Arsenal chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, has defended the decision to make a £3 million payment to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment [KSE], a company owned by majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.
Tackling a question [see below] posed by Fanshare, Sir Chips told Arsenal’s AGM that he and fellow board member, Lord Harris of Peckham, had sanctioned the payment in light of services rendered to the club. He refused though to be drawn on whether the cash was effectively a dividend in disguise.
“KSE is one of the most respected and successful sports organisations in the United States, operating in the most sophisticated sports business market in the world.
“They have an extensive and long experience in modern sports management.
“It is of the utmost importance that as a club we use it to our best advantage to ensure we keep progressing.
“There was no competitive tender for these services as they are directly available to us, and a tender process was inappropriate, and therefore unnecessary.
“We are entirely satisfied the fee was appropriate. In terms of any future fees, that would depend on the nature of the services provided.”
Sir Chips also faced down a question asking whether Stan Kroenke might be able to leverage any KSE debt on the club should he raise his shareholding above the 75% threshold and de-list Arsenal from the stock exchange.
“My answer is this, the board and Mr Kroenke have been very clear that we are all committed to a self-funding model for the club and that remains the case.
“In terms of the specific question, it is entirely hypothetical because the terms of our existing [Emirates] stadium bonds preclude the club from arranging additional debt.”
On the subject of Josh Kroenke, Stan’s son, being appointed a non-executive director of the club back in December last year, Sir Chips dismissed suggestions the 34-year-old lacked experience.
“As a board we welcome his [Josh’s] expertise and contributions. Let me remind you of his background. He has the Chief Executive role as President of the Denver Nuggets basketball team, he has the Chief Executive role as President of the Colarado Avalanche in the National Hockey League, he is the alternate governor of the Colarado Rapids Major League Soccer team.
“That puts him in the most senior executive position at three teams in the biggest, most advanced sports market in the world. It is also important to note that as a younger man Josh was a talented football and basketball player before embarking on a career first in finance and then as a professional in the sports industry.
“All of this gives him a knowledge and insight which is now at the disposal of Arsenal. We are fortunate to have him, he will help us accelerate our plans as we can continue to compete at the top of the game both here and in Europe.”
Bollocks
he could have condensed his speech by saying ” ha ha ha ! we’ve all got our noses in the trough ! “
yes, the answer is disingenuous and basically says we’ll do whatever we want and fuck the fans. Blogs had it right this morning, Arsenal the business are squeezing the fans for every last drop. We all big up Arsenals “class” but contrast us with Dortmund as described in this article… http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29624410 A club that repeatedly refuses to raise beer prices, kit prices, and ticket prices -even though 500,000 people applied for tickets for the 50,000 allotment for the CL final. A marketing director that says this… “”Why are tickets cheap? Football is part of people’s lives and we want to… Read more »
Yet Hilariously Dortmund have the highest ticket prices in Germany. Dortmund speak so much S**t.
did not know that, but…
At least their stadium is not known as “the library” and they’ve managed to win the league on a relatively modest budget, then again Deutschland is a one team league, like France used to be with Lyon.
Referring to the BBC article
Bring back standing room and lower the prices. Make football available to all the people (not just the rich) especially youngsters who can have cheap tickets for their own standing section.
A properly designed standing area is safe from disasters like Hillsborough.
Up The Arsenal!
I concur.
I’ve read Mr Chip’s (catcphrase to the uneducated) response to the question and re-read it again and i still don’t get it! Someone should’ve asked him to repeat his answer in terms people would fucking understand!!
We will continue to pay KSE cash for their services. It is inappropriate to look for an alternate company for these kind of “services”, because KSE are good and they own the club. Capisci?
That’s pretty much it ^. Note that we still don’t know what those ‘services’ are, and that most likely Sir Chips’s statement is supposed to qualm us about the nature of these services. It’s a standard PR move, Kroenke and Sir Chips represent two sides of the same coin, and Sir Chips is the one the English gunners will trust more. We still have no fucking clue what those services were, but in my opinion, the new website looks great. And I assume that’s what most of those ‘services’ were for. And if that’s the case, 3 million, was probably… Read more »
Bould’s Eyeliner – the part of your comment I agree on is your reference to Kroenke and Sir Chips representing two sides of the same coin. I prefer the term two cheeks of the same arse. The part of your comment I disagree on is where you have suggested that £3 million would be a fair price if it was for the new website. Firstly, I don’t believe it was for the website as KSE are not in the field of online technology. Secondly, the mugsmashers paid £240k for their new website, that was all in – design, structure, implementation.… Read more »
*catchphrase rather
I’m surprised the cartel even allowed it to be read out. Still, there’s so much cash sitting there doing Fuck all someone may as well benefit from it
One thing that really pisses me off in this world is when there is clearly a big steaming pile of bulls#it in the room and everyone who stands to gain from it tells you otherwise.
