Why are Arsenal fans celebrating saving money for Kroenke?

Fans Not Accountants! By Dan Smith

This isn’t me picking on AFTV, but I want to use their recent podcast as an example of a section of Arsenal’s fanbase. They were celebrating how, by cancelling Ozil’s and Sokratis contract as well as loaning out Saliba, Kolasinac, Guendouzi and Torreira, Arsenal are set to save themselves approx. 600,000 pounds a week. That will only increase if we also get Mustafi off the wage bill.

The irony being that a fan channel made famous for complaining that we were ‘only’ winning the odd cup and finishing in the top 4, were now punching the air because we are saving money.

Imagine if I said years ago that In January, we would be 11th in the League, yet instead of investing in the squad we were finding ways to save money. Not just that but the club has some supporters thinking it’s a good thing.

Which other rival fans would worry or celebrate how much savings their owners were making?
Because let’s clarify. All this cost-cutting isn’t for the benefit of the team, but our savings that will just sit in the bank.

That’s a misconception that some gooners seem to have, that all this cost cutting will be reinvested into the first team.

Back in November and December some readers were adamant that this would be the month where Arteta could make his own signings. A few wins later and we again justify only affording loans.

This time last year Man United responded by being far off top 4 by buying Bruno Fernandes. Us, in comparison, even after our worst start in decades can only manage loans.

If we had to pay a fee, would we be interested in Martin Odegaard? Or is the priority the Norwegian being on 38,000 grand a week?

So in a market where we were meant to be doing our best to rescue our campaign, we again took the cheap option – and worse; some are not questioning it.

A month ago I suggested that this month would be another chance for Mr Kroenke to prove me wrong, to show he has ambition yet again.

I knew the answer. I predicted he would slash the wage bill and only loan players and I was shot down for it.

Let’s be the best versions of ourselves.

As fans we deserve to use our resources to be the very best we can be.

We should never settle for less.

We should not be celebrating a billionaire saving money.

We are fans not accountants…

Be Kind In The Comments.

Dan

READ MORE: Could Sami Nasri make a comeback at AC Milan?

67 Comments

  1. I hope what Arteta is doing is for the purpose of wage restructuring, because the variation in wage structure is one of the problems of Arsenal.
    Imagine I’m on 35k/week and playing week in week out, yet in the same team is another so called star on 200k/week playing safe not to break legs and little or no input. It will affect my commitment and zeal. That has been the problem of Arsenal for the last 4 seasons.
    I’m not seeing what they are doing as saving money for Kronke but for the good of the club.

      1. Whilst I appriciate the concept, I believe that you are looking at the owners assets, assets are not real time money and the businesses are a separate entity, Arsenal needs to be a self sufficient asset, there fore should be able to stand in the black with its banks, on its own, without any other monies.
        We have to be realistic as fans and I love this club more than most but even I understand that for a business to invest it also needs to pull a profit from said business, so if money is wasted the worse the club is off, thats not rocket science really, Look on the positive side and we can all grow together, no point in having a fantastic youth academy and using it 😉 Man U brought through 7 players and a few years later becoming champions of everything 👏 👍

    1. Think about this a few minutes. David dean left Arsenal collapsed,what did David Dean have n one else had because we were doing BRILLIANT under his shadow but now? we collapsed. So what did David dean know that he left Arsenal we all do not know? Because all the answers to Arsenal’s problems are around this point . That very year he left Arsenal fell apart

    2. Exactly, well put Kay

      We have:
      – reduced operating costs
      – reduced foreign players
      – reduced total squad size
      – improved morale
      – created space to sign players

      People need to remember we are only in 2 competitions now, we cannot have such a huge squad

  2. It’s a strange phenomenon only applicable to some sports like Football I guess.
    Fans believing that just because they follow a club they automatically become Shareholders 😀

    1. Exactly and most fans believe that every billionaire should spend their entire wealth on the club….

      till they will become a pauper

  3. Come on Dan!! Come on! Jesus, are they trying to save money for Edu or they’re trying to clear and make space for player replacements?

