Complacency rules in the cosy Arsenal Boardroom
7 October 2011
In the discussions that led to the forming of the Black Scarf Movement, our biggest gripes with how things were going at the club all pointed to one place; the boardroom. While we’d been a steady club through the years with the ‘Old Etonian’ aura, the oak-panelled walls and plush carpets in the upper floors of the East Stand at Highbury, there were a couple of visionaries within the Board who were instrumental in taking this famous old club to a new level. These men were David Dein and his friend and colleague, Daniel Fiszman.
Between the pair of them, they’d seen the need for change at The Arsenal and started to take the club forward, away from the old cigar-smoking gentlemen’s club which used to exist in the Arsenal boardroom, and towards the 21st century while at the same time keeping links with tradition.
This started with the appointment of Arsene Wenger and following a couple of years of treading water in the mid-90s after George Graham’s departure (albeit with a slightly upward turn in the year Bruce Rioch came in) the whole club had taken a turn for the better. With Dein taking on a more involved role in the acquisition of top players, working closely with Wenger, we put together a team which included some truly world class players, around the English core built and passed on from George Graham’s time as Manager. This was an explosive combination; passion and fight, allied with supreme skill and ability. It was a new chapter for The Arsenal, and it brought silverware as an added bonus.
Our new training ground followed, providing world class facilities for our world class players – some jump from the old University College London grounds we’d trained on for decades before. Then came the monumental move from our beloved Highbury to the new stadium just down the road; a project headed by Fiszman with help from Arsenal stalwart Ken Friar. As painful as it was (and still is) moving away from ‘the old girl’ that had been our home since 1913, the Board assured fans that it was for the right reasons. It was time to move on, and time to move up. The Arsenal would be a dominant force in world football once more.
"We don't want his sort"
Seeing the need for outside investment to help the club along even further, along came Stan Kroenke. He initially bought up shares from Fiszman and ITV in March and April 2007 and at the time was very much eyed by some as a ‘sugar daddy’ type of investor given his accumulated wealth – there was hope among certain Board members that ‘Silent Stan’ wouldn’t mind chucking in a few million here and there, similarly to what was going on at other clubs (albeit not to those obscene levels). That said, not all Board members were keen on Stan coming in. What was it our Chairman said? "We don't need his money and we don't want his sort. He knows sweet FA about our football". Oh how you've changed your tune, Mr Hill-Wood!
Almost immediately after Kroenke came on board, David Dein was sacked as a Board member of Arsenal. Accounts have been stated of Dein being personally marched off the premises after a big falling out in the boardroom, and his departure brought fierce criticism from key members of the squad. Dein had always been close to the players, going to matches home and away, to reserve and youth team games and he was instrumental in providing a link between the core part of the business (football) and the boardroom. Without him there, the players felt there was nobody who could convey their thoughts and messages to the top table.
Since Dein’s departure, the club suddenly felt different. It seemed as if the Board realised that the new stadium was a huge cash cow – capable of bringing in massive revenue and big profits – and completely forgot about football. Despite of promises and assurances that the costs of the stadium move were “ring-fenced” and would no way impinge on our performance on the pitch, all of a sudden we seemed fine to offload our world class stars and replace them with inferior products or players with ‘promise’ who may have turned into the new Vieira or Pires.
A new Red & White dawn?
Following Dein's departure, he sold his shares in Arsenal to Red & White Holdings, an investment vehicle owned by Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri. Dein became Chairman of Red & White Holdings and it's felt that his dream at the time was for Usmanov's wealth to get overall ownership of the club, and get himself reinstated on the Board as Chairman. We know now, that dream wasn't to come to fruition as despite extensive purchasing of Arsenal shares by Red & White and statements of intent about making the club a success on the pitch, our current Board did all they possibly could to fend off Usmanov. Some of the tactics used to turn fans against Usmanov were pathetic to say the least, but enough of that here.
In May 2008, Managing Director Keith Edelman left the club then a few months later, in came Ivan Gazidis under a newly created title at Arsenal – Chief Executive. It was rumoured that Gazidis would take on the role left vacant by David Dein and would at last provide a link once more between the playing side of the club and the boardroom. It was hoped that again, we’d have someone who could be key in securing top talent on the pitch in partnership with Arsene Wenger.
