THE managing director of Arsenal, Keith Edelman, was hosting a tour of the football club’s Emirates stadium when he spotted a table with the names of all the club’s managers. Edelman pointed to incumbent coach Arsène Wenger’s, which read 1996-. . . , with the departure date left blank. Notice that it doesn’t say 2007, said Edelman, answering those who suggested Wenger could soon depart.

Since the prospect was raised of a takeover by the American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke and the subsequent departure of Arsenal’s influen-tial vice-chairman, David Dein, earlier this year, the tabloid vultures have been writing off the club’s prospects. Their cause has been helped by the decision by star striker Thierry Henry to leave, and the incessant speculation that Wenger, too, could be off.

Failure on the pitch, the argument runs, will bring disaster off it. Arsenal has £260m of net debt, most of it in the form of a bond issue taken out to pay for the move last year to the new 60,000-seat stadium. The club, which has a market value of £423m, made operating profits before player trading and exceptional items in 2006 of £11.3m. Figures for 2007, to be published in the autumn, should be higher, reflecting the move to the new stadium, which has doubled annual matchday income to £80m.

Edelman pointed to this as the prime reason why the naysayers should rethink their position on Arsenal and he remains perplexed by frustrated fans who think that investment from Kroenke, who has amassed a 12% stake in the club, may be needed to keep pace with big-spending rivals, such as Manches-ter United and Chelsea.

The latter has benefited from the largesse of its billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich. But the former has £660m debts after being taken over by the Glazer family in 2005 in a leveraged buyout. It is a financial model Edelman is reluctant to copy.

He said: “We think a healthy football club is one that lives off the cash it develops itself. That provides a sustainable future. If you take on debts for the ordinary course of business . . . how do you pay that back?”

Fears that a deal with Kroenke may involve him taking on a large amount of debt may be misplaced. Those who know the tycoon say he does not use gearing in his American operations. But it is far from clear what he intends to do with his stake.

Arsenal’s board remains opposed to a Kroenke takeover, and after Dein, a 14.5% shareholder, was forced out in the spring, the remaining directors pledged not to sell their collective 45.5% stake until April at the earliest.

Edelman said: “It’s very difficult for me to imagine how someone buying Arsenal could improve the business.”

Despite this stance, Edelman stressed that the club’s relations with Kroenke were harmonious, not something that had previously been evident. In April this year, the club’s chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, remarked that Arsenal did not want “his sort”. And a marketing deal between the club and Kroenke’s Colorado Rapids soccer team remains unsigned.

Edelman said: “I’ve met him [Kroenke] twice. They have been very friendly meetings and we’ve got on incredibly well, but he’s given us no indication of what his plans are. It’sa very cordial relationship.”

Kroenke is said to be keen to meet the rest of the board, a desire Arsenal would be happy to fulfil.

In the meantime, the feeling persists among some fans that the club is hard up. Edelman said the lack of big-money signings was nothing new – it was a reflection of the manager’s policy on transfers – and he said funds were available if needed. “We take £80m in matchday revenues at Emirates compared with about £38m that we took at Highbury [the club’s old stadium],” he said. “The debt repayments are £18m or £19m a year.”

About a third of the matchday income at the new stadium is from corporate boxes and other premium seats. These are the supporters deemed to be the most likely to desert the club should the team fail to qualify for lucrative European competition. Without their custom, the numbers may start to look far less compelling, although Edelman downplayed the likelihood of corporate fans walking away.

“We have a waiting list for both Club [premium] seats and boxes. On the pitch, if we invest £80m, you have to hope that the manager picks the right place to put that £80m.”

While youth is a feature of the club’s playing staff, the same cannot be said of the boardroom, where the average age is 64. Since Dein was forced out, there have been murmurings that this ought to be rectified.

“You can look at it that way,” said Edelman, “or say it’s a very stable board, with experience. People say we haven’t got a lot of football knowledge but we have Arsène, and he has 12 scouts. The board’s job is to run the business and Arsène Wenger’s job is to run the football team.”

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