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Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke "made it clear he and his family have no intention of ceding control" of the club and said that Manager Arsène Wenger is "more focused than ever" on bringing more success to the team after deciding to stay at the end of last season, according to Paul Chronnell of the London GUARDIAN. Kroenke, who owns a 67% stake in the club, was at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday for Arsenal's annual general meeting and the American, who is "set to face protests from Arsenal supporters' groups over the makeup of the club's board," reiterated that he and his French manager are "still planning for the long term." Kroenke said, "Just go look at our history. We get into these things to try to grow them. You don't see us selling things. We are committed long term. That [selling] is just not our model. I'm at a stage in life where ... what good does that do? I love Arsenal, love being involved with Arsenal. There's no finer feeling than going out and winning like we did with the FA Cup." The decision to "keep faith with Wenger" and award the manager a two-year contract extension in May "left some supporters and shareholders dismayed." Kroenke: "When you make decisions like that you are weighing lots of different factors but you hope that you weigh them correctly and come out with the right decision -- I think we did. ... It's easy to change coaches and people do it all the time ... an easy answer is to do something. It's harder not to do something" (
GUARDIAN, 10/25).
PROTESTERS PRESENT: The PA reported Arsenal shareholders used the club's AGM to "voice their displeasure at the current board." In a "rare move to show their unhappiness" with the setup, shareholders voted down two resolutions to re-elect club Chair Chips Keswick and Dir Josh Kroenke. Shareholders voted against the resolutions despite being told that Kroenke had already voted by proxy in favor of retaining the pair -- with his 67% holding "swaying the vote." At least 200 shareholders were present at the Emirates Stadium to hear from Keswick, CEO Ivan Gazidis and Wenger. Poll votes took place in the room but were defeated as Kroenke and minority owner Alisher Usmanov voted in favor of the pair being re-elected (PA, 10/26). The London INDEPENDENT reported Keswick defended the £2.6M ($3.4M) payment made to Gazidis "despite on-field results waning." Gazidis was paid the amount, which included a bonus of £919,000 ($1.2M), despite Arsenal's league position slipping from second to fifth place with no Champions League qualification. Keswick said, "The club's remuneration committee ... evaluates the performance of our executive directors and senior management team across a very broad spectrum of objectives. These objectives include financial targets both in terms of current year performance against budget and revenue growth across a longer time frame than the results of a single season" (INDEPENDENT, 10/26).
'CONSISTENTLY OVER-PERFORMING': In London, Jeremy Wilson reported Gazidis "made the bullish suggestion" that Arsenal has been "the most consistently over-performing" big club of recent years. Speaking at the AGM, Gazidis "often took a more direct approach than usual and, in acknowledging Arsenal's need to improve, also launched a staunch" defense of the club's transfer policy. His "basic point" is that Arsenal has been consistently fourth in the Premier League for spending and resources but that, as well as three FA Cups in the last four years, its average EPL finish is "actually higher." It has finished fourth, third, second and fifth in that period. However, it has been 13 years since Arsenal's last EPL title. Gazidis said, "There is one very accurate and objective way to assess how well and how consistently clubs perform in this area of transfers over time. ... It is very simply to compare team performance by a series of objective metrics, usually league position or points, against expenditure on transfers. No club has a perfect record every year under this scrutiny but Arsenal has probably been, of the big clubs certainly, the most consistently over-performing team over time" (TELEGRAPH, 10/26).
