CC results are shocking o, thank God we scaled through.

"Manchester United have started discreetly, like Arsenal. We and the Gunners will be in competition with Chelsea until the end. It's too soon to make predictions, but we mustn't forget Tottenham's progress. Houllier will need time at Aston Villa. The disappointment is Everton. I had them among the favourites: they only have two points."

Sir Alex Ferguson on The EPL and Chelsea.

I don't know if it's just me, but don't y'all like it when they call us 'The Gunners'??

Eldee, from Sir Rednose. . .eeerm. . .I don't think so.

Meanwhile in other news, woke up this morning to find out the Chavs and lesser scummies or lesser chavs were dumped out of the carling. I knew this was gonna be a good week. After I chop cake for tuesday, them dash me icing yesterday.

Meanwhile in other other news, wtf is wrong with looserpool?!! This is becoming an extremely sad situation. lol!!!

slim

icing on the cake.

Finally got my arsenal fanshare membership certificate today and my DD is setup so if anyone wonders why I'll support Arsene's prudence to the last, they shld know I have an added incentive to do so cos I will soon own 1/6,000,000 of Arsenal or thereabouts making me one step ahead of Dangote  and if anyone suggests to me that I'm wasting my money supporting Arsenal when I could be supporting Sunshine Stars of Akure, I will give such a person a virtual slap while informing them that the world is now a global village.

On another note, financial results are rumored to be announced tomorrow and some people are already leaking info that record profits are going to be announced yet again, more interesting snippet however is that the property side of the business is now debt free and will make a profit of 30m this year leaving us with only the remnant of the Stadium debt of about 230m with interest payment of 16m per annum till 2031.  (16m is roughly 6 matches at the emirates stadium which makes on the average 3m per match).

I look forward to another round of debates with Debo. 

What a waste of money, How can you open your eyes and knowingly buy failure.

Its better you invest in Lehman brothers or just use your money to play Baba Ijebu

Now yu've totally lost it DK, which is it wiser to invest in? a club declaring record profits like Arsenal, one ridden with debt and having its life sucked out of it like manure or one tottering on the brink of collapse and can't even get a buyer like Liverfluke?
Honestly, I just don't want to do a Glazer, I would have taken loans from the banks to invest massively in the fanshares self. 

duduspace:

Now yu've totally lost it DK, which is it wiser to invest in? a club declaring record profits like Arsenal, one ridden with debt and having its life sucked out of it like manure or one tottering on the brink of collapse and can't even get a buyer like Liverfluke?
Honestly, I just don't want to do a Glazer, I would have taken loans from the banks to invest massively in the fanshares self. 

Am sure DK willbe interested in buying into the fanshares cos he doesnt have that kinda opportunity to do so in his racist club since he is not recognised anyway .He is just tryin to get more info from u Dudu.U dont need to exchange words wit him asper ds issue but u can be of help if he needs enquiries.

So financials to be announced today or tommorrow.

Dudu and Debo you are both hereby requested to submit a 500page essay on the topic 'we have record profit, why didn't we spend the money'. And I mean 500 nairaland pages.

Seriously tho, guys can we not have the arguments this year. As informative as it is, it becomes tiresome after a while.

In other news, there is no other news.

@Slim

I don't think there will be much to write this year, our financial situation is definitely better, 2 seasons ago we would have snapped Barca's fingers off at 29m for Cesc but we were able to resist a 35m offer while bringing in quality players at reasonable amounts.
Arsene will always be a prudent operator in the market, that much is obvious now but he has shown it is not necessarily a bad thing. We continue to cement our foundation in the select group of the big boys and the team is looking good so far and expectation levels have soared as usual, I hope the boys finally come good this season because we do have a squad that looks the part now.

Still no news on FABREPASS

^
He'll miss the next 2 games me thinks. . 2/3wks

@ duduspace.

I must congratulate you as you prepare to be a valid holder of one of the best shares buyable. I should get me a few before the year runs out. I just seem to be too engaged these days.
Now,u can wear a big smile for every match played at th emirates and have reason to pray we win the CL.

dipo2much:

@ duduspace.

I must congratulate you as you prepare to be a valid holder of one of the best shares buyable. I should get me a few before the year runs out. I just seem to be too engaged these days.
Now,u can wear a big smile for every match played at th emirates and have reason to pray we win the CL.

Thanks my brother, I think every true arsenal fan should buy at least 1 fanshare (at a cost of about 100 pounds), they've made it so easy I think you can start from as little as 10 pounds a month (which would get you 1 fanshare annually) while you can also pay lump sums if you so wish, you can also sell it whenever you want to.
If anyone needs more information on how it works, I'll be glad to explain.

