By Myles Palmer
THE TWO STARS of last Thursday’s shareholders meeting at Highbury were architect Christopher Lee, whose HOK company designed the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, and Arsene Wenger.
None of the directors referred to the previous night’s stunning demolition of PSV Eindhoven.
Indeed, nobody really felt any need to justify anything.
The glittering trophies on display behind the seated directors made the loudest statement of all.
The FA Cup, the Charity Shield and the Premiership trophy sent out the loudest silent message in Arsenal’s history.
The three trophies said: We know what we’re doing, so don’t criticise!
Fifteen minutes into an AGM which was shorter than usual (45 minutes)Mr Lee began a presentation on video monitors of plans for the new stadium. Building will start in early 2003.
Lee said, “Before I start the presentation. An architect in charge of a project like this deals with lots of figures- hundreds of builders,sixty thousand seats to build. But I think there are two figures I’d like to start with.The first is four.”
A big white number 4 appeared in the middle of a black screen.
For a nanosecond I was intrigued,baffled.
Then he said :”The second one is nil”
A large white zero appeared on the screen-AND EVERYONE LAUGHED.
That joke set the tone for the rest of the meeting, which concerned itself more with the future than the past, but retained respect for traditions.
Many of these middle-aged and elderly gents regard Arsenal as the MCC of football, a bastion of sportmanship and reliable administration, an oasis of sanity in an increasingly crazy world.
Earlier, a burst of applause had greeted the arrival of Arsene Wenger just before the noon kick-off.
Everyone knew he had just flown back to Luton airport at 3a.m from Belgium, late night take-offs being now forbidden in Holland.
The workaholic coach was carrying a bulging black brief case.He’s got a piece of paper for every game Van Bommel has played.
The meeting was further evidence that Wenger’s successes have given the directors the confidence to be more ambitious than ever.
When a shareholder expressed concern about the vast spending plans for Ashburton Grove and tyhe surrounding infrastructure and housing, Danny Fiszmansaid that the total costs would be less than those reported.
“The overall cost of the project is just over £300 million, of which just under half will be the actual construction costs of the stadium itself,” said Fiszman.
“So it’s under £150 million for the stadium itself. We don’t have all of the cash to do that, so that’s part of the fund-raising and the debt that the club will be incurring. And that will be part of Rothschilds duties when they get to it.”
Replying to a question from the floor, Chairman Peter Hill-Wood admitted that Arsenal had not ruled out a rights issue,or a full flotation.
He said, “I don’t think we want to alter the shareholding structure, if we can avoid it. But all our options are open. So to say now that we’re definitely not going to do something would be misleading.”
After fielding a few more questions, the affable Hill-Wood then played his second ace.
He said,”Would anybody like to listen to a few words from Mr Wenger?”
This was greeted by sustained applause and cheers.
The Frenchman graciously thanked the shareholders for their loyal support last season, paid tribute to Tony Adams and Lee Dixon, and made a very mild reference to what other people often call Highbury the Library.
Wenger also admitted that there were financial risks involved in being so ambitious.
“We were runners-up the year before in the championship, and in the Cup. And we reacted well,like real Arsenal people,and came back and won it.
“Of course I would like to thank, as well, players who have left us last year, who have contributed hugely over years and years,like Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, who were very important to me.
“On the pitch, off the pitch as well, they instilled the kind of spirit we want to go on inside the club and inside the team.
“I would like to thank my staff.I’m always in the newspapers – nobody sees them, they work so hard. And they were exceptional as well.The board as well, they’re always behind me- and I’m not always easy! I would like to thank them today.
“And, as well, the players,who I feel – and I’m sure you feel as you watch the games – are not only exceptional players, but special human beings. The vibes in our team, during the season, are special. They have that.And I believe that as long as we can have that kind of feeling in the team , and that kind of communication, we’ll always be proud of our team.
“Where do we go from there? That’s a big question, but as well a simple question.
“We want to win more. We want to be a dominant force, not only by winning trophies.We want more trophies and we want to be consistent over the years and not be a team who wins only one year.
“True champions win every year.And that’s what we want to achieve.
“We speak about developing the stadium. It’s not easy, it will put the club in a little bit of trouble financially. And we are struggling a little bit financially to cope with it. The heart wants to stay at Highbury, but the brain wants to go somewhere else.
“We want to share the vision of the club we want to be. We want to share the values this club has instilled for years and years.
“And that is, of course, the love of the game, the way we behave, the way we play our game, the way our attitude is in every game. And if we can manage that I think we have a great future together.
“When he referred to the slight complacency of the crowd, which has become somewhat spoiled by the thrilling football his team now plays, there was some guilty laughter from fans who knew exactly what he was talking about.
“My message to you today is : continue to support the team. We will not always win every game, like we did recently, but we can always support our team. And I feel sometimes it becames a little bit quiet because they just expect the goals to be scored.(GUILTY LAUGHTER)
“We want to share something beyond just winning the games. It’s about how we behave, how we want the club to be in the future. I believe we can manage that together and I think we will be here again next year and proud of what we have achieved together. Thank you very much.”
There was loud,sustained applause.
Hill-Wood then said,”Thank you, Mr Wenger. He’s a great inspiration to all of us, and we’re lucky to have him!”
“Hear, hear!” they cried.
One shareholder who said he was 72, said, “We’re the greatest club in the world. We may not always have had the best team,but we’re the greatest club.”
He recalled Herbert Chapman, Arsenal’s first legendary manager in the Thirties
“To think that when I was bunking off from prep school, we had the greatest manager in the world then. And I think we’ve got the greatest manager in the world now.”
This brought more calls of,”Hear,hear!”
Hill-Wood said the club was going to be spending a lot of money building the new stadium.
“This where we think the future is. We have no intention of bankrupting the club, I can assure you. We think we can fund it and we think we will have a very successful stadium in which we hope we will have a very successful team playing. But that’s three or four years ahead.We don’t know what the future will bring, but we’re confident that we’ve made the right decisions.”
Overall,then,a pretty tame AGM compared to some of those I describe in The Professor.
One perk shareholders enjoy is that if the club has won any trophies the previous year they can queue up to have a free photo taken with the silverware.
Fans who got Arsene’s autograph and a free photo were in seventh heaven.
30th September 2002.