The
Battle In The Board-Room At Arsenal - one that could shape our future!
For a
number of years now there has been a well documented and discussed 'power
struggle' at boardroom level at The Arsenal between two men who have plenty of
coin: Alisher Usmanov (Uzbek) and Stan Korenke (American). Arguably, although admittedly
at present we do not know all the facts, they have differing views and visions
as to how the club should go about its business, certainly in the short term
period. Usmanov has come out in the English media on a number of occasions and
outlined that he believes in heavy investment on players in order to initiate a
period of success for the club, whereas it seems Stan is more focused and committed
to the 'self - sustaining model' that Ivan Gazidis and Co have talked about and
championed over recent years.
I think
it is fair to say that this is the reason why fans and pundits have been
talking about this issue a lot, because us fans are clearly and rightly so,
desperate for the club to win all the titles and championships that we play in.
Absolutely right I say, that is what all football fans want. Therefore I think
that fans believe that heavy investment in players will bring this success and
they probably have a point. For this reason many people feel that Alisher
Usmanov should take over the club, and some have championed the phrase 'Usmanov
save our Arsenal'. Which is perhaps a bit un - founded because as I said we
don't actually know in any real detail what he would plan for the club, were he
to take over the club.
I must
stress this point, we don't actually know a great deal about what Alisher
Usmanov intends to do in a position of 'power' in the club. I think before we
all champion and perhaps campaign for his rise, we need to know more about his intentions
for the club and his credentials e.t.c e.t.c. Because in my opinion it is all
very well offering and talking about going out and buy loads of players,
however what is important to mention is that financial longevity and the future
of the club ARE MORE important than trophies in the short term, despite our
desperation and passion for the club to win titles NOW! Drastic investment like
that of which Usmanov has talked about, is it has to be said, NOT sustainable,
there are no 2 ways about that. There does have to be some kind of sustainable
pathway for the club to go down and not just go down the route of a Abromovich
or a Sheikh Mansour, an approach which in many reasons is not the correct one,
for reasons which i will now discuss.
Firstly,
the trouble with this kind of approach is that you clearly become reliant and
indebted to one individual benefactor and therefore this is not sustainable.
What if this individual benefactor (take Alisher Usmanov in this case) decides
to sell up and exit the club for whatever reason, and therefore withdraws his
financial investment in the institution, what then? Where do you go from there?
You would then have the wages and the costs of that investment made, to cover
out of your own 'pocket' so to speak, and this is not sustainable, in fact this
could spell trouble. And this is something which, I believe, will eventually
come up and bite City and Chelsea and Co on the ass.
In
addition to this I believe there are gross cultural problems with this kind of
approach and the proof for this is Man City. As soon as any given club starts
this kind of approach and starts spending big on players and their wages, there
is a big danger in my view of a 'money culture' developing at the institution.
You get players looking at the club as a place to bolster their cash Isa’s
rather than as a place to bolster their medal cabinets. This concerns me.
Another
thing that I have to point out before we jump on the prefrobriel band-wagon of
Usmanov, is that the club is actually in a very strong financial position/
situation as it is. And it seems that every year there is hefty 'war chest' (as
the media usually for some reason puts it) to use. And to be fair I feel that
it is fair to say that this is the sort of investment that most fans would like
to see at the club, oh and a bit of a lock on the departure door at the club!
So maybe, I suggest, it is NOT a case of JUST getting Usmanov on board it is
just a case of spending the money that we already have available and MORE
importantly spending it wisely. THIS brings me to something which many people
have been championing for some time now as well, and that is the need to bring
someone in to help and assist Arsene with the dealing of transfers and acquisitions
at the football club! Someone perhaps by the name of (whisper it) David Dein!
This is why in my opinion we should not be talking about a battle between
Korenke and Usmanov, but rather a battle between David Dein and the board!
David Dein was a great negotiator and a bit of wheeler dealer, and someone who
could get players through the gates at London Colney. We also know that Arsene
is a very good friend of Dein's and therefore they could clearly work together
with each other again. I feel the board should put their differences with Dein
to one corner, welcome him back, and see what he can do!
Therefore
to summarise i feel that right now as fans we are very much in the dark as to
what the plans are of Usmanov, he has been quite vocal about how things are
done, and how he feels some people do not have the right motives, but the
bottom line is we don’t actually know what he would plan for the club! What he
HAS said would suggest that he would want to invest heavily in new players for
the club, but this is something which we can actually already do, and besides
it's not something which is NESSSARILY beneficial! YES, in the short term
maybe, but it is NOT sustainable of that there is no doubts, and as i mentioned
what is absolutely paramount and what is absolutely at the top of my list anyway
is the long term future of the club I love and we all love (unless any Spuds
are reading this, and which case why are you here?) This is where David Dein
does come in to play, I believe that Arsene, as much as I love the man, and
what he has brought to this magnificent football institution that we all love,
has become to much of the club, rather than a manger of the team! He has in my
opinion at times been guilty of trying to do too much! This is why he needs a
'technical director' type figure (like Dein) to assist him with negotiations
and acquisitions and bring players in more efficiently, and perhaps more
importantly given recent history, hold on to the player that we actually
ALREADY HAVE, (although if it is a player like Nasri he can get him in his car
and drive him to the door quite frankly)! I hate to say this as a comparison, I
really do but Harry Redknapp at the Spuds has Levy who is a good negotiator and
a famous wheeler dealer, and we need some of this at our club, there is no
doubt, in my opinion. The key point of what I am saying here is YES Usmanov is
an extremely well coined man, in fact more wealthy than Mr Abromovich if
certain Rich lists of football are to be believed, but I do not think that we necessarily
need him, because we are one of the Richest clubs in the world, that is a fact,
and we CAN buy players, we just need to be a bit shrewder and a bit smarter
with the money that we do have available, and potentially not pay the players
that we do have so much, as some players at the club who are not really in the
first team mix, are on 50 60 k a week, which is not right and proper, and not
conducive to getting in big players, because wages are being wasted elsewhere!
Therefore lets go back, rewind 10 years or so, get Mr Dein on board and let him
help to BRING BACK OUR ARSENAL!
COME ON
YOU REDS!!!!!
(twitter @Mr_arsenal_blog - post me your thoughts)
