control.

We are about to see who is right, the game is in deep trouble, someone is going to have to lead the way out of this mess. Survival at the highest level is essential, even more so at the lower level. There is a lot to protect, let’s hope everyone comes together and football can look as close to normal when it returns.

Right, listen to the podcast. x

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Upstate Gooner

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Upstate Gooner

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Upstate Gooner

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Upstate Gooner

Tro4hy

Upstate Gooner

Clean sweep, suckaz… a lot easier when I actually sit in front of the computer.

Upstate Gooner

NOTHING will be “normal” again

Sid

Arsenal

Sid

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-a-third-of-all-covid-19-hospital-patients-die-with-dementia-and-obesity-carrying-the-highest-risk-11980894

@marc whoever came up with the above article must have an obese wife and is demented.

Im telling you for free!

@Tom atleast one state with high obese levels should be high in covid19 numbers

You heard it here 1st!

Emiratesstroller

Pedro As I suggested earlier today the major concerns for Arsenal are not insolvency, but liquidity and perhaps also the longterm damage resulting from season ticket holders not renewing next season and the financial cost of that scenario on club particularly with strong evidence that there is no longer a significant waiting list. Personally I think that there are positives to be considered which are: 1. Somehow I think that Kroenke who is now the 100% owner of the club will want to protect his investment. I think that it is highly unlikely that he will walk away from the… Read more »

Marc

Emirates

Bearing in mind that Arsenal won’t be the only club in a difficult position how do we unload these players?

Tom

@Tom atleast one state with high obese levels should be high in covid19 numbers

———
Not necessarily.
Obesity is only one of many underlying conditions that make contracting covid-19 potentially more deadly.
Cancer, lungs disease, heart disease and many, many others not related to obesity itself have been named by doctors as factors.
Also, the population density is s major factor and places like New York, Chicago, or any number of large cities in California will show more cases than the rural states you mentioned.

Marc

If we don’t finish the season will they look to “give” the title to the Scousers? If they do and as we received a Gold trophy for going unbeaten surely the Scousers should be given a plastic trophy.

Tom

If footballers are the modern day gladiators and heroes, and games are meant to be a distraction from our shitty , boring lives, then I say let them play behind closed doors and take some of the chances many have been forced to take without much fuss.

MD-Gunner

@Pedro
In the podcast you stated very determinedly that Stan K. is not taking any money out of the club. How can that be verified since he owns 100% of the shares it is now taken private, how will you know if he pays himself a dividend? You don’t know that since there is no longer any publishing of the accounts.

Since Stan K. is solely looking at Arsenal as a business venture I hope this goes badly south and he will consider the selling of the club to someone that cares about Arsenal as a football club.

Sid

@Tom
The main factor is poverty ie poor housing, poor healthcare, poor nutrition, poor education
The rest of underlying conditions, obesity fcuk theyre even including dementia is bullshit.

Marc

Tom

How many members of the public would volunteer to live away from their families for a couple of weeks and take the risk of playing with all of the safety measures that are being reported for a few hundred grand?

Tom

Marc
Get me away from my wife for a couple of weeks to play ball with my buddies and I’ll do it for free.
Ok, you might have to throw in a few kegs if Im pretending hard to get.

Marc

Tom

My family would have a whip round to get rid of me!

And they’d supply the beer.

jwl

“As I suggested earlier today the major concerns for Arsenal are not insolvency, but liquidity …”

These two states are very similar, Emiratesstroller.

If a company is having liquidity issues, they will also be insolvent soon enough. So if you have concerns about liquidity, than you should also be worried about solvency.

Politicians and bureaucrats have made massive error in stopping people/companies from earning income during lockdown but have done sweet fa about all the bills we have to pay, many people and companies going to be bankrupted because of incompetent government policies.

Nelson

A reasonable government should know that the resource required to fight the COVID-19 crisis should not be used for a football game. It is not the right way to support the football industry. I would said that the UK government should have the power to pass a law to reduce player salary under this crisis situation that could threaten the industry.

Terraloon

Emirates

As Marc asks who is going to take these players?

As for getting AM to take Lacazette that would only likely happen if you wer3 going to sweeten the pot massively.

If reports are correct Lacazette is on £140k a week more than Partey is on.

