THE ARSENAL AGM 1999
Hill-Wood says two possible stadium sites have been found. Dein defends clubs handling of Anelka saga.
By Myles Palmer
FEATURES
THE ARSENAL AGM - FULL WRITE UP
FIVE REASONS: ARSENAL COULD WIN IN BARCELONA
CARLTON AND ITV UPSET US AGAIN
JEKYLL AND HYDE PLAY THE NOU CAMP
My favourite moment at this years AGM came when a shareholder mentioned the protracted departure of Nicolas Anelka, who was eventually sold to Real Madrid for £23 million.
He said, "If newspapers are to be believed, Real Madrid are £100 million in debt. How can we be sure we will get all of the five staged payments?"
Chairman Peter Hill-Wood said, "I did mention before that we have a bank guarantee, or we will have it."
"You have it, or you will have it?" said the shareholder.
"We will have it."
"When will that materialise?"
"Tomorrow, " said Hill-Wood.
There was loud laughter and considerable applause. Hill-Wood, embarrassed, quickly added, "That is absolutely true."
It was a wonderful comic moment. There is no West End theatre show quite like the Arsenal AGM.
The first hour of the 75-minute meeting on Thursday September 2nd, 1999, was routine stuff. Acceptance of the accounts, re-election of Hill-Wood and Clive Carr, and minor changes in the Articles of Association, as required by the FA.
Then came predictable questions about re-location, the Anelka transfer, media companies buying stakes in clubs, the state of the executive ladies loos and the inaudibility of the public address system in the West Stand.
Other perennials included, "Can you stop bombarding us with pop music?"and, "Why dont you show the whole game on the big screens like Spurs and Aston Villa?"
Hill-Wood apologised for not having so many trophies on display as last year, and congratulated the Ladies team. He was unable to give news of progress regarding relocation, although two sites were under investigation.
He said:"On the question of relocation, or development of the stadium, we haven't got anything, I'm afraid, very specific to report to you yet. We are still looking and, we think, we've got two possible sites that we might be able to move to.
"The complications of finding a satisfactory site are quite amazing, and it has taken a huge amount of people's time to achieve what may seem to be very little.
"So far as developing here, that is still an option we are looking at. So we are still looking at how we could increase the size of the stadium. At the moment we are no further forward on that, other than to say that we probably can't increase the capacity by more than 7,000. And at what appears to be a prohibitive cost. But it is an option that we haven't given up on yet."
The chairman fielded complaints that the board had hidden their obvious intention to move, and pretended that they preferred to stay at their historic home.
A shareholder said:"We went to Wembley last year, and you haveve withdrawn the planning application to redevelop Highbury, so it is very clear to all and sundry that the board have made the decision that we are going to re-locate away from Highbury. I really think they should come out and say this, so that the fans and shareholders are properly prepared for this."
Hill-Wood said:"It is our preferred option to re-locate. We've never really hidden that fact. Saying that we are definitely going to relocate would be rather irresponsible. We don't know that we definitely are."
This was a change from the 1998 AGM, where Hill-Wood said they preferred to stay at Highbury.
Asked about the time-frame for a move, he said a new stadium, "is unlikely to be ready for occupation, if all goes well, in under four years."
"You'll have seen in the newspapers that various media companies are getting involved in buying stakes in football clubs. I can confirm that we have had talks with virtually every media company there is. But we aren't convinced yet that it is advantageous to the club or its shareholders to pursue any of the proposals that have been made to us.
"We have an open mind, however. If an attractive proposition is made to us we would certainly look at it. But were not there yet."
The chairman's use of the word YET indicated that a big offer, at the right moment, WOULD buy a substantial stake in Arsenal. That had never been admitted publicly by the club.
Another shareholder asked whether the purchase of Davor Suker and Thierry Henry was dependent on the money from the sale of Anelka, but Hill-Wood denied this.
He said:"With Anelka going, it was important to get a player in, or two players. One was not dependent on the other. We assumed Anelka was going.You basically buy a player when you can buy them. I think Mr Wenger is looking to strengthen the squad at any moment he can."
Another shareholder asked about the dangers of the team and the directors travelling together in one plane in Europe, in case it crashes. He said:"I don't think Dennis Bergkamp could run the team on his own."
This morbid remark got a laugh. Hill-Wood said that in the old days the team flew in two planes, but they now believed that air travel was safe.
A woman asked for more details about Bow Lane, Finchley, the club's new training ground for kids. Director Clive Carr admitted that at the moment the club can only train schoolboys between the ages of 8 and 15 in the indoor court at Highbury.
