It’s that time of the year again: David Ornstein’s time.
The BBC journalist’s click through rate goes through the roof during transfer crazy season and it sounds like he’s been wheeled out again, from some of the rumblings I’ve heard, not many of them good.
I don’t have any links because I think what he said was on radio, but according to the ever-reliable Ornacle, we have a paltry budget of £40million to spend this summer. If true it is a damming indictment of the previous management of Arsenal Football Club.
I get that we want to be a ‘self sustaining’ club. It’s admirable amongst the financially doped clubs that exist in Europe and specifically the Premier League right now. But if the £40million figure is true – and we have no reason to assume it’s not because it’s been quoted a number of times since about January – then it really poses a massive problem for Arsenal.
It suggests that we’re going one way and that’s south.
Of course I know that money isn’t everything. Of course I know that we have Leicester City example. But to put it in to context, the season Leicester City won the league they spent £55million on new players. Here we are four years later, with football inflation ever higher, and a budget that looks like a Championship side.
Last season Tottenham, Watford, Crystal Palace and Burnley spent less than £40million to improve their squads. Huddersfield spent £45million.
We all know that our squad is currently better than most of those teams, as a result we won’t need to be signing 10 players at £4million each but given that we probably need five or six replacements minimum given the exits this season, £40million will not get us very far.
And I’m afraid in my mind I keep going back to points in recent history and the running of the club by Gazidis, Kroenke and Wenger. It feels to me like Gazidis has royally screwed us over. The signing of Auba was great, but the dual deals of Özil and Mkhitaryan are financially crippling the club to the tune of £500k+ per week.
That’s £2million per month. On two players. One has chronically underperformed and the other has the talent but has nowhere near provided the output.
It’s negligence on a scale that is thoroughly unacceptable and Gazidis left Arsenal because he clearly knew this realisation was coming for the club. So like the bald rat that he is he scarpered.
But Kroenke is also to blame in this. He offers no direction, he provides little input, he cares about as much as he does for the people of St Louis, with whom he ripped the sporting part of their community apart when he moved the Rams in the US.
Kroenke’s sporting portfolio is littered with mediocrity and that’s what I fear right now. I fear that we’ll be heading for more of the same and this summer budget is just an example of this. Kroenke doesn’t need to declare much to the wider world any more. He can do the basics with companies house but the rest is guesswork from the likes of the AST.
A club with revenues of £439million+ per annum having a transfer budget of £40million. Less than 1% of its revenue. To put that in to context, Huddersfield made £125million+ in 2018, spending £45million. Arsenal earn three and a half times what Huddersfield do, yet they will have spent more this season than us.
It is utterly scandalous and is symptomatic of a club that is rudderless in leadership and financially crippled by its own mismanagement from people who have deserted the ship.
I’m angry this morning. Angry because the club I love feels like it is being driven in to mediocrity by absent owners and prior mismanagement.
And there’s nothing anything of us can do. we have to just sit here, pay our money, shut up and deal with vast revenues coming in and going out with little sign of improved quality. We’ve all talked of how Emery needs to be backed this summer but it looks like he’ll be chucked a few scraps and be asked to bake a wedding cake. At this rate it feels like he’ll be lucky to make a sandwich on that money.
This feels like a very dark time but hope on the horizon is that Europa League final and it feels like there’s more than just a trophy riding on it. Right now it feels like the immediate future of Arsenal will be relying on us winning that competition. Losing it will mean not only another European trophy evades us, but our ability to be more competitive where we think we should be next season goes out of the window too, which is a scary prospect.
Sorry for the doom and gloom blog guys, just how I feel this morning, which isn’t fun.
Catch you all tomorrow.
Excellent article with which I concur wholeheartedly.
Mediocrity!!! It’s been looking that way ever since Kronke took control.
At least 13 years of hearing that the transfer budget is limited due to the repayment of the stadium and now the ever-growing call of us being a self-sustaining’ club! (sounds like we be getting a new excuse about every ten years! )
Kronke really needs to sell up, and hand over the reins to someone who cares and is forward thinking, who is willing to try and win trophies, in the hope of receiving bigger sponsorship deals and prize money.
I am sure there is more to running a football club than just waiting for the gate receipts!
Stan only wants profits, Ivan … real stupid to hire him, knows nothing about British football passion, after all both are nons,, Wenger, he did well initially (and a lot was due to solid defence inherited from Graham. After that he bought stephanov, cygans, almunia, mustafi and the like!!) , … sorry to say he became a selfish idiot himself..any self respecting manager would know it was time to leave – long ago. Damage done and Emery has to pick up the trash.
Show some respect. Under Wenger we signed Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure and he gave Cashley his chance. They weren’t so bad. And under Wenger Lehmann, Eboue, Senderos, Toure and Flamini set a record in the Champions League that will stand the test of time.
Wenger & gazidis were complicit with kronke in this mess no question.with the former two taking most of the flak for what’s unfolded.But now their gone all future eyes should be will be on syrup.He no longer has front of house boys to protect him.It could very interesting if the lack of investment continues.The mob will then be baying for kronke.might just force him to sell up.heres hoping!!!!!!
We want that man to leave our beloved club because he is just sucking our team
Jesus Christ guys it’s not the end of the world listen the club has been badly run since the David Dein days.You people kiss his ass because of the signings he made but it was him who brought Kroenke along and it was the Arsenal board who convinced him of the self sustaining project.Arsene was just trying to get us the best he could ,top 4 and hopefully a cup here and there but the amount of bullshit I’ve read these last ten years is astounding.Why does nobody blame the marketing department at Arsenal.They signed a 10 year contract for 7 million per year with Nike for fuck sake while everyone else was changing them every 5 years.While we were celebrating the 30 million per year with Puma , both Manchester united and Cheslea were again renewing their deals.Does no one talk about these because it doesn’t suit their agenda?Wenger was performing miracles what people don’t understand is that they expected the man to continue to perform miracles instead of asking the club to do more marketing wise and you know actually fucking help him.It was Gazidiz who fucked up the Suarez deals by offering 1 pound more (BTW after that farce numerous clubs came out and said that it was common practise but ofcourse no one mentions that).If you can’t handle the way the club is being run than I suggest you find a different club because the next 15 years are going to be rough very very rough.
The fundamental problem is the self-financing model that the club has maintained in the last two decades. For an investor, it is an attractive model, especially when the value of the club rises with no further investment. It was a viable model, until the likes of Chelsea and man City rich benefactors entered the arena. Even with immaculate recruitment and exceptional management, you simply cannot compete with almost unlimited transfer fees these clubs are able to tap into season after season. No amount of marketing prowess can make up for that competitive advantage. Surely, the owner and the board must be aware that their stated mission of being consistently successful is totally unrealistic. But my guess is that, they are not as desperate for success like the fans as long as the finances are in good health, even if it is mediocrity from the fans point of view. It is sobering, but until we get a fan owner that wants success regardless of short-term losses, we are in for a very frustrating few years.
Great post Jojo. Wholeheartedly agree. Sadly.