Sir Chips for President. Seriously u guys in the U.K must be really pissed-off with this cock & bull story about the payment made to KSE(Stan), its absolute bollocks. Also can Josh play central defense, cause he seems to be a Jack of all trade
Well that’s clear then, since he declines to specify what the 3 mll$ pounds “services” consisted of that was paid to Kroenke”s company, it seems logical to assume that there will continue to be large amounts paid to same on an annual basis for any (vague, unspecified) “services”. Furthermore it also seems that AFC can do fu#k all about it.
“We are entirely satisfied the fee was appropriate. In terms of any future fees, that would depend on the nature of the services provided”
That is a terrifyingly vague statement. Cause for concern I fear.
Hey Bergkampf, you want it in terms you can understand? Here it is. He said “I’m in charge and I’ll spend the money any way I want, and I don’t have to explain anything to you, so back-off.”
What a gigantic steaming load of doo-doo stains.
Especially the Josh bollocks. All that says is nepotism knows no bounds. He was a good basketball player you say? Explains a lot. Nuggets.
I mean………….seriously………….
That’s like saying the PyongYang Daily thinks Kim Jong-un wonderful. Or the Zimbabwe Herald thinks Bob’s a winner. I mean come on……..
I actually don’t see much sinister in this – yet.
But if a payment crops up on the Accounts next year that might be a different story. And if it surfaces three years in a row it’s divide dens by another name. We’ll see.
It’s not dividends, it’s dishonesty.
If he paid it as dividends then the other shareholders like Usmanov would get some too.
Fucking thieving yank cunts. At the end of the day, his motive is how much money he can make out of our football club.
The Germans have got the right idea – majority ownership by the supporters.
But our clubs are also minority owned by German companies like Adidas, Bayer 04, and Volkswagen which helps and we have been running our clubs (especially Bayern) like family business for a long time; Bayern Munich have just made a profit for the 20th year in a row. The English so far has i know have no companies willing to subsidize like that.
What he means is all you lot are a bunch of cunts who give us loads of money, so mind your own business and keep paying for our lifestyle.
What were the services rendered exactly???
Exactly? He wouldn’t say……..
Do you mean what they are specifically, or what is the nature of the services? Both straightforward questions really, but in essence, these services are vital for the club.
Fellatio
The “AGM” has become a mere waste of precious time, whereby only scripted questions were asked, no real intent about the direction of the club, same old movie
The only positive of that meeting was the news of Ozil11 6weeks injury,where did the media get their 12weeks story
3 per cent yer avin a laugh.
“He has the Chief Executive role as President of the Denver Nuggets basketball team, he has the Chief Executive role as President of the Colarado Avalanche in the National Hockey League, he is the alternate governor of the Colarado Rapids Major League Soccer team.”
All positions handed to him on a nice golden platter called nepotism,correct?
Would not assume these 3M aren’t fairly priced. You don’t just “disguise dividends”; a big overseas transaction to a shareholder related company has been thoroughly reviewed by external audit firm. Seems strange to just assume that these 3M aren’t legit as we don’t have any details whatsoever.
I think the lack of details is what’s causing the concern. If it was a legit payment why not specify what the payment was for? An explanation, even in general terms, would go a long way to quelling dissent.
I guess Zelalem must be in the squad for the weekend and hayden and bellerin. They aren’t bad reserver’s but surely it time to expose the coq
Sir Keps Chiswick can kiss my fat Cornish arse.
Josh Kronke’s resume might as well read ‘my Dad got me this job…’
Surely we didn’t spend the last decade struggling under financial constraints for this? 3 million was the difference for which we missed out on the likes of Ronaldo and Alonso ffs.
I am happy with younger men being on board. However, I wished it was someone like Henry, Pires, Berkemp, Dixon, etc. I really don’t understand why the real football people don’t sit on the board. It always good to have a players perspective.
Not sure that the board is the right place for the names you mentioned, but definitely having retired fan favorites in and around the club would be beneficial. Maybe it’s something that would ease the post arsene transition?
Cheers mr Dein, we didn’t need Kronke or Usmanov. Neither have contributed anything to this prestigious institution. But both are circling like vultures looking for easy pickings. I’m both shocked and scared at the audacity to pillage our club in broad daylight without even trying to disguise it. This is truly a dark time for the Arsenal
*Colorado
Kroenke OUT!
I’m surprised no one has said it yet, hardly a thread goes by without someone saying it for Wenger.
Isn’t it possible that the changes in the academy structure, fitness and medical infrastructure that have been ushered in recently at Arsenal are based on ‘advisory services’ provided by Kroenke’s company? Trying to see the news in a non-fuck-you-capitalists way.
I’m from Peckham and still surprised we have a lord on the Board…
Not surprised he’s a thief though. He makes good schools too.
Sir Chips. Oh deah, why don’t you get an adult’s name?