Carr said:"We are required by the academy rules to have outdoor facilities. They obviously have to be within an area that schoolboys can get to at a suitable time after school. This is an admirable site. We will have two pitches there, hopefully, a grassed-in area, and two artificial surfaces. And we can improve the standard of coaching that they are receiving. There is one slight hitch. We have agreed terms with Camden, we' ve got planning for it all, but because of government requirements, Camden Council is required to re-consult every school. And that's going to take up to three months. Hopefully, after that we will begin, and get cracking.
"It will be completed and start next season. It should be an excellent facility for our schoolboys."
A shareholder asked about the status of Stephen Hughes, who had been the subject of contradictory reports in the papers.
Hill-Wood said: "Stephen Hughes is at Fulham on loan, and I think wants to come back after two months. I don't know whether he will come back, but I think he probably will."
One man claimed that his Gooner friends abroad were unable to buy Arsenal shirts, while Manchester United merchandise was widely available.
Hill-Wood said the club has a good mail-order business but admitted that 'we' could improve in that area. He suggested that control of foreign merchandising was in the hands of Nike rather than the club.
"It is up to Nike, certainly on shirts and all the Nike products."
[If true, this is obviously an unsatisfactory situation. Arsenal's overheads are so high that they need every income stream, and increasing replica kit sales abroad is a far easier task than building a new stadium.]
One shareholder noted that while players wage costs have gone up 60%-70% over two years, why directors costs have increased 300% in the last two years. He asked: "Is there any particular reason for this?" This question triggered loud laughter.
Hill-Wood said:"Well, the principal one is Mr Dein. He had a fairly substantial bonus which the Remuneration Committee felt he had earned fully. I supported that, and I don't think its excessive."
Another speaker said that he felt the lunatics were taking over the asylum, and he had read that on no account would Anelka be sold to Real Madrid.
He said:"We don't get the money up front, as a colleague has mentioned earlier. The problem I have with that is that the two forwards who were signed three days before the season started, which is not ideal preparation for the coming season.
"One the manager says is not fit, the other is obviously taking his time to get into the team. I would put it to the Vice-Chairman : If it wasn't linked to the Anelka transfer, would it not have been better to give said forwards a full pre-season, playing in the pre-season friendlies?Can the Vice-Chairman answer please?
David Dein, always combative when criticised, said:"We did not want to sell him. We did everything we possibly could to get him to remain with us. He eventually returned to England, he was desperate to leave the club, and we managed to get an auction going between three clubs.
"We did not want to deal with Real Madrid. However, prior to doing so we made certain stipulations to get them to explain their conduct, which they did to our satisfaction.
"We had originally made a complaint to UEFA and to FIFA, which is now being dealt with by their officials. I can say no more on that. All I can tell you is that the deal we concluded was in the very, very best interests of Arsenal Football Club. On what we achieved, I would like to think you are satisfied.
"Turning to the new players, the timing of that was really very, very difficult. Trying to make sure a club is willing to sell a player. Very often they are not.
"We managed to get Thierry Henry and Davor Suker, albeit it was late. But it was important we got those two players."
The shareholder then interrupted. He said:"With respect, Mr Vice-Chairman, if I can have the right of reply to that, Davor Suker, I'm led to believe, bought his own contract out. He was a free agent who touted himself about for a number of months. It seemed to me and my associates that he was bought very, very quickly, as soon as Anelka was sold.
"My point to you is, surely it would have been a lot better if these players had been in place pre-season rather than achieving fitness, and getting to know the other players, while playing for the first team in what has been an inauspicious start for the club this season."
David Dein clearly did not relish being reminded of those two months of Anelka aggravation.
Speaking with controlled aggression, he said:"I'd willingly swap jobs with you for one day, so you can see the problems we have to deal with. For us to get quality world class players in, very often the timing is not ours."
The guy should have said:"Fine, what day suits you?" But he said nothing further.
On the stadium issue, one shareholder said he had been coming to Highbury for 40 years, but he accepted the necessity of a new ground. However, he thought that the club was dragging its heels with regard to relocation.
Other clubs have moved without a big fuss, but with Arsenal it was going on year after year. He asked if this was because the club want something they cannot afford.
He also asked why Arsenal fans will only have 1,400 tickets for Barcelona, and will Spanish fans get the same number at Wembley?
Hill-Wood said:"In answer to your first question, finance is not the reason. We are confident we can finance a new stadium."
Hill-Wood asked Secretary David Miles to explain the ticket situation. David Miles said:"What happened was that after the draw we were informed by Barcelona that the allocation, not just to us but also to Fiorentina and Solna, was a maximum of 1,400.