    All those players whose wage got taken off have all been useless, zero contributions this season.
    You see nothing wrong in those players sitting and piling up money weekly without any reasonable contribution, even when given the chance but you have a problem with the club getting rid of those players since they’ve been useless.

    Come bro, we all know our wage bill has been ridiculous for even a team not in the UCL and we know it’s been hampering our recruitment.
    Yes they made the grave error of increasing Auba’s wage but at the point, he was worth it.
    Nobody’s celebrating or excited that the money is being saved for Kroenke. I’m pretty sure not a single soul saw it the way you’re doing that we’re saving for Stan.
    Everyone’s just excited we’re clearing the massive wage bill.

    Also, who’s to say the club is saving money for Kroenke? You keep making these statements like Kroenke takes out of the club money and spends on himself and his other business

      1. It does not necessarily have to be spent right away. If the academy does its job well, we may develop players who are easier to bind in a friendly contract , this will allow our war chest to grow faster and be able to pay and sign any player on the ballond’or list. One more thing the revenue that has been coming out of our club is so little to claim it’s the sole reason why he built a multi billion sports complex. I don’t like him but i also respect the fact he paid top dollar to your friend ozil to keep him, also spent 72 million pound on pepe, a man whose resale value is barely 20 mils. Spent 56 on Auba, 35 on Mustafi, over 40 mils on laca, truth is this players never profited the club commercially in terms of jazy sells or resale and they wont now that then are old. All Arteta is trying to do is rebuild a squad free of Wengers deadwood. Trying to find the balance. There is no explanation for having such a huge number of centerbacks in our club. Good things are set to begin. The wheels are in motion Dan.

  4. we are running a self sustaining model, any extra cash safe or debt invite has effect on the model not the billionaire pocket, Am not a financial expert neither did I know about deep finance but the figure you coated are incorrect, in fact arsenal didn’t safe up to that because we paid some money to cancel those contracts which means we paid part of the agreed salary and wages to get the guys off our wage bill.
    Fans are happy because it means more money to sustain the model which will help achieve more prospective signings.
    January is for quick fix, most club can only get loan deals done, that doesn’t mean we are less ambitious most good players want to move by summer.
    We all use Fernandes and AUBA some of prosperous January transfers, leaving out pool of failed January signings

  5. Is this article an attempt to humiliate the readers by questioning their intelligence?
    Do you not celebrate when you can save 600.000 per week which otherwise you were throwing down the drain? If you don’t, you hae a problem.
    And it’s not Kroenke but Edu and Arteta who will use it to strengthen the squad. Of course, you perfectly know that. I wonder why you are following the Sun route of impressive and catchy captions.

      1. we are 11th because of the garbage we have save the kids who on a low wage are doing us proud.We have to dump deadwood to make space for real players. Trust Mikel is working behind the scenes.Real players will come as per their commitments either now or summer. Mikel will be remembered as the Principle who rusticated the nuisance, and maybe your hero was one of them, so the anger can be justified.

  6. Dan, Dan, Dani boy…
    This is actually the most impressed I have been with Arsenal in years. We are moving out players with dead weight salaries, who are past their prime.
    I hope they continue and move out Willian, Mustafi, Luiz, Torreira, and either Lacazette or Aubameyang.
    Now they need to learn from past mistakes and stop signing older players to huge contracts. I would hope they have learned the difficulty of selling these older players.
    Finally, take these savings and invest in younger, committed players that fit the system. Players that will either thrive or could be sold to make a profit, that could then be reinvested for new players.
    This cycle of getting older players who aren’t to par, who hinder the development of younger players, and then end up leaving us for free: Is not sustainable!

      1. Dan, getting to 8th or 11th has not happened overnight; it has been a regression over time. Therefore it will take time to repair the damage of poor financial and player management of past administrations and to rebuild the status of the Club.

  7. Fans celebrate because they are reduced to scrap. But am sure if fans were in the stadiums Arteta wouldn’t have a job. The plandemic is working!!!!

