Arsenal Near the Top of the World

Do you like the new site layout? I thought it was quite nice.

The numbers for the top twenty richest teams in the world were released today and Arsenal have moved from ninth spot last year to 5th spot this year, making 177.6 million pounds last year alone. Chelsea are fourth and ManUre are second, but as I showed in this entry here, are revenue is only going to go up due to the new stadium. Arsenal took £177.6m, mainly from corporate revenue which doubled to £91m in their first season at the Emirates Stadium. See how the money is coming in already?

There were many who said that we simply couldn't afford our new stadium, that we would have no transfer funds and be paying it off for thousands of years, but none of that has been the case. The board made wonderful decisions about the paying off of the loan and for moving to the stadium. The money is rolling in, we're attracting new sponsors, and Arsene has had transfer funds available to him should he decide to use them.

Ryan Giggs as usual won't shut his yap. He rambles about how Arsenal will just try to ease towards the title and that United are great at stealing titles at the end of the year by "winning ugly." Well Ryan, we have only lost one game this season and most of the fans couldn't give a piss about the FA Cup this weekend. We'll still be five points clear in the league even if we get smashed on Saturday. Talk all you want about how Arsenal can't hang on but we have been far more consistent than anything United has done th is year.

There is a rumor of sorts going around saying that Lilian Thuram may join the club next season on a player/coach type of deal to learn from Arsene Wenger. I don't even know what to think of that really. I think he could be a good coach but even as a backup player, isn't he about fifty years old now? Should be interesting if it has really been talked about by the club and I will keep you updated.

Cesc, fresh off a new eight year deal signed two years ago, says they are working to renegotiate his deal already. That's bloody crazy if you ask me. You have to re-work a deal two years into an eight year one? Don't get me wrong though I love Cesc so maybe this time we'll sign him to a twelve year deal or something.

And lastly, Gael Clichy spoke about his hopes for playing for France. He got called up to the squad for the last set of friendlies but only got to play for the "B" team. His goal is to work his way up for the European Championships this summer and if Raymond Domenech isn't a complete knob he'll pick him for his squad.

That's all I've got for today. I'll try to get a preview up tomorrow but I have a date with the missus for Valentine's Day tonight so we'll see. I'll leave you with this picture.