AM finances are in a worse state than the majority of PL clubs they will be looking to reduce on going costs not increasing them and I would estimate that the likelihood of Lacazette agreeing to a pay reduction of that sort of magnitude as being zero.

andy1886

Stroller, can’t see the club cutting ST prices although they will have to give current ST holders credit for missed games. Look at it this way. They would rather have the stadium 50% full at 100% of the ticket price than the stadium 100% full at 50% of the ticket price. Why? Because they know that even if half the current ST holders don’t renew they will get some new punters off the waiting list. Then there will be more tickets available for casual punters who pay more per ticket anyway, and the bigger games will still attract a big… Read more »

Tom

Germans, not the French, are the ones to watch.
If they don’t open football up – as organized as they are – there won’t be much of a chance for the likes of the PL either.

andy1886

Players coming out against re-starting the season now (from the BBC): “The majority of players are scared because they have children and families,” said 31-year-old Aguero. Speaking to Argentine TV station El Chiringuito, the Argentina international Aguero added: “I’m scared but I’m with my girlfriend here and I’m not going to be in contact with other people. I’m locked in my house and the only person I could infect is my girlfriend. “They’re saying that there are people that have it and don’t have any symptoms but still infect you. That’s why I am here at home. Maybe I have… Read more »

Marc

Terraloon “I would estimate that the likelihood of Lacazette agreeing to a pay reduction of that sort of magnitude as being zero.” Not when you’ve got a 2 year contract and the future after that could see all but the biggest / wealthiest clubs with the money to pay these salaries. At the same time I do think things will quickly revert once this is over – clubs will need a period to catch their breath but if the PL TV money train continues it’ll be a lot easier for teams in the PL than many other leagues. What I… Read more »

Marc

andy

I agree I’m not sure I can see ticket prices being slashed – what might happen is the club having cash flow issues and having some fans wanting a cash return on the 6 tickets they’re owed rather than a discount on next seasons ST so there might be an incentive to take the reduction on next seasons ST rather than getting a cash return. A lot of it depends on what happens with a vaccine in the next few months.

Marc

Is a player refusing to play grounds for a contract being deemed null and void?

Where would the legal ramifications go if clubs are saying it’s safe / all reasonable measures are being taken and players still refusing to play because they don’t agree?

Not a statement – just a question or 2.

izzo

The scare mongering is pathetic. Covid is not killing any high performing sport athlete with no underlying health issue. What the government should do is provide measures/rules to protect those that are vulnerable to the virus. Extending isolation/quarantine is not the way to end this pandemic. Also football should simply continue and be played behind closed doors until the vaccine or drug is made and there’s already reports that is closed to being achieved.
France and Netherland voiding their seasons is beyond stupid.

Tom

Andy
Glenn Murray should probably be exempt from taking a chance given the fact the elderly are more at risk.
Probably the wrong guy to bring up farcical looks too considering his hair plugs.

Tom

For those saying things will never be the same again because of the pandemic……. the wet markets are back up and running in China.

And the banking reform brought about after the financial meltdown down of 2008 to ensure it would never happen again was largely scrapped in 2018 by Trump.

Dissenter

There’s also this myth that an unremarkable recovery is all but certain for young healthy subjects.
Pablo Dybala has had a more drawn-out manifestation of covid-19 – he’s tested positive four times in 6 weeks.
The premier league is at risk of damaging an excellent product that they’ve painfully marketed as the most exciting league in the world.

Marc

“he’s tested positive four times in 6 weeks.”

There’s always one attention seeker!

Marc

Dissenter

Just a quick google on that raises a few questions about the source and even possible authenticity of the claim.

No doubt he’s had it / got it but “a source close to” I’d prefer to hear it from a genuine scientist.

Dissenter

Marc
The Dybala story is all over the news. You wrongly called me an attention seeker, then read the same Dybala stories I read and now you want the WHO chief scientist to call you directly.
I see you’re still here doing your head-in-sand routine,dismissing all unknowns because you just want the distraction.
Pedro’s post rightfully addresses the pros and cons. I’m not surprised since you cheered Boris on when he let Cheltenham take place.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

You can bet that all new contracts will cover no football due to worldwide virus no pay,.

