₦airaland Forum

duduspace:
@Ritchie

I seriously doubt Arsene made those comments. Haba, if you hear a quote attributed to Le Prof you sef should know naa.
The Arsene I know would never mention a figure or even mention the word profit. That is either another attempt at mischief or someone attempting to fill in the blanks.

@Proudly
Where the money went to even me sef don't know but I'm trying to fill in the blanks. I've compiled some figures for you and they should give some pointers to answer that question about where the money went.  

Year       Wage Bill         Gross Debt            Cash at Hand and in Bank               Net debt
                                                   (at year end)
2006       82,965,000        297,742,000           35,598,000                             262,144,000
2007       89,703,000        342,054,000           73,877,000                             268,202,000
2008      101,302,000        411,337,000           93,264,000                             318,000,000          
2009      103,978,000        397,297,000           99,617,000                             297,000,000
2010      110,733,000        263,246,000          127,607,000                            135,000,000
2011      124,401,000        260,500,000          160,229,000                         ~100,000,000

Points to ponder.

1. Why did our Gross debt go up rather than come down between 2006 to 2008, after the move to the emirates despite the sudden realisation of massively higher revenue streams?

2. Where did the money to pay that down come from when there is no Abramovic to write a cheque? (partial answer is that about 130m of it ultimately came from the sales of the Higbury flats, but where did the money to stave off the accrual of interest come from and could a cycle of debt have developed at that point in time if financial obligations weren't met? or worse still put yourself in the mind of the board at that period of uncertainty in the UK housing market what would have happened to Arsenal (and their investments) if the Highbury project didn't ultimately break even by about 2010. Was there a possibility of a Liverpool/Gillete and Hicks occuring at that time? I can't be sure, but I'll say it was a distinct possibility.

3. While keeping your eye on the ever increasing wage bill (and we are not alone in this mind you, just take a look at manure, Chelsea and City's, I also project Tottenham's will breach 100m this season) ponder awhile on this question, why do we need to keep more cash at hand in 2011 compared to 2006?  

4. More important than question 3, assuming the wage bill continues to increase at the same rate its done between 2006 and now? what will it be by 2017 and what will Arsenal's revenue be (in comparison) by that time and would you consider that to be sustainable? If you were the owner or the manager, what would you do as a proactive person?

Those questions are a bit of a rant, but I believe you get my drift and they are the reason why Arsene has persisted with 'some' inferior quality players, and remember that for every Almunia and Denilson, there is a Cesc or RVP who was bought cheap and developed to elite World class level.

Now, back to where the money went, this concluding part comes with a caveat emptor and you can imagine every disclaimer possible, all I'll ask of you is to tell me if it sounds reasonable.  

I've followed the story till last year's transfer window and the general consensus from those in the know was that Arsenal went into uncharted territory with the attempt to redevelop Highbury on their own. They had offers to sell off the land in the 80 to 100m range but were convinced by Keith Edelmann (who has since been shown the exit door) to redevelop it on their own. The general idea was that the emirates would have to pay off off for itself while the expected Bumper returns from redeveloping Highbury would go into the playing squad (and a vibrant property business alongside it) but so far after all their toil on the emirates, the total profit expected from it (now that they've paid off the debt) is going to be less than 40 (when they could have walked away with about 80m in 2006).

My take on this is that in the period from 2006 till about last season when they finally got the weight of Highbury redevelopment off the books, money from player sales was being kept in the bank to maintain capital adequacy ratios so they wouldn't fall behind in repayments for the loans taken for Highbury's redevelopment, now that the loan is fully repaid they are basically just holding off to see the effect of FFP on wages and the transfer market if the upward pressure will continue.

The figure for cash at hand is the reason why most commentators are up in arms about money being available for transfers, and they do have a point particularly when Arsenal's debt profile at this point is pretty comfortable compared to the recent past and direct competitors as shown below:


The Group’s financial liabilities/debt is repayable as follows:
                                                              2011                                      2010
                                                             £000’s                                   £000’s


Between one and two years                  6,545                                    6,209
Between two and five years                 21,842                                  20,719
After five years                                    225,904                                233,234
                                                           254,291                                260,162
Within one year                                       6,209                                    5,890

Total debt                                            260,500                                 266,052


Proudly most importantly, never ever forget that Stan Kroenke is a business man. He will watch out for his own pocket first and I hold no brief for him.
But I hold brief for Arsene Wenger and will stand up anywhere that he is a Effing genius who is at the least making an impossible ask work and at the most might well be enroute to making it an astounding success.

