The Great Arsenal Survey – the Results

Greetings everyone. Well, after a slight break to take some down town during the interlull, I am ready to get right back at it. I am energized (slightly- work is sapping some of the energy from but thats for another time) to get writing on the survey and the run in to the end of the season.  I’ve missed you all – in a purely sicophantic kind of why and am eager to go through the wringer with you all once more.

So without further adieu, let’s get to it shall we? Before that let me just say how great it was thee response we got the survey. In all four parts we got over 500 respondents. To me that’s a pretty good sample size to get a read on. I know for my work, we tend to target 100 for our studies. So I am pretty confident we’ve got a good snap shot.

That being said, I am a professional marketer, not a prefessional researcher. I am used to having someone build the surveys for me and then telling me the results. So with that in mind please take that into consideration when looking over everything. My reading of the results are my interpretation. As with any study someone could read the data and get an entirely different perspective. We will be doing this again, and I am fortunate to have found a Gooner who actually is a researcher and has offered to help with the second part of the survey at the end of the season. So it will be slightly better (HA HA) than this version.

The survey itself wasn’t built with any specific science behind it. Coming out of the draw to WBA there was a lot of noise in the Gooner nation both negative and positive. Frankly for the first time the level of acrimony was rather loud. You had Gooners using terms like “civil war” and it looked pretty nasty. What I wanted to see was were we really seeing a groundswell against or was it just a visceral reaction to a really bad fortnight for Arsenal football. The call for participation on the survey was only done through Twitter and Facebook with word of mouth a strong driver for participation.

Well, I think that is enough of this banter. Let’s get it into it. The survey was set up into 4 sections. The first was really just a demographic questionairre to see who was taking the time to fill out the survey. But what we found out is that certain sections of the survey were left unanswered by those who filled out the demographic area.

So here it is:

Section 1: About You (n=645)

For those unfamiliar with research terminology the n value is the number of participants who go through the questionairre. As I stated earlier this section was intended to get a little background on the people answering the survey.  Of the respondents the majority were male (85%) and intween the ages of 20-30 (41%). The majority of respondents in fact were under the age of 30 and that may be due to the nature of where our respondents were coming from. 63% of the respondents have either been to an individual match(es) (43%) or were a season ticket holder of some form (20%). The remainder (37%)  had contact with the club either via TV or the internet. Over half were from the UK (52%) with Asia boasting the next biggest bloc of supporters (16%). Oddly Africa where Arsenal is considered big only garnered 3.4% of the respondents. That though is likely attributed to the means of recruitment. Many of the participants have been supporters for over 10-20 years (34.5%) with only a few coming in at the 1-5 year mark (13%).

Brand loyalty is something this group is also proud of  with 37% saying they buy a strip every season and 26% buying one every season. Only 19% said they never buy a strip. Regardless of how the club performs on the pitch 98.6% of the respondents said they would follow the club.

Opinons on criticizing the team were strong with 34%  percent saying it shouldn’t be done while 66% said absolutely the club should be criticized when it underperforms.

The Arsenal fan taking the survey gets most of their news about the team from Twitter (62.9%) of the multiple choice question with the club’s official website as the third choice (56.2%) – generic football sites were second. Showing the power of blogs and the leverage they are now having with supporters they were a close 4th with 54.7%.

Finally there is little optimism that the club will win the league this year –  while 41.8% said it was likely the 59% felt they would either finish 2nd (40.1%) 3rd (15.5%) or 4th (2.5%). 1 person felt the team would finish out of the top 4 this season bring that value in at 0.2%

Section 2: The Organization (n=536)

The organization means the club as an entity in its entirety, the players, the owners, the manager, the other various components that make up Arsenal FC.  What is evidentlly clear is that while some components are not ideal, overall the fan affinity for the club is strong.

The group ownership model is overwhelmingly supporteed by fans as 85% found it to be their preferred method of running the club. That is futher strengthened by the fact 90% do NOT want to see a “sugar daddy” running the club.

Clearly though the feeling is that the model is right but the support for the product on the field hasn’t been enough. 53% of fans feel the club hasn’t given up the resources necessary to be successful in the transfer market or on the pitch.  But even with that the board finishes third in who is responsible for the clubs woes (16.6%) with underperforming players the main culprit there (53%)

Based on the results you might also argue that even though the model is good and the foundation strong the view of the fans is that the club is not interested in winning and is primarily a money making operation – especially in when looked against the disfavorable view of raising ticket prices when the product on the pitch isn’t performing and that the fans feel the ownership is more concerned with just finishing in the top 4 (79.5%) then winning silverware (20.5%).

Finally, alot has been made about the move to the Emirates. Many fans decry its character or lack thereof but overall the fans have a favorable view of the Emirates with 87% supporting the move and 57% thinking  that the Emirates does indeed have character and that Highbury wasn’t the be all end all that some fans contend it was.

Section 3: The Players (n=573)

Let’s get right to – nothing is more decicive than the team specifically the players. As I mentioned the fans feel that underperforming players are the reason the club has its current woes. In addition remember we said that optimism is not supreme right now in the Gooner nation – when the majority said they didn’t feel that the club could win the league this year. Those two points are underlined when we see that there is a statistical tie when asked if the team is currently made up is NOT good enough to win the league. 49% said yes that was true while 51% said no. That falls into the range of a dead heat in statistics.