As Stan Kroenke upped his shareholding and Gazidis became comfortable, new appointments were made at a senior level. Tom Fox was brought in from the USA to head up the long-suffering Commercial side of the business. Mark Gonnella came in as Director of Communications and Angus Kinnear was moved up a notch from Head of Marketing to Marketing Director. The business side was all taking shape, but on the pitch we continued to tread water. The new appointments came with fanfares about the big corporate names on their CVs, but with no football experience there was some scepticism from a few fans (definitely me) that the club were more interested in the business side of things and flashy looking CVs than ensuring these men were suitable for Arsenal.
Still with nobody forming a real link between the team and the boardroom, to many fans it felt as if the Board had lost focus and had forgotten the raison d'être of The Arsenal… the fact we are Arsenal Football Club. Already charging the highest ticket prices in football, the Board ensured further inflation-busting increases were passed on to already hard-pressed fans… while on the pitch the team continued to furiously tread water. Our best players still move on and find success elsewhere, while Wenger recruits cheaper replacements and somehow manages to keep us scraping into the top four – thereby providing Champions League football and a steady stream of large revenue. This is like gold dust to the Board; continued Champions League football and plenty of income from it, while making a profit in the transfer market too. So what if we’re not competing for trophies or indeed winning them?
The current cosy Board
So where are we today? With the sad passing of Danny Fiszman, the rest of his shares went to Kroenke. To date Kroenke has made no declaration of his plans for Arsenal despite saying he would. The nickname Silent Stan certainly applies here, and if what we hear from fans in America are true, it’s time to get worried. Kroenke’s sports teams in the US are generally ‘plodders’ with no real success; stripped of assets and operated purely as a means to generate a steady income and profit. Sporting success doesn’t matter.
At the top of the tree in terms of Board is the man himself, Enos Stanley Kroenke. A 64 year old American businessman with it seems next to no interest in his “enterprises” being successful on the pitch. No regard for the fans, and absolutely no clue about English football. Does he give a toss? Doesn't appear so.
Make no mistake about it, this man is bad news for Arsenal and fans should be concerned with him taking control.
As a Chairman we still have the Prince Philip of football in Peter Hill-Wood (age 75). Now don’t get me wrong I love the historic link from the Hill-Wood family down the years, but Peter’s father and Grandfather may well be turning in their graves if they could hear some of the rubbish and insults he throws the way of loyal Arsenal fans and shareholders. Let’s not forget, if there are no fans, there is no football – something Peter Hill-Wood seems completely oblivious to.
Other Board members include Sir John Chippendale "Chips" Lindley Keswick (age 71) – not to be confused with Mr Chips from the TV show Catchphrase, and Lord Harris of Peckham (age 69) – not to be confused with the Trotter family from Mandela House. Neither of those fill me with confidence as to the future of Arsenal Football Club. Yes they’re respected businessmen in their own right, and yes they’re very rich men, but do they have any football nous… or do they even care?
We also have Ken Friar on the Board – still – coasting along to his second retirement as he hurtles towards 80 years of age. A great servant to the club but a man for the future? No.
Gazidis is the youngest Board member at 47 years of age, but he’s yet to demonstrate his true value in a footballing sense. Yes he can bring in senior reports with big corporate names on their CVs, but these aren’t football men and they certainly aren’t Arsenal men. Do they have a clue about The Arsenal, about its values, about the passion involved in supporting this great club? I don’t think they do, and I can’t see them grasping it for many years.
And does Gazidis even do his job of managing the Manager? He’s Wenger’s boss, right? So who is there to control Arsene Wenger and ensure that the money we have available is spent wisely? Do Gazidis and the rest of the Board even care if the money available is spent, given that Wenger is turning a profit on transfers year on year while ensuring we scrape into the top four? As I said earlier… focus lost.
Getting back to the very start of this article… at the BSM we very much see the problem as the current Board of Arsenal. They’re not football men, generally not Arsenal men, and they’re so out of touch with the fans it’s unbelievable. Yes Ivan will come out and use his not-so-invisible force field of spin at various Q&A sessions (and credit to him for doing it because not many other clubs do it) but does the Board or senior members at Arsenal really give a toss about the core support? Or are they more concerned with bringing in cash no matter who it’s from – even if that cash comes from fickle support that probably won’t be there long term? As a supporters' group, in our opinion we feel that the current Board is far too cosy. They're over the moon with the tricks Arsene Wenger is turning which helps produce a profit. That's all that matters.
