Kevin Whitcher
“Thanks for your support and interest in our affairs.” So the words of chairman Peter Hill-Wood ended the 2012 Arsenal Holdings PLC Annual General Meeting. “Our affairs”? Who owns the club? Certainly, those in the audience more than any of those on the podium with the exception of Stan Kroenke. However, it symbolized the disdain with which Hill-Wood viewed the minority shareholders. “The same lot” was how he described those that voted against the re-election of Lord Harris after Sir Chips Keswick’s own re-election had received some dissenters.
It was a lot more interesting than AGMs used to be, because for a number of years, people were generally happy with the direction of the club. Now, the board are relying on Financial Fair Play to level the playing field, and CEO Ivan Gazidis is persuaded by other clubs paying lip service to it in meetings. Not only will UEFA be instigating it, he told us, the Premier League are devising something similar. So the future’s looking good, he informed the meeting, just hang on and wait until these new sponsorship deals come on stream in 2014. The trouble is, there is the possibility that by then, Arsenal may not be in the Champions League to maximize their appeal, as the team have been declining gradually for a number of seasons, in spite of the ever-spiraling wage bill.
We are overachieving every season given our spending, Gazidis told the assembled. Eh? Well in that case spend some of the £60 million in the player trading account sitting in the bank and let’s overachieve even more! When wages and transfers are combined, Arsenal are – I believe - the fourth highest spending club in the country. So making the Champions League should be achieving pretty much what you would expect. In the days when Arsenal were in the top two spenders, pre-Abramovich, then they were habitually top two in the league. There is no great achievement there, given the spending. Manchester United, between 2007 and today, are the overachievers. So there is an element of spin there, although if you were selective and just looked at the transfer spend, then you can make this argument.
Unlike previous years, Hill-Wood was not given a sheet of paper to read out the answers to pre-submitted questions. The man has trouble with his eyesight and with his hearing. So for the most part, Gazidis answers the questions. In his opening words, he started off by congratulating the Arsenal Ladies’ team for their achievement, which was not a strong place to start, but perhaps shows how far the club has fallen. Clutching at straws some would call it. He continually referenced ‘the journey we are on,’ to the extent that for a moment I thought I was watching ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. There was talk about the club’s sense of ambition, which was later pulled up by Nigel Phillips of the Arsenal Supporters Trust who reminded us that Robin van Persie left precisely because Arsenal did not match his own ambitions – which are presumably to win another trophy before his career finishes. He couldn’t afford to wait around until FFP kicks in, if it will have any effect in the first place. The board are not interested in using Alisher Usmanov’s money to enhance the team’s chances because – as such strong advocates of FFP – it would make them look hypocritical. Hmmmm. Hypocracy and the Arsenal directors. Discuss.
Arsenal’s principles are independence and self-reliance, the CEO told us, keeping our future in our own hands. So we don’t plan to go into administration, then? Great news. How about trying to speculate sensibly then, instead of posting profits year on year, mainly due to selling our best players who get fed up of waiting for the day when Arsenal become winners again. “Everyone is trying to imitate Arsenal,” Gazidis said. Not if you look at the huge recent commercial growth of the teams the club are lagging behind they are not. Those are the guys to imitate. Arsenal’s conservatism – their actually limited sense of ambition – means they are falling behind year on year, moving closer to Tottenham than Barcelona, although in fairness to Tottenham, they are at least active in the transfer market and able to move on players they don’t want rather than have them hanging around like rotting fish. What handing over the answers to questions to Gazidis achieved was that the clock could be eaten with waffle. He spoke about keeping the values of the club’s 126 year history. Perhaps he should read up on Sir Henry Norris sometime. Then again, the way he acts sometines, maybe he has.