Marc

Dissenter Fuck me chill – the “there’s always an attention seeker” comment was a joke about Dybala testing positive 4 times – he seems to be in perfect health, it was not directed at you. I don’t expect the WHO chief scientist to call me personally – the stories are all attributed to “a source close to” type or similar, not exactly something you’d bet your mortgage on. When I say a scientist I mean something in an official briefing. I don’t know if restarting football is a good idea and I did say at the start of this I… Read more »

izzo

The football industry is toxic. The only thing that should be voided is players contracts. I see no logic in paying them if they aren’t working. Let them go find new jobs like the rest of us. Isn’t David Moyes delivering milk now. They can sue all they like but where do they think the money is going to come from? Club will make money playing behind closed doors from TV revenue than not by sitting on their hands. If its fine to cancel football until September then its fine to start now cause the virus isn’t going anywhere in… Read more »

Marc

“You seem to be getting a little paranoid.”

Maybe that should be stir crazy!

I think we’re all getting a little bit of that.

Dissenter

Marc
Lol
again lol
I just don’t want Liverpool to win the damn thing.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

How long will the baying mob give saliba time to settle in.

Out CB next season could be Mari n saliva

Couple of bad games and there will be blood wanted

Dissenter

Mari hasn’t proven he’s good enough. It’s not his fault though, The pandemic put paid to his loan trial .

Marc

Dissenter

If the Scousers are denied the title I could need medical help!

As for Mari wasn’t there a purchase clause in the loan deal? I thought that’s what made it take so much time.

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886 I think that you are wrong. The club will be forced to cut its prices next season as indeed they did previously when we failed to qualify for Champions League. The major problem confronting the club is that there will be a large number of season ticket holders who are unlikely to renew for next season either because they cannot afford to do so because of financial considerations or because as has been the case in two out of the last three seasons a growing dissatisfaction with the way the club has been run and performed. There are… Read more »

TheBayingMob

“ NOTHING will be “normal” again” Ye it will. Fundamentally people are as thick as shit on a broad level. As soon as it’s reasonably ok to do so all this will be forgotten. How long that will be the only question. Rest of this year? Next year also? Football might take three to four years to get back in an even keel. All rests on some kind of therapeutic solution to either alleviate or vaccinate … you would hope that we rise from the ashes and build something less greedy, but greed always consumes in the end, and it… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

In response to the earlier questions as to how to offload unwanted players this is always possible. Let’s start off with Ozil. We are paying him £350 K pw which translates to over £18,000,000. He will be in his final season under contract. I am pretty sure that Arsenal could offload him by agreeing to pay half his wages next season and not demand a transfer fee. That would save the club £9 million. Similarly an exchange of Lacazette with Partey would also save us money, because Partey’s current wages are less than half of what we pay Lacazette. Mkhitaryan… Read more »

Overmars

Emiratestroller As much as I’d be hesitant of a complete overhaul of the squad, I can realistically see a lot of players leaving in the summer (if normal circumstances resume). Players likely to leave are Mustafi, Sokratis, one of Holding/Chambers, Kolasinac maybe, Elneny, one of Torriera/Xhaka, Ceballos going back to Madrid, Soares and Mari if they don’t get a chance, one of Aubameyang/Lacazette,maybe Ozil if a club will pay his wages. 10 or 11 players, that’s too much and would disrupt the squad. If our top quality players go, we need to replace quality with quality. Upamecano would walk straight… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Overmars My guess is that Arsenal will not make financial commitments in this summer’s transfer market, but I can see some intelligent husbandry of the squad. I think that the management will aim to offload unwanted players and we saw already last summer that the club were prepared to take a financial hit with both Ramsey and Welbeck leaving on Bosmans. There are currently no players in squad apart from Macey whose contracts expire this summer, but my guess is that Arsenal will offload players who are in final year of contract and either unwilling to sign new contract [Aubameyang]… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Ozil has claimed that he wants to see out his contract with Arsenal, but I doubt this is true and he is in my view aiming for a financial settlement. By all accounts his house in Highgate is up for sale and there are suggestions that his wife wants to return to Turkey. Bluntly I am pretty sure that Ozil and his agent know already that Arsenal will not renew his contract and also that no club will pay either a transfer fee or his current wages. So one scenario is as I suggest that Arsenal reach a financial settlement… Read more »

Overmars

Emiratestroller Paying Ozil, a first team player who started nearly ever game under Arteta, 9mil to leave with a year left on his contract is ludicrous mate. Freezing him out the squad didn’t work either, as Unai Emery would tell you. Paying off or selling Ozil to save 350k p/w isn’t the ONLY option of saving money to give to other players who are running out of contract. Realistically, Mustafi 90k, Sokratis 90k, Kolasinac 100k, Mkitaryan 180k and Elneny 50k could be sold to recuperate around 500 grand a week. In my opinion Ozil is more important and obviously contributes… Read more »

izzo

Ozil contributes what to the team? How many goals and assists does he have for the past 2 seasons??? He will be 32 in October. Get real he should take the 9 mill and fuck off. Ozil and the 500 k from the others gone as well will save the club money which it badly needs. Its time you start thinking about the future of Arsenal and not the future of Ozil. Smith Rowe seems to be talented along with Greenwood in the reserves. Its their time now! Otherwise buy a replacement with the monies saved from the player exits.

