“Arsenal bottled it” is still the narrative some fans put out about last season, usually using a graphic that shows we led the league for 93% of last season or something.
I have always found that infographic a bit odd.
Let’s take a marathon race. Would a runner that has been two strides ahead of his opponent for 93% of the race, only to be out kicked, be labelled as bottling the race? Unlikely. So why is it in football?
A team could lead win 37 of their first 38 games of the season. The team in second could have won 36 out of 37 with a single draw. Last game of the season, the team leading could be playing away to the team in 2nd. The team in 2nd win the game and win the league. Did the team who won 37 of the first 38 games bottle it with 111 points? They would have led for over 97% of the season and finished 2nd.
Oddly, I never saw a “lead for XX% of campaign” prior to last season. It is almost like someone invented it as something relevant just because it was Arsenal.
Anyway, surely it is better to be in the title race and finish 2nd, than be like Newcastle and not having challenged, for nearly 30-years, or be Spurs and finish 8th, 29 points behind. Both of their sides would have given anything to finish where we did last season.
Moving on, Manchester City’s accounts for last year are out and they make eye-watering reading.
£423 million on wages is an increidble number. To bring that into perspective, the year before, only 5 clubs had a higher turnover than what Manchester City spent on wages in 2022/23.
In 2021/22, we had a turnover over £369m and spent £212m on wages. Whilst I would expect these to increase for 2022/23, they will not be close to Manchester City’s figures.
The equation is simple:
Higher Wages = More Better Players = More Squad Depth = Higher League position
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule for poorly run clubs (Manchester United), or clubs that overachieve (Arsenal last season), but the trend data will show that the more a team spends on wages, the higher up the league table they tend to finish.
£423m on wages, an average of £195k a week per player. Arsenal reportedly only have five players earning more than this. So Manchester City’s averagfe is basically nearly our top end!
Man City got stronger as the season went on. This was due to Pep Guardiola being able to rotate his stars more without seeing a drop off in quality on the pitch. That is due to the strength in depth of his squad.
Now some will answer to this blog “well Kroenke needs to put his hand in his pocket”, but that is the wrong route to take.
You do not catch up or overtake Manchester City through spending as much as them. If we spent £423m on wages, they would just spend £623m. We would both still have the squad, and all what would happen is those players just get paid more.
Manchester City are owned by an oil producing state. You can not outspend them unless you are also owned by an oil producing state. Kroenke is a billioanaire, the owners of City are trillions in wealth available to them!
And a £713m turnover is crazy. That is double Arsenal’s from the previous season. Manchester City are clearly bringing in commercial revenue that is unheard of in sport, from companies that are also unheard of.
Thsat turnover is £100m more than what Arsenal and West Ham (both with 60k seater stadiums) generated in 2021/22.
I have always said that I do not expect Arsenal to win the league, and the big reason for that is due to Manchester City’s extreme wealth. Their latest accounts for last season shows just how well we did to get so close.
We are competing with Ferrari whilst only being able to afford an Audi.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
You recorded the biggest bottle job in history, no other team in your league position had ever not gone on to win the league title.
It had nothing to do with what City did, or didn’t do, you bottled your games against West Ham etc…
Face up to the facts, you came second in a one horse race.
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And Tottingham last won the title in 1960 something, It is certainly better to come 2nd in a one-horse race than to finish 3rd or lower as every other club bar two managed. That makes you Yiddo66 rather stupid
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Comedy – a lonely Spud comes trolling.
I am surprised you care so much yiddo66 – but given the league position your mob were in last time out – I guess I understand the avarice. I am with you– it was a very disappointing end to a great campaign of good football. Nice to be in the mix again after all those years though.
You should feel the same surely- the tiny totts are really rather good this season so far – of course given time you will revert to Spursy-ness but credit where its due.
Being a spud though – you clearly know feck all about football – so let me help you.
There have been numerous teams who have lead the league for most of the season and come up short. Here are a few examples for you
212 days Newcastle (1995-96)
189 Arsenal (2002-03)
187 Manchester United (1997-98)
156 Arsenal (2007-08)
141 Liverpool (2018-19)
248 Arsenal in 2022-23
So yes we did get closer than all the above, but our advantage in real terms (games played) over the billions at City never got past 5 points – and a couple of important injuries later, lack of squad depth came to roost — and it was done. Thats football – not bottling.
You will notice Spurs dont make that list – having not lead the league for any considerable time in probably your lifetime. I mean- you couldn’t even make it 3 weeks this season!
But — lets not have it said we Gooners arent fair. Your mob do have one impressive boast
Most points lost from winning positions in Premier League history
1- Tottenham: 451 points
Thats bottling 🙂
#Spursy
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An article totally without context. Those wage figures include bonuses for progress in all the competitions!
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Even die hard arsenal fans won’t believe any of this codswallop.
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I, along with every other football fan, can think of 115 reasons why City won the league. Its always been laughable that they pretend to have a bigger turnover than the likes of Man Utd and Real Madrid and these latest figures are even funnier. Despite all the dodgy sponsorship deals and despite winning the Treble, they still made an operating loss of 35 million. Its basically just taking the piss now.
The sooner this club is kicked out of the league the better, they`ve not just cheated their rival clubs, they`ve cheated every hardworking fan up and down the country who follows their team. I`d actually kick them out of the football league altogether.
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Very hard to see how City have that income without “ dubious” commercial deals.Who are the Companies that sponsor them that nobody has heard of,according to your article?? Are these related none commercially viable AGAIN!’
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