Peter Hill-Wood, the Arsenal chairman, yesterday added strongly-worded insults to Chelsea’s self-inflicted injuries by describing their plans for global domination as “bulls***” and “fantasy”.

On the day that Arsenal announced a British-record turnover of £200.8 million, Hill-Wood mocked their London rivals’ stated ambition to become the biggest club in the world by 2014.

Arsenal tend to go about their business more quietly, although they could afford to be pleased with themselves after achieving operating profits of £51.2 million for the year ending May 2007. Manchester United are expected to exceed both figures to confirm their position as the country’s richest club when they announce their results for the same period next March, but Arsenal are confident of staying ahead of Chelsea, whose turnover was £153 million for 2005-06.

Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, regularly refers to his desire to “turn the world blue”, but Hill-Wood turned the air blue when asked about such ambitions yesterday.

“It’s bulls***,” Hill-Wood said. “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 United and Liverpool is fantasy. It’s not going to happen.

“I found it very surprising Chelsea only had 25,000 for a Champions League game [against Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge last Tuesday]. Our fan-base probably started in the Thirties 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. Money is irrelevant to history and how big your club is.”

Arsenal believe that their financial strength shows they have no need for overseas investment and should help them to fight off the predatory movements of Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek billionaire, who is aiming to increase his 21 per cent shareholding.

Hill-Wood could not resist aiming another swipe at Chelsea when outlining the Arsenal board’s determination to resist a takeover, claiming that Roman Abramovich’s fallout with José Mourinho, the manager who left the club on Thursday, highlighted the dangers inherent in interfering foreign owners. “I don’t think that Abramovich [the Chelsea owner] has helped the Russian cause,” he said. “The board is completely united and have no intention of not remaining so. The idea of us selling out to whoever is simply not on the agenda.”

Keith Edelman, the Arsenal managing director, echoed Hill-Wood’s sentiments, albeit in more diplomatic language, claiming that giving Arsène Wenger, the manager, complete control over footballing matters was the best way to achieve success.

Arsenal’s determination to resist a takeover bid by Usmanov has led them to move closer to Stan Kroenke, who will meet the board in London next week, but Edelman conceded that he was still unsure about the intentions of the American billionaire, who has a 12 per cent stake in the club.

“The model that we have is that we allow the manager to run the playing side,” Edelman said. “We think that’s the right way to do things. If you compare it to the way Chelsea operate, it can’t have done the Russian cause much good.”