Overmars

Izzo I am thinking about the future of Arsenal and I’m telling you what ever world you and stroller are living in, there is no way in a million years that any football club would pay a player with a year left on his contract, 9 million pounds to leave the club. I agree, he’s not the player he was under Wenger and not producing the same numbers as 2 years ago. But in saying that, results have improved since Arteta brought Ozil back in the first 11. Not saying it’s all down to Ozil, but it would be stupid… Read more »

izzo

Pretty sure there are 11 players in a team and an 18 year old Bukayo Saka leads the assist playing LB even though has a winger and Auba has all the goals. Ozil has done nothing to justify still being part of the club. You want Mustafi binned right but Ozil kept. They are equally none productie players with the former contributing to disasters in defense throughout his stay at the club. Like I said Ozil should be binned off. I don’t care how much the club will pay or not pay him but he is blocking the path for… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Overmars

The earlier question raised was how do you offload players in the current market.

The point I make is that there are players in our squad who are not exactly loyal to Arsenal or our cause and the player I highlighted is Ozil. The player has demonstrated consistently that the only interest he serves is his own.

Last week he was identified as one of three players in our squad who was unwilling to take a pay cut.

Ozil at £50K pw might be considered an asset but not at £350K pw. At that level
he is a millstone.

Johnno

Call me stupid. Ozil has offered next to zero. Please can we stop overvaluing our players? They are just footballers. Most not that good. And clubs pay wages to players they’ve sold all the time. Arsenal fans probably do not know that as under wenger we practically never sold anyone in his second 10 years. If they combed their hair, made stupid videos for the 14 year olds on the website and didn’t laugh at wenger or question his lack of any discernible tactic then they had a contract until retirement. To make my point on quality – in the… Read more »

China1

Overmars arsenal signing jovic, partey, upemacano, kurzawa and graelish this summer is about as likely as me being the next prime minister

In a normal window that would be absolutely ridiculously good business, in this window we’re talking about entirely entirely impossible.

We might sign one good player like parted if we’re really lucky. Anything more than that would be a huge success. 5 or 6 this summer is PES or FIFA business. Never ever ever gonna happen

Valentin

The debate on Özil is a moot point. Everybody agree that he is not worth the £350kpw he is currently paid. Arsenal has already made clear that, it will not renew his contract, for both financial and football reasons. There are three options: sell, loan, pay him off or keep. As much as some would like that to happen, sell is not going to happen. Even if we were to give him on a free. We also know that Özil not leave Arsenal without his full contract being paid and that in the current circumstances, no club will offer him… Read more »

Valentin

Looking at the numbers mentioned by Pedro, like I suspected asking the players for a salary reduction of 12.5% was really just kicking the can down the road. There was reports last week that Özil and his advisors wanted to see guarantee that a proper plan was being put in place and that there would not be a second round of salary reduction in 3 months time. Sound prescient to me, because with next season football at best starting in September behind close door, there is no chance that Arsenal could financially cope with just 12.5% salary reduction without some… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

I don’t think you lot are getting it. Football is done. Get back to playing Fifa 21 and pack it in.

Andy1886

Stroller, I already said that the club will have to compensate ST holders for any games that they cannot attend (including any cup credits). You said “ my personal view is that the club will need to reduce prices dramatically perhaps as much as 50%”.

Tell you what, if that happens (cuts of anywhere near 50%) I will come on here and admit that I talk complete garbage and if it doesn’t you can do the same, how about it?

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886

I did not say that Arsenal WILL reduce fees by 50%. What I said is that they should consider fees by PERHAPS that amount.

The club will most definitely have a serious problem next season in filling seats. They will need to show goodwill not only to staff at the club but to their supporters as well if they want to retain the nucleus of those who go regularly to matches.

As I pointed out the cost of going to matches at Arsenal is significantly higher
than at most other clubs.