"We made our protests to them at the time, and we also spoke to UEFA immediately thereafter. A small delegation is actually travelling to Barcelona early next week in an effort to secure more tickets.
"The problem we have is that we do not have UEFA's backing because within the Champions League regulations there is no minimum percentage for what clubs must offer. So there is a longer term issue as to whether or not we can propose a rule change, whereby a minimum of 5, or whatever, could be offered.
"One of the things that we wish to raise with Barcelona is why they can't give us a bigger allocation, when there are already companies in England advertising an inclusive trip with a ticket.
"You must also appreciate that that ticket will not be within the Arsenal area. There are obvious security implications. Some people may take that risk, others may not. In respect of your point about whether we would do a tit-for-tat situation at Wembley, we would have to talk to both the police and Wembley."
One brave man stood up and said:"I think the board represent about 70% of the shares in the club, but there are some very big issues on which we, as small shareholders, don't really know where the board is coming from.
"Would there be any support for a small shareholder representative on the board?"
There was a brief stunned silence after this audacious suggestion, followed by some applause.
Hill-Wood said he didn't think it would work, and there were a few giggles.
The man then said:"If Carlton or United News & Media or BSkyB were to get 9% of the club, they wouldn't be sitting with us, they'd be sitting with you up there!"
This was warmly applauded.
As usual, Hill-Wood was impatient for the meeting to end.
He does not enjoy being asked questions he cannot answer, and knows that many of the shareholders are educated, sophisticated adults who have more experience of public speaking than the Arsenal directors.
An argumentative accountant, solicitor or barrister might stand up at any moment and ask a penetrating question. There is always an unspoken undercurrent at the AGM, a feeling that since Vice-Chairman David Dein runs the club, he should be answering the questions.
But that is one of the things that makes Arsenal a unique institution.
It suits Dein not be chairman, and it suits Hill-Wood to have someone else run the club.
Ken Friar was sitting there as usual. When asked about this, Hill-Wood said that although Mr Friar had been due to retire at the end of last season, he had agreed to work for another year.
Amazingly, nobody asked why Arsenal are going back to Wembley for Champions League games again, when last season's experiment had failed, with the club winning only one of their first five games in the group.
The mood of the meeting changed after an hour when one shareholder went to a microphone and said:"I would like to congratulate Mr Wenger on an outstanding season last year."
This sentiment was applauded immediately and spontaneously by 300 people, about half of those present.
Hill-Wood then said:"That's probably an appropriate moment to ask Mr Wenger to say a few words to you."
Arsene Wenger stood up and spoke for ten minutes.
At 49, the manager is a master of these set-piece addresses. He still has a youthful quality.
He came over as a decent, realistic and purposeful head boy, giving a report to an assembly of grammar school parents. His words somehow managed to contain exactly the right blend of honesty, humility and ambition.
Basically, Wenger has a knack of pressing the right buttons. With a group of players, he is persuasive. With a group of journalists, he is persuasive.
And, once a year with the shareholders, he is warmly intelligent and likeable.
He has a lot in common with the shareholders.
He does not, as far as we know, own shares in Arsenal, but he probably feels as if he does.
Wenger said:"Once again, Arsenal has a huge attendance and I must say I enjoy that. That's why I would like to thank you for your huge support you brought to the team last year.
"Everyone takes it for granted that we get 38,000. I don't because I've worked somewhere before that didn't get that.
"I personally enjoy it very much. We are deeply disappointed that we didn't win the championship last year. We failed by one point but we made 78 points like we did the year before and lost only four games. The basic target we have reached is to establish Arsenal Football Club at the top of domestic football for three years, as well as we can.
"It becomes always more difficult because many clubs have big potential in England, and almost everybody buys and tries to improve his team. I personally believe that my responsibility is to work on the short term. That means to make this club very successful every year, and as well in the medium term, and the longer term.
"In the short term, I think we can look back over the last three years and say we have improved our stock, and we've heard a lot about transfers today.
"As the manager I feel responsible to the shareholders to look at the balance, the financial balance. We spoke about Anelka, about Suker. We lost Anelka this season but the financial benefit was great.
"We could have said: "you have to stay in the reserves for four years, to learn a lesson. But at some stage we had to respect the financial interest of the club today. The pressure to survive at the top level is so big that we had to compromise a little."
He said:"To get the other players in, like you said, I'm not scared to say yes, it was linked to Anelka, of course. Why? Because the wages of top class strikers are very, very big. In my opinion, for a long, long time, Anelka stays with Arsenal."