I actually do agree with some of the hogwash that u seemed to put up in the last few pages, but with this last financial BALDERDASH, I am tempted to say u are one hell of a JOBLESS AGBAYA!!!

Get us a freaking trophy! thats what we been telling AW . . .not show us a foolish balance sheet that indicates we are all just pawns in all of these shebang!!!

damn!

^^^

exactly what I am saying . . .

dont you know that Senators and House of Reps only can afford that sum of money?

get real man!!! and stop chasing shadows here . . .

^^^^

are u for real?

see how u just dey mention Billions and Millions here?

dont u know where u should go to?

gerrouttahia!!!

I am foreseeing the La Liga would be won by the end of March, just a couple more slip ups and Barca can Bleep off!!!

sholatech:
I won't be sad if they win the league. We have won it back-to-back. Will only be sad if we lose The Champions League. Maybe Pep should use only Team-B for our remaining Home League Matches while we focus on Champions League and Copa Del-Ray

u need to see ur shrink dude!!!

when did the UCL become ur father's property? SHEGE BANZA! BARAWO!!!

!!!

All Pure water producers are expected to be in unison so that they can jointly prevent exploitation from Government agencies. . . . .

A general meeting of all producers in Lagos will be held at tomorrow by 10am at Railway Recreation Club, Alagomeji, Ebute Metta.

A general price regime is to be adopted tomorrow which would be enforced across the at least 10 zones currently operating in Lagos. The price being touted presently to ensure the selling price of a sachet of water is enforced at N10 is N100/ BAG. One other issue to be discussed is the issue of Distributors and underselling by fellow producers which might sabotage these efforts if care is not taken. These producers that sell below the agreed price are sure to be in for a hard time.

The State ATWAP has already registered with enforcement agencies to the tune of hundreds of thousands of Naira . . .this is to ensure that whoever flouts his rules have their vehicles impounded and their factories closed, to add to that the factories would have to pay a stipulated fine.

Pls try and be there so that all producers in Lagos will be able to move the association forward . . . .

Barca will still win the LA LIGA . . .

Messi will still be the highest goalscorer . . .

Pinto will be named best goalkeeper at the end of the season . . .

Villa would be proclaimed the most prolific striker in La Liga . . . .

Mourinho will be sacked by December 2011

CRONalso cant score against big teams, HE ALWAYS FREEZES!

Real Madrid cant play anything than the ultra-defensive style . . . .



What more rubbish do y'all have to say?

yeye people!!!

^ u wan buy them up?

coogar:
you still don't understand busquets role. . . .

he's not slow - he plays the way defensive midfielders are supposed to play. . . .he appears immobile so he can maintain position - he must always be [b]behind [/b]the ball when barca are under attack.

he makes himself an outlet to receive a pass and passing it back to another player to retain possession. his passes are usually not more than 5-10 yards.
busquets touches the ball the most in the barca team. he's the reason xavi and iniesta have the license to roam and cause commotion. . . .

sergio is the perfect defensive midfielder. in years to come, people would talk about him like they did with makelele. . . .
what he does appear so simple but it's very difficult which is why he's the unsung hero in the barcelona team.
@ 21, he played full-time in all the world cup games for spain and he was never found wanting once throughout. . . .

Shut the Bleep up Gbenga!!!

na so you dey rant about Riquelme the other time as if say na god of football . . .

why u too dey like overhype player so as to say na u first highlight how great the player go come be?

na wa 4 u o

imagine yapping tosh that Biscuits is the unsong hero of Barca . . .who come be the SUNG hero? Adriano? Cuenca?

abegiiiiii

Jesus wept!!!!

Biscuits being compared to Xavi on the backheel of an inconsequential game with Madrid?

FFS, Biscuits can not do what Xavi does . . .they arent even in the same mould . . .

Mcleo007:
My position here is subjective based on my experience of it. Comparing MLM to social networking does little to bolster your claim on the subject matter either.

And I'm for real!

U have said your position is subjective based on your experience of it. . .I wont beat you dead over it.

The reason is simple: I am a big time player in the two fields so when you try disparaging any of MLM or even Petroleum brokerage, someone like myself will cure u of that subjectivity disease

Mcleo007:
MLM sucks!

U posted you had contacts for Crude Oil sales, meanwhile you are quick to dismiss MLM

are u for real?

