Tag Archives: Manchester City

Finishing 2nd to Manchester City would be no disgrace

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Last night Manchester City went top of the league with a 5-1 away win against Spurs. It would now be no surprise to anyone if they remain top of the league for the rest of the season.

Whilst this might risk of coming across a bit negative, a bit defeatist, in all honesty, it would be no shame to finish 2nd to this Manchester City squad. A side which has got 34 points out of the last 36. A side which is in contention for the quadruple. A side which Spurs manager has recently – and rightly – labelled as the best in the world.

Arsenal currently sit 2nd in the Premier League table, 2 points behind Manchester City. Some in the media (MOTD pundits) have already started the claims that the cracks are beginning to appear – we are unbeaten this year remember – and that we are a club in a crisis after a single draw. The truth is the fact we have up to this point competed with Manchester City is an achievement, and were we to finish 2nd to them, it would be no disaster.

In a game where money has always been king – in the 1930s we were known as the Bank of England club due to our finances and famously boasted we could out bid any club for any player by £2,000 – Manchester City currently sit on the throne.

Yesterday, Manchester City announced their latest financial results. A £56.1m loss for 2012/13. Their loss has halved for the second consecutive season, partly to do with their way above market rate naming rates for the Eithad Stadium. As a comparator, Manchester City get £40m a year just from stadium rights, whilst Arsenal get £20m a year for both stadium and shirt sponsorship.

Anyway, what was most interesting in the announcement was Manchester City’s wage bill. In 2012/13 they paid £233,000,000 in wages. And this is where money becomes king. Everyone agrees that Manchester City have the best squad in England. They have four strikers in Aguero, Negredo, Dzeko and Jovetic that would all be either 1st or 2nd choice strikers at every other club (bar Manchester United). For £233,000,000 you can buy a lot of quality who will happily sit on the bench.

Arsenal’s wage bill for the same period was £154,500,000. A difference of £78,500,000 a year. Now taking into account that in the period, Arsenal made a £6,700,000 profit, you can start to see how Manchester City’s financial muscle makes the difference. Were Arsenal to increase squad quality and quantity to a similar size as Manchester City, the wage bill would have to be increased to a similar level. Arsenal would need to find an additional £80m, in a  business which made just £6.7m. Obviously Arsenal have signed some new deals recently which should generate a further £30-odd million, however this would barely make a dent.

Going back to Manchester City’s wage’s, their wage bill at £233m is just £9,800,000 less than Arsenal total turnover for the period (£242.8m). Hopefully you are starting to see the uphill struggle we face. Clearly the only way to compete would to have someone bank rolling us – but would you risk having a Vincent Tan or Assem Allam?

Back to that difference between the wage bills. It works out at £1.5m a week. For that, a club could buy 6 players on £250,000 a week, or 3 players for £250,000 and another 5 for £150,000. You are starting to get a very expensively arranged 1st team. To think ,that would be 8 new players. Once you add the £150m that Arsenal currently spend, you should be able to build a squad which is running away with the league. Give me £1.5bn over the last 5 years to spend on transfer fee’s and wages and I will win the league.

According to reports, Manchester City currently have 11 players earning over £100,000 a week, and 2 over £200,000 a week. Arsenal have just 3 over £100,000 a week (Walcott, Podolski & Ozil). That is a huge gap to over come. And I have not even begun to discuss the transfer fees associated with closing that gap.

The gap is, however, closing, and without the need to be bank rolled. The new Puma deal will add to our finances. As will the other commercial deals we have recently signed. The extra TV money could become a neutraliser, as the extra cash for Arsenal will benefit us more than it will Manchester City. Extra money for City makes little difference, as they can still only have a 25 man squad and it will be very hard to improve what they currently have, whereas the extra money for Arsenal will see us close that wage gap and buy better players at the top end, whilst the lesser players at the bottom are cut adrift.

You can see already the gap closing. Arsenal attracted Mesut Ozil in the summer, and are due to unveil Julian Draxler at some point in 2014. As long as the club keep working on increasing commercial revenue – in the 2012/13 period, we earnt £70m less than Manchester United from commercial deals – we can continue closing the gap.

We are maybe a little bit too far behind them this year to be disappointed with finishing 2nd, but the gap is closing.

Edit: Manchester City fans, this is not a dig at the money you spend, as far as I am concerned, how a billionaire spends his money is up to him. This blog is about Arsenal and how far behind we are in terms of financial muscle.

Keenos

Are big clubs using MLS to get around FFP?

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Originally posted on YOUAREMYARSENAL.

It may seem odd to report on Financial Fair Play on an Arsenal blog without a focus or direct link to the club. But news this past weekend caused me and others to take notice and well, on first blush it presents the possibility of a worrying trend to circumvent FFP.

