Arsenal are ninth in the Deloitte Football revenue league, up one place on last year earning 192.4m euros from the 05/06 season.
They are expected to push further up the table next year after the move to the Emirates, and the new TV deal from 2007-08 [although this is likely to be less than expected at around £15-20m]. Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham and Manchester United have all fallen in positions.
Eight English clubs feature in the money league’s top 20, including West Ham and Manchester City. Real, Barca and Juve hog the top three spots, the first two due to negotiating their own TV deals.
The Guardian reports that ITV is seeking a buyer for its 9.99% shareholding of Arsenal at £6,000 a share (which values the stake at £37m). The figure represents more than a 20% premium on its current trading value but a £40m loss on what the company paid for the shares. There is no board position that comes with the purchase.
ITV sold its 9.9% of Liverpool shares for £17.4 million, a loss of £4.6m.
Not really a new story as it has been known for a while that ITV are looking to offload, and that the offer at present hasn’t attracted bidders.
The FT reports that Arsenal is attracting suitors from abroad, now that Liverpool have gone that way. Joe MacLean of Grant Thornton says Arsenal presents itself as one of Europe’s leading clubs, as demonstrated by the historic stadium move. The business plan of creating a much-increased revenue stream from ticket sales for reinvesting in more and better quality players still holds, he adds.
“But one doesn’t know how long it will take to pay the debt off,” Mr MacLean says.
The pressure of ensuring a place in the Champions League each year becomes more intense. Failure to quality would be “catastrophic”, says MacLean.
Indeed, all the frenzied talk on the Liverpool takeover is about being able to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea, with Arsenal forgotten.
However board members are on record saying they haven’t had any approaches and re-affirm they won’t sell out. After all, the hard work has been done.
I talk to a Liverpool fan at my gym and he was disappointed that Sheikh Mohammed (Dubai Consortium) didn’t buy into Liverpool, saying he was a class act. Incidentally, Sheikh Mohammed’s uncle is Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of Emirates Airlines, Arsenal’s stadium sponsors. Which is bound to keep press tongues wagging and the speculation rife.
The story from Sunday [The People] was not speculating on a take-over [as reported in some media] as such, but an investment partner, if the quotes are to be believed.
The story said that a source close to the Arsenal board said: “There has been a series of talks about the future of the club and how they need to plan carefully.
“Investment is the key to that. The stadium and the team is in place but there have to be safeguards to ensure the club can compete with Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.”