Michael Simmons
Arsenal Club Level Renewal Reminder
Dear Michael Simmons,
On 12th February 2013, the Club Level Renewal window opened for Season 2013/14. We wanted to remind you that if you renew your membership online by Friday 1st March 2013 you will be eligible to go on an exclusive Arsenal Legends Stadium Tour designed exclusively for our Platinum Members. We will announce the dates for these tours well in advance.*
To renew online, please click here. Once logged in with your membership details, please scroll to the bottom of the page and enter the 'Season Tickets' section. For more information in regards to Club Level Renewals please view the Club Level Renewals brochure here. You can also contact your Account Manager, our Premium Memberships Team , on phone 0845 262 0001 or by email at [email protected]. Furthermore, you can visit the Premium Membership Stand in the Royal Oak pre-match on any matchday to talk to the Premium Membership Team.
Please disregard this email if you have submitted your completed renewal form in the past two days.
Once again, thank you for your continued support of the Club.
Kind Regards,
Jim Harding
, Head of Premium Sales, Service and Operations
From: Michael Simmons
Subject: Re: Arsenal Club Level Renewal Reminder
To: "Arsenal FC"
Date: Tuesday, 26 February, 2013, 17:17
At the moment, I am having a hard time enthusing myself sufficiently to renew, even though this would be my 40th year as a season ticket holder. The price is very high, and I could use the money elsewhere, but that is not the real point.
I feel, as do a number of my Arsenal supporting friends, that the Club is taking us for suckers. I do not know how to distribute blame between the majority shareholder, the executive directors, the board as a whole, and the manager, but things are badly wrong. To have the fourth biggest salary bill in the league, while supporting a number of players who are no way good enough to appear in the team shows woeful player selection. Clearly the manager has been badly at fault, but is it only down to him?
Nobody, least of all me, questions the superb impact that Arsene Wenger had, when he first became manager and for a number of years thereafter. Almost everybody questions his current grip on affairs. It is not so much that the best players are sold, but that they no longer want to play for the club. Why? Why? Why? It is clearly not only down to money, but even more to ambition. The players have it, but they do not perceive that the Club does any longer. For proud supporters, that is not good enough.
Anybody with a practical knowledge of Management understands burn out, and recognises the symptoms. Just look at Margaret Thatcher. Poor Arsene Wenger displays all the characteristics, including increasing paranoia coupled with total inability to delegate. When away games are televised, the body language and lack of communication between the manager and Steve Bould is worthy of a study all to itself. It would be doing Arsene Wenger a service to release him now from his responsibilities. People ask me who should replace him. My answer at this stage is almost anybody, as the change itself would galvanise the team. However, to manage Arsenal is a great privilege, and I am sure that it would be possible to choose a great successor from among a distinguished list of candidates.
I now turn to the Board, and the majority shareholder. Are you really content with striving only for a top four position? If so you should depart, leaving the Club in the hands of people with greater ambition. As an aside, we are going to find it difficult to achieve a top four finish this season, and it seems to me that the ever steeper slide into mediocrity may be difficult to halt. In other words, once we are out of the top four, unless there are radical changes made, it may be hard to regain that position.
The feeling that comes across from the Board and the majority shareholder is one of complacency. You are satisfied with the status quo, provided that the present financial model is maintained. We are expected to pay the highest ticket prices to watch a team which is recognised as second rate. This situation cannot continue. If ten thousand other season ticket holders feel the same as me, and refuse to renew, unless and until drastic changes are made, the much cherished financial model is blown to smithereens. I sense a lack of respect from the Board towards the paying customers, but the withdrawal of our money will have a salutary effect. Do not tell me that, if we fail to renew, there is a large waiting list ready to take over our seats. The combined effects of stratospheric prices, the recession, and poor performances on the pitch will ensure many empty and unpaid for seats next season. It may have escaped your notice that there are already many empty seats this season, though of course they are paid for in advance, but next season could be an entirely different situation. With the collapse of attendances, Mr Kroenke and the Board will be forced out of their complacency, and have to take steps to remedy the situation. Act now, before you are overtaken by a financial tsunami.
Best wishes
Michael Simmons
