How Arsenal can change the way the club is run
Arsenal has only won 7 out of 13 games in this calendar year and is in a crisis, something which doesn’t sound new at all to Arsenal fans. They’ve faced a 3–0 battering at the hands of league leaders Manchester City at the Carabao Cup final and then at the Emirates Stadium 4 days later. The players are as down as ever, lacking any sort of motivation to give 100% for the team, and the fans are more against the team and manager ever before. Arsenal is 10 points off the top 4 places and now face a tricky tie against AC Milan in the Europa League. While the results on the pitch haven’t been great, the results off the pitch aren’t that great either, reporting a 60% loss in profit from the previous year. It has been well documented that Arsenal majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, isn’t the most trophy-hungry owner out here, but what he cares about most importantly in profit maximization. He believes that a football club is a business and should be maintained like a business, without accounting the other important factors of a football club. As Arsenal are struggling on and off the pitch, let’s look at how the club can change for the better in the future, especially off the pitch.
Hiring world class scouts, smart recruitment.
Most of Arsenal’s reported losses has to do the fact that they have no Champions League football (thus missing out on a lot of revenue), they’ve increased the wage bill of the club, and they’ve signed new players. Arsenal’s new signings of Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette, and Kolasinac have all been out of form. Arsenal’s £46.5m gamble on Alexandre Lacazette is backfiring, and some are starting to feel the same about record signing, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. They’ve been unable to attract quality players mainly because of the fact that Arsenal is not playing Champions League football and are very unlikely to play Champions League football next season. Arsenal either need to spend big or rebuild slowly and develop a club model similar to Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal is a very affluent club and have the money, however, it’s about whether they spend the money and how well they spend that money. When spending big on players, what’s most important is the returns you get for purchasing that player. Arsenal needs to find quality world class players, specifically players that fill in the areas that need improvement. The signing of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan have certainly bolstered Arsenal’s attack, but they failed to address the biggest areas of weaknesses, the central defensive midfielder position, and the center back positions. Because of their inability to go purchase players that address their issues at the back, Arsenal has been defensively woeful this season and will continue to be if they don’t find a player that solves the issues.
Develop a more youth-friendly model (Moneyball)
One way that Arsenal can improve in the long run is to invest more into their youth and recruit young players with great potential, however, if they’re looking for immediate rewards, than this isn’t probably the best option. This youth-friendly model has worked exceptionally well at the likes of Ajax and bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur. By implementing this model, they minimize the risks of failure and can also maximize the returns they get upon recruiting young players, should they perform well. Furthermore, building a team based on this model and even looking in terms of transfer recruitment will do wonders in the long term. This is because younger players will have a relatively lower and less elastic demand in comparison to players in their peak, and therefore will have to pay a fairly small price for the player. However, that also depends where you look to buy young players. Given the current inflation of the football transfer market in general, especially in England, Arsenal need to look at smaller teams with undervalued players, perhaps adopting a “Moneyball” strategy.
Clear out the deadwood & fringe players
Pep Guardiola didn’t do too well in his first season as Manchester City manager but is now experiencing tremendous success on the pitch. Part of his success has to do with the fact that he cleared out all the deadwood players in his squad and replaced those players with the players he wanted. While it’s difficult to clear out all your deadwood players, should all of Arsenal’s deadwood players be sold, this would create a lot of financial “wiggle” room to go and spend big. By doing this, this will change Arsenal from top 4 contenders to title contenders.
Get rid of Kroenke, make Usmanov majority shareholder
Stan Kroenke is the type of owner that likes to minimize risks, believing that a team should only spend the money when necessary, not when there’s room to improve. Usmanov, on the other hand, believes that a team can always improve and should spend the money when they can. By making Usmanov majority shareholder, this would allow Arsenal to spend even more money on players that’ll improve the team. While it’s not just about spending the money, it’s also about spending smart, something which can be done by hiring world-class scouts, as mentioned before.
As of now, the way Arsenal is run is based on the fact of profit maximisation. For Stan Kroenke, as long as Arsenal FC make yearly profits and gets the revenue that a club gets from European football than everything is going to plan. However, while that model guarantees consistent results, this model always fails to maximize the returns that a club can get. To maximize their returns, Arsenal needs to buy smart (buying players that will help them to contend for the title), play Champions League football, and clear out the deadwood players. By doing so, Arsenal will maximize their returns but also at the same time make a profit.
Please feel free to read my next article: https://medium.com/football-applied/pep-guardiola-the-artist-of-the-premier-league-ad8b9d0918df