Just got the results in my email:

ARSENAL’S PROPERTY BUSINESS DELIVERS SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN DEBT

· The completion of sale of 362 (2009 – 208) private apartments at Highbury Square and the social housing site at Queensland Road generated £156.9 million of revenue from property (2009 - £88.3 million) and allowed the Group to repay £129.6 million of bank loans.

· The Group’s property business is now debt free and generating surplus cash for the Group. The overall level of Group net debt had been reduced to £135.6 million (2009 - £297.7 million) at the balance sheet date.

· Group turnover increased to £379.9 million (2009 - £313.3 million) boosted by the income generated from property sales.

· Operating profit (before depreciation and player trading) in the football business was £56.8 million (2009 - £62.7 million) after increased wage costs.

· Operating profit in the property business was £15.2 million (2009 - £7.8 million) reflecting the sales activity at Highbury Square.

· Profit from player trading of £13.6 million (2009 - £2.9 million).

· Group profit before tax was £56.0 million (2009 - £45.5 million) and profit after tax was £61.0 million (2009 - £35.2 million).

One shiko for the first person to come here, saying so why we no buy keeper?!!

Na wa oh. . . . .wuruwuru accountants at Arsenal Holdings managed to make profit AFTER tax more than profit before tax?    

slimshay:

So financials to be announced today or tommorrow.

Dudu and Debo you are both hereby requested to submit a 500page essay on the topic 'we have record profit, why didn't we spend the money'. And I mean 500 nairaland pages.

Seriously tho, guys can we not have the arguments this year. As informative as it is, it becomes tiresome after a while.

In other news, there is no other news.

Ol boy all I can say is that baba Ijebu's stinginess over getting a quality goalie and haggling over a 'gbanjo' or 'clearance sale' goalie like Schwarzer is even more annoying.

There is money to spend - kindly spend some of it on a valuable GK that can last us 3-4 seasons and take us over the hill into trophy winning success.

But no. . . .even as recently as Tuesday Wenger was calling Flappianski 'worldclass'.

debosky:

Na wa oh. . . . .wuruwuru accountants at Arsenal Holdings managed to make profit AFTER tax more than profit before tax?   

I think it happened because they've been overbilled by HMRC for tax in the past so they are getting paid back. There is some note about sorting some pending issues with the tax authorities in the CEO and chairman's statements.

What do you mean that the money hasn't been spent? we made 13m profit from player trading in May accounts from these results and have since bought Kos, Squillaci and Chamakh, those 3 could more than account for that money and all we'll then have left would be what we sold Dudu for.

duduspace:

I think it happened because they've been overbilled by HMRC for tax in the past so they are getting paid back. There is some note about sorting some pending issues with the tax authorities in the CEO and chairman's statements.

What do you mean that the money hasn't been spent? we made 13m profit from player trading in May accounts from these results and have since bought Kos, Squillaci and Chamakh, those 3 could more than account for that money and all we'll then have left would be what we sold Dudu for.

I never chop today but I must still reply this - we made 13m alright. . . got Chamakh on a free so he doesn't count. Kokomaster cost 4m (plus add ons for appearances and France games) Squillaci cost 3.3m. Now that's ONLY 7.3m spent, not counting Dudu was sold for (7m).

In essence Wenger spent 300k this window and we should be happy? Especially KNOWING how desperate we'd been for a keeper since January when he tried a late ridiculous bid for a keeper?

I know it's old ground, but Wenger's handling of the keeper purchase was shambolic to say the least. There is NO REASON why such an important position wouldn't be filled with a quality player - the obvious availability of money to pursue more than bargain basement players further makes his behaviour untenable.

debosky:

I never chop today but I must still reply this - we made 13m alright. . . got Chamakh on a free so he doesn't count. Kokomaster cost 4m (plus add ons for appearances and France games) Squillaci cost 3.3m. Now that's ONLY 7.3m spent, not counting Dudu was sold for (7m).

Hmm, some of this info is dodgy, the total amount for Kokomaster rises to over 8m according to reports and no one has told us exactly how the Dudu deal is structured, what the final amount is and what was paid upfront. Chamakh was signed on a free but that doesn't mean only his wages is paid, he will definitely get a sign on fee which is usually in the 1m to 3m range apart from his contract.

duduspace:

Hmm, some of this info is dodgy, the total amount for Kokomaster rises to over 8m according to reports and no one has told us exactly how the Dudu deal is structured, what the final amount is and what was paid upfront. Chamakh was signed on a free but that doesn't mean only his wages is paid, he will definitely get a sign on fee which is usually in the 1m to 3m range apart from his contract.

