One day soon people will be talking about Sanllehi and Emery. It wasn’t too long ago Dein and Wenger was on everyones lips. In todays footballing world, we talk about directors and owners as much as before when we spoke only about managers and players.
The dynamics took a shift when our previous owners brought in ground-breaking foreign involvement. This was a milestone for AFC. Other clubs have had foreign owners come along with little work done to the club in comparison to what AFC had done. The first foreign manager to win the league, team full of superstars and will be forever Invincible. But we plan for the long term, and just like a reliable bank, you can invest in long term. Its why, we should be proud of AFC as a financial project. Look at where we were, under Newcastle and now we are looking at our value being just £1.36 Billion behind the richest club of Man United at Number 1.
We sit 6th on this list, with Chelsea below and Man City above; but we know their true value isn’t what is shown. Because if you take out the money the owners have actually put in, its worth less. But these inflations are why money and football is as much about the ability to do a 40 yard volley off the floor into the top of the net and be paid £100k a week.
It also goes some way to explaining why fans have less time for player’s performance levels vs potential levels of output. More money, but less time… That’s another topic. But for this one, what we know, is AFC have won trophies, built a Brand and a Stadium at less financial cost output then Man United in that time and so, have increased the real cash value of our Club.
A lot has happened since Wenger has gone. New Manager, New Signings, An Increase in shares from Kroenke ,and Gazidis is off and we are 3pts from a Top 4 spot.
When the lines were drawn behind the club’s office doors, we had Wenger on one side – and the current system followers and change and new on the other side. You always have to be careful what you wish for. Gazidis wanted change but worked also with Wenger. When the flood gates of change came, Arsenal over employed. So in the end it was Sanllehi, with a CV boasting ‘international agreements for Nike across the whole of South America’ amongst other top experiences that meant Gazidis was on the chopping board.
What I hope we as fans can agree on, is the Board do get a lot of stick because we want to spend more and we don’t meet expectations of spending. But they also have made important decisions, and made another swiftly afterwards. Its that pace we feel is what we have truly lacked than the spending alone and now we are seeing it.
When it comes to the football issues Arsenal kicked off the start of a run of home games against Vorskla with a win. Only 2 players from our first 2017 Europa game played today. On top of that, our squad players in Holding, Elneny, Leno, Welbeck, Lichtsteiner, Iwobi and Mkhit got game time. Torreira is not so much a squad player (in the sense of his role) but a first teamer waiting to be ready to start. It’s exciting to see that these guys are a mix Their new Stadium offers them the issues we faced. Now we are in a type of build stage of new ourselves, and we have the people, we have the staff, and we have the plans to progress the first team.
We have always been the star makers, and now our new partnership of Sanelli and Emery will be the ones in the spotlight to do the making.
In a week of football with so much happening across the globe (Liverpool win a thriller, Spurs loss one, City missing De Bruyne… Mourinho can smile, Ronaldo Red card…), Arsenal found themselves able to bring on Ozil and Co off the bench for some training ground matchday practice against Vorskla (half way through our second half).
It continues on Sunday against Everton. 3 more points is required against the wounded Toffees all whilst an eye on future plans will continue to be plotting away in the back ground from the (we hope) new Dein and Wenger combo.
Tom
I appreciate your optimism, but i prefer realism. We definitely have great people to handle things, but they will get little to no help from our absentee owner.
Personally I’d swap David Dean and Highbury for Kronke and the Emirates. We were promised that we could/would compete with the best. I’m still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.
Unless you mean value and bank balance, then yes I agree 100% Kronke is competing with some of the richest ownership in the world. At 6th, he’s definitely competing just as he prmised.
I’m not being negative or pessimistic, just realistic.
Well, if the team does not perform well on the pitch eventually the value of the club will go down. So it would be unlikely Kroenke will just sit back and refuse to invest to make the team competitive again. Besides, somebody explained it here quite well before that Kroenke may have failed to invest fully because he only owwned 67% of the club. A large investment from him would have represented a high risk yet rewards would be shared between him and Usmanov. Now that he owns everything maybe he will find it more sensible to spend large sums of money. I think it’s realistic to believe Kroenke won’t let his billion dollar investment go down the drain?
You make a compelling arguement, but my skepticism is with Kronke. He could have invested more in Saint Louis Rams to make them successful, but chose to relocate them to Los Angeles. I mention that because of huge city and millions of fans, and constant tourists buying tickets. Sounds like a similar situation to London.
He makes millions off tv revenue just being in PL, add new kit deal, other sponsors eager to pay up as well.
I am skeptical because he doesn’t invest to compete with his other professional teams. However, those leagues have a draft, and parity obligations to keep leagues competitive.
No such thing in PL, only relegation to avoid. I could very well be wrong my friend, but I currently remain highly skeptical.