  8. This just another AFTV attack? Okay… Also, Bruno wasn’t bought during a global pandemic. We’ve bought Auba for 60mill+ in Jan just a few seasons ago. Lets look at some of our big transfers in recent years that havent worked out actually…Pepe cost 72mill, Mustafi 35mill, Saliba 30mill (doesnt play), Torreira 25mill, Xhaka 35mill… I dont like Kroenke either but maybe it’s time to admit that we HAVE had funds but we just spend them very poorly and our recruitment is awful. Partey and Auba really been the only big money purchases to be satisfied with, Laca a moderate success. That’s not a good recent record. Save money, fix recruitment so we can have a more effective squad for the future. Article is talking about top 4 and stuff like tht… Maybe that is the new goal for us because the reality is that we are barley a Top 6 side now. And I dont believe lack of investment is the main culprit. Poor behind-the-scene appointments, poor recruitment are the main offenders.

    1. Didn’t we sell theo , giroud and coquelin to pay for Auba ?
      We only got pepe on a generous repayment plan of 15 !million a year , same summer we got 35 million for Iwobi
      We brought lacca but sold the ox

      1. I will love the same pills you’re taking.

        We ONLY got pepe on a generous repayment plan of 15 !million a year , same summer we got 35 million for Iwobi
        Really?

        Martinelli
        David Luiz
        Saliba
        Tierney
        This players must be on a free transfer or rather a Man United players.

        1. Dude , I never said arsenal never spent money
          I’m saying he doesn’t have ambition to take that extra step
          E.g. – we lose Europa League final and need a defender
          We buy Luiz – sell koscielney
          Martinell I 6 million – sell belic for 7
          23 for Tierney – 35 for Iwobi
          Also sold monreal and ospina

          Last Jan man u brought Fernandez
          Compare that to us

          As for ‘ what pills I’m taking ‘ yes or no , am I wrong to say he’s failing ?

          1. I can see you really have something apart from football reason against Kroenke.
            If not you won’t ignore the price of David Luiz compared to Kocielney or neither will you use Tierney for Iwobi when you have Pepe to compare with iwobi.

            But anything to suite your logic I think.

  9. As we are losing £2-3 million for every match played without fans then of course we applaud saving 600 grand a week, it’s called good business management. We have a sustainable model meaning Kroenke doesn’t put money in and doesn’t take any out. I don’t like Kroenke and am not defending him but let’s have some balance!

          1. Dan, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment owns 100% of Arsenal FC; therefore it is theirs to do with as they like within the rules of the FA and the laws of the land.
            You either have to be granted the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, or save feverishly to come up with £2 billion for a buy out.

  10. Hey Dan. I do understand and appreciate the direction and fundamental theme of your admonition. I however, have my reservations though and they may not be without the fact that my reasoning of the winter EPL window being primarily for only temporary stopgaps signings in other words the window is largely not for the purpose of making wholesome purchases but rather ones that are fundamentally for the interim purpose of checking any occurrences which were unplanned for and unforeseen. As such, it is on that basis that I support these windows activities by the team.

  11. Rather than look at what the club are saving in terms of money, we should look at what they are gaining!

    By releasing these players they are gaining some much needed breathing space. Should they find the right players to bring in?

    This has been needed for such a long time. The squad is massive and we have all wanted to see the back of some of these players. More is needed to leave though and then maybe we can see some more quality arrive?

    1. But we are not bringing players in ?
      That’s like saying allowing Ramsey freed up wages
      And ?
      Left us with 0 goals from midfield

      1. Is Kroenke responsible for players transfers?

        Blame this on our transfer management and stop been bitter on Kroenke

          1. Oh sorry
            I forgot, he do come to train the players and even captains our team.

            He must be a bad captain in the dressing room.

    2. The Real Vera; You nailed it buddy. David Russa, Kroenke’s business model is secure with fans like you. By the way have you bought your Odergard shirt yet? Another point. Pre Kroenke Arsenal were a club which lived within its means run by real football people who made smart decisions. The envy of true football fans. After the club sold out to Kroenke it has become what it is.

  12. Any fan that thinks that arsenal is going the right way is either a fool or a hater simple, arsenal rather should be above Chelsea and other clubs in england except (m’unt) and should not be too far from them but reverse is the case here

  13. Smart fans have been waking up and rejecting this anti-Kroenke propaganda/witch-hunt. How is Arsenal saving money doing it for Kroenke? Do Arsenal and Kroenke share a bank account? WAKE UP and realise Arsenal is a separate entity from Kroenke. Kroenke has NEVER taken money out of this club. Let’s stop blaming him for our problems.

