Today’s quick post is the first of a three part series by Akash (@gooner_optimist)
Alright, so I finally get the honour to write for Positively Arsenal. As my first series of posts here, I felt it would be rather insightful, if I could discuss something that has troubled me lately.
There has been a huge divide within the Arsenal fan base, regarding who should run the club. There is one group (albeit a small one) that is ok with Silent Stan Kroenke (begrudgingly so), and there is the other group (one that is fast growing) that swears by the name of Alisher Usmanov. I would like to clarify that those of us who are “ OK” with Stan are not Pro Stan but would rather have the lesser of the two evils (Stan) at the helm. You’ll see what I mean by this as this series of posts goes along. For this post however, I would like to get people thinking first.
I have always wondered, if those who are pro Usmanov actually have a clue about who they are vouching for? What is his background? What is his motive? I just feel that many don’t this might be the right time and place for me to just share what I have read and researched about him over the past year or two.
To start with, why is one section of the support vouching for Usmanov? Is it because of his alleged claims offering massive investment into the club? His alleged love for the club? Or is it the lack of patience and desire for instant gratification? Or is it down to the well-timed PR statements that echo the words that fans want to hear but come around only when the chips are down?
My question is have people ever wondered why is it that the board is not willing to accept him into the executive committee of the club? Or if Usmanov is indeed passionate about the club and willing to be a generous benefactor, as he claims, why can’t he just invest in the club as he is, rather than demanding a place on the board and access to confidential financial details of the club?
To answer this, I would like to dig deep into the Arsenal history, back to the day, when Sir Henry Norris the then chairman of the club, placed an ad in the Athletic News, seeking a suitable candidate for the Arsenal top job in 1925. What is interesting is the content of the ad placed, which read like this.
“Arsenal Football Club is open to receive applications for the position of TEAM MANAGER. He must be experienced and possess the highest qualifications for the post, both as to ability and personal character. Gentlemen whose sole ability to build up a good side depends on the payment of heavy and exorbitant transfer fees need not apply “
If you take a closer look at this ad, you can see the similarities in which the club is run today, just like it was back in 1925. Then and now, the club has never encouraged the idea of over spending and wanted a team to be built within its own resources and developed to be successful instead of bought.
Does that answer the question of why even Silent Stan is preferable to Usmanov? No. If anything that doesn’t even tell you how either one got to be aligned with our great club. For that I would like to fast forward history and side track to David Dein, a man who did a lot for us and for many years was Arsene’s right hand man, but in the end was ousted due to massive differences with the board. This however, will continue in my next post as there is a lot that can be said on that topic.
Positively Arsenal 
I dont care really understand enough about who is who and what is what to care who owns the club.
As long as they allow Arsene to manage it his way .They are free to set the parameters.Thats how it works when you buy something.
Owners own,Managers manage ,and fans support.
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Good morning and thank you for an interesting Post. 🙂
I can understand your dividing the Arsenal fanbase into two camps, supporting either Usmanov or Kroenke, but unless there are others prepared to come forward, it seems I will have to be in a camp of 1 on my own.
You see, I never used to give a thought to who owned what percentage of the club’s shareholding, when I was younger. I supported the Arsenal and that meant my team which I watched as often as I could, those farts up in the grand seats in the East Stand were just the ‘posh’ guys who had nothing to with me, and in whom I had zero interest.
That lack of interest has not really changed, except now I am on intimate surname terms with two guys who own about 90% of my club. Like most fans I know fook all about the ‘real’ persona of these characters, outside what they allow to percolate out through their PR Departments, and frankly that suits me very well as I have no empathy with obscenely wealthy men who have no care, understanding or knowledge of the wants, needs or desires of fans like me.
So now I am expected to choose which one I want to outright own the club?
Based on what? Will we have a straw poll to pick the one who has more integrity, decency, humanity and interest in running the club for the benefit of the ‘real’ owners of Arsenal — namely the fans? I don’t think so.
