Daniel Agger

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Arsenal are paying off stadium debt, and debts from other buildings, like nobody's business. I don't think any of their owners have taken a penny from the club in years (other than selling their shares). Financially, they're a very tight unit. However, it's not something, from the point of a stadium build, we're going to be able to copy. The ticket prices and corporate structure works for them in London. It'll not work for us in Liverpool.

 

We'll have to 'exploit' our foreign supporter base and use our global appeal to raise sponsorship revenue. Gate receipts do matter to us, but we'll never get the same per ticket as Arsenal.

[SCOUSE TAPAS]

Well Rodgers has admitted he is working to a set budget this season which is relativly small,hence the reason he has let players go.

[piscinin]

Arsenal's finances. Makes you sick.

 

In one of their financial reports, they mentioned they would spend a year or so to try and work out how to spend all this money they had piling up in the bank. Tellingly they were reviewing projects which provided a capital return and hence post-ffp (if it should come to pass) would leap-frog them way ahead of everyone.

 

[Horus]

Arsenal are paying off stadium debt, and debts from other buildings, like nobody's business. I don't think any of their owners have taken a penny from the club in years (other than selling their shares). Financially, they're a very tight unit. However, it's not something, from the point of a stadium build, we're going to be able to copy. The ticket prices and corporate structure works for them in London. It'll not work for us in Liverpool.

 

We'll have to 'exploit' our foreign supporter base and use our global appeal to raise sponsorship revenue. Gate receipts do matter to us, but we'll never get the same per ticket as Arsenal.

 

I reckon we're no more than about 5 years away from being swallowed up with numbers of foreign fans in potentially good markets. Look how Chelsea have decent numbers of foreign fans now. We'll also have nothing extra to offer in terms of appeal, either. It's not a fact, just the way I see things.

 

2005 is a long time ago now, if we were still challenging we could ride on that success, but it's gone for us (certainly in the short-medium term).

 

Football is exposed and football clubs don't hold mystique anymore.

[MichaelThomas]

I reckon we're no more than about 5 years away from being swallowed up with numbers of foreign fans in potentially good markets. Look how Chelsea have decent numbers of foreign fans now. We'll also have nothing extra to offer in terms of appeal, either. It's not a fact, just the way I see things.

 

2005 is a long time ago now, if we were still challenging we could ride on that success, but it's gone for us (certainly in the short-medium term).

 

Football is exposed and football clubs don't hold mystique anymore.

 

This year's CL win will have helped them too. City will be picking up a lot of new support too.

[xerxes]

I reckon we're no more than about 5 years away from being swallowed up with numbers of foreign fans in potentially good markets. Look how Chelsea have decent numbers of foreign fans now. We'll also have nothing extra to offer in terms of appeal, either. It's not a fact, just the way I see things.

 

2005 is a long time ago now, if we were still challenging we could ride on that success, but it's gone for us (certainly in the short-medium term).

 

Football is exposed and football clubs don't hold mystique anymore.

 

I agree.

 

The equation is simple, if you are appearing on television a lot as a CL or title chaser, kids abroad want to buy your shirts, if you are not, they won't.

 

It is for that reason that i think that the Far East adventure is looking back, and our failure to tackle the stadium issue ignores our future.

[Neil G]

Neil, I just went to reply to your post, bit-by-bit again, but all that really needs to be said is that I don't agree with you on the Agger front and that what's essentially guesses - educated or otherwise - about what's happening with Agger shouldn't be used as a stick until we actually know what's going on. If he's not sold, he's not sold. On the other hand, I do agree about the benefits of short term investment.

 

 

Fair dos, I don't have much to add to what I've already said either.

[Neil G]

I am saying that Arsenal now, and increasingly in the future,can outgun us on revenues and profits.

 

How they choose to use their cash is another matter.

 

 

How they choose to use it is the crux of the matter. You've admitted that neither you nor their shareholders know precisely where the money is going, given that it isn't being invested in the squad. If it is indeed going to pay down the debt for the stadium and other assets, why wouldn't the board make this public to the shareholders and the fans? It's a perfectly reasonable strategy as long as they're in the CL every year.

 

If you, Hank and Piscinin are all certain that it is being used to pay off the debt, why do people who actually own part of the club not share this certainty?

[Neil G]

I reckon we're no more than about 5 years away from being swallowed up with numbers of foreign fans in potentially good markets. Look how Chelsea have decent numbers of foreign fans now. We'll also have nothing extra to offer in terms of appeal, either. It's not a fact, just the way I see things.

 

2005 is a long time ago now, if we were still challenging we could ride on that success, but it's gone for us (certainly in the short-medium term).

 

Football is exposed and football clubs don't hold mystique anymore.

 

 

Agreed, and it's not just foreign fans either.

 

This is another reason why I think FSG's refusal to invest their own money in the squad is self-defeating. They should take a bit of time to reflect on how we got such a big lucrative fanbase in the first place.

[Major Tom]

Agreed, and it's not just foreign fans either.

 

This is another reason why I think FSG's refusal to invest their own money in the squad is self-defeating. They should take a bit of time to reflect on how we got such a big lucrative fanbase in the first place.

 

Your Keynesian solution is an excellent one and I agree with it 100%, Neil.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

They've released several statements about it, Neil. It's not a secret, it's a plan. They also spoke about having large reserves of cash.

[Neil G]

They've released several statements about it, Neil. It's not a secret, it's a plan. They also spoke about having large reserves of cash.

