METAPHOR FOUR TWO BOB

With the current news stories that the media are loving regarding VanPersie, Song and now Walcott there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. It’s evident that something is wrong with the ‘basics of business’ side of Arsenal Football Club. Turning a profit, perhaps mocks that statement but there are some clear cases of bad practice. Having mediocre players on good contracts making them hard to get rid of is flawed. Allowing the better players to run their contracts down and therefore allowing them to in effect hold the club to ransom is foolhardy. Not paying competitive wages for those players that make a difference (not to mention failing not buying players that make a difference) is myopic. Having endless faith in player’s potential is wooly-thinking when time and again that faith is not rewarded.

Revenue and expenditure are skewed in this business model that we have, because in regards to a Football club your assets are your players and the failure to invest in good players or create the conditions in which quality thrives is poor practice.

The club is awash with money and the board are reaping those benefits but a more successful club generates higher income. We are not earning enough from our performances on the pitch and in the trophy room. If the board are happy with how things are going and think that seven years without a trophy is acceptable they clearly don’t care enough and are only interested in pound notes.

Money can be the only thing that the people running our club care about, but even then they aren’t making the most out of our financial potential, which makes me believe that incompetence is now endemic. Aside from money the most worrying question is this; what other club of Arsenal’s stature, history, location, fan base and income would allow seven barren years to be tolerated without making managerial changes?

The answer is simple; no other commensurate club on the planet.

We are increasingly looking like a luxury liner with an incompetent crew sailing closer and closer to the iceberg.