Andy1886

Actually that’s a direct quote ES so fine if you want to back peddle but that simply will not happen. Everyone knows that AFC are just about the most expensive tickets in football and have been for many years.

Pierre

Johnno “Call me stupid. Ozil has offered next to zero.” I’m tempted, but anyway , below is a link showing all of our good football under Arteta. Upon watching this link it becomes evident that a very high percentage of our good football involves Ozil. Just watching this link makes one understand why Ozil is in the side( it also shows how good Saka is) and why Arteta rates him so highly. Personally, his wages or what happens off the pitch is of no concern to me. He can play better , that’s for sure but I always prefer to… Read more »

Sid

Grealish is the new wilshere, keep off at all costs

Bojangles

If the reports are true, Milan looking to swap Kessie for Torreira. Just do it

Dissenter

Valentin ‘There was reports last week that Özil and his advisors wanted to see guarantee that a proper plan was being put in place and that there would not be a second round of salary reduction in 3 months time’ Nothing prescient about that. It’s the ultimate self-service for Ozil to ask a question that no footballing executive can answer because they simply cannot know. There are too many unknown variables. Ozil just wants to watch out for his self interest- he has one year left on the deal of his life. He wants to keep as much as he… Read more »

andy1886

The football club is run as a business. In business if you lose money you cut costs, simple as that. For every big earner that doesn’t take a pay cut when needed the result will ultimately be many lesser earners, usually the poorest, losing their jobs.

It’s not about saving Stan’s fortune, it’s about protecting the livelihoods of the people who can least afford to lose them. Or you can be a selfish, greedy b*stard.

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886

Forgive me but I think that you need to read more carefully what I posted and
not interpret it the way you chose to do so.

I stated “my personal view” is that the club will need to reduce season ticket prices by 50% so that they retain the goodwill of season ticket holders.

There are plenty of season ticket holders who will for a variety of reasons be
considering carefully whether to renew seats not least their financial circumstances.

I am not backtracking what I wrote in point 2 of my 17.29 post.

andy1886

ES, not sure what you don’t understand. Of course it’s your personal view that the club WILL need to reduce ST prices by 50% (your words). My own ‘personal view’ is that is not correct, the club will NOT need to reduce ST prices by anything like that amount, understand?? The club doesn’t rely on ‘good will’ – many ST holders continue to buy their ticket through gritted teeth even if they feel they are not getting value for money, that’s been the case for years. I’m sure you recall many debates on blogs, within supporters organisations and so on.… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886 Circumstances change and we are living in abnormal times. You need perhaps to consider what is going on at moment in private education. Many leading independent schools attempted to adopt a policy of insisting that parents should pay full fees. The press highlighted that Westminster School attempted to do just that. However, there is a growing realisation that many parents are no longer in a financial situation to pay fees on the scale that they have done previously. There are now substantial discounts being offered or discussed particularly by many of the major schools in London and the… Read more »

Pierre

Overmars “I agree, he’s not the player he was under Wenger and not producing the same numbers as 2 years ago. But in saying that, results have improved since Arteta brought Ozil back in the first 11. Not saying it’s all down to Ozil, but it would be stupid to think that he’s done nothing.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. The link I posted earlier is a clear indication of what Ozil brings to the team. Many of his sublime touches and link up play go unnoticed. The link is not a montage of Ozil’s best bits(though it looks… Read more »

andy1886

ES – Interesting choice of example, not one that I believe to be comparable with the average season ticket holder at all (and don’t get me onto tax relief and charitable status for private schooling!). This sort of argument has been done to death but to reiterate it football clubs behave the way they do (and charge what they will) EXACTLY because supporting your club is nothing like many other choices including the one you use an example. Fans (real fans anyway) support their club for life regardless of how badly they are treated. Many ST holders have held tickets… Read more »

Aasim

We need better blogs rather than this mundane waffling. Please make detailed analysis on each of our players. You could also do detailed analysis on the past teams – ie the cesc led team and how it was unlucky with injuries simultaneously to Eduardo, rosicky, RVP, diaby….the evolution of that team, etc

Bob N16

Aasim…’how to win friends and influence people’.

Please start up your own ‘better’ blog and send us a link, otherwise stfu.