 

 

I really haven't been following it properly, I was just going off the following statement from Xerxes:

 

 

The answer to “where is all the money going” has not been answered to the satisfaction of Arsenal’s shareholders, so I can’t give you an answer on that.

 

 

Xerxes - how does this square with what Hank's posted?

[Neil G]

Your Keynesian solution is an excellent one and I agree with it 100%, Neil.

 

 

That's bang on as an adjective, I hadn't thought of it like that.

[xerxes]

How they choose to use it is the crux of the matter. You've admitted that neither you nor their shareholders know precisely where the money is going, given that it isn't being invested in the squad. If it is indeed going to pay down the debt for the stadium and other assets, why wouldn't the board make this public to the shareholders and the fans? It's a perfectly reasonable strategy as long as they're in the CL every year.

 

If you, Hank and Piscinin are all certain that it is being used to pay off the debt, why do people who actually own part of the club not share this certainty?

 

There is quite a lot which is a statement of record, these two articles track the situation well over the past couple of years:

Arsenal's total salary bill rises 12% to £124.4m, annual accounts show | Football | guardian.co.uk

 

 

Arsenal announce £35.2m profits and slash club debt | Football | guardian.co.uk

 

The strength of the club financially is there in black and white.

 

What is curious is why cash held is so high from time to time. The debt strategy and results are in the open.

[WhiskeyJar]

Daniel Agger won't leave Liverpool for Manchester City, says Brendan Rodgers | Metro.co.uk

 

Daniel Agger won't leave Liverpool for Man City, says Brendan Rodgers

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has said defender Daniel Agger won't leave the club this summer, despite rumours of an impending transfer to Man City.

[Nightcat]

The alleged rejections from Afellay and Tello and the complications in the move of Sahin, should also be a wake up call, for fans, owners and manager. I said a week ago that Rodgers would soon realise that it's very hard to find a player with Agger's quality and above all loyalty.

 

You don't sell your key players especially those who are loyal reds to your direct, domestic rivals. It will be incredibly hard to replace them. We're not the Liverpool of 2006-2007 any more, we are less attractive. We are still a great club, with unique, great history but at the moment we are less attarctive destination for top quality talents and players.

 

So I think we should not even think again about selling a top quality player and a loyal red like Agger.

[vanball]

I reckon we're no more than about 5 years away from being swallowed up with numbers of foreign fans in potentially good markets. Look how Chelsea have decent numbers of foreign fans now. We'll also have nothing extra to offer in terms of appeal, either. It's not a fact, just the way I see things.

 

2005 is a long time ago now, if we were still challenging we could ride on that success, but it's gone for us (certainly in the short-medium term).

 

Football is exposed and football clubs don't hold mystique anymore.

 

I don't know about that - I live in Vancouver, we have a big Sikh/Indo community here and there is a huge love for Livepool Football Club that has been there for a long time. Certainly, the recently success of some other clubs has given rise to success driven fandom for them, but I think that most fans wherever they are have some feeling of the tradition of football and its a family thing.

 

2 of my 3 sons are supporters with me, and the other one I dispare of, but even he shows some respect for Anfield and its traditions.

 

I think this holds true across the world in this club's case. There is huge love.

 

Having said that, I agree that the club has to show progress in getting back to past glories - what else should a good club's objective be??

[vanball]

That's bang on as an adjective, I hadn't thought of it like that.

 

 

I don't disagree with this "priming of the pump" approach - I think that they tried that with Kenny but got their fingers burnt.

 

In the book "Soccernomics" (cringeworthy title) the writers make some generalizations about first year managers' purchases, and state that almost always there is big money spent with poor results.

 

FSG probably understand this now and want to see how BR buys with a limited budget before opening the vault. Certainly, the investors in FSG have the dough. They have said that it will be a multi year process.

[Neil G]

I don't disagree with this "priming of the pump" approach - I think that they tried that with Kenny but got their fingers burnt.

 

In the book "Soccernomics" (cringeworthy title) the writers make some generalizations about first year managers' purchases, and state that almost always there is big money spent with poor results.

 

FSG probably understand this now and want to see how BR buys with a limited budget before opening the vault. Certainly, the investors in FSG have the dough. They have said that it will be a multi year process.

 

 

That may well be the case, and if it were I wouldn't be happy. They've made a big statement in appointing Rodgers to replace a title-winning manager, they should give him a budget commensurate with that.

 

If they're not comfortable handing over a big transfer kitty after what happened last year, they need to make more of an effort to educate themselves on what is and isn't good value in the transfer market, and use that knowledge to oversee Rodgers's transfer business. If I bought a baseball team I'd make damn sure I'd acquired the knowledge to do that after nearly two years. It's not rocket science, it can be picked up if you make the effort to learn. You don't need to have spent a lifetime analysing football to grasp why the fees for Carroll, Downing and Henderson were massively excessive.

[Denny Crane]

Just saw a headline on an Italian site.

 

Lazio sign a champion. Agger on a free in June to Lazio is getting very close.

[Tony Moanero]

Just saw a headline on an Italian site.

 

Lazio sign a champion. Agger on a free in June to Lazio is getting very close.

.

[TheHowieLama]

Was he unable to crack Brondby's starting 11?

[setreal]

.

.

[Russ Atmosphere]

Come home Dan.

[stringvest]

I know Italian football is easy for defenders, but he's not even playing that much in Denmark is he?