Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is now claiming that if Arsenal were to miss the Champions League next season, the financial impact would be “not dramatic.” I don’t want to exaggerate the extent of the problems Arsenal are facing—the financial results they released yesterday were really strong, and it’s not as though the Highbury Square setbacks are going to sink the club. But how is missing out on £30 million in potential revenue “not dramatic” to a club whose first-half profits were £24.5 million? I understand that it’s their policy not to budget that money in advance, but…really?
Speaking of the Highbury Square developments, Matt Scott at the Guardian is reporting that a single investor in Singapore is holding up the club’s plans by failing to pay for the more than 100 apartments he’s committed to purchasing. There’s a lot of interesting material in the report, as well as this unexplained sentence: “The board has been keen to stress that…they could, in theory, walk away from the construction project, leaving the headache to the banks.” Again…really? And can I have a loan like that?
Read More: Arsenal
by Brian Phillips · February 27, 2009
I don’t know where everybody here lives, but I live in the USA, and have been following Ivan Gazidis’s career in MLS for the last 12 years. (Until he moved to Arsenal.) He’s a serial liar. I feel sorry for you Gooners …
is he really? I know very little about him, but I know Arsenal and they have to be one of the more ‘trustworthy’ of clubs, only releasing info when they are certain. I’d genuinely be interested in knowing more if you’d like to get in touch
Google for “site:prestonm.com/brewcity gazidis” without the quotes …
I suppose the club has no trouble thinking it can sell Adebayor and a couple of kids and make up the difference. We’ll see.
That’s at least arguably dramatic, though, right? I guess it depends what you think of Adebayor.
I heard Arsenal’s solution is to sign even younger players – for example, I went to pick up my two year old son at Colegio Pinocchio the other day, and a Gunners representative offered us a 20 year contract, an Arsenal pacifier, and a two year supply of Huggies.
We of course turned it down – if he’s not going to immediately train with the first team, then its pointless at this stage.