    1. Count me as one of them at least when spending is concerned. We are one of the biggest spenders and the biggest wasters at that. He may have other shortcomings but spending is not one of them.

  14. What I see in this article is the voice of a bitter writer getting angry with Arsenal and Arteta for pushing out his idol.

    In his last article (“Arsenal More Class Or Less Ambition Then Chelsea”?)
    He wrote about Abramovich sacking coaches and Kroenke not doing the same but you ignore the fact he left our(you and I) Idol(Wenger) to take charge of every transfer during those period. And sacked 2 coaches and 1 Temp in 3years.

    You wrote about Lampard winning more trophies than Arteta as a player but you ignore Arteta winning trophy as a Manager even when he was only a manager for 7months and Lampard has none as a Manager of over 2years.

    He talked about Kroenke not spending money last season and only loan players but completely ignore those we spent over £150M on.

    I wonder why you don’t write an Article about Arsenal coaches(starting from Wenger) spending money on the wrong players.
    Buying Mustafi instead of Van Dirk
    Xhaka instead of Kante etc
    This are players who cost less than ours the same season.
    Other coaches
    Zaha instead of Pepe etc.

    I don’t see all this as the owner not spending but coaches at fault for buying the wrong players.

    Check out this Values
    Sanchez £60M bought for £35M
    Ramsey £40M bought for £5M
    Ozil maybe £20M bought for £42M
    Mustafi maybe £15M bought for £35M
    Socratis maybe £5M bought for £17M

    This are 5 players we bought for £134M and should have recoup £140M but all left for free.
    But I believe to you, it was Kroenke who told the coaches not to sell them so the players can sit on his money which contradict your articles about him making more money than spending it.

    If you want to blame Kroenke, blame him on not employing the right men for the job(but that will as well contradict your opinion about Wenger not getting sacked early right?)

    Fans are celebrating cos they know the money is not going to Kroenke’s pocket but Arsenal’s pocket except you want me to believe Kroenke has been spending over £250M in the last 2years from his own pocket.

    1. @Bobs, great thinking sir, I love your analysis. Some expect all these problems you listed to be solved in a year by a new coach who we know has great potential as a manager but also has mistakes as a human like we all are. It’s not humane to expect a problem of almost 15 years be solved just like it never happened

    2. I said last Jan we only loaned players ?
      I never said koronke doesn’t spend money
      I said he doesn’t have ambition of a Chelsea or the Manchester clubs
      We never won prem under koronke and are 11th so hardly a stretch is it ?
      Can you break down the 250 in two years for me ?

    3. Dude will step in when your lieing

      Spent 73 this summer
      144 summer before so that’s 210 not 250

      This summer raised 16 million
      Last summer 50
      So 66 million take away from 210 is 144million
      So you lied by 106 !million

      55 redundancies then saved 2 million
      He’s slashed wage bill loads
      And took out a loan Of 120 million

      If your happy with that then great but I believe we have to do more to ever be champions

      1. Now I’m 100℅ sure you’re so obsessed with your idol which made you so mad to cook things that suit your perspective.

        You talk about him making 55 redundant and making £2M at the process. But you never mentioned the salaries of the player signed and players who renew.

        Oh sorry, he doesn’t pay their salary, Man United does.
        Or maybe that will flush off your argument right?

        With your logic
        Add up…
        Luiz
        Pepe
        Tierney
        Gabriel
        Auba
        Martinelli
        Saka
        William
        Holding
        Ceballos
        Partey and many more who we signed and Renew in that 2years period.
        Add all there salaries together and see if he didn’t spend more than £250M in 2years.

        And mind you we spend more than £73M cos we paid some cash for Willian apart from is salary. But that won’t count right?

  15. Excellent Article Dan, like i said .. Kroenke is a business man who puts priority on his profit rather then Arsenal’s stature.

    We should have invest on a big player to show our intend and not another loan signing.