Moving things on
So what can be done? In short, shake up the Board. We need an injection of fresh blood and we need to shift out the old duffers who currently inhabit the Boardroom at Highbury House. While experience in running a business is of course critical, the new members ideally would have a good knowledge of English football, and absolute perfection would be if these people were Arsenal fans.
And what of real football men on the Board? It’s worked in Germany with high profile former players like Franz Beckenbauer and Uli Hoeness taking up senior roles at Bayern Munich. Bobby Charlton has been a key Board figure at Man United for many years. All football men with a deep love and interest in those clubs, giving a real football viewpoint and opinion on the topic that really matters – football.
Who could we have at Arsenal in that type of role on our Board? To my mind, Arsenal men like Bob Wilson and Frank McLintock are obvious choices. Bob has been a part of the club for decades, even working until recently as goalkeeping coach. The man bleeds red and white. And as for Frank, anyone who listens to him speak knows how much he knows of the game, and knows his love of The Arsenal. Captain of our first double-winning side and captain of an Arsenal team that was victorious in Europe. Legend.
Even moving towards more recent times, there are men who could do a job. Martin Keown is an intelligent man and knows the club inside out. Niall Quinn began his career at Arsenal, is now an experienced businessman and did a decent job at Sunderland. Alan Smith could be another, although personally I went off Smudger when he criticised us heavily after our players – led by Martin Keown – showed passion, fight and spirit at Old Trafford.
So there you have it. The message we’ve given since this group started – the Board has to change, and change for the better. We’ve made great strides as a club over the past decade, but the group of individuals running things have lost focus on what’s important.
And with no football men to challenge decisions and drive us forward in the right way, we’ll continue to drift. Who’ll suffer the most in all of this? The loyal fans who’ve contributed blood, sweat, tears, and a LOT of cash over the last few decades.
In the discussions that led to the forming of the Black Scarf Movement, our biggest gripes with how things were going at the club all pointed to one place; the boardroom. While we’d been a steady club through the years with the ‘Old Etonian’ aura, the oak-panelled walls and plush carpets in the upper floors of the East Stand at Highbury, there were a couple of visionaries within the Board who were instrumental in taking this famous old club to a new level. These men were David Dein and his friend and colleague, Daniel Fiszman.
Between the pair of them, they’d seen the need for change at The Arsenal and started to take the club forward, away from the old cigar-smoking gentlemen’s club which used to exist in the Arsenal boardroom, and towards the 21st century while at the same time keeping links with tradition.
This started with the appointment of Arsene Wenger and following a couple of years of treading water in the mid-90s after George Graham’s departure (albeit with a slightly upward turn in the year Bruce Rioch came in) the whole club had taken a turn for the better. With Dein taking on a more involved role in the acquisition of top players, working closely with Wenger, we put together a team which included some truly world class players, around the English core built and passed on from George Graham’s time as Manager. This was an explosive combination; passion and fight, allied with supreme skill and ability. It was a new chapter for The Arsenal, and it brought silverware as an added bonus.
Our new training ground followed, providing world class facilities for our world class players – some jump from the old University College London grounds we’d trained on for decades before. Then came the monumental move from our beloved Highbury to the new stadium just down the road; a project headed by Fiszman with help from Arsenal stalwart Ken Friar. As painful as it was (and still is) moving away from ‘the old girl’ that had been our home since 1913, the Board assured fans that it was for the right reasons. It was time to move on, and time to move up. The Arsenal would be a dominant force in world football once more.
"We don't want his sort"
Seeing the need for outside investment to help the club along even further, along came Stan Kroenke. He initially bought up shares from Fiszman and ITV in March and April 2007 and at the time was very much eyed by some as a ‘sugar daddy’ type of investor given his accumulated wealth – there was hope among certain Board members that ‘Silent Stan’ wouldn’t mind chucking in a few million here and there, similarly to what was going on at other clubs (albeit not to those obscene levels). That said, not all Board members were keen on Stan coming in. What was it our Chairman said? "We don't need his money and we don't want his sort. He knows sweet FA about our football". Oh how you've changed your tune, Mr Hill-Wood!