CO Brokerage is mostly abstract, whilst with MLM you can work your way to the top ONLY if you take it as a business and not an investment.

dayokanu:
All the GAYYners here except hannie[size=4pt]mal[/size]

especially Debo

ma je kin yeye e o . . .

Up Barca


_{Toothless bulldogs}

AjanleKoko:
Ol boy . . . people nominated Ronaldo, but went on to vote Messi?
LOL.

use your brain Oga . .

no one voted during the period . .

it was obvious that some desperadoes wanted Messi to win the poll as it was obvious like France Football's poll, CRON would win the poll . . .

Majority of these footballers do use bleaching/lightening cream . . .

Henry wasnt as light as he was when he first came to England, couple of years later he got as close to looking like Lampard

all of a sudden a certain Sagna who wasnt as handsome as Taiye Taiwo now looks like a Denzel Washington to Mukina . . .

God dey!

put up your number, thats how to do business

duduspace:
Oga Dipo, Gervinho is a player that frustrates but he is a player you always want in your team. He has everything to scare defences and despite all the chances he wastes, his stats are still pretty impressive. He can definitely go up a notch if he takes a bit of over exhuberance out of his game. I believe he will get there cos he was quite prolific in his last season at Lille.

Some people here dey watch ball true true.
Consider it a slip of finger. 

The thing tire me o, and Jona is playing with fire.

We stand on the brink my bro, We now have money and I expect to see some investment in the summer particularly in the forward areas. I think Arsene still wants to try out both Jack and Aaron in the Cesc role to see who stamps his authority on that position coupled with the probable none availability of his target(s) in january. If neither of them grabs it, I fully expect one of Hazard, Shakiri, Eriksen or Gotze to come in the summer(no matter the price) as we are definitely lacking something in the final third. Ramsey takes too many touches for my liking but we must not forget this is in essence his first full season in the top flight.

Our defence has tightened up and if I'm not mistaken, bar that 8-2 mauling, we've had one of the top 3 defences in the league so far as even the likes of Djorou have been relatively dependable squad players this season all things considered. If we solve the problem of the Cesc role, get another prolific striker (say Podolski who seems to want to wind down his contract) and keep RVP, my bullish Arsenal attitude will return. For now, I see nothing that suggests an intention to win the PL and I think we largely gave up on that after our disastrous start.

Podolski ko . . .Popoola ni!!!

una wan bring another dud club player come abi?

we never resolve Chamakh issue, u wan bring player that almost seems to get it right ONLY when playing for Germany?

Then again, u still feel Jack hasnt stamped his authority on that position? abegi talk something else!

I heard Manure won the game . .

Congrats GUYS . . .




Na beans?

na Aluwe in Titanic? abi na Tinubu posing as Denzel Washington?


wait make I laff small . . .

The way some people keep dissing Djorou you would think he is the worst player in Arsenal . . .

This same Djorou was one of the best performers in the last 2 matches, now he gets an undeserved red and everyone wants to have him for dinner  . .are u cannibals?  Ramsey, Chamakh, Arshavin and Squillaci should be allowed to leave as soon as possible . . .

RVP, tired or fatigued, was the worst player on the field, yet no one has stated that fact but if it were Chamakh we would have lampooned him for his failure in close control of even little passes, fluffing chances and general ineptitude for the whole duration of the game . . .but for RVP . . .NA DOUBLE STANDARDS

Walcott was another piss-poor player and what my mind tells me is that the presence of Henry all of a sudden has sent some kinda jiiters straight into the minds of RVP and Walcott, RVP because of the record he was chasing became selfish and wanted to kick from any angle (very unlike him), Walcott simpley feels pressured because the true NO 14 is around . . ._{that jersey should have been rested} 

The ref and his officiating reminds me of why English refs arent really taken too serious . . .rubbish and nonsense cooked together 

Like as been noted by Dudu or so, Gervinho had no business leaving that field for anybody . . .that guy has been the major driving force for that team alongside Song and as we all saw Song wasnt in form today and almost didnt win a single midfield battle, explains what I have been saying all along that as long as Song is not on song . . .na wahala be that for Arsenal . . .

anyways . . .there is always another day to fight fresh battles, THE BATTLE IS ON, DONT GIVE UP YOU GUNNERS!!!

honeric01:
At the end of nomination period, we have these names up for polls, both only 3 names can make the polls and the names must have the highest number of nomination.

