Arsenal FC a very promising story

[BigAdz]

Idi Amin was in charge for a similar period.

Doesn't automatically mean he did a wonderful job either.....

[Nakor]

Idi Amin was in charge for a similar period.

Doesn't automatically mean he did a wonderful job either.....

People liked him to start off with as well.

[TightEnd]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-really-200million-cash-available-7944463

Do Arsenal really have £200million in cash available to spend on new players?

the analyst's report can be downloaded from the link above

[tikay]

Ha, very good.

It's not just 19 straight years of CL football, it's doing it on a constrained budget, so they could build, & own, their new, magnificent stadium, & playing attractive football. Now they have the trifecta of a wonderful team, a cracking stadium, & money in the bank.

Meanwhile, Man City, West Ham & the like are renting or leasing stadia, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool & Co are desperate for new homes, & have been talking about it for 10 years or more now. Lots of talk, not much walk.

Chelsea, Man U & Liverpool all look like missing CL football next Season, too, that is a huge setback, as the best players want CL Football.

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

[Ledders]

I feel the current vitriol towards Martinez is just a taster of what will happen next season to Wenger. Unless we're top of the league (lol) or very competititve it's going to be crazy.

And yes, there's definitely £200million+ just sitting in the bank according to SwissRamble

[nirvana]

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

I take your ticket generally on this but I'm not sure we should put such blind faith in boards knowing more than us.

A lot of FTSE execs are good at becoming FTSE execs and extracting cash from companies better than most of us. But they often don't know much about building long term successful businesses around their products.

Things go well - 'I am clever', things go badly 'it's the environment stupid'.

The premier league is such a cartel type operation these days that the aspirations of clubs (in nearly all cases) are met by being a bit better than average, enabling them to continue at the top table, and share out the fans money amongst themselves at an ever faster rate.

[tikay]

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

I take your ticket generally on this but I'm not sure we should put such blind faith in boards knowing more than us.

A lot of FTSE execs are good at becoming FTSE execs and extracting cash from companies better than most of us. But they often don't know much about building long term successful businesses around their products.

Things go well - 'I am clever', things go badly 'it's the environment stupid'.

The premier league is such a cartel type operation these days that the aspirations of clubs (in nearly all cases) are met by being a bit better than average, enabling them to continue at the top table, and share out the fans money amongst themselves at an ever faster rate.

I would suggest that by any reasonable criteria, the Arsenal Board - which has changed over the years of course - has built a "long-term successful business around their product".

Good players, some of whom are world-class & great to watch, cracking ground which is sold out for every game, ton of money in the bank, & an identifiable world Brand. History tells us that Arsenal's success is sustainable, too, going back the best part of 80 years or more, with no sign of that changing.

If you could own Shares in any EPL football club, Arsenal is a no-brainer.  STRONG BUY

[The Camel]

Ha, very good.

It's not just 19 straight years of CL football, it's doing it on a constrained budget, so they could build, & own, their new, magnificent stadium, & playing attractive football. Now they have the trifecta of a wonderful team, a cracking stadium, & money in the bank.

Meanwhile, Man City, West Ham & the like are renting or leasing stadia, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool & Co are desperate for new homes, & have been talking about it for 10 years or more now. Lots of talk, not much walk.

Chelsea, Man U & Liverpool all look like missing CL football next Season, too, that is a huge setback, as the best players want CL Football.

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

Tikay, what do you think the aim of football clubs is?

To make money or to win trophies? (obviously the two aren't mutually exclusive, but you get the point of my question)

[tikay]

Ha, very good.

It's not just 19 straight years of CL football, it's doing it on a constrained budget, so they could build, & own, their new, magnificent stadium, & playing attractive football. Now they have the trifecta of a wonderful team, a cracking stadium, & money in the bank.

Meanwhile, Man City, West Ham & the like are renting or leasing stadia, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool & Co are desperate for new homes, & have been talking about it for 10 years or more now. Lots of talk, not much walk.

Chelsea, Man U & Liverpool all look like missing CL football next Season, too, that is a huge setback, as the best players want CL Football.

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

Tikay, what do you think the aim of football clubs is?

To make money or to win trophies? (obviously the two aren't mutually exclusive, but you get the point of my question)

It's certainly not limited to winning trophies, Keith. Leeds United won trophies, as did many others languishing in the Championship or lower, as did the likes of Portsmouth, Bolton etc.  Not sustainable though, as they did not look after their financial affairs properly.

On the field, the old saying is "build from the back, get the defence right first". Off the field, get the financial stability first, without that, it's like having great forwards & no defence.

And Arsenal's recent financial stability owes much to AW, who was happy to buy in to the Board's long term strategy, & in doing so, incur the wrath of a minority of fans.

[tikay]

Just something else in reply to Keith.

