An open letter to all Arsenal fans – especially those that want the club to back Arteta
The football world is in big crisis, and maybe it’s time for Arsenal fans to take it seriously. Only Manchester Utd have higher revenue from a matchday than The Arsenal which means we are more dependent on matchday revenue than other top clubs. One season without fans mean that Arsenal lose at least £96m – compare that to Chelsea (£67m), Man City (£55m), Leicester (£15m) and Wolves (£12m).
What sort of club do you want? Do you want a club that spend beyond their limits, or do you want a well-run sustainable club that don’t risk the club’s future? Some fans want our billionaire owner Stan Kroenke to use his fortune to fund new signings but that will never happen.
When the battle of the Arsenal ownership began during the 2000s several Arsenal fans and groups showed – in discussions, blogs, banner in stadium, interviews, social media, AST annual membership surveys etc – that they were against the “sugardaddy” model. The former board and major shareholders like Danny Fiszman took notice. Arsenal fans decided that they wanted a club that are dependent of their own revenues (in other words – the fans money).
The reason The Arsenal are in a financial crisis now is because the club don’t get any money from the fans – the same fans that urge the club to back Arteta in the transfer market. If we (the fans) want the club to back Arteta we need to back the club. With a billionaire owner many will find that as strange and ridiculous despite that this is the business model the fans have chosen.
Yes, in a perfect world Stan Kroenke would suddenly turn into the sugardaddy we opposed during the 2000s but he won’t. What I do know is that he will probably not be around year 2050 when I’m 60+ (if everything goes as planned) and my life (and many others) would be emptier if The Arsenal doesn’t exist or can’t compete for trophies.
I care about The Arsenal and I want the club to remain a top club in 30 years, but without revenue The Arsenal will probably fall behind during the pandemic. Therefore, I urge every fan to ship in a sum that they can afford. Buying merchandise is one way but as I believe that Adidas get a part of that money it would be great if fans also sign up for one or two Red Memberships (if you already have one, sign up a family member).
Red Memberships Lite costs £29 – that’s 4 pints if you live in London.
Red Membership Full costs £36 and includes an official Membership Pack (the official handbook for season 2020/21, exclusive playing cards and Arsenal pin badge).
https://www.arsenal.com/membership/red
Normally UK and foreign fans spends a lot of money to watch The Arsenal and with millions of fans around the world the fans can make a difference – like we do every season. Don’t wait until the pandemic is over, because it might be too late by then.
Take care
@swedjournalist (Twitter)
Not a bad shout and I’m already a member but I’m not fully on the Kroenke won’t support Arsenal bandwagon. He’s not my cup of team but poor decision.making by the front office is a far greater threat to the club than Kroenke’s tight purse strings.
We currently have almost 750k/week tied up in players most of us have deemed surplus to requirements (Guendouzi, Torreira, Mustafi, Socratis, Kolasinac and Ozil). That’s alot of red memberships to sell 20,833 per week to be exact.
Well said Trudeau. I’m by no means
a card carrying member of the Stan
Kroenke fan club but Aresenals
financial mess atm stems more from
the catastrophic player recruitment
decisions of the Wenger/Gazidis
regime than ol Stingy Stan. To name
a few…
Socratis—£20M
Mustafi—£35M
L. Perez—£20M
. Xhaka—£35M (spent more than
Kante)
Ozil, Kola, Mustafi and Socratis
given lucrative, yey ridiculous wages
that have made them nearly
impossible to move on.
Bennacer, Malen, Gnarby and JRA
basically sold for peanuts and now
thriving at some of Europes best
clubs. (Worth collectively around
£150M).
Refusing to sell Sanchez to City for
£50-60M (agreeing to asinine Miki
exchange) and allowing the likes
of Ramsey, Wilshere and Welbeck
to walk out of the Emirates for free.
Another £100-125M left on the ol
table.
I would dance naked in the streets
if the Kroenkes came to Arsenals
rescue at the midnight hour and
sanctioned the moves for both
Partey and HA but considering the
business model that the American
billionaire is attempting to
perpetuate and the gross business
malfeasance that has plagued the
club over the past 5 years I wouldnt
blame him one bit for pinching all
those pennies hes sitting on.
Great analysis. Arsenal as a business is failing. One bad transaction after the other and unfortunately management is not learning. Take Ozil’s case for instance. Spending 350k a week on a player sitting at home is bad business.. Since the club wants to move on from the player, common sense dictates not to demean him and drive his value to zero. Loaning Ozil and paying 250k of his weekly wages is better than paying 350k of his weekly wages. MA was played and out maneuvered by the press when he declared Ozil unfit to play in a meaningless game.
Theoretically everything you wrote makes sense.
The difficulty arises if a player -any player – decides to see out their contract which they are at liberty to do
👍 “Poor decision making” is an understatement.
The astonishing naivety and childlike innocence of this article is incredible The writer has advertised(approximately) his/her own age and tender years on this earth. I say to him or her that if he/she truly thinks we fans do not already spend substantial money on our club then he/she needs to learn how to add up.