Not surprisingly if underperforming players are the cause of the clubs ills it is no wonder 94% want to see the underachiever jettisoned without delay. However that same sentiment does not apply to “perma-crock” stars like Van Persie or Walcott where 88% felt they should be kept on board. Who goes? The two biggest departures fans want to see is Almunia and Denilson. Never have two players created so much acrimony  amongst the fans.  They are miles and away the two the fans want to see gone while Bendtner, Diaby, Squillaci  and a lesser extent Eboue round out the fans wish list for depatures. And when they go, the fans want to see the investment but the also want to see the club give the talent that is currently out on loan their shots. The next wave of stars are getting the job done for the loan clubs. Lansbury, Afobe, Aneke, JET, Ryo and before he got injured Bartley are showing they are ready to push players for spots. I always said that maybe the youth revolution was focused on the wrong set of Arsenal youth and that the crop that was there now was the true revolution. In some ways the fans desire to see these players gets their shot speaks to that.

Additionally with the departures the next thing the fans really want is some purchases and a central defender leads the way as the most desired position out there (81%) followed closely by a keeper and a striker (both at 51.5%). Additionally if we are buying fans want a big name at least 54% do. Let’s face it a name to the team adds some excitement to it. Whether or not that person performs is irrelevant to the fact that excitement is what the fans really want and big money signings generate.

So what about the big story that is only just starting to rears its head – a whole 2 months early. Well it’s loud and clear that the fans by a 77% majority DO NOT want to see the club cash in on Cesc Fabregas. The transfer saga is likely to take centre stage again as Xavi has already come out and said Fabregas wants to move to Barcelona. Rosell has come out and said the club wont buy him for more than £35 million (Sandro doing his pre-negotiations in the press).

Finally, just for fun we wanted to see who did the fans want to see in the Arsenal strip for the 2011/12 season. Well, there were big names but the biggest that got the most mentions was Eden Hazard. By far fans look to him as someone who can readily fit into the squad and help out immediately. Additionally, the fans are clamoring for Lansbury and Ryo to get their shots. Lansbury has been on a scoring tear on his current loan stint and Ryo is just making Dutch players look stupid as he shreds them while on Loan for Feynoord.

Section 4: The Manager (n=531)

Its really not surprising that the questions on Wenger were the least answered of the 4 sections. Wenger carries cult like status among the Arsenal faithful. Some either love him or hate him either way he stirs a lot opinions.  I mentioned that I  put this survey together (probably hastily) based on the acrimony that was being directed at the club, particulary Wenger.  I really wanted to see what the fans were thinking and honestly I expect larger negatives coming out this section – maybe not a majority negative but a  large number. But for the most part Arsene comes off fairly well in our survey.

Right after WBA when feelings were high Wenger still is getting favorable ratings with the majority of the respondents (52%) thinking he has done an above average job steering the team through this season. 27% felt he has been average and only 6% felt he was below average or 3% felt he was poor. 12% think Wenger is doing an excellent job this season.

And this season’s numbers are reflective of the overall feelings of Wenger’s tenure as manager of the club. Overall, everyone pretty much agrees his tenure has been an excellent one and it is that feeling that carries over I think into the strong feelings of affection and affinty towards him even when the club fail to deliver silverware for 5 straight seasons.

Not surprising then is the fact that the majority do not feel it is time to replace Wenger. 91% believe that he should stay.

But he is not devoid of any criticism and the two most popular ones are universally agreed to – he is too loyal to players and he is too set in his ways to change.

The clearance given Wenger is astounding and as we said right now based solely on past achievements. It is pretty easy to see that Wenger has to shoulder some of the blame for the team’s woes but he is not the sole reason. The fans feel it is only minor tweaks the Frenchman needs to undertake that would get the team going again. One of those changes could very well be in the removing of some of is assistants and bringing in newer, fresh points of view.

Finally a lot has been said about Wenger’s focus on youth but overall there is a feeling that it is a good policy and it hasn’t failed.

Wenger as the manager is always going to be the focal point for the praise and criticism the clubs receives. He can be a polarizing figure based on how he handles himself and the team. I do think – at least right now today – that Wenger has to make minor adjustments in the form of new blood in the coaches locker room and the jettisoning of dead weight to get this club winning silverware on a regular basis again. The club are close, at least thats my opinion.

The Final Word.

Frankly, I am ready for regular footall again. This survey was an interesting exercise and a learning experience for me. We will be doing it again at the end of the season. We’ll bring back some of the questions and see if the dial moves based on how the team finishes. We’ll also recraft messages to be a little better and we’ll also bring in new ones.

I know that this likely won’t change any minds. It wasn’t intended to. I think it does reflect how fans feel right now and overall while are grey clouds – Gooners are a proud lot. The love their club and that much is evident. There are things they would want done from an organizational, managerial and player standpoint to help them feel better.

Anyway Gooners, thanks very much for answering this. I am going to link in the full survey answers below for you to digest and discuss. But frankly, now that the interlull is over, I am ready for some proper footie. Bring on Blackburn!!!!

Stay Goonerish!!!!!

To download zip files of all results click here: RESULTS OF THE GREAT ARSENAL SURVEY