Surely we don't have to win trophies to enjoy football, do we? If that is the sole criteria, then 95% of all football fans must be unhappy. How can that ever make sense?

[hhyftrftdr]

Great news that he's signing a new deal, if it's true of course. Means Arsenal won't be troubling the top spot for the foreseeable.

The club even brought their own police and stewards to Manchester on Sunday to try and keep the Wenger out brigade under wraps. He's gonna outstay his welcome and send his legacy down the shitter if he isn't careful.

[jakally]

The problem is that Wenger, as a football manager, is most likely less effective now than say, 10 years ago - less energy, less innovation, fewer ideas that are ahead of the game, less likely to understand the age group he is managing, which probably more than balances out older and wiser.
Given that this decline will continue, to justify give him another deal, the Arsenal board have to conclude that Arsene in 2 or 3 years, is still better than the potential alternatives. Unless they are not able to attract a top level manager, I'm not sure that is the case.

The people who think he should continue, justify by pointing to his past successes - to me appointing for the future primarily on past achievements is not a good way to run a business.

[nirvana]

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

I take your ticket generally on this but I'm not sure we should put such blind faith in boards knowing more than us.

A lot of FTSE execs are good at becoming FTSE execs and extracting cash from companies better than most of us. But they often don't know much about building long term successful businesses around their products.

Things go well - 'I am clever', things go badly 'it's the environment stupid'.

The premier league is such a cartel type operation these days that the aspirations of clubs (in nearly all cases) are met by being a bit better than average, enabling them to continue at the top table, and share out the fans money amongst themselves at an ever faster rate.

I would suggest that by any reasonable criteria, the Arsenal Board - which has changed over the years of course - has built a "long-term successful business around their product".

Good players, some of whom are world-class & great to watch, cracking ground which is sold out for every game, ton of money in the bank, & an identifiable world Brand. History tells us that Arsenal's success is sustainable, too, going back the best part of 80 years or more, with no sign of that changing.

If you could own Shares in any EPL football club, Arsenal is a no-brainer.  STRONG BUY

Yah, my point though is that you don't need to be any good at anything much to keep making money at Arsenal. The manager can now be very very average at the club and, providing it remains in the premier league, can help to keep milking the fans directly and via other sources. The board can keep filling their pockets irrespective of any innovation etc and by these really narrow measures you can call them successful. But life isn't all about shareholder returns is it ? Rhetorical of course.

The best business leaders aspire to be in a category of 1, not just exist amongst general mediocrity. The Premier league is mediocre now in European terms and it's because there's no need to be competitive to make an abso killing

[Nakor]

Meanwhile, Arsenal just get on with the job, year after year. I'm pretty sure the majority of fans want Arsene to stay, but having said that, it genuinely does not matter. It's the Board who employ him, so if they are happy, that's all that matters. And I'm guessing that the Board, & Arsene, probably know more than any of us about football.   

I take your ticket generally on this but I'm not sure we should put such blind faith in boards knowing more than us.

A lot of FTSE execs are good at becoming FTSE execs and extracting cash from companies better than most of us. But they often don't know much about building long term successful businesses around their products.

Things go well - 'I am clever', things go badly 'it's the environment stupid'.

The premier league is such a cartel type operation these days that the aspirations of clubs (in nearly all cases) are met by being a bit better than average, enabling them to continue at the top table, and share out the fans money amongst themselves at an ever faster rate.

I would suggest that by any reasonable criteria, the Arsenal Board - which has changed over the years of course - has built a "long-term successful business around their product".

Good players, some of whom are world-class & great to watch, cracking ground which is sold out for every game, ton of money in the bank, & an identifiable world Brand. History tells us that Arsenal's success is sustainable, too, going back the best part of 80 years or more, with no sign of that changing.

If you could own Shares in any EPL football club, Arsenal is a no-brainer.  STRONG BUY

Isn't there an argument that the Arsenal board massively mis read the market?
If they had known that TV revenue was to grow to this years deal, would they have had to been so prudent on spend?
I will be surprised if Spurs go through the period of austerity that Arsenal did while funding their new stadium.

Is 19 years of absolute stability in any market seen as success?
Does Mr Buffett not teach you to stand still is to die?

[tikay]

The problem is that Wenger, as a football manager, is most likely less effective now than say, 10 years ago - less energy, less innovation, fewer ideas that are ahead of the game, less likely to understand the age group he is managing, which probably more than balances out older and wiser.
Given that this decline will continue, to justify give him another deal, the Arsenal board have to conclude that Arsene in 2 or 3 years, is still better than the potential alternatives. Unless they are not able to attract a top level manager, I'm not sure that is the case.

The people who think he should continue, justify by pointing to his past successes - to me appointing for the future primarily on past achievements is not a good way to run a business.

Well, I'd say "current successes" too.

One thing you have to remember, Neil - elderly people are exceptionally wise.