Lastly as for investing as 67% owner or 100% owner, I’ll merely say this:
67% of 100 million is better than 100% of 55 million. Time will tell whether he is true to his word about competing with the best, or he reverts to his natural state of owning but not in it for titles.
Durand, I am with you with concerns for the future on field success of the Arsenal, based on the performances of Kroenke’s American sports franchises.
Sanllehi, Mislattat and Emery are all good professional operators; however Kroenke has to support them financially otherwise, given the spending power within the EPL, mid table mediocrity beckons.
The draft in American professional sports is intended to even out the competitions and there is no threat of relegation in any league. These are two major differences to the EPL. Whilst agreeing with QD that it is not in Kroenke’s interest to fail, a slight miscalculation in investment in players could be disastrous for a club, which has been continuously in the top flight since 1919. Hopefully Kroenke at least wants to achieve Champions League qualification for the income it delivers; once there anything is possible.
Have you thought that Silent Stan doesn’t do the accounts?
Considered that Silent Stan is sitting back and being pleased with his share prices increasing and letting the CEO do his job?
Has Silent Stan ever came to us and said “You can not spend what you made, you have to bank at least blah amount!”?
Or have we been hearing how we can spend what we make but he will not put his hand in his back pocket to pay for it?
Then ask yourself who was in charge of Arsenal, who was making the final decision on how much we could spend…
Do you really believe Silent Stan ran all over here to sit in a dark dingy room with Gazidis plotting and giving evil laughs at how he will rape the cash from Arsenal?
No, i base my opinion on the rest of his franchises, and his business approach and handling. Stan himself said he’s not in it for trophies. He cares about money, not titles.
Why you deny reality and always blame “straw men” for an absentee owner who lacks ambition amazes me.
Gazidis is off, so who will you blame now? Now your scapegoat is off in October, and you are learning that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I told you about Stan, and you didn’t want to at least listen and think. Gazidis is off, and still you won’t listen about Stan’s apathy. I’ve been consistent while your arguement continues to crumble and fade, and your straw men step away.
Oh dear my friend, whatever shall you do now? Please listen to reality and reason, before that leaves you as well.
Spot on once again Mr Realist. I thought Toms article a far too optimistic take, bordering on self delusion. Optimism MUST be justified or we risk fooling ourselves. I DO rate Sanllehi BUT he has to deal with and work under Scrooge Kroenke who, let us not forget, cares nothing for glory. Glory is why fans come to see games, not just silverware but great moments , great goals etc . But silverware is or should be , ALWAYS the main aim and sadly, for KROENKE, it is not. That is the realistic problem this club will never solve until we get rid of Kroenke as owner. If , and it is a huge if, he ever sells up, THEN and only then ,we may well have cause to be optimistic about our future. While Kroenke remains owner, we have a huge handicap against all our main rivals , as they (most of them) financially back their managers. We don’t. Realism!!!
Jon your realism on the big picture is contagious, and I’ve been infected, lol.
As for “value” let me say this. What is “value” to the fans?
Glory, titles, and competing tooth and nail with the top clubs.
Bank sheets and club valuation is only for owners and board members.
What do top players sign on for? Increasing bank balances of club, or chasing glory and titles?
Realistic answer about players? Money first, silverware second. Club finaces / valuation nowhere.
I agree totally that kroenke is the main problem right now as i don’t see him letting us invest like we should. We don’t have a championship winning team and until we spend to rectify that, we will be around where we are now. I am suprised that anyone can still defend kroenke like midkemma posted on here saying gazidis was the reason we were not spending enough and he thinks kroenke lets gazidis do what he wants with setting the transfer budgets because he is too busy in america. I’d like midkemma to elaborate on this silly thought because i think the owner usually has the final say on how much of the income is spent. Wenger and gazidis were definitely culpable and i hope sanllehi, mislintat and emery are different but kroenke is who decides how much they have to work with.
Your realism is stupidity.
People, seriously, stop and think for once!
If you had Silent Stans mega wallet then would you be micromanaging all your companies?
Or would you hire someone to do the work and set that employee targets that ensure your criteria is being met?
Just look at how rich people act, how they hire people to do the work while they profit, benefiting from the saying “Money makes money”.
At some point you have to recognise that Silent Stan trusted Gazidis and it was Gazidis who was the CEO, not Silent Stan.
I bet UTD fans was saying samish kinda things after Glazier bought UTD using a loan and paying that loan back from UTDs income.
Look at how Woodward shown ambition and turned that around, an ambitious CEO not ambitious owner.
Ignore reality and say you represent a realist point of view… bahh! Hypocrisy at its finest here ladies and gentlemen. The stupid will always fail to think and pick knee jerk reactions over calm logical thinking.
Something to look at when thinking about Gazidis and how he was holding us back…
“Gazidis became the Chief Executive at Arsenal mid-way through the 2008/09 campaign. The Gunners had a revenue of £224m that season according to the Deloitte Football Money League.
By 2016/17 – the latest season for which figures are available – that revenue had increased to £419m.