The very nature of football club ownership is that, over the years, various people or consortia will take control of the club before eventually selling their shares, either because age has taken its toll, or because they can see a real return or substantial profit in moving the ownership onto the next prospective incumbents.
This will happen, as it always has, with no reference to the wishes or involvement of the loyal fans.
So what it boils down to, is a secondary issue, in which powerless fans are being asked to vote or back one individual over another, purely on the basis of a guess as to which will ‘invest’ more funds into the club, in the hopes that will enable it to win trophies, and meanwhile ignoring the probability of the UEFA FFP, and the soon to be adopted EPL FFP which are specifically designed to prevent just that possibility.
I suspect the oily oligarch, or the ‘philanthropic’ multi-billionaire benefactor era is rapidly coming to an end, and the step change into the self sustainability model for all clubs is nearly upon us.
I feel over the next decade, the financing of football clubs will have changed out of all recognition, and the reliance on the cult of personality, be it a Kroenke, Usmanov or Abramovich type as a choice for the owner will be consigned to the annals of history.
This is just an opinion, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to express it. 🙂
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I feel a bit like if I don’t have an opinion on the ownership I should be sat in the corner with a pointy hat on.When actually,I don’t give a toss.
As long as the owners ,whoever they are,maintain the values the club is associated with ,I am happy.
The trouble is that the malcontents see those very values as something that is holding us back.
We are like the only clean athlete in the race.And that gives us little chance of winning .
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Two very, very, very rich blokes, both of whom have invested in my football club to become even richer
I have never met either of them, I have scarcely heard Stan speak and Usmanov never. I do not ever expect to meet them and unless either of them were to bowl up next to me at the bar tomorrow it is very unlikely I would go out of my way to even say hello.
I have no idea what either of them wants from the club, or they want to contribute, or either could contribute- and it may be neither of them actually has a clear view on any of those questions, beyond a general bottom line optimism.
So I think you could probably could put me in the “dont know” group, and the “dont care” as well as the “why the fuck would I trust either of these chancers” groups
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Thank you, Akash I look forwsrd to further instalments. However, I agree with George, RedArse and Anicoll5
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So, the consensus is that none of us know enough ,or are interested enough,to have a valid opinion?
My word,
That’s as it should be,I am sick of listening to halfwits wittering on as if they a Adam and Delia Smiths offspring.(oh that is smart of me you know?)
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I fact it is SOOOOOOOO smart I am going to tweet it and see who gets it.
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Nice one Akash. Yeah I must say I don’t really know enough to form much of an opinion either way. I think I distrust them both equally. I feel the same as George, I find it difficult to be interested, the one that does the least damage get’s my vote. He’s a funny looking bugger on the left though make no mistake. And Stan should be informed he has a dead animal on his head. Only joking Stan! and Mr Usmanov…mmm dreamy.
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Nice post Akash.
1925 you say, wasn’t it a certain Yorkshireman by the name of Herbert Chapman, who got the job?
Did he not spend a few quid and bring in some outstanding talent…
Did he not re-build the stadium, or at least start off the process, before his untimely death in 1934?
Mind you he also had an eye for a bargain, signing Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood for peanuts…
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Strange to think that only three years after the ad was placed, we smashed the British (World?) transfer record when signing David Jack from Bolton.
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It’s the bigger canvass that interests me. The “why”. I found this already very interesting. Thing is, football is of course big business, growing exponentially, but not that big in the larger scales, but there are profits being generated and much bigger to be made in TV-based revenues and all manner of service providers and multipliers to this “global media machine”. It dwarfs anything we’ve seen before. It is mind-numbing. So, there is a scramble for ownerships and assets going on throughout football in anticipation of the gargantuan TV audience numbers projected. At one level EPL is in competition with, say, La Liga and others. Big and little players. At the next level down, club v club, owner v owner, looking for assets.
Enter Kroenke, stage right, enter Usamov stage left.
