Arsenal have revealed how much it cost the club to fire Unai Emery and hire Mikel Arteta last season.
The club took the decision to relieve the former PSG and Sevilla boss of his duties in November 2019 after they went on a two month winless run and a series of off-field incidents such as the decision to strip Granit Xhaka of the captaincy and the falling out with Mesut Ozil made his position untenable.
Freddie Ljungberg was then briefly put in caretaker charge before the club replaced Emery with former club captain and assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City Mikel Arteta who went on to guide the Gunners to FA Cup and Community Shield success.
However, with the club also having to significantly overhaul its coaching staff as well, the whole process has ended up being quite costly for Arsenal.
They revealed in their report for the financial year from 2019 to 2020 that the deal ultimately ended up costing them £10.4 million overall.
This contributed to the club having made an overall loss of £47.8 million from the period June 1st 2019 to May 21st 2020.
Those losses were not just impacted by the decision to change manger and coaching staff though as the financial repercussions of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic were laid bare.
The club accounts estimate that they also lost £14 million in matchday revenues, £34 million due to the deferral of broadcasting revenues, as well as a further £6m in other broadcasting and commercial areas.
This was however, offset by the 12.5% player wage cut taken by players near the start of the pandemic in April 2020, which is said to have saved the Gunners £19 million.
The report was accompanied with a statement justifying the choices the club had made and expressing that it had the full support of its owners Kroenke Sports Entertainment in taking those decisions Arsenal had taken.
"Throughout the pandemic, the Group has moved rapidly in making the decisions required to proactively manage and mitigate risk across all areas of its operations and, where possible, to provide appropriate support to its community and stakeholders," it read.
"Since the year end the Group has refinanced its stadium finance bonds and undertaken a range of cost cutting measures.
"These steps will ensure the Club is well placed to respond once the situation starts to improve.
"The financial challenge remains significant, but the Club continues to have options available to it alongside the unwavering support and commitment of its ownership, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment."
