ARSENAL TALK: Gunners are still refusing foreign billions to take charge

8:56am Sunday 7th September 2008

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DESPITE all of the foreign billions flooding into the Premier League the Arsenal board will continue to resist the temptation to cash-in and sell the club.

Following the latest top-flight take over in England that has seen new mega-wealthy Arab owners take hold of Manchester City, Gunners director Danny Fiszman claims the north Londoners will resist the temptation to go down the same route.

That means that while American Stan Kroenke and Uzbekistan tycoon Alisher Usmanov have been able to build up significant share-holdings in Arsenal, the club's board are still refusing to sell-out completely to foreign investment.

And it seems that the Gunners are happy instead to continue milking the cash-cow that is the Emirates Stadium instead.

"We are a profitable club, self-sustaining, the cash is there, Fiszman told the News of the World.

“ It's up to the manager.

"Our repayments on the stadium are under £20m a year and it’s producing an extra £50m a year.

"Our annual costs are fixed for 25 years. They will not rise. Our income will rise and our gate income will rise. Those payments are fixed. So in not too long it will look like a few pennies."