The impressive Swiss Ramble blog takes an in depth look at Arsenal’s finances in the light of their reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market.
The impressive Swiss Ramble blog takes an in depth look at Arsenal’s finances in the light of their reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market.
As always, I learnt things from the analysis. The conventional wisdom is that Arsenal’s debt on the Emirates no longer matters, but they still have to pay £19m a year in principal and interest. Moreover, at £253m Arsenal’s gross debt is the second largest in the Premier League after Manchester United which experienced a highly leveraged buyout.
Some of the underlying figures don’t look too good and in part represent a failure to match United’s success in acquiring secondary sponsorships. There has been a steady decline in operating profits. Since 2009 wages have increased by 38 per cent but revenues by just 5 per cent.