Arsenal Rake In The Money & Lead Premier League Rich List

Arsenal football is doing rather well. Turnover at the club for financial year ending May 31 2007 was up to £200.8million.

The club rakes in £3.1m per game.

This is great news, not least of all for the club’s fans who pay £94 per ticket for the top seats, and £46 for the cheapest. You see how happy you make your club’s owners. Well done you.

The club made an operating profit of £51.2m.

The players’ wages amount to £89.7million. A lot. Of course. But when you see that Ashley Cole cost Chelsea £14million and Arsenal secured William Gallas on a free in exchange, the numbers stack up.

Continue reading >>

Alisher Usmanov Takes On The Bloggers And Bloggerheads

As Tim Ireland tells me, his Bloggerheads site, and sites operated by Craig Murray, Bob Piper and Boris Johnson have been downed by Alisher Usmanov. Tim suggests the Arsenal fans might like to take the matter up in song.

Who's Usmanov?

As the Guardian writes:

Arsenal's newest shareholder, the Uzbek minerals billionaire Alisher Usmanov, continues to police discussion of his past and of his intentions for the Gunners after paying £75m for David Dein's 14.58% share in the club.

Schillings, the lawyers acting for Usmanov, have been in touch with several independent Arsenal supporters' websites and blogs warning them to remove postings referring to allegations made against him by Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan.

And:

Usmanov was jailed under the old Soviet regime but says that he was a political prisoner who was then freed and granted a full pardon once Mikhail Gorbachev came to power as president. Schillings have warned the websites that repetition of Murray's allegations were regarded as "false, indefensible and grossly defamatory".

Keep up with it all on Anorak

Kerching Says No: Tiger Woods Gets By On Gatorade And Nike

Kerching has decided against sponsoring Tiger Woods this season.

The golfer is sponsored by pretty much everyone else and we like to make our own way. For this reason we will be supporting Effingham Club professional Tim ‘Terrapin’ Toms.

He takes with him our new branded golf tee and best wishes.

Woods muddles on. He is on the verge of signing a five-year deal with Gatorade. The deal is said to be worth $100million.

Woods is now the world’s highest-earning sportsman.

He is thought to earn $6million in appearance fees per tournament. And he is sponsored to the tune of $90million a year, including $20million from Nike.

But he gets nothing from us. Not now…

Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich Has His Credit Card Denied

They say he sleeps upside down with his head in pot of molten gold.

They say his London home is powered by 2,000 eunuchs chewing on white tigers' testicles.

They say Roman Abramovich did enter the Andrew Martin shop in Walton Street, South Kensington and try to buy a lamp.

He offered his polonium credit card. And it was declined. A witness, says the Times, saw all. They say Abramovich was “very polite about it”.

They say rivers started to run backwards and Britain’s richest man did walk on his hands in circles.

Top Five Footballers' Divorces: Barcelona's Thierry Henry's Quickie

Thierry Henry does not hang about.

As the Star reports, it took a hearing that lasted just two seconds for Henry to be divorced from his wife Claire.

Taking into account the time it takes for the judge to move into position and the lawyers to settle on their perches this is indeed fast.

Although the Mirror stops the clock at 72 seconds. Much contention there.

Continue reading >>

Newcastle United’s New Owner Mike Ashley Is Barred

I make no excuse for today's double lift from the Newcastle Journal but spot the rich fat guy in this picture. Here is one of Britain's richest men... and in front of him has to be one of Britain's best endowed women.

That's Newcastle United’s new owner Mike Ashley who was refused entry to a nightclub – because he was wearing one of his team’s replica shirts.

Continue reading >>

Chelsea And England Captain John Terry's 99% Pay Cut - And Gordon Brown Should Earn Less

That, judging from a yougov poll for the Fabians, is what the British public would like to inflict on the Chelsea player, reckoned to be the top division's highest earner, writes The Croydonian.

He currently trousers around £135,000 a week, while the poll suggests that top players should make no more than £62,000 a year. So, he would be in line for something like a 99% pay cut. And it is not just a handful of players making a good living. Last year The Independent calculated that the average income in the top division is £676,000 PA.

Continue reading >>

The Rich: Roman Abramovich Skittles His Children's Bowling Alley

It’s not all beer and skittles for Chelsea owner and all round rich man Roman Abramovich.

Poor Roman has had to get rid of his private bowling alley — his children were too noisy celebrating strikes.

Phew! We thought the sounds coming from the mansion’s basement were made by Roman’s Army preparing for invasion…

Roman Abramovich's Midget Submarine; Chelsea Dive

Arsenal's Red Card & Manchester United's Gold One, Best Savings Acounts, Top Rip-Offs & Work Out Your Mortgage

Football's red and gold cards - Football has come a long way from half-time cups of Bovril and rickety terracing. Now it’s all cappuccinos and club credit cards. Alison Steed, at the Telegraph, takes a look at the financial products provided by the nation’s clubs. Although her description of “The big three – Arsenal, Manchester United and Chlesea” is sure to leave many a Scouser fuming. But, then, this is about money. (Send hate mail writen on old tyres to the usual address.)

Best savings accounts - Over at the Motley Fool, Cliff D’Arcy points us in the direction of the best savings accounts on the market and warns us to always read the small print. Why don’t banks and institutions simply make it bigger so it’s easier to read?

Top 25 Rip-Offs - Do you think we’re living in ‘Rip-Off Britain’? Well, it’s worth taking a look at the Daily Mail’s top 25 list of the biggest every day rip-offs that target you and I, the humble consumer. From payment protection insurance to gym memberships, we’ve all been stung.

Pension fund muscle - Clever-clogs Chris Gilchrist at Msn.money gives you some tips on how to add some muscle to your pension fund, if you have one that is.

Repayment mortgage calculator - While over at the Guardian, money expert Virginia Wallis is on hand to explain just how a mortgage repayment is calculated.

Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand's Crisis

Manchester United’s over-rated “ball-playing” centre-half Rio Ferdinand is apparently having a crisis of conscience.

The 28-year-old defender has admitted that he’s not worth the massive £29million price tag United were forced to cough up to take him from Leeds United.

“I don’t think anyone is worth that kind of money”, he says. But will he start handing back a sizeable chunk of his £100,000 a week wage?

One imagines not.

Arise Queen Alan Shearer Of Newcastle United

He may have been famously referred to as ‘Mary Poppins’ by a couple of Newcastle United directors, but no-one could ever have mistaken Alan Shearer for the Queen,. Until now that is.

The BBC reports that hundreds of fake £20 notes bearing the image of the former England star have been seized by Trading Standards.

Continue reading >>

Rogue Trader Nick Leeson Manages Glway United

Mr Rogue Trader himself, Nick Leeson, has been promoted from general manager of Galway United Football Club to chief executive, as the 40-year-old continues to successfully rebuild his life in Ireland.

The 40-year-old, who brought down Barings Bank after racking up massive losses through dodgy trades in Singapore, has committed to the Eircom League club for the next two and a half years.

Although, if I was involved with the club, I'd be keeping an eye on the new boss.