I can see the logic of “spend your way to success” commercially, because the game going on is building the brands that will dominate European football for the next decade and gain the largest audience share that will ultimately reflect in their revenue base. At City they are NOT building a team, but a brand. Footballers are not players, but brands in their own right commanding fees in respect of their brand value. In the film industry, this is well established. An actor is not an actor, but a brand etc … valued in great detail by box office receipts and media generated.
And along comes Arsenal which seems to be saying, all very well, but there is also such a thing as business governance, especially in a century old footbal club. And specifically a manager who still cares about the consequences for all this on football itself, the game; and equally about the business fundamentals underpinning it; the sustainability of this coming world order in football, lead by EPL globally. Make no mistake Wenger is also building a brand of sorts, not least associated with football style, and in many of its fundamentals it represents the “threat of a good example”.
The most interesting thing Wenger has said recently relates to the high likelihood of doping in the game (anything to win, it’s about the brand value y’see) and inadequate controls and systems.
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I suspect what Allezkev and Ormer are saying is that despite a history of not employing managers who rely on big spending in the transfer market, Arsenal FC have never been afraid to splash the cash if necessary. But has the club ever had to compete with the sovereign wealth of oil rich Emirates or Russian oligarchs? Furthermore the competition is not confined to Britain but we compete worldwide for talent with a hosts of well endowed clubs, some of whom are very reckless in their spend.
As for Messers Kroenke and Usmanov, who gives a f*ck so long as they allow the manager to manage and don’t imperil the future of the club. No doubt the weak and fickle don’t care about such matters so long as they have a trophy at any price.
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Example. I can watch Arsenal on a free screening site (paid by adverts generated), on a funny little screen with start-stop internet service, OK. Or I can pay $130/month to DsTV MulriChoice the South African monolith that buys Sky coverage and re-broadcasts in Africa, and I can watch on a fancy flat screen at home. It’s all cunningly pitched around sports and specifically football. Or I can pop down the bar and pay $5 which has the same DsTV and drink their beer etc …
Estimated number of current African subscribers to DsTV is 35m (total guesswork on my part, but just to illustrate). 10 years ago it was say 5m, so maybe a seven-fold increase in decade. 5 years ago it was maybe 15m. Africa’s population is around 850m people, and in another decade or so it overtakes India and China and keeps rising. This is already known. Numbers. DsTV will be projecting 100m subscribers in Africa (the “arrival” of the African middle class being projected, about 10% of the continent population), within 5 years from now, based 55%+ on football matches. It pays Sky for the African distribution rights. 100m projected subscribers x US$130/month = 1.3 billion a month revenue base, let’s discount say one billion/month; but that’s not counting advertising before and after the matches, and in the intervals, 3 times a week.
There are significant other multipliers to this revenue base, across all advertising.
But the bottom line is Africa alone may generate in excess of US$1 billion/month in satellite TV subscriptions, based prominently on football matches (mainly EPL “brand”) in the household pecking order, and another amount, say 300m/month, from advertising. That’s just Africa. Add Asia, USA, Latin America, Middle East, Europe and billion people plugged in to the machine, paying monthly for their ‘fix’, and the numbers become staggering. Sky owns the rights, ESPN is buying in to some degree. What do they charge for distribution rights in certain areas? I have no idea. A lot.
Who does Sky pay, and how much? I have no idea, but I suppose the “new deal” with top tier clubs via their football league franchises is negotiating right now, aluded to by Wenger, for the coming decade or so, and it will be a gargantuan figure. Factor in the multipliers and you have something resembling 1984, but far, far more frightening.
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I’ve always taken Hunter’s stream of consciousness seriously, because instinctively he’s onto to something that strikes me as not only likely, but certain. It is only the degree. We have been diverted to some extent by the Francophobe type racist villification of Wenger, the bigots, plus the village idiot football trophy consumers. My sense is they are the “useful idiots”, and behind this lies a steady and sustained Wenger out position that regards not him, but what he represents, as a threat. The last thing you want in the coming order is best practice business models and football with integrity; you want speculation and lots of it because there is all manner of money to be made in all sorts of ways. And the threat he represents is about that money, much of it speculative, and profits to be made. He has his allies you know, in Germany, France and elsewhere, a couple in England who are aware. The coming period will be fascinating.