It isn't dodgy - the current outlay for Koko is about 4m, all the rest are add ons, simply because he was bought without the 'exposure' of other players. Even if we don't know how Dudu's deal was structured, we still know that we had 13m in the bag to spend.

Even with the 7.3m spend, let's even assume Chamakh got 3m (very unlikely when Wenger was reluctant to pay 3m to SIGN another player) then it adds up to 10.3m. Even if we got only 4m for Eduardo upfront, we still haven't spent anything close to what we can, considering we have genuine needs crying out to be filled.

debosky:

It isn't dodgy - the current outlay for Koko is about 4m, all the rest are add ons, simply because he was bought without the 'exposure' of other players. Even if we don't know how Dudu's deal was structured, we still know that we had 13m in the bag to spend.

Even with the 7.3m spend, let's even assume Chamakh got 3m (very unlikely when Wenger was reluctant to pay 3m to SIGN another player) then it adds up to 10.3m. Even if we got only 4m for Eduardo upfront, we still haven't spent anything close to what we can, considering we have genuine needs crying out to be filled.

My point about the amount payed for Koko was because you only mentioned the upfront fee for Koko's transfer while noting the full value of Dudu's tranfer, it looked like an unfair assesment.

And Chamakh could definitely be payed even more than 3m as a sign on fee, remember we offered 8m to Bordeaux? when he became a free agent, he could still have signed for anyone he wished and it was up to us to make it worth his while even though we were his preferred destination.

The question is, will that remaining 3m get you the GK you really need? if I recall correctly, Fulham were indicating 2m was not enough for them to release Schwarzer, how much better than Almunia has Schwarzer been this season so far? in fact how much better than Almunia has any GK in the PL been so far this season? how much did we pay to get Galindo? if I recall correctly, we payed 3.5m to get 65% of Wellington, how much will it cost to get Miyaichi?

You are only looking at the now, but the manager also has to think about tomorrow.

Oh dear here we go again. Different names, different figures, same argument.

Meanwhile Debo collect your prize of one shiko!!

Jus pointing out something tho, seems dere is a reduction in profit in player trading. I'd rather be interested in the reason for that, than in whether we suppose buy keeper or not.

duduspace:

And Chamakh could definitely be payed even more than 3m as a sign on fee, remember we offered 8m to Bordeaux? when he became a free agent, he could still have signed for anyone he wished and it was up to us to make it worth his while even though we were his preferred destination.

Ridiculous - the day Wenger pays a player even 3m as a sign on bonus then you'll know the world has come to an end.

The question is, will that remaining 3m get you the GK you really need? if I recall correctly, Fulham were indicating 2m was not enough for them to release Schwarzer, how much better than Almunia has Schwarzer been this season so far? in fact how much better than Almunia has any GK in the PL been so far this season? how much did we pay to get Galindo? if I recall correctly, we payed 3.5m to get 65% of Wellington, how much will it cost to get Miyaichi?

You are only looking at the now, but the manager also has to think about tomorrow.

Rubbish - if the manager was looking at 'tomorrow', he'll know keeping with Fabianski and Almunia will cost us far more long term than replacing them with a quality keeper NOW (who can play for 'tomorrow - 3-4 years) and keeping Sczezny in reserve as 2nd or 3rd choice.

Besides, it is amusing that you're basing your calculations only on player trading profits - don't we have other sources of income? Or a club supposedly in the top 8 of Europe cannot afford to shell out decent money to buy a goalkeeper? As essential as the position is?

Don't give these watery excuses - Wenger has absolutely NO EXCUSE for failing to secure a GK. He failed abysmally to resolve that situation, knowing fully well (since the January window) that he wanted to sign one. Anything else is a feeble excuse.

slimshay:

Oh dear here we go again. Different names, different figures, same argument.

Meanwhile Debo collect your prize of one shiko!!

Jus pointing out something tho, seems dere is a reduction in profit in player trading. I'd rather be interested in the reason for that, than in whether we suppose buy keeper or not.

Thank you sir.

