An ANR reader sent this feature in on spec after an evening with Keith Edelman.
A small studio room at the local health club had been filled with around 80 chairs, wine and nibbles were laid on and there was an informal atmosphere as Keith Edelman started his presentation [with the help of a slide show from his laptop, projecting bullet points that he talked around].
Edelman emphasised his and Arsenal’s mission statement:‘Tradition with Vision’ as he began to tell an audience of mainly armchair fans (I guess I was one of around six or so season ticket holders) a little about the day to day running of the club from his perspective.
He showed some financial statistics (all figures in millions):
1980 1990 2000 2004
Turnover 2.5 7.7 61.2 156
Wage bill 1.3 2.8 3.4 70
Profit .3 .8 9.2 36.1
Currently 52% of revenue comes from broadcasting, 29% gate receipts, 13% sponsorship, 6% retail sales.
Legal fees for the stadium project are in excess of £20 million.
The club was desperate for funds to finance the new stadium and that’s why they sold part of the club to Granada (I think the figure was 9.9% for £47 million), also raising £100 million from stadium and shirt sponsorship from Emirates and £55 million from Nike for merchandise rights.
Interesting to hear that prior to issuing tickets for the new stadium the season ticket waiting list was 60,000. Also the season after next the club are running a seat return on a game by game basis for season ticket holders where they will sell your ticket on your behalf (for a small fee) on a game by game basis.
On Vieira and Edu
Naturally the question about Vieira arose from the floor. Edelman, standing relaxed in shirt sleeves with a glass of red wine in his hand gave this answer to his view on the sale.
“Wenger is a big fan of ProZone”, said Edelman. And he explained in great detail how the manager has a report on how fast, far and the distance each player has run during the course of each match. He also mentioned, interestingly that it covers the full 90 minutes. [That gave me the impression that it was towards the latter stages of a match that helped Wenger make up his mind].
I was surprised to hear Edelman offer without any prompting, that Wenger and everyone at the club misjudged the effect on morale that Vieira’s departure would have on the team.
He went on to say that this is a big moment for Thierry and the club and that he will either sign or be sold. At this point Edelman was asked a question a number of Arsenal fans have pondered: “Keith, please can you explain why Edu who is a very good player was allowed to leave for nothing when the club obviously needs funds?”
He replied by saying that the club didn’t think he was worth what he was claiming. Wenger, he continued, has a great relationship with the players and is very loyal and was happy to let Edu leave for nothing. He also explained that the club did the same with Ray Parlour when they could have received funds.
On Chelsea
Edelman was asked how he felt about Chelsea and went on to qualify the following views as his personal views. “At Arsenal we have a tradition of upholding values and morals,” and he questioned whether Chelsea conduct themselves in the same manner. He said although he thinks Mourinho is a great manager he’s not a fan of the way Chelsea play football, preferring the attacking entertaining game Arsenal play.
On future income
The number of corporate boxes and club level seats, combined with Diamond club members mean the gate income is extremely healthy and takes away, a little, the reliance we have on TV income. He was also very confident that the next TV and media deal will be just as or more lucrative than the current one. This he attributes not only to TV but to broadband and mobile phone rights etc.
Arsenal are also negotiating to repay the loan over 25 years not the 14 we currently agree to.
On agents
He accepts they are part of the game and that any attempt to legislate them will only drive them underground and make them harder to control. They are part of the game and will remain so. He says any agent that comes to a club promising to bring a top player for fees (to the agent) of half a million pounds will always have an audience.
He did say however that players are becoming more powerful and more demanding and he knew of a 17 year old trainee (he didn’t name the club) who was interviewing agents and settled on one that would arrange a chauffeur driven car to training every day because he didn’t want to arrive by bus! He said the agent would have to pay for this in the hope that he got a payback at a later date.
Summary
Keith Edelman came across as a highly knowledgeable man, with no ego at all, who enjoyed his job and seemed to be passionate about what he does.
From a supporters perspective it was enjoyable to hear so much technical stuff about the new stadium, from us buying a satellite farm from the winter Olympics, to employing 4000 match day staff.
But the real pleasure was in getting so close to our MD and being able to question him about the club we love. Imagine turning up at Highbury unannounced with a question you’d like the MD to answer!
[Come to think of it: What would that be?]