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Viva Arsenal … and PosA. Sanity in an insane world.
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Quite brilliant, ZimPaul. That is, not nearly or sort of brilliant but, very brilliant. Very brilliant, ZimPaul
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Nice one Akash, I look forward to the next part because like the others on here I know very little about either Stanley or the Bond villain but my gut instinct is I don’t trust either of them. Personally if Norwich have Delia I think it would be nice to have our very own celebrity chef Ainsley Harriot running the Arsenal,he’s got a season ticket in east upper and he could use his catchphrase to defuse difficult board meetings, fan meetings and transfer/contract negotiations by camply saying “what are you like?”, if not Ainsley then jonny rotten(no-one fucks with Rotten).
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I can’t work out which looks more weird:
The attempted comb over what looks to be blood splattered scalp, or the toupee and ‘tache combination.
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If anyone wants to get know Usmanov better they can just join him for a pint of the bitterest down his local. As The Master Cronenburg observed, the Eastern Promise is enticing. Or maybe not.
There will be those who attempt to deny the role of politics in football, but its always been there and always will. For better or for worse. And there are some who have mused that recent scapegoating of the manager is directed by those too scared to attack the toupee. There is some logic in that consideration. I remeber the attacks on Pat Rice: there is a pattern of cowardly behaviour in the, er, rigorous critique of our club.
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One additional problem with the Murdochisation of televised sport is that in the EPL the cheating Mancs are very much the Sky brand.
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If i had a vote I’d nominate Master Keown for the Arsenal boardroom, he can be Arsenal’s Beckenbauer at the G14 etc. I’d pay good money to see what he has to say to the likes of Massimo Busacca when required.
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“A bad period for a club is also a good opportunity to show how united and strong you are. We have a good history of that at Arsenal.” Wenger this morning – leadership.
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It is known that some of sociopathic Arsenal blog trolls are supporters of the Lion of Uzbekistan. They are still out there, trolling away under new and amazingly clever names:
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Finally,after tacking down grumpy old Pedantic George I have also found ZimPaul. Man I have I missed your brilliant posts.
Incidentally, I do care who owns Arsenal. If Sadam Hussein, Muamar Gaddaffi or his sons, or Mugabe owned Arsenal I would be very unhappy.
I cannot change the world, bring world peace and feed the poor, but I can fool myself with a few fantasies of honesty, morality and fair play in my favorite entertainment industry. I do not want a trophy that was bought with money obtained by trampling on people in a way that I cannot be trampled on.
Now I’ll get off my horse, and if anybody doesn’t like what I’ve written you can go and boil your heads!
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I agree with Georgaki-Pyrovolitis. And Frank. But especially ZP. Not that disagree with anyone else here you understand.
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Careful where you leave that horse GP
I bet catering receipts on Burger strip aka St Thomas’ Road are down
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@anicoll5 at 2:54 pm
I understand that we might meet up tomorrow in the Coronet on Holloway Road?
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We are GP – 1.30ish – I shall look for a very angry gorilla at the bar!
I shall spot Mr Luck and head towards him – there is a picture of the real me on Twitter – though wearing a bowler hat – steel yourself
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@anicoll5 at 3:07 pm
There is a similarity with your Pashtun avatar 😀
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“I prepared myself for some suffering when we moved to the Emirates, yes, because we knew we were under restricted resources for a while,” he said. “The main target was to be in the Champions League because we had to pay back our stadium.”
🙂
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Which is what Hunter has always said ,and been shot down for.
Now we have it,no ambiguity,straight from the high horses mouth.
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“A bad period for a club is also a good opportunity to show how united and strong you are. We have a good history of that at Arsenal.”