SKY/ BT/ AMAZON SUBS COMES TO A TIDY SUM AND MOST FANS HAVE AT LEAST SKY.
Most fans even pre Covid, do not visit Emirates, many not for want of trying but simply cannot get nor afford tickets or S/Ts. Many fans across the Arsenal supporting world, already buy expensive merchandise and MOST fans need to put food on the table for their own families or, at the very least, have loved ones they need to spend time and money on.
It is totally unrealistic and unfair to ask ordinary, non- wealthy,often hard pressed fans to spend even more money than they already do while this poverty inducing pandemic rages, as yet unchecked.
Hence my accusation of naivety and a childlike innocence by this writer.. I do think he/she put their thoughts together in an understandable way and it was well argued. Unfortunately it was just profoundly wrong in its main thrust.
A far more realistic argument would have been to argue that any multi billionaire who freely chooses to own a world famous club has a moral duty to invest PROPERLY in his business ; a business that is loved and cherished by countless millions around our globe.
But the writer chose not to argue this way and has lost any claim to respect therefore. If an owner is not ultimately responsible for the welfare of his business then whyever own it in the first place!!!!
Yup!
Jon fox, you can speak English.
Red for life I wish arsenal support Mikel arterta because we need players like Thomas and Hussain’s and let arsenal free and loan out player like inketia, willock, while players like ozil, chambers, papa, gondouzy, kolasinac and torreira should be sold.
Let’s look at it this way (and probably a more satisfying and worthy way to some of the Arsenal contingent?). The Spuds have just moved into a new stadium which cost £850 million. How much do you think it will be costing them in lost revenue due to COVID?
Bare in mind, we have paid for our stadium and they are just starting.
The Kronke family have just spent 5.5 Billion on a stadium in the USA which I believe was fully financed by them. I doubt they will let Arsenal sink as a club and will step in as and when required to do what is right?! Let’s give it time please and have some perspective!
If kronke doesn’t want new good players he
must leave the club
I hope you bear in mind that its already less than ten days before the close of the transfer market?
If Kroenke splits the share capital into 1p shares to make them more marketable, then many ordinary supporters could once again acquire a genuine ownership interest in our club.
Don’t forget, Stan made a compulsory purchase of the minority shareholdings when he took full control and in doing so shut out the supporters from any participation other than as customers.
This was exactly i was thinking about. Can Arsenal plc not raise capital from the market? Is this ok and will we be still complying with FFP regulations? This way individuals can also hold shares and contribute to Arsenal’s success.
Alternatively Stan can give 98M needed to buy Parety and Auoar like yesterday and raise money through player sales and pay back Stan his 98M.
not sure where you drink but 4 pints for £29 is London CLUB prices, I live in London and i pay £4.20 per pint
So, 7 pints for you! One a day for a week!
£2.95 in South Leicestershire ….and a proper pint as my husband would say
Trudeau and Ace, I concur wholeheartedly with the sentiments you have articulated so well. While I am totally opposed to any absentee owner who fails to recognize that the Club is a reflection of the community it serves, Kroenke cannot be held responsible for the gross errors of judgement perpetrated by Management during the past ten years.On the playing side at least,we now have the right man at the helm, but until the residue of earlier Management incompetence is completely “sanatised” , fans cannot realistically expect a return to our former glories.We are now, at last, moving in the right direction but it will take time to turn the ship around.
With kroenke still our ownet?
I doubt glory days will ever come to us.
At least with a self sustaining model, Arsenal FC may exist into the future; the same can’t be said for clubs that spend beyond their means or depend on the largess of an owner.
I think this club had what it takes to run self sufficiently without sugar daddies with right methods
We as fans are doing our best in our own little way in giving Arsenal our money one way or the other.
I believe it is Stan Kroenke’s responsibility to raise funds for the betterment of the team.
Or maybe Arsenal should set up a fund raiser on the official site for the purchase of Partey and Aouar. Lol
It will be pathetic but I am sure with the millions of fans we have all over the world we can make 100m pounds in 2 weeks for the purchase of Partey and Aouar. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.
So it seems that the players had to take a pay cut to help Stanley out and now, it seems, the begging bowl has been extended to the fans – meanwhile, Stanley continues to grow his fortune and still hasn’t put a penny of his own money in to buy players.
For those who say he just gave money to help clear some of the clubs debts…. they are HIS debts, not the fans.
As for the mismanagement of the last ten seasons, those players brought us continued top four revenue, continued CL revenue and increased sponsorship money.
So whether they were good buys or not, they did, at least, keep the coffers full – where that money has gone, is a complete mystery.
Also, let me remind everyone of this list of players bought in :
Lichsteiner.
Kolasinac.
Sokratis.
Pepe.
Luiz.
Movs.
Suares.
Meanwhile, AMN, SAKA, ESR, WILLOCK, NELSON and NKETIAH, all were signed during the time it is alleged we were wasting our talent.