Arsene Wenger is under no obligation to attend these meetings, even if he is a director in all but name. He had a very long face at times, feeling the mood was a little ugly. He gave some hard stares at the audience before his turn came to speak. Significantly, there was no initial round of applause for him taking the mic, which is the first time I can remember this happening. He seemed subdued, his voice rough and slightly cracked. “We should not be devastated to finish third,” he said, “I will not be here if we finished 15th”. Of the last two matches, “we hit the wall in an unexplainable way”, but don’t worry, “the attitude of the team is fantastic.” Really? Anyway, no concerns over the silverware drought because there are in fact five trophies. Oh yes. First is the Premier League, second is the Champions League, third is qualifying for the Champions League, fourth is the FA Cup and fifth is the League Cup. “I am ready to listen if you can convince me I am wrong in this. I accept every different opinion.” So why no bus top parade since 2004 (they couldn’t be bothered in 2005 because the FA Cup wasn’t worth getting the bus started for), given that there is a new trophy to show off that we weren’t aware of?
The manager also told us he was happy to meet the fans at the end of the season. As he was addressing shareholders, was this a reference to the supposedly annual Q&A event? Last time he took questions at the season’s end was in May 2009. He held another in September 2010, but nothing in 2011 and zilch in 2012. He emphasized that supporters needed to be united with the club, a refrain from last season. It was a speech that lacked his usual zest, the man is looking weary.
Stan Kroenke was put on the spot. One questioner asked him directly if he would meet with fanshare members to discuss the future of the scheme and Ivan Gazidis answered on his behalf to avoid him being compromised and having to say no. The message was that we run the club as a board, it isn’t about an individual. Tim Payton of the AST then reminded Stan that he had – when he issued his offer document to buy up all remaining shares on reaching 30% due to the death of Danny Fiszman – agreed to meet with supporters, and had yet to do so. Kroenke maintained he had. “I must have missed something.” Is there anyone out there who has met with Kroenke since he became the majority shareholder? Have we missed something?
It was quite clear that, presumably fed up at the lack of progress getting shares released by the club for the fanshare scheme, the Trust are on the warpath, and were eager to pick holes in some of the messages coming from the board. Things got unruly a couple of times, and it was on the verge of becoming a free-for-all. What was most encouraging to this observer was that Kroenke can be under no illusion that the shareholding fans are content with the “journey” the club is on. They don’t buy FFP and they are not happy about the amount of money that, as supporters, they are having to hand over to the club in return for season upon season of what they see as a team that is not actually good enough to genuinely compete.
Ivan Gazidis’ huge wage hike and bonus payment were awarded because “we had a good year” explained the chairman – the club actually made an operating loss of over £30 million last year. So I am uncertain what the CEO would have to do to have a bad year. One lady asked if there was some thought to having both female and younger board members. Aside from Gazidis, everyone on the podium was either nearing or well past retirement age. No, was the answer. Don’t worry, these codgers may be rich, but they haven’t discovered the elixir of eternal life. At least four of them will be pushing up daisies by the time the Emirates’ stadium naming rights deal expires in 2021. We’ve waited this long for a trophy, although we might get a more dynamic board of directors before we see silverware again.
The chairman tried to wind up the meeting. “I think we’re really had enough questions if you don’t mind,” but relented as a shareholder approached the mic, “one more or we’ll be here all day”. Afterwards, his line with which I opened – “Thanks for your support and interest in our affairs.” The meeting is a formality. Votes are symbolic as if anything is outvoted, Stan Kroenke simply needs to raise his hand. However, they are getting more entertaining with the years, as people are less prepared to tolerate the half-truths and spin, frustrated with the direction the club are going in. Yes, Arsenal are on a sound financial footing. But they are doing nothing with it. There is no vision to speculate to accumulate. A lack of realization at how important it is to win trophies rather than just take part in a highly financial rewarding competition. Arsenal might not make next season’s Champions League unless the horrorshow that was the last two matches is addressed. But then again, what would change if they did miss out on the top four? Would we have to sell a top player to compensate? Heaven forbid – but hang on, aren’t we doing that already…