I understand Wenger wanting to rally the troops for the remainder of the season, but we’re not in a bad period. You know who is in a bad period? Liverpool. They just got bounced out of the Europa league and sit mid table. And even then, they’re fans still sing that stupid song about walking in a group or whatever.
You know who else is in bad shape? Manchester City. After all the money they’ve invested they haven’t been able to make it into the second round of the champions league and seem destined to relinquish their title. And even then, whenever they score a goal, their fans do that ridiculous Poznan nonsense and don’t fucking boo their players at the end of the first forty five minutes in a high pressure game. .
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Hunter is regarded by some, mainly the meandering middle-of-the-roaders, as being obsessive when he repeatedly observes that the new stadium is the major reason why we can’t compete with the big boys in the short run. But it was and is strategically important in making of Arsenal as a “big” club in England and the world. Despite this handicap, despite the unprecedented rise of clubs bankrolled by the oil wealth of 1st a Russian oligarch then the sovereigns of an Arab Emirate, Arsene has kept us competitive when most other clubs with a stadium project have gone bust. Just recently after a partial stadium reconstruction Lyon has had to cut major players. Kept us competitive playing a style of football that is the envy of the world
. McLeish won the League cup and fired from three jobs thereafter. Rather than criticize I maintain we should be amazed at Wenger’s continuing achievements for our club.
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Adi, I would love it if you posted how Wenger’s critics call him tactically rigid. That’s a post you should leave open to anyone who wants to comment.
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heheh george.. he who laughs last laughs the hardest.
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I somehow doubt Arsenal is in Mugabe’s agenda. He has erections to think about. He’s 90 you know. Sorry I meant elections.
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yes shotta it shocks me how the moaners can disregard the stadium factor so easily. such massive a transition. and that lot also has a strange idea of what constitutes “big” club.
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Some good stuff here today. I am like most & couldn’t give a toss about those 2 obscenely rich men. As long as Arsenal is run properly it matters little who owns it
On a different note: Mrs. Sagna’s transport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZYHBW7ewzU&feature=share&list=PLvqm0Gg8Zkl2ak-B2HDSNFK2CQtnfm7se
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oops wrong video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZYHBW7ewzU&feature=share&list=PLvqm0Gg8Zkl2ak-B2HDSNFK2CQtnfm7se
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WTF
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZYHBW7ewzU&list=PLvqm0Gg8Zkl2ak-B2HDSNFK2CQtnfm7se
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That’s weird.
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Right last try
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLvqm0Gg8Zkl2ak-B2HDSNFK2CQtnfm7se&feature=player_detailpage&v=kZYHBW7ewzU
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Bad day at the office Dups?
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I’ve got my dunce hat on today Shotta
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Arsenal’s Sagna gets Range Rover Wrapped PINK! Sweet Wrap
Stick that in your google & watch it.
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Dups .I have some problems with my laptop.Can you help?
Clearly not
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Seems the video is on a playlist and the 1st item on the playlist was!! Guess what?
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George
Laptops are easy peasy. Bloody youtube playlists are a nightmare
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I want a go at this game!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZYHBW7ewzU
Did it work?
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SUCCESS!
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ive just pressed mrs sagna on google images…and his drop in form ( as some say) makes perfect sense to me…
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“What we need is to be united and strong, and not destabilised by people who have strong opinions after one game,”
“What is important is that the Club always goes with the guidelines we have and does not change direction every time we lose a big game. That would lead to a disaster.”
“I feel we live in a world of emotion, of excess, and it is down to people who have responsibilities to put that into perspective, keep solid and keep guiding the club in the right way.”
What more is there to say?
Not that I’m picking sides but, I still believe as I have from day one that Usmanov is paying people to go on Arsenal blogs and even set them up precisely to stir up the fanbase and sweep him to power. The tenor of the online blog world completely changed after he appeared and a number of new names with backgrounds in ‘marketing’ and other pointless occupations suddenly had plenty to say repeatedly all over the place and like their employer, they are good at picking the opportune moment to drop their destructive little bombs everywhere. Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes accepted as truth.
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