BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

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REB
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BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by REB »

Dear Ivan,

We write to you as Arsenal’s largest and fastest growing supporters’ group, to convey our deep concern at the current state of our team going into the new season.

In early June, around season ticket renewal time, you were widely quoted following your Q&A event where you spoke about the club’s new financial firepower and ambition moving forward. Many fans saw this as the club finally about to break free from the shackles of moving stadium; new commercial deals were coming into place, we had a vast amount of cash available in the bank, profit from the Queensland Road property project was secured, the vast increase in TV revenue was about to land on our doorstep, and after treading water since moving from Highbury it seemed as if we were finally going to push on.

What has happened since then is nothing short of a disgrace.

There have been noises coming out of the club over the summer that the market was slow, that other clubs weren’t doing much, and that things take time if you’re after top quality players. We feel all of these were poor excuses, designed to deflect focus away from our shortcomings.

The only positive of the summer has been the release of many players who were generally considered ‘dead wood’ – and naturally this frees up more cash for investment in the team. But with the departure of these players, virtually no movement has come in the opposite direction and we’re now left with a squad severely lacking in depth and experience. Indeed, the squad registered for the Champions League in the last week had to be padded out with kids.

As a group we have been concerned for some time that the Board running our club has lost sight of the raison d'être i.e. we are Arsenal Football Club; not a business purely focused on posting profits year after year.

You will have seen the results of our end of season survey, which came out in favour of Arsene Wenger but with 70% stating that he has too much control over transfer negotiations and setting of wage levels at the club. The same survey revealed that 87% of fans feel the current Board of Arsenal is out of touch with the feeling among fans, and that 73% feel less valued by the club since we moved stadium.

It is our view as a group that the Board of Arsenal is too relaxed about the competitiveness of our team, and that as long as a top four place is secured, it is a case of ‘job done’. This should never be the case but despite hearing you say you’re not happy every time we end a season with nothing to really cheer about, nothing changes.

So in June following your statement of intent, fans were rightly hopeful but what has happened since then? Yet again we’ve spent the summer dithering while others around us have strengthened, and once more we start the season playing catch-up. With five competitive matches due before the transfer window closes, there is every chance that our season could be dealt a hammer blow before we’ve had a chance to take stock, and this weekend’s defeat at home to Aston Villa should act as a huge wake-up call.

We are now in a situation where we’re faced with a carbon copy of 2011, where it took an 8-2 humiliation at Manchester United to force a ‘trolley dash’ on the final day of the transfer window. Of course by then it was too late. For Arsenal to be in that situation once is unacceptable; for it to happen twice in three years will be unforgivable.

It is imperative that the Board of Arsenal does its job and manages the Manager – an employee of the club you are supposed to be running. What are Arsene Wenger's targets / KPIs set by the Board every year? Is the he not even answerable to the Board, with free rein to do as he pleases as long as he helps the business achieve a profit? Is he having to do all the running himself when it comes to transfers or if support is there, is he taking it? Clarity is required here because something clearly isn't right at the club when it comes to the acquisition of new players.

You put all the focus on the Arsene Wenger yourself at that Q&A session in June, but to fans there is little evidence of questions being asked of him; this despite approaching the end of the transfer window with no sign of needed, established quality coming in. Does the Board feel that it’s been a good summer? Because we’ve now lost our opening game of the season, our squad is already blitzed by injury, once more today there were fans coming to blows in the stands. As a Board member, does this even bother you?

Of course if we used the funds we do have available, brought in top quality players and competed for prizes, in would come better commercial deals, you wouldn’t have as much trouble trying to get corporate punters back into the stadium, and naturally the more successful we are it becomes easier to attract better players. Or is the Board too short-sighted to realise this?

A competitive team isn’t one which scrapes the position of 4th best team in the league on the final day of the season and gets dumped out of domestic cup competitions by lower league opposition; you need to realise that most fans are aware of this fact. They’re not duped by finishing in a position which may result in us playing in the Champions League. So what, if the cash from that competition is simply banked and never sees the light of day?

It should be noted that as long term fans of The Arsenal we’ve seen plenty of lean times and poor teams over the years. Silverware isn’t the be all and end all; we follow this club out of pure love and will always do so. However, loyal matchgoing fans continue to walk away from Emirates Stadium, unwilling to part with their hard-earned cash when they feel let down and lied to by our Board. We pay the highest ticket prices in football after being sold a dream, but it’s always a case of ‘jam tomorrow’ and many have seen through the spin.

Enough is enough.

If the Board is actually intent on making Arsenal a successful force in football once again, changes have to be made. Arsene Wenger should have experienced, qualified support to help bring in top quality players, and he needs to be managed effectively if the right business isn't being done.

Or if the Board is simply intent on milking the Arsenal brand for all its worth to the detriment of the team (but to the benefit of our bank account), season ticket prices at Emirates Stadium should be reduced accordingly. Our loyal fans should no longer have to bear the burden after doing so for many years.

Make no mistake, if there is not significant improvement in our playing squad over the next couple of weeks, the rapidly growing anger in the stands will become difficult to overturn. There hasn't been a poisonous atmosphere like this at Arsenal for over 30 years and the Board has simply stood by, while things have gone from bad to worse. I am sure you appreciate, this can no longer happen.

We look forward to your response in due course.