MA is benefitting enormously from the correct decisions made, as well as having to deal with the bad ones.
Back to the article and, while I recognise the emotional message, I view this more of a blackmailing type of pleading.
If the owner of this incredible club keeps needing bailouts, then it’s time for him to let soneone else run the club.
@ken1945 – Well said mate. Nothing to add
kEN, You are the only one on this thread who has the wisdom to know that an owner is himself responsible for the club he owns. Othewise why own it at all! He is also responsible for allowing bad appointments to linger for years doing immense damage and is NOT blameless while others misspent the clubs money, as some naive fans seem to think!
Allowing the incredibly damaging Gazidis to waste countless milions was entirely KROENKES fault. He should have sacked GAZIDIS many years before and in fact never have let him in at all. Some fans see no harm in Kroenke and show their naivety of how a business MUST always be the owners responsibility.
So out of touch are those naive fans, even though they mean well. But by allowing Kroenke off the hook they are harming the club they love. He is sheer poison and we ALL need to unite to force him out.
For once, I even disagree (and profoundly too) with Grandad who even himself does not blame Kroenke for GAZIDIS , as he OUGHT TO!
Jon, we have always agreed on kronkie, but the biggest architect of our present situation is gazidis.
He plotted to undermine Wenger (who we must also acknowledge made mistakes) and then brought in the three musketeers and a certain Mr. Emery… before finally leaving the club in the mess MA has been left with.
What purpose kronkie had when he bought our club, I shall never understand.
He could have spent his money on something of interest to himself personally, after all, his assets at The Arsenal are fast dwindling!!
To think that our club has had to ask it’s players to take a wage cut (still the only one to have agreed it) and then have an article printed that asks the fans to support it by registering for a season ticket in order to help our manager buy players is unbelievable.
Yes, I understand the heartfelt reasoning, but in my wildest nightmares, I never thought we would have come to this.
There is no buck, it’s kronkie’s baby now, so HE should support his investment NOW.
jon and ken, I have argued for some considerable time that the major failure of KS&E as an owner of Arsenal FC has been the selection and retention of Board members and senior executives, who have mismanaged the financial and player assets of this Club.
You have indeed ozziegunner, and would you agree that gazidis is the No. 1 culprit of this mismanagment, while kronkie is the most pathetic owner we could ever have got?
Ozzie and Ken, We must be the three Musketeers then! All for one and one for all!
BTW, It always tickled me that the three musketeers were armed with swords, not muskets. Hollywood does not appreciate film pedants though and part of the fun for me, in watching many of their hilariously factually inaccurate films is counting up the many historical inaccuracies. Ben Hur and the many errors in that film is pure fiction, historically.
Ken, without a shadow of a doubt. We must all keep an eye on AC Milan to see what destruction he wreaks there.
Being of a mature age myself, I don’t believe in ageism; however also complicit were the Board, who appeared quite happy to collect the money and benefits of Board membership, without taking an active interest in decision making.
As an aside, watching “The Football Terrace” it was stated that the Glaziers have taken £1.5 BILLION from Manchester United in the last 10 years! Doesn’t make KS&E look too bad in comparison!
I can only agree!!
What grates is that we were penny pinching for years and pricing ourselves on our thrift. Now we’ve been found to be penny wise and pound foolish.
How on earth sis we let player contracts run down without any attempt to mitigate? Then there is the selling of players with great potential for peanuts.
This is a self inflicted shambles than anything else. I am not ashamed to reveal that I was anti Wengerian for years once I realised his tenure at the club was more of a hindrance than a help.
IT SEEMS THEN THAT THE TWO JONS ON THIS SITE THINK ALIKE!
Kroenke must invest in the club thats y we call him the owner os Arsenal, i believe he has been making no profits for over a decade but still it is his fault because he left Arsene wenga who made our club like this to stay long really how can u pay ozil more than Debroyne of man-city , he used to buy players expensively and give tgen away for free ,he was such a bad business man . Anyway since we have got Arteta who is good on the pitch , kroenke must Risk with him by supporting him financially, because really we need those 2 midfielders (Party & Aoure)
We are run in a strange way….compared to most very large businesses. Kroenke has two choices….put the money up before we sell in order to buy players and then get it back when we sell…..or……we sell and get the money to pay for players. Both end up the same because Kroenke is sole owner. The problem is that we have too many players, so to pay first and get the money back after selling players seems chancy and would leave Kroenke having squeaky bum. The problem with the sell first and buy later model, leaves it down to the wire and the team may well not get the players it needs. Had Kroenke had put the money up over a month ago we would have two quality players already and would have had a few weeks to have got players off the books. Sadly we are now so close to the end of the window and we may well be stuffed. Shame Kroenke did not take the chance of lending himself (Arsenal) the money a month ago. Sadly we are like a family with an absent father.
Its getting really annoying.
Less than 2 weeks to go and we still short on players, I still wonder every day the reason why I ever loved arsenal.
No you don’t!
It in your soul!