As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
1989 wrote:Greedy opportunistic scum running this club. '
'We seem to be doing well now, let's see how much more we can milk our custome... err fans'.
some people would call that a 'mindless dig' at the club
exactly how big were the dividends paid out to the shareholders that Usmanov was complaining was paid out instead of paying down the PLC debt ? 30 million quid wasn't it ? or two years of gate revenue....
The issue of dividends crops up every now and then on here but I very much believe we've still never paid any out.
And not sure how credible it is but I've read in more than one place that Usmanov was all in favour of dividends when he first came on board as a shareholder? Can't remember it myself.
Dividends have never been paid but when pressed to reassure fans that he would never take money out of the club in the form of dividends, Kroenke couldn't promise that he wouldn't do it.
But that really isn't the point here. The point is that the most expensive tickets in England, possibly the world, will rise in price yet again at a time when AFC have never had so much money coming into the club. At a time when PL clubs have received a 71% increase from the new TV revenue deal - such an obscene amount of money that every club could in fact let every fan into every match for free this season, and still earn more than they did last year!
At a time when Ivan Gazidis has harped on about how our fantastic new Comms Team are soon to deliver Bayern Munich-esque commercial income for us and amid promises that the time was coming to an end when we would have to make up the shortfall from fans. Just a year after we signed a new £150m sponsorship deal with Emirates and a similar figure will be secured from Puma as of the summer.
At a time when people are feeling the squeeze more than ever. When the cost of living dominates every political debate. When rent, gas, electricity, petrol, insurance, rail fares have all gone up in price. Has anyone's salary gone up by 3% recently? Has it fuck! I'm not a huge earner but i'm also not on shabby wages and I find that I can't afford to go to every game over The Arsenal anymore. I honestly believe they want to totally remove the die hard Arsenal fans from AG and replace them with tourists & day trippers who'll empty their wallets in The Armoury. A different 60k in the bowl every week is what they're after, i'm convinced of it.
Is there anything that this club does where they don't first think "Right, how much money can we make from the fans"?! I see this evening on Facebook they've been plugging a signing session with Martin Keown. But oh wait, they won't let you in unless you first buy a book for £17! You absolute *word censored*. Is it too much to ask for you to just lay on an event because it would be nice for a few fans to meet a great ex-player? Of course not, always thinking about lining their pockets.
Honestly, it makes me fucking sick what AFC has become. Leaving Highbury was the beginning of the end for this club, the start of an era where the *word censored* in charge became more concerned with the pursuit of money than what was happening on the pitch. If there's any justice they'll all be going to hell in a handcart.
Dan_85 wrote:Dividends have never been paid but when pressed to reassure fans that he would never take money out of the club in the form of dividends, Kroenke couldn't promise that he wouldn't do it.
But that really isn't the point here. The point is that the most expensive tickets in England, possibly the world, will rise in price yet again at a time when AFC have never had so much money coming into the club. At a time when PL clubs have received a 71% increase from the new TV revenue deal - such an obscene amount of money that every club could in fact let every fan into every match for free this season, and still earn more than they did last year!
At a time when Ivan Gazidis has harped on about how our fantastic new Comms Team are soon to deliver Bayern Munich-esque commercial income for us and amid promises that the time was coming to an end when we would have to make up the shortfall from fans. Just a year after we signed a new £150m sponsorship deal with Emirates and a similar figure will be secured from Puma as of the summer.
At a time when people are feeling the squeeze more than ever. When the cost of living dominates every political debate. When rent, gas, electricity, petrol, insurance, rail fares have all gone up in price. Has anyone's salary gone up by 3% recently? Has it fuck! I'm not a huge earner but i'm also not on shabby wages and I find that I can't afford to go to every game over The Arsenal anymore. I honestly believe they want to totally remove the die hard Arsenal fans from AG and replace them with tourists & day trippers who'll empty their wallets in The Armoury. A different 60k in the bowl every week is what they're after, i'm convinced of it.
Is there anything that this club does where they don't first think "Right, how much money can we make from the fans"?! I see this evening on Facebook they've been plugging a signing session with Martin Keown. But oh wait, they won't let you in unless you first buy a book for £17! You absolute *word censored*. Is it too much to ask for you to just lay on an event because it would be nice for a few fans to meet a great ex-player? Of course not, always thinking about lining their pockets.
Honestly, it makes me fucking sick what AFC has become. Leaving Highbury was the beginning of the end for this club, the start of an era where the *word censored* in charge became more concerned with the pursuit of money than what was happening on the pitch. If there's any justice they'll all be going to hell in a handcart.
Post of the fucking year mate. Made my hair stand on end just reading it. I think every time this happens that I can take no more but every time I fall back into the trap of going to the Arsenal 15-20 times a year and I just manage to find the money from somewhere. The money grabbing bastards are fully aware that tens of thousands of people like me and us will keep doing the same even though we can't really justify it, especially with families to support. There will come a time when I do think enough is enough and my common sense will prevail and maybe that is what the club want to free up space for some tourist twat.
It's amazing they think another price increase is ok
But hey, it's only the 3rd price increase in 9 years so we should be grateful, huh! - I just feel sorry for the fans who are being priced out. Football should never cost this much.
Over the last few years many of us have "been at war" with other Gooners re our feelings about the CIC, but surely this is an issue where all Gooners can unite ? They have our/your ticket money in advance and we all know that so there is fcuk all we can do about that, but would it be so hard to organise a PUBLIC show of protest allied with a boycott of all club shops and all retail usits inside the ground on a matchday ? Could the fanzine/aisa/bsm organise a few fans (with megaphones maybe ?) outside Arsenal tube station, along holloway road and at dentons roundabout denouncing (and publicising the increase for the ignorant) and have a few other fans at each point handing out leaflets asking fans to boycott spending money in the club establishments on the day ?
