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Missed opportunities at Arsenal

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire thinks there have been a series of missed commercial opportunities at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger which have adversely affected the club's bottom line: Missed opportunities

'Look at their commercial brand compared to Manchester United and Liverpool,' he told Arab News. 'Arsenal should be the premier club in London but they have let Spurs and Chelsea catch up.' [Personally I am not so sure about the 'should', despite Arsenal's history].

Maguire thinks Wenger, historically resistant to lucrative pre-season tours from which clubs pull in multimillion pound deals and endorsements even if in recent years he had agreed to Far East junkets, had hampered Arsenal’s bottom line. 'It helps when the manager is as big as your best player. What we have seen with (Liverpool manager) Jurgen Klopp and (Manchester City manager) Pep Guardiola is that they can expand the number of sponsors. Klopp is a fantastic ambassador.'

I would also give Wenger a bit more credit for the move to the Emirates. It set the team back on the pitch, but was necessary. It was one race among London clubs that Arsenal won.

Maguire does note in a tweet, 'Accused by many of being tight with the transfer budget, Wenger was spending over £100 million net in 2016/17.' Income under Wenger grew by 1,900 per cent. Wages under Wenger increased by over 1800 per cent, he left a club where the average weekly wage was over £95,000 a week. Maguire notes, 'It wasn't just players who benefitted under #Wenger, the highest paid director's income also increased by over 1800 per cent.'

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