Reports have come out this past weekend saying that Bayern Munich are looking to support an MLS side at some time in the near future. This follows the news that Manchester City have formed New York City Football Club, who will enter the MLS in 2015.

A lot of people, especially in the states, will be delighted with these two potential link ups, as it supposedly highlights the growing popularity of the MLS and the possibility that more link up’s with some of Europe’s elite clubs will occur. These link-ups will see the European sides hopefully help the MLS sides financially, assist in improving the coaching and development of youth players, and lead to potential loan deals of youngsters from Europe to America. All of this having the knock on effect of increasing the level of quality on show. Perhaps most importantly, it will also see an increase of European sides playing in America against their ‘partner club.’

Whilst on paper, this looks all well and good – Manchester City for example have invested $100m into the league to ‘buy’ into their MLS franchise – I see it as a worrying danger to the future of European football, as clubs can potentially use the MLS clubs to circumnavigate the Financial Fair Play rules.

They way I see it working is as follows: Manchester City (for example) want to buy a player, lets call him Lionel Messi. Now Manchester City’s owners have the money to buy Messi, however, a £100 million transfer fee will put them in breach of UEFA’s regulation’s. So rather than buy him themselves, they buy him through their MLS franchise, who then immediately loan him to the European side for the length of his contract.

Manchester City then get a player of real quality, but at no cost, allowing them to balance the books when it comes to FFP.

I’ve provided an extreme example. Yes, MLS has stringent player contract and payment models but you get the point. A player of quality could be had and loaned to the bigger club without it violating any rules. Conversely, in England were the size of squads are being restricted, the MLS seems a great place for a club with unlimited fund to buy loads of talented young players and offload them without the club taking any hit.

The broader problem is that this has potential to expand to leagues outside the MLS, it can happen with any league throughout the world, outside of Europe. Whether it is a link up with an American side, an Asian side, an Australian side or a South American side. They would all act as the middle man, absorbing the cost of the transfer into their accounts – which is then written off by their owners – and allowing the European side to stay with UEFA FFP rules.

It’s not all too dissimilar to what already happens throughout the business world. For example, Starbucks use second tier companies based in tax havens to ‘buy beans’ to ensure their UK business does not make a profit, therefore avoiding UK Corporation tax. This method could work in a very similar method, with football clubs using sides outside of Europe to write off expensive transfer’s.

The MLS has very strict financial rules with regards to wages, however, these will also be circumnavigated as the European club will take the wage. I am also sure the MLS will turn a blind eye to being accomplices to this loophole if it ensures the League see’s a bit of the oil money currently in Europe. $100 million a franchise buys a lot of friends.

How these link up’s between European and MLS sides actually works will still be a case of ‘wait and see’ but the speculation of the scenario above, that European clubs will use them as an FFP avoidance scheme has real potential and should be a worrying sign. But we know it won’t – so long as everyone gets their palm greased.

This article was originally written and published by Keenos for our American friends YOUAREMYARSENAL.

Keenos

 

 

Jack Wilshere – Stop being a Chav and grow up

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So Jack Wilshere is facing a one match ban after giving Manchester City fans the bird during Arsenal’s 6-3 defeat on Saturday. My only thought on this was “Jack, you silly little boy.”

Just over 2 months ago, I wrote how Wilshere needed to learn from Ramsey, after he was pictured outside a night club with a cigarette flirting with a pretty blonde. It seems that what ever words the club had with him after that picture went straight in one ear and out the other, as the little chav arose from within once more.

His loss of self control, his needless act, will rob the club of his services for one game. Likely to be the home game against Chelsea next week. There is precedence for the 1 game ban after Luis Suarez was banned for 1 game after making a similar gesture against Fulham.

I was at the Manchester City v Arsenal, and in all honesty, I did not hear much abuse towards Jack Wilshere. The majority of City fans abuse was aimed at Theo Walcott, with songs questioning who the father of his unborn child is. Theo Walcott responded to his abuse with 2 goals and a decent all round display.

Jack Wilshere, meanwhile, responded by sticking his middle finger up at the City fans, before running around trying hard, but ultimately not doing much. He lost control of himself.

The worry is, Jack Wilshere’s immaturity, his petulance, is something which does not seem to be going away. He seems to be a very cocky young man who clearly thinks his shit does not stink. Were he not a footballer, you could imagine him getting in fights every Saturday night in his local, and getting smashed up by bigger lads due to him being too cocky. He certainly suffers from a bit of little man syndrome.

He is already a long way down the list for next Arsenal captain and it is him who misses out in arsenal’s strongest 11. He needs to grow up and starting acting more like Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott, rather than reverting to type and acting like a spoilt chav. He needs to realise the talent he has, and where he can go. If he does not buck up soon, he will soon find himself with the likes of Frimpong, Bentley, Pennant and Bothroyd, all of whom had a bigger opinion of themselves than the talent they had in their feet.

Jack, grow up you chav.

Keenos