I would love to see some form of serious protest but the reality is with all the best will in the world when it's followed by a sell-out home game it's going to be ineffective.
The club long ago ditched the principles of fairness and economic reality from the fans' perspective, I don't believe anybody can suggest we've been getting any sort of value for money since we moved both in terms of what we've done on the pitch and particularly what we've seen reinvested. The ticket prices are based on market factors and the club will charge what they can to maximise revenue. The only thing that will make them reconsider is if the revenue starts plateauing or even dropping because higher prices are leading to unsold tickets.
The only thing that might make them stand up and take notice is if a large group like the BSM organise a boycott and get a lot of publicity. And even then the club are more concerned about whether seats are paid for than if they're physically filled. And the type of day-trippers that are taking up the tickets voided by genuine fans are the ones who will splurge even more in the Armoury and who the club would rather have coming in.
I accept the fact that a sell out will diminish slightly the effect of any such protest BUT, at the same time if it is played out correctly, it will send a message through the media that fans cannot afford the extortionate ticket prices AND club merchandise/refreshments/match programmes etc. In previous years the fans have raised the issue of ticket prices through the media but have never shown a willingness to take any action themselves - raise this issue and have a really strong public protest and the media will run with the story and they will delight in doing so. You know that regardless of any comtempt that they feel towards the fans, the club will not want any negative exposure as they try to expand the AFC brand worldwide
augie wrote:I accept the fact that a sell out will diminish slightly the effect of any such protest BUT, at the same time if it is played out correctly, it will send a message through the media that fans cannot afford the extortionate ticket prices AND club merchandise/refreshments/match programmes etc. In previous years the fans have raised the issue of ticket prices through the media but have never shown a willingness to take any action themselves - raise this issue and have a really strong public protest and the media will run with the story and they will delight in doing so. You know that regardless of any comtempt that they feel towards the fans, the club will not want any negative exposure as they try to expand the AFC brand worldwide
Augie the media have been banging on about it for years, everybody who's looked at the back pages of a newspaper or looked on a sports website or listened to sports radio or even caught the end of the TV news knows it. It's not a case of it being under-reported.
Unless it's actually coupled with something they can run with - like a large-scale organised boycott or dwindling ticket sales over a period of time - it'll make the news for a day or two and then normal service will be resumed.
I'm not saying I have any ideas on how to organise an effective boycott or protest but in the grand scheme of things what difference did the BSM protest march make?
g88ner wrote:It's amazing they think another price increase is ok
But hey, it's only the 3rd price increase in 9 years so we should be grateful, huh! - I just feel sorry for the fans who are being priced out. Football should never cost this much.
They have been very sneaky by raising the cost of membership and increasing the booking fees, which are all hidden but substantial additional costs to the ticket price.
g88ner wrote:It's amazing they think another price increase is ok
But hey, it's only the 3rd price increase in 9 years so we should be grateful, huh! - I just feel sorry for the fans who are being priced out. Football should never cost this much.
They have been very sneaky by raising the cost of membership and increasing the booking fees, which are all hidden but substantial additional costs to the ticket price.
Yes, 100% increase in price of silver cards from one season to the next. nice!
Still, at least our money is being reinvested wisely
Dan_85 wrote:Dividends have never been paid but when pressed to reassure fans that he would never take money out of the club in the form of dividends, Kroenke couldn't promise that he wouldn't do it.
But that really isn't the point here. The point is that the most expensive tickets in England, possibly the world, will rise in price yet again at a time when AFC have never had so much money coming into the club. At a time when PL clubs have received a 71% increase from the new TV revenue deal - such an obscene amount of money that every club could in fact let every fan into every match for free this season, and still earn more than they did last year!
At a time when Ivan Gazidis has harped on about how our fantastic new Comms Team are soon to deliver Bayern Munich-esque commercial income for us and amid promises that the time was coming to an end when we would have to make up the shortfall from fans. Just a year after we signed a new £150m sponsorship deal with Emirates and a similar figure will be secured from Puma as of the summer.
At a time when people are feeling the squeeze more than ever. When the cost of living dominates every political debate. When rent, gas, electricity, petrol, insurance, rail fares have all gone up in price. Has anyone's salary gone up by 3% recently? Has it fuck! I'm not a huge earner but i'm also not on shabby wages and I find that I can't afford to go to every game over The Arsenal anymore. I honestly believe they want to totally remove the die hard Arsenal fans from AG and replace them with tourists & day trippers who'll empty their wallets in The Armoury. A different 60k in the bowl every week is what they're after, i'm convinced of it.
Is there anything that this club does where they don't first think "Right, how much money can we make from the fans"?! I see this evening on Facebook they've been plugging a signing session with Martin Keown. But oh wait, they won't let you in unless you first buy a book for £17! You absolute *word censored*. Is it too much to ask for you to just lay on an event because it would be nice for a few fans to meet a great ex-player? Of course not, always thinking about lining their pockets.
Honestly, it makes me fucking sick what AFC has become. Leaving Highbury was the beginning of the end for this club, the start of an era where the *word censored* in charge became more concerned with the pursuit of money than what was happening on the pitch. If there's any justice they'll all be going to hell in a handcart.
Excellent post, really gets to the heart of the absolute scum that are running Arsenal at the moment. The sad thing is, that no matter how high prices are, there will still be 60K in the bowl every week. No doubt when this issue comes up at Wankers next press conference, he will say, go to the game, and then judge whether it was worth the price paid. Arsenal has become a club rotten to the core, Ivan and Stan just fuck off.
- I just feel sorry for the fans who are being priced out. Football should never cost this much. 