Almost immediately after Kroenke came on board, David Dein was sacked as a Board member of Arsenal. Accounts have been stated of Dein being personally marched off the premises after a big falling out in the boardroom, and his departure brought fierce criticism from key members of the squad. Dein had always been close to the players, going to matches home and away, to reserve and youth team games and he was instrumental in providing a link between the core part of the business (football) and the boardroom. Without him there, the players felt there was nobody who could convey their thoughts and messages to the top table.
Since Dein’s departure, the club suddenly felt different. It seemed as if the Board realised that the new stadium was a huge cash cow – capable of bringing in massive revenue and big profits – and completely forgot about football. Despite of promises and assurances that the costs of the stadium move were “ring-fenced” and would no way impinge on our performance on the pitch, all of a sudden we seemed fine to offload our world class stars and replace them with inferior products or players with ‘promise’ who may have turned into the new Vieira or Pires.
A new Red & White dawn?
Following Dein's departure, he sold his shares in Arsenal to Red & White Holdings, an investment vehicle owned by Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri. Dein became Chairman of Red & White Holdings and it's felt that his dream at the time was for Usmanov's wealth to get overall ownership of the club, and get himself reinstated on the Board as Chairman. We know now, that dream wasn't to come to fruition as despite extensive purchasing of Arsenal shares by Red & White and statements of intent about making the club a success on the pitch, our current Board did all they possibly could to fend off Usmanov. Some of the tactics used to turn fans against Usmanov were pathetic to say the least, but enough of that here.
In May 2008, Managing Director Keith Edelman left the club then a few months later, in came Ivan Gazidis under a newly created title at Arsenal – Chief Executive. It was rumoured that Gazidis would take on the role left vacant by David Dein and would at last provide a link once more between the playing side of the club and the boardroom. It was hoped that again, we’d have someone who could be key in securing top talent on the pitch in partnership with Arsene Wenger.
As Stan Kroenke upped his shareholding and Gazidis became comfortable, new appointments were made at a senior level. Tom Fox was brought in from the USA to head up the long-suffering Commercial side of the business. Mark Gonnella came in as Director of Communications and Angus Kinnear was moved up a notch from Head of Marketing to Marketing Director. The business side was all taking shape, but on the pitch we continued to tread water. The new appointments came with fanfares about the big corporate names on their CVs, but with no football experience there was some scepticism from a few fans (definitely me) that the club were more interested in the business side of things and flashy looking CVs than ensuring these men were suitable for Arsenal.
Still with nobody forming a real link between the team and the boardroom, to many fans it felt as if the Board had lost focus and had forgotten the raison d'être of The Arsenal… the fact we are Arsenal Football Club. Already charging the highest ticket prices in football, the Board ensured further inflation-busting increases were passed on to already hard-pressed fans… while on the pitch the team continued to furiously tread water. Our best players still move on and find success elsewhere, while Wenger recruits cheaper replacements and somehow manages to keep us scraping into the top four – thereby providing Champions League football and a steady stream of large revenue. This is like gold dust to the Board; continued Champions League football and plenty of income from it, while making a profit in the transfer market too. So what if we’re not competing for trophies or indeed winning them?
The current cosy Board
So where are we today? With the sad passing of Danny Fiszman, the rest of his shares went to Kroenke. To date Kroenke has made no declaration of his plans for Arsenal despite saying he would. The nickname Silent Stan certainly applies here, and if what we hear from fans in America are true, it’s time to get worried. Kroenke’s sports teams in the US are generally ‘plodders’ with no real success; stripped of assets and operated purely as a means to generate a steady income and profit. Sporting success doesn’t matter.
At the top of the tree in terms of Board is the man himself, Enos Stanley Kroenke. A 64 year old American businessman with it seems next to no interest in his “enterprises” being successful on the pitch. No regard for the fans, and absolutely no clue about English football. Does he give a toss? Doesn't appear so.
Make no mistake about it, this man is bad news for Arsenal and fans should be concerned with him taking control.
