OPINION
Just to make a hugely encouraging few days for Tottenham fans even more memorable is a statement from the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust lamenting their club’s financial fall below their north London rivals.
The AST and their pro-active leader Tim Payton have used the example of Spurs closing the gap to highlight the inadequacies of the Gunners’ under-fire board led by absentee owner Stan Kroenke.
Arsenal’s latest financial figures show the club’s revenue was down more than £40million to £388.2million for the year ending May 31, 2018, just £10million above Spurs’ total revenue of £379million.
Payton loves a soundbite to get attention and he has not disappointed in the AST’s analysis of how far Arsenal have fallen.
“The AST follows Arsenal financial position closely and it is clear that at present money is tight,” the spokesman told the Evening Standard.
“The wage bill has grown too big at a time that revenues have fallen due to only qualifying for the Europa League. For this current season (2018-19), we expect Arsenal to make a loss of about £60m. Even more shocking is that our revenue will fall behind Spurs.
“Looking ahead it shows how imperative it is that Arsenal make the Champions League next year and they will also need to be extremely shrewd in the transfer market”.
They certainly will, and, for that, there surely won’t be a Spurs fan out there who won’t rejoicing.
A third consecutive season of Champions League football has tipped the north London balance in favour of the club about to move into a spanking new stadium set to put even Emirates into the shade.
With Arsenal struggling to contain a bloated £240million wage bill led by £350,000-a-week top earner Mesut Ozil, their transfer market moves have been severely restricted.
Spurs have had two consecutive fallow windows, but at least will have a spanking new stadium to welcome and a squad that is far superior to that managed by Unai Emery.