Risking the short term future of Arsenal for the sake of long term stability?

The frustration of Arsenal fans has been widely publicised in the last few weeks after a summer of turmoil at Ashburton Grove. The high-profile departures have not been followed up with the arrival of similarly quality players and instead the only purchases thus far have been limited to Gervinho, Chamberlain, Jenkinson, and most recently Costa Rican teenager Joel Campbell. All players for the future, but after six years without a trophy, are the owners risking the wrath of the fans by running the club as a stable profitable business rather than investing in players and being a successful football team?

The prospect of French creative midfielder, Samir Nasri joining rivals Manchester City is still very much on the agenda and it is very obvious why Arsenal supporters are so dismayed with the owners at the Emirates. They feel that substantial investment is needed to maintain their place in the top four but it has not yet materialized.

The current problems stem from moving from Highbury to Ashburton Grove which placed a huge financial burden on the club and as a result they know they have to be prudent with spending until they have paid off the original stadium costs. They cannot just sign players for ridiculous fees as their debt-financed league rivals do and instead Wenger is limited to recruiting young players who will have a sell on value in the future. Of course this is partly down to his own philosophy, which has been so successful in the past, of nurturing young players rather then buying big name superstars.

With the club ranked by Deloitte as the 5th biggest in global football, a turnover of £275m and their current infrastructure, investing in youth and refusing to pay over the odds for players, surely they will be at the top of the English game for many years to come. However this long-term stability looks to comes at the cost of immediate success with the club facing a huge challenge in competing with Liverpool and Manchester City, who have spent big again this summer, for a spot in the Champions League.

Ever since David Dein left in April 2007, the club has appeared to be short of someone who could conduct Wenger’s business for him and consequently, the club has lacked direction from above. It probably does not matter to the owners if they win trophies or not, as long as they are making the Champions League and the money keeps flowing in they will be satisfied. It is then clear to see why they do not want to sanction a huge spending spree as they would rather the money went on players who could be sold on in the future, not on expensive high profile signings who could bring only short-term success to the club.

The owners and Wenger know that the key to running a successful football club as a business is to remain as competitive as possible while keeping operational fees to a minimum by not paying out high salaries and transfer fees. But at some point there needs to be investment on players in order to secure the fans support especially with ticket prices increasing by 6% for the new season. This prudence will have its rewards in the end but in this world of instant gratification, it is hard to find the right balance.

Spending extortionate amounts on expensive players does not always guarantee success as Manchester City have demonstrated, only picking up their first piece of silverware last season after 2 years of heavy oilcrat investment. However I think Arsenal are now turning into a feeder club for the bigger clubs as they are blooding these talented youngsters before selling them on for a profit. They need to find the balance between running a successful football club and achieving success on the pitch and if that means taking a £20m loss on Nasri next summer then so be it. A successful season that results in ending the trophy drought and Nasri may be willing to put his signature to a new contract anyway.

With nine days left in the transfer window, there is still time to replace the likes of Fabregas and Co but the club have already lost out on long-term target Juan Mata to Chelsea and it still seems unlikely that any of these superstars will be arriving. I believe with the current squad situation, the owners could be left counting the cost of their own prudence as missing out on the Champions League altogether is possible and wouldn’t that just harm the football club as a business in the long term?

Let me know your thoughts on Arsenal’s owners and follow me on twitter @aidanmccartney for even more discussion of the beautiful game.

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