Ian Henry
For the last couple of years I have greatly enjoyed Ivan Gazidis’ Q&A with the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust. I can’t make it this year, but I couldn’t resist setting out 10 questions or issues which seem to me to be highly pertinent right now. If anyone who goes is stuck for a question, feel free to borrow one of these.
1. Had the team tried that bit harder (you know, focused a bit more like Gael Clichy says the team does when away from home) and finished top of our CL group we would almost certainly have had a much easier draw in the first knock-out round and probably advanced to the quarter finals at least. Similarly league points thrown away versus, for example, Newcastle, Spurs, WBA and Aston Villa, cost us at least 3rd place and probably 2nd. The additional revenue gained from going another round of the CL and finishing 3rd (or even 2nd) rather than 4th would have greatly exceeded the revenue the club will gain from raising season ticket prices. Have you explained this to the players, especially those most culpable for the lost points? Have you explained this to the manager and emphasised the need, consequently, for him to sign players who can play in a manner consistent with the club’s self-sustaining business model or to change the way he sets up the team or indeed both? If you have, what reaction did you get? If you haven’t done this, why not?
2. Nasri and Clichy have, we are led to believe, got just one year on their contracts; what is the cut-off point for them to sign new contracts before they are put on the transfer list? If they refuse to move to another club and refuse to sign new contracts so that the they can run down their contracts like Flamini did, will the club continue to keep them in the first team squad or will the club say something like, no new contract, no place in the first team and put them in the reserves?
3. What objectives does the club set for the manager each season? How was the manager’s performance evaluated this season? Have specific objectives been set for the manager for next season? If so, what are they? If no objectives have been set, why not?
4. The captain has been quoted as saying that no manager (of a leading club) in Spain would be able to go five years without a trophy; it is inconceivable that Chelsea or Manchester United would allow this situation and it is also inconceivable that Liverpool will accept five years without a trophy from their new manager. I bet Manchester City will fire Mancini if he doesn’t win a trophy next year. What is it with Arsenal that means the manager’s position is inviolate despite the lack of trophies?
5. At one point this season we had something like 17 players on loan; some of these loans were to help players like Ramsey get match fitness; those cases aside, what is the strategy behind the loan system – to put players in the shop window to raise money to support the club’s revenue stream or to give players real game experience with a view to putting these players in the first team squad next season? How many of the players who were on loan last season will be part of the first team this season? Which ones?
6. The club has introduced a GPS system which is designed to help reduce injuries and improving recovery time; what has been the real benefit of this system?
7. When he was signed, Havard Nordveit commanded a fee, reportedly around £1m; this year he was let go without playing a game, despite having been integrated into the first team squad (after all he was in the team photo!). And there was no fee apparently. Why?
8. If the team fails to get through the CL qualifying tie, it will be in the Europa League: what will be the financial impact on the club of such a failure? How would the club seek to make up the reduced revenue? By raising ticket prices again? Or would the club consider giving season ticket holders a rebate on the season tickets for such a failure?
9. Why does the club consistently misreport the attendances at home matches? Surely the system which admits fans can count the number of people actually in the stadium? Wouldn’t Health & Safety want to know how many people were in the stadium?
10. Why doesn’t the reserve team play at the stadium on at least a couple of occasions a season, with free admission to members?
11. Yes, I know I said 10, but like the stadium attendance counter, my maths is occasionally a bit suspect: ideally I’d like to know if any player at the club has taken out a super injunction, but I am sure this would not be answered; so let me pose the question in this way – suppose one of the Arsenal players came to the club saying that his peccadilloes and other antics were about to be “exposed” in the Sunday press, how would the club react? Would, for example, the club organise and pay for all the legal costs of taking out a superinjunction or similar course of action for the player? Or would the club say to the player, “sorry son, you’re on your own”? Purely hypothetical I know, but just imagine that it were to happen, what would the club’s policy be?