I was right! This was exactly what I believed during the Anelka summer saga: that Wenger always hoped to take charge in July, after convoluted negotiations had become stalled, and persuade his protege to stay at least another year.
Wenger never thought it was right for the 20-year old to move clubs during 1999. He believed it was wrong for Arsenal, damaging to France and risky for the player, and he always thought he could, somehow, keep Anelka.
But when Anelka was sold, Wenger had to act. He signed Suker on August 3rd, and Henry on August 4th.
Wenger said:"It's always the same if you lose a player late, you buy late.If you buy late, you can have problems at the start of the season.
"Suker was not our target early in the summer. For two reasons. One, he had a contract where he could buy himself out for £1m. Two, his financial requests were too high.
"He came down to fit into our wage structure very late.That's why he came to our club very late. As well I've heard some questions about the midfield, and why we don't have better cover.
"But there as well I want to be responsible for the longer term. I want to bring young players in. I've done that my whole career. I've put Petit in at 18, and Thuram at 18, and of course they were not like today. But if you want to give a chance to the younger players, you have to have an opening there.That's one reason.
Second reason, to find replacements on the international market for Petit and Vieira, for example, is very, very difficult."
Wenger said that if you have Stephen Hughes, a very good player, who has Petit in front of him, and you buy another player, and then another player, the youngsters will never get a chance.
He said that was why Arsenal work very hard with their youth team, who should provide the basis of the side in the future, with the addition of four or five players from outside UK. In the long term he would like a team that is 60% home grown, and 40% continental imports.
"This club works very hard, as we've heard already, to build a new training ground. It is one of the most advanced in Europe, and will help guarantee the future success of the club.
"We spoke about the ground. When I go out there, I love this stadium, but we are now 17,000 or 18,000 less people than some of our rivals, and tomorrow it will be be 20,000 or 25,000 less than them. That means, at the end of the season, a huge difference.
"And if we want to compete with the top clubs, in the longer term, how can we keep up the pace? You talk about Anelka. But if you sit down with Anelka, and tell him:"Listen, how much can you get at Real Madrid? We can pay the same, he might still be here. But at the moment we cannot do it. And that is what we have to find. But maybe at some stage in the future we will be able, if we want, to keep the player.
"We had a deep disappointment last week because we lost two games and that's not happened for a long, long time in the same week. And we have to redress the situation very quickly, because last year we lost four games only, and we didn't win the championship. This year we have lost already two."
Wenger also said he would be very proud if we did well in the Champions League.
"I'd like to thank you once again for your support, and I hope well see each other again next year. And well be very happy because we've had a successful season. Thank you.U"
The French maestro sat down to a storm of applause. Hill-Wood said:"I think we've exhausted ourselves, and maybe you have too. Thank you very much for your attendance. I hope you've had an enjoyable season. We'll see you all again next year with a lot of silver, I hope. Thank you."
At the 1998 AGM Wenger had answered questions, but that was obviously not on the agenda this time. It may never be on the agenda again. Or not until Arsenal win the Double again.
Each year, after the AGM, one wonders : Would they float? Arsenal is a private company which enjoys the executive flexibility that PLCs like Tottenham and Manchester United now lack.
Would Arsenal ever float? Yes, if they had to. In what circumstances would they have to? To pay for a new stadium, perhaps. A flotation would make the directors seriously rich.
Are they not seriously rich already? Well Danny Fiszman is, the others are comfortable. Obviously, many rich people are greedy, and want even more money, but there is no evidence that Dein and Fiszman are greedy. There is, however, a lot of evidence that Dein and Fiszman want to retain control.
That is the main thing. They want to keep control because they think they can run Arsenal better than anybody else, and without interference from anybody else. Running a football club is a difficult, expensive and challenging business, but the Arsenal directors have lately proved to be rather good at it.
The club is successful because the executives have the freedom to make their own decisions. If the Arsenal board hires a French manager who wants the club to buy some land near St Albans and build a state-of-the-art training ground, they can do it.
If it costs £6 million, a serious sum, fair enough. David Dein does not have to consult with a PLC board or City investors. He can say: it is a capital asset, we need a top quality training ground for our millionaire players, and we trust Arsene to produce good young footballers, so let's get on with it.
Overall, it was a fairly dull AGM, especially coming after last season's festival of good vibrations, when the directors were cheered onto the stage at the start of the meeting.
There were a couple of memorable moments when Hill-Wood assured everybody that Real Madrid's bank guarantee would be in place tomorrow, and when Dein offered to swap jobs with a heckler.
September 9th 1999.