Player trading profits increased over what was banked in 2009 from 3m to 14m, mostly due to the Kolo and Ade deals. As most of the fees aren't paid upfront, you'll likely see some of that come through for the next year as well.

debosky:

Besides, it is amusing that you're basing your calculations only on player trading profits - don't we have other sources of income? Or a club supposedly in the top 8 of Europe cannot afford to shell out decent money to buy a goalkeeper? As essential as the position is?
Don't give these watery excuses - Wenger has absolutely NO EXCUSE for failing to secure a GK. He failed abysmally to resolve that situation, knowing fully well (since the January window) that he wanted to sign one. Anything else is a feeble excuse.

You may have a point but it is reasoning like this that have landed the likes of Liverpool where they are, at the end of the day, you are really only as strong as your balance sheet or your backer's balance sheet until UEFA's laws kick in.
The point is, the whole culture of sustainability resonates through the club from the Chairman to CEO to Arsene himself, just go through all the account information and statements and it is very clear what the club's direction is, to not accept (grudgingly or otherwise) would be the true delusion We have a GK, in fact we have 4 , yes some can argue we could do better but at the end of the day they can't claim to be more in the know than those who run the club on a daily basis.

debosky:

Ridiculous - the day Wenger pays a player even 3m as a sign on bonus then you'll know the world has come to an end.

Don't be too sure about that, did you hear about the 2m that was reportedly paid to Cesc as a loyalty bonus? players have powers, don't ever forget that. He was a free agent and could negotiate his own terms, and Arsene could structure it that way so that he doesn't break his wage structure by paying some of the amount upfront. It was reported that Joe Cole got 1.7m as sign on fee at Liverpool.

duduspace:

You may have a point but it is reasoning like this that have landed the likes of Liverpool where they are, at the end of the day, you are really only as strong as your balance sheet or your backer's balance sheet until UEFA's laws kick in.

Ridiculous - thinking that you should have quality players you can afford to bring you success??  How much did Reina cost Liverpool? How much did Cech cost Chelski? How much did Van Der Sar cost Utd? How much did Given cost Citeh?? Will spending money to secure a GK who will perform at the highest level for 3-4 years bankrupt the club? 

We added 28m to cash reserves this year. . . .now tell me spending half that amount on a VITAL position such as the GK would bankrupt the club?? 

Wenger simply cocked up BIG TIME with regards to getting a quality keeper - there can be no other explanation. All this talk now about his GK's being 'quality' is because he cannot afford to say anything different.

Liverpool were ruined by Rafa's ridiculous transfer market dealings - he was buying like crazy and mostly poor quality players. This is COMPLETELY different to asking that you REPLACE quality (Lehmann) with more quality. This is less to do about money (as the numerous examples above show), but the ridiculous way Wenger pursued the transfer of a GK.

The point is, the whole culture of sustainability resonates through the club from the Chairman to CEO to Arsene himself, just go through all the account information and statements and it is very clear what the club's direction is, to not accept (grudgingly or otherwise) would be the true delusion We have a GK, in fact we have 4 , yes some can argue we could do better but at the end of the day they can't claim to be more in the know than those who run the club on a daily basis.

Stop trying to be clever by half - Wenger's desperate attempts to sign Schwarzer at the end of the window points to the fact that HE KNOWS his current crop isn't good enough. There can be no more damning indictment than that.

Our goalkeepers are a disgrace for a club our size - in the top 6 (arguably top 8 even) in England, our goalies are the WORST.

Don't be too sure about that, did you hear about the 2m that was reportedly paid to Cesc as a loyalty bonus? players have powers, don't ever forget that. He was a free agent and could negotiate his own terms, and Arsene could structure it that way so that he doesn't break his wage structure by paying some of the amount upfront. It was reported that Joe Cole got 1.7m as sign on fee at Liverpool.

Paying Cesc, the only player at the club to eever sign an 8 year contract, the cornerstone of Wenger's entire footballing philosophy, is not the same thing as Chamakh. What we are talking about is earning more than 3m and I am dead certain that did not happen.

Sorry to interject Debo, there were absolutely no indications that wenger was desperate to sign Schwazer. He wanted to sign him, he wasn't desperate at all. That heightened sense of desperation we all felt, was because fans were pretty sure they wanted a new keeper. Just pointing out. No ves I jus dey do referee. Damn guys I dont want this keeper debate.

slimshay:

Sorry to interject Debo, there were absolutely no indications that wenger was desperate to sign Schwazer. He wanted to sign him, he wasn't desperate at all. That heightened sense of desperation we all felt, was because fans were pretty sure they wanted a new keeper. Just pointing out. No ves I jus dey do referee. Damn guys I dont want this keeper debate.

Are you kidding? How many players has Wenger chased so OPENLY in the previous years? Bidding all the way since May and continuing to bid till the last week of the window? Most times if a bid gets exposed like that, Wenger either completes the deal or pulls out because he hates publicity regarding transfers.

