The letter in full Dear Ivan, We write to you as Arsenal’s largest and fastest-growing supporters’ group, to conveyour deep concern at the current state of our team going into the new season. In early June, around season ticket renewal time, you were widely quoted following your Q&A event where you spoke about the club’s new financial firepower and ambition moving forward. Many fans saw this as the club finally about to break free from the shackles of moving stadium; new commercialdeals were coming into place, we had a vast amount of cash available in the bank, profit from the Queensland Road property project was secured, the vast increase in TV revenue was about to land on our doorstep, and aftertreading water since moving from Highbury it seemed as if we were finally going to push on. What has happened since then is nothing short of a disgrace. There have been noises coming out of the club over the summer that the market was slow, that other clubs weren’t doing much, and that things take time if you’re after top-quality players. We feel all of these were poor excuses, designed to deflect focus awayfrom our shortcomings. The only positive of the summer has been therelease of many players who were generally considered ‘dead wood’ – and naturally this frees up more cash for investment in the team. But with the departure of these players,virtually no movement has come in the opposite direction and we’re now left with a squad severely lacking in depth and experience. Indeed, the squad registered for the Champions League in the last week had to be padded out with kids. As a group we have been concerned for some time that the Board running our club has lost sight of the raison d’etre – i.e. we areArsenal Football Club; not a business purely focused on posting profits year after year. You will have seen the results of our end-of-season survey, which came out in favour of Arsene Wenger but with 70 per cent stating that he has too much control over transfer negotiations and setting of wage levels at theclub. The same survey revealed that 87% of fans feel the current board of Arsenal is out of touch with the feeling among fans and that 73% feel less valued by the club since we moved stadium. It is our view as a group that the board of Arsenal is too relaxed about the competitiveness of our team, and that as longas a top-four place is secured, it is a case of ‘job done’. This should never be the case but, despite hearing you say you’re not happy every time we end a season with nothing to really cheer about, nothing changes. So in June following your statement of intent,fans were rightly hopeful but what has happened since then? Yet again we’ve spent the summer dithering while others around us have strengthened, and once more we start the season playing catch-up. With five competitive matches due before the transfer window closes, there is every chance that ourseason could be dealt a hammer blow before we’ve had a chance to take stock, and this weekend’s defeat at home to Aston Villa should act as a huge wake-up call. We are now in a situation where we’re faced with a carbon copy of 2011, where it took an8-2 humiliation at Manchester Unitedto force a ‘trolley dash’ on the final day of the transfer window. Of course by then it was too late. For Arsenal to be in that situation once is unacceptable; for it to happen twice in three years will be unforgivable. It is imperative that the board of Arsenal does its job and manages the Manager – an employee of the club you are supposed to be running. What are Arsene Wenger’s targets / KPIs set by the Board every year? Is the he not even answerable to the board, with free rein to do as he pleases as long as he helps the business achieve a profit? Is he having to do all the running himself when it comes to transfers or if support is there, is he taking it? Clarity is required here because somethingclearly isn’t right at the club when it comes tothe acquisition of new players. You put all the focus on the Arsene Wenger yourself at that Q&A session in June, but to fans there is little evidence of questions being asked of him; this despite approachingthe end of the transfer window with no sign of needed, established quality coming in. Does the board feel that it’s been a good summer? Because we’ve now lost our opening game of the season, our squad is already blitzed by injury, once more today there were fans coming to blows in the stands. As a board member, does this even bother you? Of course if we used the funds we do have available, brought in top-quality players and competed for prizes, in would come better commercial deals, you wouldn’t have as muchtrouble trying to get corporate punters back into the stadium, and naturally the more successful we are it becomes easier to attractbetter players. Or is the board too short-sighted to realise this?
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 11:37:35 +0000
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