Comments on: Everton: no plans, no profit, no future. Compare and contrast with Arsenal

By: Michael the Gooner.

Michael the Gooner. — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:32:02 +0000

I do think it is a sad day for football when a club like Everton are in major trouble.You cannot compare there plight to that of Liverpool.They are one of the few clubs in the premier league that have a English owner,and no major backer.
We must be careful on this subject,what if the Yank buys us,and puts all the debt against the club! ie Man.Unt.

By: diceman1984

diceman1984 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:04:43 +0000

The worst news of the season so far:

We’ll lose RVP for 4-5 months…..it’s confirmed.

When is this curse of bad luck gonna stop???

By: Aaditya

Aaditya — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:40:55 +0000

And we thought Everton was the soundest model after Arsenal. Tsk, tsk.

By: mayank

mayank — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:48:16 +0000

In fact Arsenal plays the best football and is very sound financially as well. Its time that every1 else learns from our model…

By: Pete the First

Pete the First — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:16:08 +0000

Tony apprecaite your position, very sensible to only report solid facts. Otherwise I suspect the site would be pulled by the hosts. That’s why I would always stick an allegedly after the quotes.

It’s a little like the rumours about our major shareholder from Uzbekistan. Well he’s a part of the KGB clique that sits under the wings of the Putin government, the most corrupt regime on the planet, allegedly. Good friend of the owner of our opponents on Sunday. Roman, now I know some great ditties about him!

Keep up the good work.

By: eduardo

eduardo — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:45:11 +0000

pete the first don’t know where you got your info but Edleman was shown the door not for corrupt dealings but for his poor handling of the sponsorship deals, he sold the club very short with Nike and the Emirates, he basically took their first offers, and did not build in add ons, and it was for this he got a golden handshake to leave,
one of the first things Gazidis done was look to see if it was possible for Arsenal to renage on our deals for shirt sponsorship with both Nike and Emirates, it seems that we could but that we would have to pay a panalty to both and this was thought to be bad business so its been decided not to go down that route, but Arsenal have asked both to consider offering to pay more now or face being not even considered for renewal deals in the future as other companies have already shown keenest to take over from them.

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:38:17 +0000

As always Tony an interesting piece with a really good point by Flint. It seems to me the major probel is the money clubs are pouring into wages. Cesc can earn a lot of money, as can RVP Arshavin, Vidic, Rooney etc. Phil Neville however cannot, he is at best an average player and thats being generous. Clubs like Everton (and there are a lot of them) have to learn that they cannot pay wages that try to compete with Arsenal, ManU etc. If this means their best players move on, well thats life and hard luck. Everton supporters have a simple choice losing players or losing the club they support.

By: cRACK

cRACK — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:13:08 +0000

You ppl make me laugh…
hahahahahahahahahaha
It’s a joke how can you be comparing any club in the UK with ARSENAL FC financially and I include CITY in this equation too. It’s an insult…

These stupid directors will run their clubs into chapter 11 one by one hahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahaaha

By: Tony Attwood

Tony Attwood — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:14:27 +0000

Pete the First – I take your point, but I try (not always successfully) to write mostly about the facts as far as they are known and only wander into by-ways of rumour when there seems to be a deliberate plot to hide facts, ownerships, guarantees and the like (Notts County is a typical case).

I don’t think anything in terms of dodgy dealing has ever been more than rumour and talk, so I tend to leave it out when talking about Arsenal. If it were shown to be true that our club behaved in corrupt manners I would be horrified, but would certainly admit it, and bring it into my analysis – such as it is.

With Everton what I have tried to do is comment just on issues that no one contests as being the facts, and contrast with what are known as facts in our case – a stadium built on time to budget.

I believe our position on financing is that an average gate of 50,000 and group stages of the Champs League every 4th year is enough to pay our way. Everything above that is straight to the profit. No one knows what the crowd will be for any club in four or five years time, but Arsenal did do an interesting experiment by playing at Wembley for 2 years to show we could get 70,000 in to a game. I am not sure that Everton can be that certain that they will fill their stadium if they move. But if they move, then we will see.

By: shotta-gunna

shotta-gunna — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:08:06 +0000

Correction: “major spoke in the wheels”

By: shotta-gunna

shotta-gunna — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:06:19 +0000

Tony – Once again as events unfold worldwide your words have a prophetic ring, i.e. “….there is actually no way out short of another rich person buying the club – and since half the EPL and 80% of the second division are up for sale, that seems to be unlikely.”
The current crisis in Dhubai and the shockwaves thoughout the financial world especially in the neighbouring Emirates has effectively put a major wheel in the spokes of both Everton and Liverpool. There goes the prospect of another Arab sugar-daddy to bail-out both clubs.
Pop goes the weasel.

By: Pete the First

Pete the First — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:05:21 +0000

Tony you seem to make a virtue of Arsenal bringing the Grove in on time, and in budget. Truly a great achievement when you compare to Wembley for example.

But…there were a lot of shenanigan behind the scenes. Palms were greased, and contracts were smoothed though. When Chips Keswick (Tally ho) found out about some of this Keith Edelman was booted out rather rapidly. Rumours abound that certain individuals made a lot of personal capital out of the new stadium & Highbury project, allegedly.

PS Will the Emirates be abe to keep paying us? They seem to be up a creek without a paddle in Dubai right now.

By: don't believe the hype

don't believe the hype — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:31:33 +0000

Very good point Flint. We have to be careful not to step up onto any pedestals, because it wouldn’t take much to knock us off.

By: Flint McCullough

Flint McCullough — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:06:08 +0000

Interesting article as ever, Tony.

Everton have been a pillar of English football & perhaps are an example of how much times have changed in the Wenger years.

The need for highly professional management seems to be emphasised here.

I do not follow with the “loathing” of other clubs because most supporters are just like us & have the deepest attachment by “the grace of God”.

Arsenal appear to be in a very good place right now, both on & off the field, but beware of “schadenfreude(??)” because you never know what is around the corner. The Kroenke maneuvering of shares is for a reason that has not been clarified. For all we know it is to see off Uzmanov but it could fail & our club with all it stands for changed for ever.

By: walter

walter — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:36:50 +0000

So it looks like the same system and situation in England as in my country. It is the task of the chosen people in the city council to have the last word in this. As it is my job to advice the city council on those planning permission I can say whatever I want at the end of the day it is their decision that is final.
Could you imagine that if it only would be me (or another colleague) to make a decision and what could happen in my office that nobody ever would now ? Corruption, corruption and yet more corruption would be the result.
So leave it up to the elected people as they can be voted out of office when a new election comes. This doesn’t exclude corruption by the elected people but it makes it a bit more difficult.

Yet another excellent article that tells us how lucky we are with our board and manager who build a fortress on a solid foundation.
If we keep working in our way we can be sure that our childrens children and even their children can support The Arsenal. This can not be said of other clubs….

By: LRV

LRV — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:17:46 +0000

Most of the teams in Britain will do well to approach Arsenal for training on how to effectively run a successful football club. Instead of petty jealousy and envy, they should ask for help, study the Arsenal model and follow it.

The FA should acknowledge Arsenal, in the same way as the England manager, instead of actively planning to undermine the club; an exercise that is doomed to failure. By such open acknowledgement, they will open the way for all clubs to follow the obviously successful model.

By: Dupsffokcuf

Dupsffokcuf — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:59:34 +0000

Another excellent read Tony. Much as I loathe many of these clubs, it is a shame to see their history diminished by the incompetence (in some cases criminal incompetence)of their current boards.