PHW: Our Ambition Is To Win Trophies

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood reiterated that Arsenal's utmost ambition is to win trophies as they posted their financial figures for the half year end to November 2012. Arsenal posted a pre tax profit of £17.8m. The figures show that Arsenal made £42.5 million in player sales- primarily on the sales of Robin van Persie to Manchester United and Alex Song to Barcelona, but that they invested £40.5m on the acquisitions of Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud. (Nacho Monreal's purchase falls outside of this accounting period).

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Chairman Peter Hill-Wood was defiant about Arsenal's raison d'etre with criticism expected for the perception that the club are too parsimonious in the transfer market, "Whilst we have our sights set on a 16th straight season in the Champions League, our aims are higher; our ambition is to win trophies. No-one is more focussed on that than our manager Arsène Wenger, our majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and the Board and it is what we work towards every day.

"Our ability to compete at the top of the game here and in Europe is underpinned by our financial performance which gives the club strength and independence.

"Our desire is to make everyone connected with Arsenal proud of the Club. We know that comes through winning trophies but also through the way we do things and that will remain our constant guide."

Hill-Wood said the club were convinced that the football world is coming round to Arsenal's modus operandi too, "Central to our ethos is our self-sustaining model which gives the club strength and independence. The Board remains fully committed to this path and the rest of the football world is increasingly realising the strength of this model.

"As an early proponent, we welcome the development of Financial Fair Play rules in the Premier League, in addition to those adopted by UEFA. These new rules will be good for us, good for the Premier League and good for the game as a whole.

"It is important that we maintain the quality and level of competition if the game is to continue being a compelling spectacle and we believe the introduction of tighter financial regulation will assist all clubs to compete while remaining financially responsible."

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