The 3 highest nominated names are :

Christiano Ronaldo - 9
Lionel Messi - 5
Andres Iniesta - 3


Time to vote for one of these 3 names. voting is opened until 30Th of December 2011 when the final result is to be unveiled to the public.

Who among these 3 names do you want as your and our Nairaland World Footballer Of The Year for 2011?

Let the voting begin

Cheating!!!

does it mean the people that nominated didnt get to vote?

debosky:
The reason for losing the CC is clear - a defender and a GK in their first ever EPL seasons had not developed understanding and messed themselves up. Heck at that point Chez had barely played 10 games at the top level. Inexperience in defence killed us in that game.

Still the same question - if it has to do with the boys and their limitations, why still expect the same team to win the title?

Senility na ba$tard.

I have understood their limitations and that has influenced my expectation level - if some better additional players are recruited, then we may have a chance. If Chelski who are above us on points at the moment are thinking of buying 3 players, it would be foolish to expect to challenge for the title while standing still.

You are an olodo . . .a unrepentant one

what we are trying to make u understand is this:

considering fatgue sets in today and we were to play UCL Final and the top dogs in defence get injured and we had to play Miquel in defence and we had Mannone in goal . . .what you are trying to say is that WE CAN EXCUSE THEM IF IN THE LAST 10 MINUTES THEY CAPITULATE DUE TO INEXPERIENCE?

I wonder if this happens and it was not an A-list club we played?

I voted for A-40

does it mean that A-40 didnt vote for himself as he is recorded to have only 1 vote . . .

This election is CLEARLY flawed and should be re-run within a 48 hour period afresh

dayokanu:
[size=28pt]MY ACCEPTANCE SPEECH[/size]

ALL of una dey craze. Una dey follow me contezt errection shuo? i bow for una o

Anyway. Even though I was elected democratically, I yam hereby Shanging the prostitution constitution unilaterally.

I hereby ban all electoral activities for the next 12 months. If you are not satisied, You are all welcomed to protest in the streets of Syria.

For those that are frustrated, My govt has contacted Julius Berger to erect several thousand gallows in all the Geo-Political zones You can chook your neck hinside to show your grievances.

Also even though there wont be electrisity supply eksept in the Presidential kuotas, We would ensure that we have functioning transformers on all junctions so disgruntled elements can hug en masse

To my opponents First of all Mr Nateevs: I bow for you o. If dem leave you, You go push plane start. You sef wan dey follow me dey drag. You don see Fatai Rolling Dollars for Mr Universe before? You sef wan win. Leave hinternet if you are not satisfied meet me for Ojuelegba Under bridge I go beat you well rub sand sand for your face join.

To my other hopponeint Mr Konga or wetin dem dey call you.

To those that want to celebrate my victory and declare their loyalty, Youi should present your wife to me for a whole weekend. This is the unltinmate show of respect to the Hemperror.

As I don win so these are my 7 point agenda

BAYERN fans: Since we are the blue blooded elite fans on this forum you are free to make your own rules and change it at any time, You are free to bully any fan especially clubs with less than 4 CL titles

Manure fans: Make una make sure you win that Europa cup and be crowned the King of lesser and inferior teams for Europe. We need a worthy succesor to FC Porto, Atletico madrid etc failure to win that me and una don enter the same trouser

GAYYNERS aka Arsenal fans: Una don enter another round of wahala, Any loss of point na 2 hours of Hard core Apala and TerryG music on una thread. At the end of season, failure to win trophy is a crime punishable by Akpakoing.

Shekpe fans aka Chelsea fans: Una must to sell Fernando Torres or make him begin score anything short of that, Na wahala between me and you. And I no wan see nonsense argument on una threead again

Liverpool Scousers: Its either your thread becomes active or we merge it with equally dead threads like AC Milans we are saving space

AC Milan fans: See above

Barcelona fans: Ok una own don do, No be only una dey Europe, No be only una we come watch, Shuo!!! reach make you remain for others but one task, Ensure Mourinhoe remains without the La Liga and try your best to frustrate him out of Spain, Una fit contact Boko Haram for their services at discounted rate

Real Madrid fans: Just ensure you play well beat every team in La Liga 10-0 but make sure you lose the La Liga title to Barca and CL to Bayern your CL husband. You can manage with Copa dey Rey. That one don do you, No dey do Long throat

Tottenham fans: My only mission for you is to ensure you beat GAYYners and finish ahead of them in the table. Thats a trophy on his own

