And very sad about Enke.

value of player = Price at which player is bought + the wages paid to them

So the profit from selling of players can be comparing the same players they sold with the price at which they were bought and not necessarily the players bought in the same year.

They might not be adding the wages of the player in the value of the player so this can result in even higher profit (which seems the case to me).

PS: I will read the Arsenal annual report again and will try to read the Spurs report too.

The funny thing is, they were complaining about Arsenal being beaten by Hull 100 years ago! That is true – an extraordinary coincidence.

I don’t know how clubs value players, and I always thought that in the books the value of the player was written right down because you never could know what would happen. But maybe not.

Tottenham’s finances are a mystery every year – always a profit – but never quite makes sense. It is like Manchester U I think – they have several different companies doing different things and one can make a profit and another a loss, but we don’t always hear about the whole lot together.

And no one ever comes out and says, right, here is the whole package of what is going on.

I just think the season seems to go in segments, with international breaks, domestic cup matches and midweek European games at the same time each season. When you play a team is very important therefore. Is it right after an international break? Is it after a European match? Is it over the Christmas period (although Christmas fixtures are nowhere near as congested and nightmarish as they used to be) or the Easter period (ditto – the advantages of a 38 game season). Has a team gotten fixture congestion due to Cup success and therefore is expected to play 5 games in 11 days or something ridiculous like that?

What is interesting is that we played Spurs at about the exact same time this season and last season. Last season we were near the top, they were at the bottom (right at the bottom) and we drew 4-4. This year they were flying near the top of the table, above us, and we thrashed them.

The Fulham comparison is an interesting one as well. In neither year did we play particularly well at Fulham. But this year we scraped through with exactly the type of 1-0 win we have all been crying out for in the past 3-4 years.

The team by team comparison breaks down with promotion/relegation (as you point out in your piece) and with teams like Utd. Our 0-0 draw at OT last year was in a completely dead match. Our season was over, and Utd were champions. It is hard to say “we did better/worse than last year” with games like that.

The Spurs’ financial results are interesting.

They show player purchases for the year as £119.3m against sales of £72.5m = (£46.8m) yet the profit on disposal of registrations is £56.5m.

The BBC says:

“The trading profit of £56.5m is derived from the sales of players based on the value the club assigns on its books, not simply what they were bought and sold for.”

Can anyone of you financial wizards explain this? Have they previously undervalued these players?

I did not make it at all clear that I (Tony) added the chart about goals from the Guardian to the end of Walter’s article, and did that without his permission. I don’t normally interfere with other writer’s articles at all, but just thought the chart was so interesting I could not resist putting it in. The blame for the chart being misleading should be directed to me, not to Walter, whose article was, as always, highly accurate.

Tony

We shall see how many goals we have scored by the end of the season. I think we are getting a bit carried away with this 100 goals thing, as well as our current form. It will only be another stick to beat us with.

I believe a much better way is simply to say “after 11 games last season we had…..” and “after 11 games this season we have….” and to look at the quality of opponents and the quality of play.

By that measure, after 11 games last year we had 6 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. Our losses were Fulham(a), Hull(h) and Stoke(a). We hadnt really played anyone of any quality except Spurs at home, against whom we had drawn. We had scored 23 goals (not bad) and conceded 12 (about the same as this year).

Obviously the start we have had this year is far, far better especially considering that we have gotten rid of three of our toughest away games (Utd, City and Everton).

The next 8 games are massive. Last year in games 12-19 we won 3, drew 3 and lost 2. That was the period that effectively knocked us out of the title race. By the time the New Year dawned we were miles off the pace and in 5th place, looking closer to 6th than to 4th or above.

Lets see how these next 8 go, starting with Sunderland away…….

Never nick something from a newspaper – even if you give them accreditation.

Tony

Those numbers are wrong. If they are total goals, Arsenal have scored 55 in 19 and are on average of 2.89. In the league, Arsenal have scored 36 in 11.

I believe that this team can score 100 this season, which will beat the record set by United (97) in the Premier League. In fact, I coined the term “Centurions” back on October 16th.

http://www.7amkickoff.com/2009/arsenal-v-birmingham-match-preview/