That’s an increase of 87%.
That may sound like an impressive increase, but only one of the “big six” clubs has seen a smaller percentage increase – Chelsea at 78%.
Liverpool’s revenues increased by 97% over the same time period, while Manchester United’s grew by 109% and Tottenham’s by 170%.
Manchester City are a bit of an outlier in this comparison. Their revenues increased by a whopping 414% between 2008/09 and 2016/17. ”
UTD have grown 22% larger than what we did in the same period, they also got sold to a USA business sponge… I mean businessman. They dropped lower than we did. They are a good comparison for how poorly we have done with Gazidis at the helm.
For me, this is a great example of why we need to spend on the occasional big player, it is more for business than fan pleasing…. Okay it pleases fans but it gets belief going in the background, it means we have a bit more power in sponsorship deals.
Raul appears to know this and he has not been shy at seeing large sums being spent at Barca, he could bring that with him here with the idea of developing a lot of our own players but then spend big if need on the few signings we need to make. Almost like the Barca way while he was there… Hope 😀
For all your blathering and examples, you forgot the most important piece, STAN! Not a single example of his business practices regarding his franchises.
More accurate to compare Arsenal to the other clubs Stan owns. His lack of investment over years at several franchises is a far more accurate assessment, then blaming Gazidis.
Your comments clearly show you have a microeconomic view of ownership and perhaps economics in general.
You grasp at wisps of hope and blame straw men, as if you know what Stan told Gazidis to do. I don’t claim that, merely use your eyes, reason, and logic at how he runs his other teams. The conclusion is unavoidable.
OT….that sure as hell looked like Kolasinac training today…… ???
Sue, that was Phil.
Sue-Georgie b is right.That was me.In tomorrows training I will be wearing my Emmanuel Petit Ponytail
????
? ?
The error they made was to boldly predict us challenging for top honours, which looking back was a fair vision to have. But no one foresaw the huge mega rich owners charging over the horizon heading straight for the premier league. It changed the landscape almost overnight and moved the goal posts to a position which has made it tougher to compete.
Unfortunately it was Dein who got us into this mess in the first place by introducing Kroenke to the board as a suitable investor! Cheers mate!
Dein’s dreams now come true after Kroenke owns 100%
Next we now have Sanllehi who did wonderful job at Barcelona and I hope he brings that to Arsenal unlike Wenger/Gazidis they always care about their pockets and also previous structure was drawback where Wenger had some tasks which he shouldn’t have in a 1st place and I am really glad now we have single ownership and Sanllehi will have to be on phone with either Kroenke or josh and will be yes or no and no more board with full of old guards who have no clue when you come to football side
Kronke could easily get the fans on side again when this season is over by injecting money into the team as he would then fully own the club, he still has loose ends to tie up loose ends in the rest of the shares before full control.
Next summer, maybe even january he could spend big as then he will be the sole man benfiting & reap all the rewards if we succeed with Sanhelli & Emery.
This season is to get Unai settled with the squad & seeing what he needs brought in & the ones who dont suit his methods shipped out to rebuild this squad.
To be fair we have a decent squad but after a couple of transfer windows we will be alot stronger even if the budget isnt huge. We have loads of young talent waiting to shine also.
Give these guys a chance, enjoy the transition away from Arsene (no disrespect to our greatestamager whatsoever) & Ivan (never liked him tbh). New adidas deal on the way for next summers kits so get behind the team no matter what happens, we wanted change & we got loads of it. I think Unai is the right choice for Arsenal.
Top4 & cup would be a great season to start the new era, Europa if possible(bonus), then a few more players as we go back into the UCL. Be patient gooners!! Everton next….
Sean, “Kroenke could easily get the fans onside again by injecting money etc”. Rather depends on whether or not you consider completely CHANGING YOUR NATURE AND HABITS OF A LIFETIME, comes easily to you, I would have thought! For Kroenke, it is impossible. Once a Scrooge, always a Scrooge. He is 70 now(or 71, possibly). If he was ever going to change, wouldnt he have done so by now? So sorry , but that’s a moonshine thought, Sean, which is away with the fairies.
Once upon atime football was played for fun in the days of the
maximum wage.Of cours e managers were sacked for being unable to win.
Since then football has become a business .
At one time Arsenal were listed among the top 5 richest clubs.Since then it has drifted downwards but is still a premium brand.
Winning trophies ie the epl or cl consistently will propel the team to greater heights.I t aint easy but you have to spend on the right players to produce a winning team.
If the US owner doesn’t allot funds to strengthen the team Arsenal could
become just another London club.He seems to be serious because the new boss has been given a 2 year deal. I expect Arsenal to hire and fire more often
if success is not within reach thanks to the last 10 to 15 barren years.
The new employees can only work in their capacities, but eventually the employer is the one that can make the final decisions
We will see the employee’s support and investment in the next transfer window
*employer’s support and investment