By Mark Baber
October 17 – Arsenal’s AGM held on Thursday was a happy affair, following the club’s FA Cup triumph and sound financial figures. Arsene Wenger scotched rumours of a move to Monaco and reiterated he intends to buy a defender in January, but the club was keen to stress suggestions of a £200 million cash pile are well wide of the mark.
The AGM provides the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust and fans to ask the Board some direct questions about the running of the club. In the light of the continuing profitability of the club (which remarkably has not made a loss since 2002) and increases in revenue from sponsorship and matchday revenue the fans were concerned that money is not siphoned off by the owners but goes into strengthening the squad.
The concern the club are sitting on a cash pile and not releasing funds to the manager for transfers was answered by CEO Ivan Gazidis. “There is inaccurate analysis about cash available. We are not hoarding a vast cash balance. We do not try to broadcast our cash situation but situation is more complex,” he said
Pointing out that Arseanl had made significant investment in players this summer, and payments for previous transfers were still outstanding Gazidis said: “We do try to keep a reasonable amount for the transfer budget. It is quite untrue that we are sitting on a huge cash pile for some unspecified reason.”
A question about a £3 million payment to Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE) for advisory services was answered by Sir Chips Keswick who stated KSE ” have an extensive experience and it is of upmost important that we use it to best advantage.”
Complaints about ticket pricing were met by Gazidis who pointed out that prices had grown by just 1.5% since 2006-07 below inflation and growth in wages and that demand for ticket continues to far exceed supply.
On the Fanshare scheme Gazidis confirmed: “Mr Kroenke and the Arsenal board have given Fanshare around £250,000 of club’s money to cover the running of the scheme. We have never sought or received any funding. The funding could not go on forever. There was always an understanding that it needed to become self-sufficient. The Arsenal board have more than lived up to its promises in relation to Fanshare.”
On Safe Standing Gazidis said Arsenal were open to the idea but more information was required.
On playing Premier League games overseas Gazidis said Arsenal was open to new ideas but not one of the clubs behind the idea.
In his remarks Wenger criticised the new UEFA seeding scheme for the Champions League saying: “It is not completely justifiable but we can live with that. It’s not a big problem. It is advantaging teams who do not respect financial fair-play.”
Wenger stressed the importance of instilling players with a loyalty to the club and making them feel part of something bigger and stronger, of implementing more measures to prevent injuries and of how he had no intention to stop working hard for Arsenal or moving to Monaco.
Sir Chips was re-elected and Josh Kroenke was appointed to the Board, underlining Stan Kroenke’s longer-term commitment to the club.
Although the club were eager to correct overblown estimations of the club’s cash reserve, it is clear the club have now turned a corner in terms of no longer being dependent on player sales. In terms of challenging Manchester United as England’s most powerful club financially, Arsenal have a long way to go, but continued on-pitch success and increases in commercial revenue from secondary sponsors may bring this target within sight.
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