UNTOLD ARSENAL » 2008 » July » 08
To put Arsenal’s financial situation in the simplest terms consider this.
We get about 22,000 more people at each match at the Emirates than we got at Highbury.
Each person pays around £40 per ticket on average. (If you pay less, do remember the top prices are a lot higher than at Highbury, and five of the 19 league games are at A rates).
Total £880,000
There are 19 league games plus on average about 6 cup games including Europe which makes 25 games. 25 x £880,000 is £22 million per year – the cost of the mortgage.
Now we can do it the other way. If we sold to big players a year and made £22 million profit we could once again pay the mortgage – but the mortgage is only paid once not twice – so one of those £22 million incomes is in fact surplus – part of the profit of the club.
And do remember that we have been doing this for years. Overmars, Anelka, Henry, Vieira… all sold – and all incidentally nothing like the players afterwards that they were before. The only thing you would think after all this time is that Barca and the others would have realised that they never get the deal from Arsenal that they think they are going to get.
In fact the real losers are the people who buy players from Arsenal – every single time.