Davey

Aasim- Find another blog

Emiratesstroller

andy 1886 I have been a season ticket holder for most of my adult life. In fact I have two season tickets costing around £2,000 each. In my case I accept your point about loyalty and habit, but that no longer applies to the new generation of consumer who is far more fickle. A growing number of major football clubs in England and Europe have moved away from complete reliance on ticket sales and the largesse of their owners. However, their growing dependence on sponsorship and tv and media funding will also be impacted by what is going on at… Read more »

Spanishdave

It’s about time politicians start to be more positive. Numbers are going down, people are taking precautions, businesses are trying to start up. This daily death toll is madness because the numbers do not relate to what happened the day before they are just random counting of death certificates some of which are weeks old. There are also many reports of doctors adding probable cause of death to the certificates along with other reasons and because of this the number is given to the virus. So the whole situation is based on a very poor administrative,panic struck, bureaucratic fudge. And… Read more »

andy1886

ES – I have been on the ST waiting list for around ten years and have still yet to be offered a ticket. I agree that the waiting list will be much shorter but I don’t think we’re at the point yet where the club will have to heavily discount. If I’m honest the bigger disincentive in recent years to renew has been the lack of ambition under Stan and the very obvious decline under AW.

Bob N16

ES, By my reckoning next season’s ST was already going to have to be discounted as we were 2 cup ties short as well as 4 PL games. That’s already 23% of the cost (6/26 games). Let’s say, for the sake of argument, we can start attending matches on 1st Jan. That would mean ST holders would only be able to attend half of our home fixtures for the 20/21 season. Usually this might be taken off the following season’s renewal but it will be a ridiculously hard sell to convince ST holders to pay for a full season ticket… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Bob N16 You make precisely the points that I have been attempting to suggest. Season Tickets in normal circumstances are due for renewal on or before 1st June. This coincides with Arsenal’s financial year ending. So a very large chunk of money which is usually being paid in the current financial year is likely to be deferred for several months even if everyone renews. That is likely to impact on the club’s liquidity for the foreseeable future. Andy 1886 makes the point that he is currently still on the club’s waiting list, but I can assure him that many people… Read more »

Marc

Bob Agree if the first half of the season was played behind closed doors then with the refund from this season you’d be looking at paying for 4 matches say £160 – £200 on average plus cup credits. We usually get 7 but are we even going to have European football back and will we qualify? If it’s yes and the same rules applied you’d lose 3 – 4 matches pre Christmas and then you’re assuming the club have proceeded from the groups stages of whatever competition. Under that the club would be looking at fans paying for a maximum… Read more »

andy1886

ES – I think you have a good point about the executive boxes, these will be more difficult to sell. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the cost of these come down long before the general ticket prices to fans do. Because corporates really are less loyal and more fickle than fans.

Marc

andy

I think the corporate boxes will be difficult to shift until we’ve got CL football back which will also tie in with the team playing better so making the club more attractive.

Emiratesstroller

andy 1886

I also include the premium seats which cost around £4K. There are now an awful lot of empty seats particularly for cup games.

The trend at Arsenal for at least three seasons including final year of Wenger is for a lot of season ticket holders not to attend less important games particularly in Europa Cup.

If you go to all 19 EPL Games, but none in the Cup Competitions your seat
costs about £100 per game if you are spending £2,000 per season.

andy1886

I think that we all know how costs will be reduced most effectively – cut player wages, simple (unless you’re Pierre who doesn’t care how much your favourite player earns). By ‘cut’ that’s likely to be allowing contracts to expire and replacing some of our ‘stars’ with players on lower wages. We’ve been talking about ST prices but let’s look at it in the whole. Match day income is around £90M and the wage bill is around £230M. It’s easy to see where the savings can be made when 1 x Ozil = 20% of the entire match day income… Read more »

Marc

andy

I don’t think the problem is the amount that is paid to certain players – I think it’s that a lot of the players aren’t good enough to earn what they do. As has been said we’ve been a EL team with a CL wage bill.

What Miki earns isn’t a problem if he’s performing at a Robert Pires level, an awful lot of the wage bill issues are on Gazidis.

Spanishdave

I think due to the financial uncertainty many will forfeit their season tickets.
With this incessant doom mongering football cannot not resume back to normal this year. Nobody wants to say it’s ok to return to normal .
So even next season is not guaranteed to start on time.
We have the highest prices so a total rethink is needed.
Stans still behind the sofa apparently.