ALL OTHER FANS: You dont count If you are not satisfied, write a petition and post it here, otherwise you can go to Yobe and do evangelism for Boko Haram

Cheers

u no dey shame?

at ur age u still dey contest for title wey no come with money?

coogar:
yet more words of wisdom from my very own doctor. . . .

there's a difference between form and pedigree.
robin van persie is indeed the most in-form striker in the league followed by demba ba. . . . .and yet no one would even argue they are the best strikers in the division.

phil jones and chris smalling have no rights to be ahead of djourou, koscielny, squillaci, etc but it's either fergie feeds these young lads with so much confidence and motivation or the gods of football reside at old trafford. whatever the case might be, the buck still stops with arsene wenger.

chris smalling was an average defender @ fulham when fergie paid for his services.
the acquisition of phil jones baffled 90% of united fans and many thought he wasn't even better than johnny evans - but these young lads are playing out of their skins to impress. why can't wenger motivate his wards to perform like their pedigree suggests?

very good point . . .

where I get stuck is: HOW DID WENGER GET THOSE BOYS TO THE CARLING CUP FINAL AND YET THEY STILL THROW IT ALL AWAY?

Thats why I feel it has more to do with these boys . . .what more motivation do they want? PLAYING FOR ONE OF THE BEST CLUBS IN EUROPE AND THEY FIGHT IT HARD DYING ON THE FIELD TO WIN A GAME OF 90 MINUTES IN A FINAL PITCHE AGAINST CERTIFIED AVERAGE JOES, DUDS AND MISFITS LIKE OBAFEMI MARTINS?

debosky:
If your dullard brain realises the players have failed/have been failing themselves, then how can you expect them to win the title?

Oponu agbalagba.

u are a real dunderhead, like I said initially . . .

if you had half a brain as peeps here expected you do have, u would have realized that why I am quick to lampoon them is because they HAVE FALLEN SHORT OF WHAT THEY SHOULD TRULY ACHIEVE, GIVEN THEY HAVE COME OF AGE AND WE HAVE BEEN PATIENTLY WAITING FOR DIVIDENDS ON THEM!!!

Ode omode  

debosky:
is Young not MILES better than Arshavin on current form? Is Welbeck not better than Chamakh and Park put together? Is Jones not better than Squillaci and Djourou combined? Is Park not more effective than Rozzi? Is Carrick not delivering far more than Diaby can ever do (if he is ever fit)? Is Smalling not better than Djourou and Squillaci combined?

You keep yarning rubbish there when we know the truth - we have more duds than any title winning side can afford.

The issue is: we need to start distinguishing and differentiating these 2 things > FORM and PEDIGREE . . .

All the players I named were listed based on their pedigree.

Arse you saying that Ashley Young has a larger pedigree on the global stage than Andrei Arshavin?

are you saying that Chamakh wasnt receiving more accolades and talk-time/press attention than Wellbeck?

who knew Jones ahead of Djorou and Squilacci this season?

are you saying that in global footie, playing for France, Diaby and Carrick can actually be said to be on the same level . . .form apart? PEDIGREE MAN! PEDI_FUCKINGREE!!!

Smalling? no be only Smalling na KEKERE!!!

Ode oshi

My simple message is this: THE PLAYERS FAILED/HAVE BEEN FAILING THEMSELVES, AS THEIR FELLOW RIVALS NEITHER HAD BETTER FACILITIES TO WORK WITH NOR DID THEY HAVE BETTER PEDIGREE.

debosky:
Na captains we go chop? When last did Rozzi score a goal? When last did Park bench even get on the pitch? Arshavin has to be the most useless country captain on the face of the earth - he is a minus one player.

Agreed, but when you have duds like Djourou playing in front of him, why won't you keep conceding daft goals? Besides, Vorm on current form is better than Tech9 - does that mean Swansea is winning the title?

Chelski and Citeh have players who have won GOLD - are they not better than us?

Sharrap dia! Even Stoke has players that can break into any team in the world - does that make them league winning material?

And you have the worst 2nd and 3rd choice strikers in the 4 divisions in England. A tree doesn't make a forest my friend.  

A decent squad for the top 4, but not much else!

I dont have time for your nincompoopery . . .

Truth be said . . .we all started the race, we all will finish the race . . .

we have seen ordinary teams win the UCL as did Porto . . .let Wenger do the unusual to win the EPL and lets stop sinking low to the level of talking about top 4 . . .what nonsense!