There is no denying that Arsenal has always been run on ethical values and given ourselves budgetary restraints to make sure that we our growth in line with our earnings, especially when compared to the Sugar-Daddy investment in some of our Premier League rivals like Chelsea or Man City. I think it is fair to say that most Arsenal fans are proud of the way that Wenger has brought through youngsters from the academy and taught them loyalty and respect, but also to play ‘The Arsenal Way’, which is exciting and attacking football that is great to watch as a spectator.
There are definitely some fans who just want us to win trophies at any cost, but Arsene Wenger obviously feels that trophies are great but to keep to our values is even more important. “We want to win trophies, but you cannot live inside a club thinking you want to win the next trophy and, if you don’t win it, you have lost.” he said.
The club has a stronger basis than that. On a personal level, I want to win every game. When we lose a game I’m absolutely mad and sad, but it is part of being a coach.
“I’ve been lucky to have had a very long career in my job and I’m completely committed to work for Arsenal.
“To do well of course means to win the Premier League, hopefully to win the Champions League as well, but I think I have stayed at Arsenal for such a long time because for me a club is firstly about values, the values I hold dear.
“One is to win trophies but more important is to know who we are, and what is important to us.
“I will always try to defend what I think is important in our sport, that means the values of our game. Football is a very popular sport now all over the world and there is a big responsibility.
“I think one of the ways to face up to the responsibility is to defend the values. That is important to me.”
We all know that Wenger is very highly respected throughout the football world, and he has very high principles. Some will say that Arsenal has been run more as a business than a club in the Kroenke years, but surely some of those ‘values’ of business are similar in business as in life. Slow but steady growth, promoting from within, corporate loyalty, reinvestment in the future, etc. I certainly don’t think the club could have grown this big without Wenger’s steady guidance and principles, BUT we would really like a few more big trophies please!
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Not going bankrupt is one thing, but managing the club at break even is another. We have been profit hungry in the past, that needs to change. The money the club makes should be reinvested with 40-50m in bank as contingency. The wages need to be managed properly, the average wage for good and bad player strategy does not work anymore in EPL
unfortunately to Kroenke and Gadzidis, profit is more important than Trophies
yes i thoroughly look forward to taking my grandson in 30 years to the emirates him seeing cobwebs in the trophy cabinet
grandpa wheres the trophies at?!
well lad somethings are more important than winning
in sport? like what grandpa?
values of a club
erm ok grandpa!
*grabs iphone 77 goes on snapchat xl ultra
In 30 years you will have enough grandkids to sell out the Emirates!!!!!!
It should not be either or we like to be ethical BUT we also want to compete for the Premier League and the Champions League and we have not done that since the days of the great Thierry Henry. Yes I know that we finished second a year ago and have led at points during some seasons but we were never close to actually winning when it came down to it. Oh yes and last season having the shame of being worse than sp*rs.
However, much as I have been frustrated with Wenger and our team over the last few years lets be positive and hope that this coming season our new players change improve us and Wenger himself gets back to what he was able to do 15 yers ago. COYG
I think wenger has a point, it is a very fine balance but I am proud that our club has values and morals.
Yes I want us to be successful but I don,t value winning things by trying to buy yourself success, pending rules, or blurring the line between cheating (diving, coming the ref as examples) and being competitive.
Working hard, sticking to your belief and the fighting hard for success is the way.
Might sound old fashion but winning at all cost and selling yourself out is not acceptable in my book.
Do u know who Stan kronke is???
TOPIC: Arsenal Debate – Are the club’s values more important than trophies?
RESPONSE: Is there an option to have both(Club values and Trophies)?
Robbie on aft just confirmed everything that was stated by me earlier. Robbie spoke to close sources at the club’s kit reveal and they confirmed it. Lemar deal is nearly done.. go check it out.
Yes I do believe the club’s values are very important. But I do not like how arsenal have the money to offer players 350k a week but still let cesc and RVP leave. Penny pinching for higuain and lacazette last year. Spending only 10m and signing one player that too a gk in a season.
Can you imagine where we would have been if we had kept RVP ceac and nasri?
We would have won the league if we had signed a few more players that window apart from Cech alone! One shareholder (usmanov) is willing to fund certain transfers and yet he’s not allowed to do so why?!? He’s part owner afterall and a fan. Look at utd they don’t have oil money. Arsenal should be at ute’s level and we are. We just lack any sort of ambition. We will never know if it was arsene who didn’t spend these last four years or if deals were blocked by the board..
Truth is, this club is managed by a few for the benefit of a few.
Which part of up to 2013 we had a stadium debt to finish paying off did you not comprehend. Did you start supporting arsenal in 2013 or something? During the rvp and cesc saga arsenal couldn’t afford to pay those wages then. Now years later after the stadium debt has long been cleared and most of the resources that was used to cover that is now diverted to other aspects the club needs such as: player wages and transfer budget. I would be hesitant about a shareholder investing their resources into Arsenal because the inverse can happen if for whatever reason the shareholder falls on hard times and they start taking crucial funds from the club and ahndicapping our ability to compete. We, Man United and a few other big clubs in the world are truly self sufficient because no matter what the external environment is regarding owners etc the club will still be able to function. If tomorrow morning the owners of Manchester city decide to stop investing in Man City the club will have to sell most of if not all the players just to stay afloat. Valencia is another example or an even greater example hull city.
I agree except with the comparison with United. Manchester United is the most debt-ridden club in the whole world of sports!
Meanwhile we are practically debt free. So yes, we should spend money BUT with causion. No more giving Jenkinsons etc 45k a week but rewarding our top players with bumper contracts.
According to the latest accounts we have debts os £232m.
