The Ethics of Arsenal

My apologies for not writing sooner. I am knee deep in preparations for a Soccer-related charity and that has pulled my attention away from my beloved Arsenal for a while. But Myles, and the lads have been holding up the fort lately in my absence so well done boys.

But now I want to turn my attention to something that has been on my mind for a while. It’s the appreciation that is leveled at Arsenal for the way they conduct themselves on and off the pitch. For a lack of better terms I will call this the ethics of Arsenal.

Arsenal are considered by many to be a model of how a club should be run. Starting with the self-sustainability model that uses the clubs own profit intake to invest back into club. What feeds into this profit?

There are the various commercial activities, match day revenue (gate receipts and concessions), transfer activities (sales), etc. We know them all as it seems to be the constant source of discussion amongst the faithful. All that goes back into the club and not a shred of debt is raised to fund living beyond our means. Truly an exemplary model.

I agree and whole-heartedly support this way forward.

On the pitch, the way that Arsenal play and how they develop players we are told is the envy of many clubs. Arsene’s reptutation may be tarnished to some here in England but across Europe he continues to get accolades for his talent development and the way his teams play.

If we’re honest both the on-field and off field models are the right way to do things. They show that even in the current state of football there is a ‘right’ way to do things.

But at closer scrutiny are we really a club that should be that admired? Is this club ‘ethical’ in it’s self-sustainable model when it  gets to be self-sustainable primarily off the backs of its own supporters?

As we mentioned the model is admirable. It is the right to do things to insure that the club isn’t weighed down with debt that will ultimately catch up with the club. United’s transfer activities these last two summers are a direct result of their pinch they are starting to feel. Their IPO floated in New York and establishment of a business address in the Cayman Islands are a creative way to address the debt issues they are having. If you think Barcelona and Madrid have largely been quiet on the transfer market because they are happy with their squads  – you are wrong. City and Chelsea – well let’s not talk about them.

So on the whole debt avoidance issue, Arsenal are admirable. But how they get there makes my stomach churn. Arsenal again this week announced ticket price changes.

First they came out and announced a 23% price decrease on Category C tickets. So that ticket now costs £25.50 vs £35. Category C games are against opponents like Sunderland and  Swansea.

Category B tickets have been reduced by 50p and will be against teams like West Ham and QPR.

In the least shocking announcement is that Category A seats will be INCREASED by 23%. So a ticket last season that was already a high £51 now costs £62. This is for your teams like Chelsea.

These ticket adjustments we are told are in response to the board’s meetings with AST and AISA.  It’s meant to show us that they are listening and taking into account what we the supporters want.

But can you sit here and justify a 23% decrease on one ticket and a 23% increase on an other. On top of the across the board 6% increase from last season? At best it seems misguided at worst – completely dishonest.

No one would argue against the club’s need to be  self-reliant. But in this day and age when people across England and the world are hard pressed to give up their hard earned cash, it seems inconceivable that the club would try and milk more money from ticket holders under the guise of a ticket reduction.

Where is the connection to the fans? Where is the understanding of the current market economics? Recently Ivan Gazidis admitted that Arsenal were over reliant on their match day receipts and season ticket earnings. At the time it seemed to imply that the understood that price rises were not something they wanted to do. A lot of us took heart by that.

The supporters of this club are the only constant. In a day when a player and coaches depart for their next big deal and clubs are sold to the highest bidder it is the fan who always is there. They are easy targets because club’s like Arsenal know – they will always come back. The thought process is that there will always be a fount of fans to fill the seats. And while that remains and our owner and board put some of THEIR OWN MONEY into the club – the supporters will be the ones that continue to get fleeced.

Something has to give. Arsenal for their part do seem to be addressing the commercial disadvantage they have against their competitors. The wage system at the club is slowly being restructured to be more based on merit rather than promise. I point out these two areas because the lack of significant commercial dealings forces us to be over reliant on the money of the supporters and the wage system is where a lot of that hard earned cash goes to.

I understand that our shiny not-so-new stadium requires fees  to pay it off and that this is a different era in football. But before last season’s 6% rise Arsenal supporters were already paying the highest ticket prices in Europe.  The rise and decrease to me does nothing substantial to make the game more accessible or available to fans.  It seems to be a short-term panacea and what you likely can expect is that at some point soon all prices will go back up, citing something like inflation or something similar.

I want our model to succeed. I like that we hold an ‘ethical’ line in the face of an environment of constant change and unsustainable financial models. But those ‘ethics’ can’t be thrown in our faces when it those ‘ethics’ come at the cost of the fans’ hard earned cash.

Other Bits and Bobs

Looks like Carlos Vela is out of here with Arsenal agreeing to terms for the Mexican Forward with Real Sociedad. The terms are reported as £3 million fee with add-ons and a 50% sell-on clause for Arsenal.

Vela never truly lived up to his potential at Arsenal and was in my opinion part of the problem around this club. When it became evident in training and on the pitch that Carlos wouldn’t make it here he should’ve been gone. He came into training numerous times clearly out of shape. Didn’t show the desire to learn the language and overall his work ethic seemed questionable.

The season-long loan seemed to do him some good and by all accounts it was beneficial to both sides and now he’s gone. Sorry to say I won’t miss him but I will be saddened that he seemed to be another project we held on too long to.

On the Van Persie front not much to report except that the press is rampant with wild speculation about what’s going on. Yesterday for example the Independent reported that Juventus are Van Persie’s desired location. That was followed by a report in the Daily Star that Van Persie had shunned a £300k per week deal at Juve to make a move to City. Then there are the endless Robin is in Manchester looking at houses stories floating out there.

What’s at all really mean? No one knows fuck all. The big story this week though was that all the major press were reporting that the statement was really intended as a Rooney-eque ploy to get more money from Arsenal. It is believed that Wenger and Robin will sit down together (likely without Gazidis or RvP reps) and talk this out. The hope is that one way or the other Arsenal and Van Persie have a way forward before the club departs for Asia.

That’s it for today. More on Friday (hopefully).

Until then – Stay Goonerish!!!