Fozzy's mate
In an article written in the early part of last season called The Multi Ownership/Dough-Trousering Model, I attempted to articulate my views on those at the very top of OUR club. As we reach the end of another season where we largely played the role of also-rans, I am compelled to write again.
Since the last piece, some of the "multi-owners" have now sold on at a king’s ransom and dear Danny Fiszman, a true Arsenal boardroom legend, has sadly passed away. Oh, and I won't give any credit to the Old Etonian/fart/fool, who, despite selling on, still sits as non-exec chairman, extolling his love for the manager and castigating the fans that have helped to fill his pockets with silver.
So now we are left with Silent Stan, aka the Denver Dough-Trouserer, owning roughly 70% and Alisher Usmanov roughly the other 30%. In recent years, emotions have run very high at AGMs and shareholders’ meetings, with the fans by and large angry with the arrogance and disdain displayed by PHW and OGL towards the shareholding fans, with their attitude of almost "what's it got to do with you lot" being the overriding feeling.
So, this season at the AGM, it became more of a rehearsed play with pre-submitted questions and prepared, scripted answers. I was interested to watch on Sky Sports as any number of fans leaving the meeting expressed anger at what they had seen - lifelong fans and football analysts alike, seething at the lack of ambition. One football analyst said "they haven't got a clue, all they talk about is wanting to finish fourth. This is Arsenal, they should want more."
For much of the last few seasons, the fans’ boiling frustrations have turned to the manager and, as we all know, he is far from blameless. But he is validated and fuelled by those above him. Before the old guard sold up, they had spun us the line of needing to move from Highbury to the bland and soulless bowl in order for us to compete with Europe’s elite. What we now know is that it was in large part to send the share price into orbit before they opted out. I hoped without expectation that Kroenke would demand more, but alas no. Both the old guard and the man from Denver have heartily bought into Wenger’s redefinition of success and the creation of the third/fourth place trophy with enthusiasm as it suited their financial goals.
The natives at the bowl are uneasy and restless, as it will now be at least eight years between (real) trophies. But many of us feared several years ago, and many more now concur, that this is because, for the boardroom, success is not measured by putting silver on the mantelpiece. In fact, many have gone further by stating on various fora that the owners do not deserve to be in the Champions League as qualification is used merely as a cash cow for those at the top of our club.
When Mr Self-Sustainable was questioned regarding the huge transfer-profit last summer, he said we were keeping our powder dry for the next window!
As I said, the man from Alsace is far from being without blame. If we had an ambitious forward-thinking board, I would be for a change of leadership on the bench. My favoured choice would be the serene Roberto Martinez, who very much reminds me of the Wenger of 15 years ago. But my fear is that, if OGL were gracefully or forcibly to move/be moved on, we would get a very different type of replacement. Witness the scenes at Villa and Blackburn, where two puppet managers reign, hand- picked by supine boards similar to ours, who want to take out without giving and sell their best players year on year. These managers are taken on as they are so grateful for the job that they will take all the brickbats and abuse and peddle the owners’ rubbish until civil war breaks out in the stands.
Several times we have been at the point of such unrest, notably at the end of last season, when Mr Self-Sustainable told us that the 6.5% increase was required to allow us to compete in the market! Up until this season, journalists have sometimes called us ungrateful for daring to criticise Arsène, but, after the Norwich groundhog day, even they sympathise with the relentless and repetitive pattern.
As we head into the summer with yet another period of anxiety ahead, and the loss of our best and only world-class player a very real possibility, that unrest is not far away. I am pleased we have signed Podolski but at the same time dread Gazidis arrogantly telling us we have signed a world-class replacement, quoting his international stats, and conveniently omitting the detail regarding the £25 million profit. I get depressed with all the age-old tales of needing more commercial revenue to compete at the top. If you have an unused cash reserve of circa £120 million and are 20 points from the top, does it matter if that reserve is £200, £300 or £400 million, when you don't use the resources you have?
So here we go - West Brom away and yet another chance for RVP to drag us to the third-place trophy, or another opportunity to choke for the fifth game in a row. But whatever happens on Sunday, we are the Arsenal and we should want more.