  16. Another anti AFTV article. Finally the deadwood and underperforming players are being shipped out but some people are still complaining. The most useless article I’ve seen in a long while. Quit whining and grow up Dan.

  17. Stan Kroenke has been an absolutely wretched owner and not just because he’s risked absolutely nothing personally to get a fourfold return on his original investment, but because he actually propagated the notion, with his accomplice Wenger, that the stadium was a necessary evil if we aspired to become one of the greatest footballing franchises the world had ever known

    as we know now, this was simply a ruse to trick fans into paying for “his” stadium, which not only required fans to pay the highest ticket prices in the land, while simultaneously witnessing the selling off of several of our greatest assets along the way, it likewise put absolutely no burden whatsoever on the very individual(s) who was clearly going to benefit the most…this, of course, would have been a lot easier to digest if things had turned out differently, in spite of our absentee landlord’s abject indifference, but that wasn’t the case

    to make matters worse he removed the one individual, David Dein, who would have worked tirelessly to come up with innovative ways to change what quickly became an incredibly stagnant narrative…instead he left our once honorable manager, who was in way over his head, at the helm of a largely rudderless ship

    without any real oversight, Wenger would reshape the organization in his own, now increasingly more fragile image…our once innovative approach, on and off the pitch, would become stale and antiquated, without the necessary checks and balances in place…decisions would be oftentimes made out of a position of desperation, not strength, which led to poor recruitment practices and inept contractual decisions

    so free transfers, both in and out, cost-prohibitive contracts, poor decisions regarding developmental assets and even a totally mismanaged player swap, have all led us to this very place…so if you want to blame Kroenke, that’s fine, just make sure you do it for the right reasons…his original sin or “lie” about his vision for the club couldn’t have possibly have been perpetrated without having Wenger squarely on board, so for this I blame Arsene, whereas if you blame Stan for being so consumed by his own selfish financial aspirations that he intentionally pushed out Dein because he felt this could complicate matters, then that’s an argument I can get on board with whole-heartedly

    for now, the moves are needed to finally get us out from under the ominous shadow of Wenger, so I’m not surprised whatsoever that eliminating deadwood players/contracts are the biggest concern and focus, …as for bringing in new players, I would rather wait until the summer because I’m still not sure about Arteta’s ability to recruit properly, especially after the WIllian move, so maybe it’s best we take the second-half of the season to truly evaluate our present roster and manager…furthermore, in a self-sustaining model the owner isn’t actually profiting from these cost-cutting moves, so long as those monies are allocated towards player acquisition come the summer

  18. I wish to advise Dan Smith and those in his category to become less emotional about Kroenke and reason a bit. Would any of us be happy if our beloved Arsenal was relegated because of bankruptcy? Remember some teams have been relegated because of this very reason. Why would any person with a soul hate another individual to that extent? Is Kroenke Arsenal’s enemy? If he makes a profit that is his right as the owner of the club.
    The people you are castigating for celebrating Arsenal’s saving money understand the modern game very well and know that any team which fails to meet the required financial standards is relegated! I would expect a genuine lover of football to know that. We should avoid vindictiveness to get the better of us. As long as Kroenke is the owner of our football club we, as fans, are expected to accord him some degree of respect. We don’t have to love him but we should not denigrate him for no good cause. We could inadvertently hurt our club thinking we are hurting Kroenke! Let reason reign in our minds.

  19. The good folk on AFT are just breathing a sigh of relief that after years of clamouring,Arsenal are finally clearing out the deadwood. It is a sign of good will in the hope that better and more professional decisions will henceforth eventuate.

  20. If anyone wants to see the source of the financial issues at Arsenal FC, take the time to compare the wage structures for players at various clubs in the EPL for 2020-21.
    You may be surprised at how much more Arsenal pays players compared to other clubs in mid table or above Arsenal in the table.
    West Ham United currently sit 4th and have 2 players earning £100k per week wages or more (highest Andriy Yarmolenko £126,500). Leicester City currently 3rd have 3 players earning £100k per week or more (highest Jamie Vardy £140,000).
    For comparison Arsenal currently 9th has 10 players earning £100k per week or more (highest Pierre-Emerik Aubameyang £250,000).

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