There is much confusion about arsenal debt. In recent years the debt repayments have become manageable so we do not have to sell players to finamce the debt. This is not the same as being “debt free”.
whilst they moved into the new stadium they had a set sum to pay back yearly so as not to incur penalties 25 mil i think.They had the money set aside for this.But what i keep asking is where did all that champions league revenue go,we could and should have done more with it.18years roughly about 300 mil i would say.
The accounts are on arsenal.com for every year since 2004. If you want to know where the money has gone then go and look it up.
Failure shouldn’t necessarily be blamed on transfers.It’s part of the reason but is not the only reasons.Other clubs which can’t even buy like Arsenal have won very good trophies.Even at those times we were in debt we had a good team capable of winning the EPL or winng some of the smaller trophies.But we just went on trophyless.Now we are almost debt free and we are promised glory but honestly we don’t even have the hope of glory.The only thing that can save us is renewal of the mind of the manager and board.That will bring a positive change.It’s only insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.We have a lot to prove out there to the world because the greatness of Arsenal has really gone down in the face of the world.They only see us as a team with good football that’s all.The world doubts us and we have a point to prove.The values of a club is as important as winning trophies.If not Arsenal wouldn’t have been this top club that people talk about everyday were it fpr only values or trophies.They go hand in hand.However, to the world trophies are very important and that fact cannot be hidden.
We are missing something here.
The only value a football club can give to the fans is trophy.
What else?
Tiki taka football?
Football is a business and it product is trophy and the customers are the fans.
As they say “customers are kings”.
Football is a business?? Please get your retarded mentality out of here and support some damn business
After 13 years, we deserve some more trophies. We can have good values, make profit and still win trophies
Yes, and we’ve won a few trophies in the last “13 years”, unless you live in mars; 3 FA cups, with 2 coming back to back cannot be scoffed at. I will include both Charity shields as well, since Jose Mourinho and Pogba have defiantly let us know that is a trophy, as well.
As for the club’s values versus trophies, I suggest we read Wenger’s quotes/comments again to see that he has not suggested Trophies are not important but,rather, he has highlighted the need to win while respecting values. If winning trophies alone is a measure of a successful “business”, there are about 95 professional clubs that should shut down, in the U.K. alone; or more than 13 others, excluding relegations and promotions, who are dead, as that logic suggests. Yes. Only 7 different clubs have won the premier league, since its inception 25 years ago, and that league includes Arsenal, 3 times. About the same number have won available trophies in that period, give or take 2 others (Wigan – FA cup, Portsmouth-FA cup, Birmingham city-League cup, etc.).
I don’t see what charging incredibly high ticket prices whilst penny-pinching in the transfer market had to do with good moral values. I also don’t see how Stan Kroenke making huge profits and building himself new ranches gives Arsenal fans claim to any moral high ground over other football clubs. Nor does Arsene Wenger’s £10m/year contract seem much like charity work to me!
From the point-of-view of stability, it is good to have sound financial management and be in-the-black on the balance sheet. However in order to have credibility in terms of being an ethically-run football club, the profits should be re-invested for the benefit of the fans, making the team better on the pitch to seriously challenge for all trophies, and making watching the games as affordable as possible.
Otherwise it’s just a cold hard business, like a bank or a petrochemicals company, and there’s nothing “Moral” or “Ethical” about it.
Yossarian, the price of tickets has less to do with the club ethos than simple marketing principles (you know, like what is referred to as the Ps of Marketing- Product. Place. Price Promotion). It will seem the club believes in its product, the comfort of the stadium and its global appeal to dictate that the ticket price must be right. Hence, it’s usually over-subscribed.
Stan Kroenke’s last Ranch purchase was for $600m. Unless you don’t know about the club’s financials, Arsenal has hardly ever made Profit after tax of anything near £100m any year; also note that famed “cash reserves” is almost always matched by the bank debts, so I am not sure where you get this idea of some profit taking. No Arsenal shareholder has received dividends in years and Kroenke has willingly forgone an agreed £3m yearly charge for advisory fees. As for Wenger, he’s been at the club for 21 years and his earnings have only increased with each new contract over the years, in line with his peers, trends and value placed on his work by the owners who also appraise him. Not sure how old you are and if you are in employment but I dare you to accept same wages after spending 20years at the same place and let’s see how that will look.
Of course, the profits are re-invested in the club. That’s why the club spent £92m on new players last season, even if Pre-tax Profits was a mere £12.6m!!!
As fans, we should situate comments with what is fact and what we know, rather than go along with some narrative splashed daily by the media who may have an agenda.
Very true statement of the facts, you obviously have been looking at the accounts on arsenal.com.
Kroenke attitude to arsenal ownership is that it is financially self sufficient and he takes very little money out. The result is that the value of the club has increased and the value of his shares has gone up by well over £200m. My concern is that Kroenke is a businessman with no apparent interest in football as a game, in other words he is not a fan so what are his motives. Has he used the value of Arsenal as security on other loans to buy other emterprises like ranches in the usa. And if he has, does it matter, not sure, unless it goes pear shaped in which case his shares would be sold to the highest bidder.
Precisely, on your first point about Kroenke’s attitude to the club’s self sufficiency. His real interests are in growing value of his ownership, leveraging on the club’s global appeal to strike various deals that will favour his other sporting franchises and possibly, just to complete his establishment as an avid sporting business personality. Of course, I am largely guessing here as there would be other reasons. As a billionaire, he may need some “toy” to occupy himself with when bored of other things.
Kroenke sports & Entertainment (KSE) owns Arsenal and also includes other sports franchises as the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League and the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL. He is a wealthy man with net worth of $7.6b as at December 2016; his wife is the heiress of the Walmart chain valued at over $16b and a family fortune more than twice that figure. No. He won’t be needing our club as security for other loans. If he did, it will be somehow, presented on the club’s financial statement.