Supporter disquiet at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger is higher than it has ever been. This was reflected at a record attendance at a meeting last night of the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST). The venue had to be changed because so many fans turned up.
Supporter disquiet at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger is higher than it has ever been. This was reflected at a record attendance at a meeting last night of the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST). The venue had to be changed because so many fans turned up.
The Trust, which represents a number of small shareholders as well as fans more generally, is expected to take the relatively drastic step of surveying the membership for their views on Wenger’s future as manager at the end of the season.
In a financial paper issued at the meeting, the AST stated that the club has roughly £50m available in cash reserves. Given disquiet about limited transfer activity, the AST intends to ask the club whether Wenger was allowed to use the money.
The AST intends to ask, ‘Did the manager have the option to use all or some of these cash reserves in summer 2011 and January 2012 or are resources being held back as a contingency for failure to qualify for the Champions League?’ The AST estimate that the club would lose around £45m in annual revenues should they fail to qualify for next year’s Champions League. This might then further reduce the funds available to the manager, possibly prompting a cycle of decline.
The AST also thinks that the club’s wage spending is ‘inefficient’. Player salaries for the 2010-11 season totalled £124.4m, the fourth highest in the Premier League. That is perhaps not unreasonable given that Arsenal are currently fourth, but then rivals Spurs posted a wage bill of £91m last season.
Wenger’s strengths are, admittedly, as a development coach. His record signing, Andrei Arshavin, has started only 8 out of 25 Premier League games this season. However, Arsenal are not an academy, or at least not primarily. They are supposed to be one of the leading sides in Europe and that does involve substantial transfer deals if one wants success.
Wenger’s argument has always been that in the long run the Uefa financial fair play scheme will reward Arsenal’s prudent approach. But fans want a bare trophy cupboard to be filled now, not in five years’ time. It is also far from certain that the financial fair play rules will be enforced rigorously.