Wenger was so desperate for this signing he REFUSED to name a #1 before the season started. . . .I challenge you to go back 10 years and find one season where Wenger ever did such a thing.

Only when he saw that it had backfired did he start to track back and endorse Almunia.

It got so bad people started wondering why Arsenal were so nakedly pursuing another player, to the detriment of the current squad members. It was virtually unheard of for Arsene to try such a thing.

Wenger was desperate to sign a GK - so much so there are a number of reports that he offered Almunia as part exchange to try and get Lloris at the last minute, realising Schwarzer's transfer had fallen through. This same desperation for a last minute deal was tried in January if you remember. There is no further evidence of desperation needed.

please where in lagos can i get arsenal tshirt(not jersey)? i saw some online and i love them to buy them. please i need help from you guys

@ duduspace

You get too much brain. You are one of the few Arsenal fans that I know who understands the morden game properly.

What has Reina won Liverpool, What has Given won City?

debosky:

Ridiculous - thinking that you should have quality players you can afford to bring you success??   How much did Reina cost Liverpool? How much did Cech cost Chelski? How much did Van Der Sar cost Utd? How much did Given cost Citeh?? Will spending money to secure a GK who will perform at the highest level for 3-4 years bankrupt the club?  

It is all fine and dandy to ask me how much Cech cost, when you look at Cech in isolation but can you compare the defensive shield Chelsea's back 4 give to him to what ours have given Almunia? not saying Cech isn't a better keeper but you have to look at the squad as a whole, it is not only Cech who guarantees Chelsea's trophys or else he would have won something for the Czech republic as well by now.
Oversimplification of issues is your error in this instance.

debosky:

We added 28m to cash reserves this year. . . .now tell me spending half that amount on a VITAL position such as the GK would bankrupt the club??  

I don't run the club but I can't imagine I can make a better decision as to what cash reserves the club needs for cash flow purposes than those who run the club on a daily basis. There is a reason why Barca had to go take a loan (with interest) to pay players at a stage. Or you are trying to tell me that the cash reserves was Arsene's decision alone?

debosky:

Wenger simply cocked up BIG TIME with regards to getting a quality keeper - there can be no other explanation. All this talk now about his GK's being 'quality' is because he cannot afford to say anything different.

Well, its a difference in terminology then, what you call a cock up, I call prudence, an insistence to not pay over the clubs valuation of a player and that is keeping in spirit with the club's insistence on running the club sustainably.

debosky:

Liverpool were ruined by Rafa's ridiculous transfer market dealings - he was buying like crazy and mostly poor quality players. This is COMPLETELY different to asking that you REPLACE quality (Lehmann) with more quality. This is less to do about money (as the numerous examples above show), but the ridiculous way Wenger pursued the transfer of a GK.

The same transfer dealings you are advocating, like buy a GK at whatever cost, yes Rafa bought some low quality players just like every other manager, but it is wrong to say he bought mostly poor quality players, if you ask me I would rather say he bought good quality players at too high a price and didn't look to bring up youth because they never had as good a squad as Arsenal from the onset and never planned for the future.

debosky:

Stop trying to be clever by half - Wenger's desperate attempts to sign Schwarzer at the end of the window points to the fact that HE KNOWS his current crop isn't good enough. There can be no more damning indictment than that.

Depends on how you look at it, wanting to improve your team in certain areas does not mean what you have isn't good, there is no perfection in football. The Equation (Arsene wants Schwarzer = Almunia isn't good enough) doesn't paint the whole picture.

If Arsene was really desperate, he would sign Schwarzer, the fact he didn't sign him shows he wasn't really desperate, isn't that a clear confirmation in itself?  

debosky:

Our goalkeepers are a disgrace for a club our size - in the top 6 (arguably top 8 even) in England, our goalies are the WORST.

This is a personal opinion, I know of many who would argue this point with you.

debosky:

Paying Cesc, the only player at the club to eever sign an 8 year contract, the cornerstone of Wenger's entire footballing philosophy, is not the same thing as Chamakh. What we are talking about is earning more than 3m and I am dead certain that did not happen.

Why not? exactly why not? This is a player who had to forego a contract offer from Bordeaux and was supposedly chased by Liverpool as well. I don't know the details of the negotiations but this player was negotiating from a very strong position.

Truth is that Almunia is a very poor goalie who cant nail a first team shirt till 30yrs

At least 10 EPL goalies are better than that wastepipe