During the last two decades the financial profile of football clubs has significantly altered. With the introduction of the Premier League in 1992 came an increase in revenue from television rights, this has sparked a drastic increase in the finances of the top flight clubs.  Many of the football clubs in the Premier League are now owned by financial giants from around the globe, much talked about examples are the Glazier family who own Manchester United, and Roman Abramovich who owns Chelsea.  These business tycoons who have invested millions of pounds have encouraged the dynamic of football to shift, there is now a huge financial focus whereby players are traded for astronomic transfer fees, and wage bills are ever increasing.  One club to have evaded this new style of football business is Arsenal, they are owned by a parent company issuing only a small number of high value shares that are infrequently traded and unavailable on the large stock exchanges.  This alternative approach means the club have a tighter hold over their finances but doesn't leave room for numerous high cost purchases to put new faces in the Arsenal shirt.

During recent years there has been an increase in the amount of debt some clubs have built up, in 2008/09 it was reported that the total debt for the twenty Premier League football teams was £3.1bn, some clubs were spending in excess of their earnings in an attempt to keep up with the highly financed clubs owned by business tycoons.  In response to this UEFA have introduced new 'Financial Fair Play' rules that aim to prevent clubs spending in excess to their revenue. There is a direct correlation between the amount spent on players and a clubs success.  This can be exampled by Manchester City who were bought by an Abu Dhabi based investment company in 2008, during 2009 they spent more than any other team in England, and went on to become Premier League champions in 2012 for the first time in over 40 years.  There has therefore, been some controversy surrounding UEFA's new rules.

Arsenal have placed themselves as 'financial role models', they have spent conservatively and planned for the future as well as the present.  The clubs chief executive has been forthright in pointing out the financial strengths of the club in comparison to others in the Premier League, however it must be noted that Arsenal may be financially sound but they are not winning any major trophies either.  This season they finished fourth behind Manchester United, Man City and Chelsea who are all owned by private financiers and have had a significantly larger budget for purchasing players over recent years.  Arsene Wenger the Arsenal manager has in the past been congratulated for his ability to see potential, he buys new players to wear the team shirt for low costs, and sells them on at a high profit margin, this is in theory fantastic business but not replacing these talented players is resulting in poorer on pitch performance and results comparative to other teams.  In the long run can Arsenal's business model really compete with the amounts of money other clubs have available?

What do you think about the changing financial aspect of football?

Do you think UEFA's fair play rules will produce a level playing field for all teams?

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