Yours faithfully,

Where Has Our Arsenal Gone (the Black Scarf Movement)



Naturally we will keep you informed of any response we receive from Gazidis, or anyone else at the club.

Up The Gunners

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donaldo
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by donaldo »

The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger

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REB
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by REB »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger

sad to say and I wish it was different but the BSM is not an anti wenger group. I wish it was but it isn't.

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StuartL
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by StuartL »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
Very true Donaldo, it even hints that he hasn't been given the right support to assist on incoming transfers, doesn't mention that the "dead wood" were all Wenger purchases and that had limited contribution to the first team for years but we were unable to move on, until now.

GoonerN5
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by GoonerN5 »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
True, it seems that Wenger always has an escape route, he used the ref as an excuse yesterday, no blame in this letter, in one of the youtube clips Wenger doesnt get cunted off anywhere like he should be, the *word censored* is causing serious damage to our club which will take a long time to fix

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REB
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by REB »

StuartL wrote:
donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
Very true Donaldo, it even hints that he hasn't been given the right support to assist on incoming transfers, doesn't mention that the "dead wood" were all Wenger purchases and that had limited contribution to the first team for years but we were unable to move on, until now.

It is imperative that the Board of Arsenal
does its job and manages the Manager – an employee of the club you are supposed to be running.

What are Arsene Wenger's targets / KPIs set by the Board every year? Is the he not even answerable to the Board, with free rein to do as he pleases as long as he helps the business achieve a profit? Is he having to do all the running himself when it comes to transfers or if support is there, is he taking it? Clarity is required here because something clearly isn't right at the club when it comes to the acquisition of new players.

You put all the focus on the Arsene Wenger yourself at that Q&A session in June, but to fans there is little evidence of questions being asked of him; this despite approaching the end of the transfer window with no sign of needed, established

tel
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by tel »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
Agree, it's the reason I haven't joined so far. Wenger & Gazidis are jointly to blame and the BSM should be tackling both. I wish them luck with this letter but it'll be binned long before Ivan sees it.

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skipper
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by skipper »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger

Yup.

You give that man 70% approval rate, what the fcuk do you expect? Signings? :lol: :banghead:

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franksav63
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by franksav63 »

donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
Agree with this, very disappointed with the BSM, they've said on numerous times that they're not a Wenger Out group to probably get more members on board, it's now hard for them to change tact even if they wanted too. :roll:

Macca
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by Macca »

Will this actually reach him? I doubt it...I have sent letters before without response, it will get vetted before it reaches him...hope I'm wrong, I'll be interested in seeing the response.

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OneBardGooner
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by OneBardGooner »

The letter doesn't contain "everything" that most of us feel needs to be said, But, it does make very good points on the other main issues (besides us all wanting wenger gone)... Also because it is mostly well written it may even get read by one of Silent Stan's cohorts.. :|

officepest
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by officepest »

It's a decent letter, bar a couple of minor errors, but I agree with the general consenus on here. It's just not good enough to moan at the board and absolve Wanger of anything when he is, in my eyes, the head of the snake. Wenger clearly could not give a toss what Gazidis thinks, he is answerable to Stan alone and he is thousands of miles away counting his money and wigs.

Moaning at Gazidis is the equivalent of bitching at your local MP in order to oust Cameron.

Wenger out.

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Trevor Ross
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by Trevor Ross »

GoonerN5 wrote:
donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
True, it seems that Wenger always has an escape route, he used the ref as an excuse yesterday, no blame in this letter, in one of the youtube clips Wenger doesnt get cunted off anywhere like he should be, the *word censored* is causing serious damage to our club which will take a long time to fix
The BSM leadership are one of the reasons Wenger's still around, incredible fence-sitting re the manager on the Bergkamp Wonderland podcast. BSM continues to be one of the few places Wenger disciples can still safely quote their mantra 'it's all the board's fault really'.

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OneBardGooner
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by OneBardGooner »

The thing is there used to be a clear and visible division between manager and the board, that difference is now so blurred, we could lump Wenger in with the board - he may not own shares but seems to have by-passed them in how Kroenke has given him carte blanche to do what he thinks is best, and the board members as long as they are raking in their profit/s do nothing.

The BSM need to get off the fence with regards Wenger's position at the club, they are either for him remaining as manager or going.

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augie
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Re: BSM , LETTER TO IVAN

Post by augie »

franksav63 wrote:
donaldo wrote:The same BSM who had a march about ticket prices but refused any Wenger Out protest.

This letter once again excuses any blame on Wenger
Agree with this, very disappointed with the BSM, they've said on numerous times that they're not a Wenger Out group to probably get more members on board, it's now hard for them to change tact even if they wanted too. :roll:

Bottom line is that they whored themselves out to get more members so they can send letters claiming to be the largest group of Arsenal fans and everything after that is largely irrelevent :roll:
I joined BSM when they formed cos I thought that they would be different than all the other fan groups but like redaction, ast and aisa they all stand in fear of criticising the c.unt in charge in case it alienates them from other fans so they are just different shades of grey to me. If you believe and love something strongly enough then you cannot be afraid to go straight after the cause of the problems or else how would anything ever change ? :? On the other hand if they don't believe that wenger is responsible for this fiasco then they are clearly as deluded as redaction so how could anybody trust and get behind a group so clearly blinkered ?
Renewals for BSM will come out in a while and barring a big PUBLIC denouncement of wenger is made in the meantime then they will not get another penny from me :x

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