As a Chairman we still have the Prince Philip of football in Peter Hill-Wood (age 75). Now don’t get me wrong I love the historic link from the Hill-Wood family down the years, but Peter’s father and Grandfather may well be turning in their graves if they could hear some of the rubbish and insults he throws the way of loyal Arsenal fans and shareholders. Let’s not forget, if there are no fans, there is no football – something Peter Hill-Wood seems completely oblivious to.
Other Board members include Sir John Chippendale "Chips" Lindley Keswick (age 71) – not to be confused with Mr Chips from the TV show Catchphrase, and Lord Harris of Peckham (age 69) – not to be confused with the Trotter family from Mandela House. Neither of those fill me with confidence as to the future of Arsenal Football Club. Yes they’re respected businessmen in their own right, and yes they’re very rich men, but do they have any football nous… or do they even care?
We also have Ken Friar on the Board – still – coasting along to his second retirement as he hurtles towards 80 years of age. A great servant to the club but a man for the future? No.
Gazidis is the youngest Board member at 47 years of age, but he’s yet to demonstrate his true value in a footballing sense. Yes he can bring in senior reports with big corporate names on their CVs, but these aren’t football men and they certainly aren’t Arsenal men. Do they have a clue about The Arsenal, about its values, about the passion involved in supporting this great club? I don’t think they do, and I can’t see them grasping it for many years.
And does Gazidis even do his job of managing the Manager? He’s Wenger’s boss, right? So who is there to control Arsene Wenger and ensure that the money we have available is spent wisely? Do Gazidis and the rest of the Board even care if the money available is spent, given that Wenger is turning a profit on transfers year on year while ensuring we scrape into the top four? As I said earlier… focus lost.
Getting back to the very start of this article… at the BSM we very much see the problem as the current Board of Arsenal. They’re not football men, generally not Arsenal men, and they’re so out of touch with the fans it’s unbelievable. Yes Ivan will come out and use his not-so-invisible force field of spin at various Q&A sessions (and credit to him for doing it because not many other clubs do it) but does the Board or senior members at Arsenal really give a toss about the core support? Or are they more concerned with bringing in cash no matter who it’s from – even if that cash comes from fickle support that probably won’t be there long term? As a supporters' group, in our opinion we feel that the current Board is far too cosy. They're over the moon with the tricks Arsene Wenger is turning which helps produce a profit. That's all that matters.
Moving things on
So what can be done? In short, shake up the Board. We need an injection of fresh blood and we need to shift out the old duffers who currently inhabit the Boardroom at Highbury House. While experience in running a business is of course critical, the new members ideally would have a good knowledge of English football, and absolute perfection would be if these people were Arsenal fans.
And what of real football men on the Board? It’s worked in Germany with high profile former players like Franz Beckenbauer and Uli Hoeness taking up senior roles at Bayern Munich. Bobby Charlton has been a key Board figure at Man United for many years. All football men with a deep love and interest in those clubs, giving a real football viewpoint and opinion on the topic that really matters – football.
Who could we have at Arsenal in that type of role on our Board? To my mind, Arsenal men like Bob Wilson and Frank McLintock are obvious choices. Bob has been a part of the club for decades, even working until recently as goalkeeping coach. The man bleeds red and white. And as for Frank, anyone who listens to him speak knows how much he knows of the game, and knows his love of The Arsenal. Captain of our first double-winning side and captain of an Arsenal team that was victorious in Europe. Legend.
Even moving towards more recent times, there are men who could do a job. Martin Keown is an intelligent man and knows the club inside out. Niall Quinn began his career at Arsenal, is now an experienced businessman and did a decent job at Sunderland. Alan Smith could be another, although personally I went off Smudger when he criticised us heavily after our players – led by Martin Keown – showed passion, fight and spirit at Old Trafford.
So there you have it. The message we’ve given since this group started – the Board has to change, and change for the better. We’ve made great strides as a club over the past decade, but the group of individuals running things have lost focus on what’s important.
And with no football men to challenge decisions and drive us forward in the right way, we’ll continue to drift. Who’ll suffer the most in all of this? The loyal fans who’ve contributed blood, sweat, tears, and a LOT of cash over the last few decades.