Marc

dave That’s why the vaccine that’s being trialled is so important as well as finding treatments that combat the virus. If they are in position by June / July things will be very different to if the vaccine is found not to be effective. With a vaccine in place and being mass manufactured as well as a reduction in new cases we could start the PL a month late and things could get back to normal quite quickly. “We have the highest prices so a total rethink is needed.” That needs to be backed up by evidence because every time… Read more »

Pierre

Andy
This obsession with how much a player earns is only peculiar to Arsenal supporters.

Chelsea, Tottenham, United, city or liverpool fans don’t waste their time pontificating about things they can do nothing about.

Transfers , contracts ,believing media bullshit seem to be the prime concern for many on Le Grove .
The football is of secondary importance to the Le Grove comments section , unless of course Arsenal are lose , then it explodes into a frenzy of action .

If we win ……nothing.

Valentin

I can testify that for the last two years I have been offered higher priced club seats than the one I used to have at a discount. In my opinion, COVID-19 will not just be a blip, it will cause a complete readjustment of the new reality. Like the rest of society, Football will need 2 years to sort that financial mess. People and companies will cut on non-essential expenses. Any expensive leisure will be parked until financial and job security has returned. For many Football will not be priority, so likely to be the first non-essential financial outlay to… Read more »

Marc

Pierre

Do you not think ManU fans have asked questions about Sanchez’s wages or how De Gea’s performance level has dropped off since he was awarded a new large contract?

I’d agree its more prevalent with Arsenal fans but a lot of that was due to the financial limitations after the stadium move – we’ve started to spend more money and performance levels got worse.

Dissenter

Valentin
‘ Anybody making plans based on a quick return to normal is seriously deluded.’

So true
I suspect that UEFA and all leagues will require clubs to have money in reserve to cope with emergencies. Football was being run on the ledge with too many risky practices. I think the big money influence from Russia and the gulf blinded everyone.
Also the premier league may damage the footballing product if it puts up 92 shabby games.

Bob N16

Pierre, Does it not go without saying that if your team is successful, you don’t care much about finances? If a club is successful then clearly the team is well coached and the players have sufficient quality to compete with the best and are justifying their pay packet. If, on the other hand, your team is not competing, as fans we want to know why. Is it a lack of funding, poor player acquisitions etc. At a time when our wage bill is at champion league level but our player quality is EL, then it needs to be sorted. Those… Read more »

Jamie

He doesn’t want to talk about the club’s finances because all fingers point to his hero Wenger’s gross incompetence when dealing with player contracts and the growing wage bill with declining performances year after year. Amusing how Emery, as shit as he was at coaching, gets the blame for a bunch of our squad walking on Bosmans, yet his predecessor was sitting in front of the cameras gaslighting all the supporters by insisting that players entering the final year of their contract was ‘the ideal situation’ for the club. What a dickhead. Took a massive severance after being sacked like… Read more »

Spanishdave

Just for interest the Daily Mail has a map of the UK and you type in your postcode and it tells you how many people have died with the virus.
In our post code the deaths are 0.
But we cannot go out and do our shopping.
Our MP. sits on his hands , dickhead.

Johnno

Baited the rod. Called ozil useless. Dipped in water .Went to bed. Woke up. Pierre the fan boy had bitten. Never change Pierre. You’re a beaut Lots of great stats on how ozil is key to our play. Like the other 10 professionals would somehow be wandering around clueless if he weren’t out there. How his zero goals and 2 assists somehow misrepresent the contribution of a number 10. He finds space. His awareness is good. He keeps the ball. I get it. He does indeed. He’s a professional footballer. He used to be an extraordinary one Btw. If he’s… Read more »

Marc

Has CG been banned?

Valentin

Dissenter, A lot of French clubs had been complaining for years about the financial restriction that the national Sport Financial Regulator imposed on them. There is a rule that stated that before the start of the season all professional clubs must show a valid plan for the incoming season showing either an operational profit or enough cash in reserve to compensate the expected operational loss. Anybody showing financial irregularities is automatically ban from buying and in some case is relegated. That strictly enforced rule saved them, because it make sure that every clubs had enough money to complete the season… Read more »

Uwot?

Yes Jamie.The Three stooges.Silent Stan,The Ditherer & the snake oil salesman have led us down a dark hole.A very deep & dark hole.a shovel won’t be big enough to dig us out .we will need a f**** ng JCB!

alex cutter

“Has CG been banned?”

He’s probably hanging with Stan at his palatial Deleware estate, where he spends his time when not in North London.

Marc