Rich Gunners taunt Kenyon over 'fantasy'

Hill-Wood described the blueprint to make Chelsea under chief executive Peter Kenyon the biggest club in the world as 'bulls***'.

Reasons to celebrate: Adebayor has fired Arsenal to the top of the table

And the outspoken Arsenal chairman added that Chelsea's dictatorial owner Roman Abramovich 'hadn't helped the Russian cause' because his interfering in team affairs had led to the departure of manager Jose Mourinho and put his club in turmoil.

In contrast, the freedom to manage given to Arsene Wenger, added to the 'Emirates Effect' from the first full season in the new stadium, had put Arsenal on top of the Premier League and the money league.

Arsenal's finances for the year ending on May 31, 2007 included:

. Match-day revenue of £3.1million a game.

. Total match- day income doubled to £90.6m.

. Record turnover of £200m.

. Record operating profit of £51.2m.

. A cash bounty of £73.9m that the budgetconscious chairman doesn't want to spend.

Moving to the Emirates Stadium has been worth £55.1m in one year to Arsenal, with the ground able to seat 60,355 fans.

A successful team, a united board and the jackpot accounts plus the millions Arsenal will raise by selling a renovated Highbury and other properties around the ground also allow Hill-Wood to be confident about repelling any takeover attempt by Uzbek predator Alisher Usmanov, who has gained a 21 per cent stake in the club under the banner of Red and White Holdings, chaired by former vice-president David Dein.

Hill-Wood said: 'I found it surprising Chelsea had only 25,000 for a Champions League game. Our fan base probably started in the 30s and it's been handed down from father to son and so forth. It takes 100 years to build and about 100 minutes to destroy. You're got to be very careful you don't destroy it.

'Money is irrelevant to history and how big your club is. Maybe not irrelevant, but it's better not to have too much money because you then don't go and squander it.

'Chelsea talking about world domination is bulls***. I don't want to run Chelsea down, but one has to concede Manchester United and Liverpool are probably the biggest names in UK football and probably throughout the world. For Chelsea to think they are suddenly going to dominate Manchester United and Liverpool is fantasy.'

Hill-Wood lavished praise on manager Wenger, saying: 'Arsene told us in June he was staying and you can take what he says at face value.

'We asked him what he would do if we gave him £100m to spend and he said he would give it straight back. He understands the finances as an economics graduate from Strasbourg University. I do think about who we would replace Arsene Wenger with and I then shut the thought out of my mind because I have no idea.

'There aren't many world-class managers and I think we have been fortunate in having the best one there is.

'I have never enjoyed watching dull football. We did use to win only 1-0, but we are on a different level now and I have never enjoyed football more than I have in the last few years. I will never deny that Arsene Wenger was a very good appointment and David was the person who introduced me to him.'

Arsenal blame the divorce with Dein on him paving the way for American Stan Kroenke to buy the Granada shares in the club without their knowledge.

Hill-Wood said: 'I think David could have handled things differently and if he had then what happened wouldn't have had to happen. He had a lot to offer, but the show goes on and the transition has been seamless.

'The board is united in resisting any attempt to wrest it from us. The idea of us selling out to whoever is simply not on the agenda.

'I feel that Arsenal is a stable business run by reasonably civilised people who understand the values of the club. We are custodians of Arsenal and, although the shareholders control the shares, the club also belongs to the fans. To disrupt the way the club is run would be a tragedy.

'We are top of the Premier League and are committed to providing Arsene Wenger with funds to strengthen the playing squad whenever he deems it fit to do so.

'We are well aware that, even if you have the best stadium in the country and a sound business plan, that plan does not work if you have a lousy football team. We are luckily not in that position.'

Sales from the Highbury site will exceed £300m and, to add to the success story, £205m of the £252m debt has been secured at a fixed rate of interest of 5.3 per cent over the next 25 years — terms that couldn't have been negotiated in the current banking credit crisis.

Managing director Keith Edelman, countering the Dein belief that Arsenal will soon need the financial firepower provided by Usmanov to compete at the top level, said: 'We believe the club must be run for the long term from the cash resources which you drive out of the business.

'There is some kind of view that you need a wealthy benefactor to chuck lots of money at it. We fundamentally disagree with that logic. In the long run, people purchasing businesses will want to see a return.'

However, Arsenal regard their other substantial foreign shareholder, Kroenke, in a better light, with Edelman saying: ' We have a good relationship with Stan and a continued dialogue with him, and will have to see how events unfold.'

But Edelman doesn't know the American's future plans regarding his Arsenal stake.

ARSENAL'S RIVALS

MANCHESTER UNITED

£41.1m profit on £167.8m turnover

LIVERPOOL

£20.1m profit on £121.7m turnover

CHELSEA

£15.3m loss on £152.8m turnover

(figures for season 2005-06)