Arsenal fans don't need to run up Dido's white flag

Manchester United's defeat of Arsenal at the Emirates yesterday was something of a surprise (and a great game of football for the neutral).  However, it should not be assumed that United's problems are over after two wins or that Arsenal have now lost the title as some of their nervous fans fear.  {Dido is an Arsenal fan).

Arsenal went into the game sitting at the top of both the Premier League and the Uefa Champions League tables, a rise underpinned by significant spending on players and years of settled ownership under US billionaire Stan Kroenke. 

Manchester United have outspent Arsenal over the past five years, yet stability has eluded them: less than two years after taking control of club operations Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos has already sacked two managers. Both clubs have had to handle a bumpy period of transition following the departures of long-serving managers — Arsène Wenger at Arsenal and Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. But while United’s owners have lacked the patience to stick with managers, Kroenke’s long-term backing of Arteta is now paying dividends.

Andrea Sartori, chief executive of advisory firm Football Benchmark, said Arsenal’s title challenge had been driven by “a clear long-term vision” and that Arteta had received “strong and consistent support” from the owners. Wenger’s final years at Arsenal were hindered by the need to pay off the £390mn costs associated with building the Emirates Stadium. 

But Arteta, who was appointed head coach in 2019, has benefited from sustained investment over several transfer windows that helped rebuild the squad and reset the culture of the club, Sartori said. Arsenal has racked up net spending on players of €773mn over the past five seasons, according to Transfermarkt, second only to Manchester United. 

The club’s spending ahead of this season hit €283mn, the highest in the league, as Kroenke sanctioned big investment in an effort to secure Arsenal’s first Premier League title since 2004, after three consecutive second-place finishes. “Spending a quarter of a billion pounds in consecutive years . . . has improved the broad quality of the [Arsenal] squad,” football finance guru Kieran Maguire told the Financial Times

Arsenal now have two high-calibre footballers for almost every position, allowing Arteta to utilise his squad as the club compete in multiple competitions. The Spaniard has in the past been accused of an over-reliance on key individuals, notably star player Bukayo Saka. 

“Arsenal’s problem under Arteta has always been that he ‘beasts’ his players, they break, and then you have to rely on [a weak squad],” Peter Wood, founder of The Arsenal Opinion podcast told the Pink 'Un. But the club can now “absorb the shocks” of injuries “because we’ve got greater depth and more quality,” he added. 

Arsenal’s spending has been enabled by the financial boost it has received from qualifying for the lucrative Champions League for three consecutive seasons, following a five-year absence from Europe’s premier club football competition. In the 2023-24 season, Arsenal’s revenue jumped by 32 per cent year-on-year to £617mn, driven by growth in revenues from match days, broadcasting rights and commercial deals.  The club agreed an extension of its stadium-naming deal with Emirates and a new naming rights deal with Sobha Realty, a Dubai property developer, for its training centre. 

The latest Deloitte Football Money League ranking, covering the 2024/25 season, put Arsenal’s revenues at €822mn, behind Liverpool and Manchester City but ahead of Manchester United and Chelsea. Arsenal have achieved a level of organisational coherence since Kroenke’s investment vehicle, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, took control in 2018 in a deal that valued the club at £1.8bn. 

KSE also owns the Los Angeles Rams, who are playing the Seattle Seahawks this weekend for a place in next month’s Super Bowl, as well as NBA team the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Rapids football team. Stan Kroenke’s son Josh, who has been increasingly active at the club, became Arsenal’s co-chair alongside his father in 2023. 

Johan Rewilak, a sport economist at Loughborough University, told the FT that the sense of steadiness reinforced the perception of a club effectively going about its business. He contrasted it with the situation at Manchester United, where Ruben Amorim was recently sacked as manager after disagreements with club executives over on-field tactics. “The focus at every Manchester United game is Jim Ratcliffe” and the other executives, Rewilak said, noting how footage of them huddled together provided regular television cutaways. “The next image is Sir Alex Ferguson . . . it’s a distraction,” he added.