Arsenal's operating profits fall by more than 60 per cent after missing out on Champions League

Arsenal’s operating profits have tumbled by more than 60 per cent as a result of the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League last season.

Arsenal’s half-year results show that the fall from the Champions League to the Europa League has created a £23.4m fall in football revenues in the six months to the end of November last year.

The club said a decrease in the amount of tickets sold had combined with plunging commercial and broadcasting revenues as a result of playing in Europe’s secondary competition.

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Arsenal’s wage costs also spiralled £13.2m higher in the six-month period, despite none of the players receiving the bonus they would have been paid had the club qualified for the Champions League.

In all, the club’s operating profits, not including player sales, fell 62 per cent to £20.7m, compared to £54.4 this time last year.

However, overall profit before tax in the half-year period almost doubled from £12.6m to £25.1m as a result of the sales of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel and Kieran Gibbs in the summer transfer window.

The figures do not include the January acquisitions of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, nor the departures of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez.

Sir Chips Keswick, the Arsenal chairman, has said the club must “spend effectively” in a climate of rising transfer fees, wages and agent payments. Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this year that Premier League clubs are increasingly concerned that agents are pocketing excessive amounts of money from transfers or negotiations.

“Our strategy remains self-financing and we must accept all the challenges that brings at a time when the inflation of tranfer fees, player wages and the fees demanded by agents has become super-heated.”

He added: “As always, the actual income for the second half will be strongly influenced by the extent of progress in the remaining knock-out competition, the level of live TV coverage for Premier League games and final league position.”