Bums On Seats Number One

I can’t think of a single season, even in the most dire and unsuccesful season, where no-one has championed Wenger. I’d like to add my praise, not in recognition of Footballing matters, but of his sheer common sense. His warmth for the common individual, moulded from his unique intellect.

The current Economic climate has seen the sharpest downturn in nearly a century, and it will continue to get worse for the next few years. 2009 will be a dire year financially for many businesses, small and large. Football is no exception. So, whilst Kaka and Man.City flirt in cloud 9 million dollars, another 3,000 lose their jobs in the U.K. Whilst Spurs continue to attrach dodgy clients, West Ham need to clear dodgy dealings.

Speaking on Arsenal.com, the professor spoke of his concern and main priority; not winning trophies or even games, but getting bums on seats.

“You can hide behind Man City buying Kaka for £100m. But that is an exception to what is happening in our world,” said Wenger.

“That is why I believe for us it is more interesting to think how can we keep our fans than talking about Kaka. That is living in the real world.

“Football has different types of people coming to the game. You have the client, who is the guy who pays one time to go to a big game and wants to be entertained. Then you have the spectator, who is the guy who comes to watch football. These two categories are between 40 and 60 [years old].

“Then you have two other categories. The first is the supporter of the club. He supports his club and goes to as many games as he can. Then you have the fan. The fan is a guy between 15 and 25 years old who gives all his money to his club. And you have to keep, at the moment, these categories faithful to our club.

If Arsene wasn’t at the helm, Arsenal F.C would by now be under the grubby hands of a sugar daddy. I fear that one day this may eventually succumb, and we should all savour our traditional virtues. This isn’t being arrogant or archaic, it’s simply protecting the virtues of society, and, as Ali G says, ‘keeping it real.’

“Some of them have been hit harder by the crisis – or will be. For at the moment England every day loses 3,000 jobs. You think that has no consequence on our game? It will have.

“At the moment the world has been hit by a financial crisis not by an economic crisis. The economic crisis is a consequence of the first one and that will be happening in 2009.”

So how do clubs ride out an economic crisis? Drop ticket prices to make football more affordable? Or tempt supporters with big-money signings? Wenger understands the dilemmas that lie ahead but insists that survival must come first.

“Do you drop prices? I don’t know,” he said. “I believe that what is important is that like in any business if you are faced with a crisis you are in a healthy financial situation because the clubs that are in an unhealthy financial situation who have to face reduced income will be in trouble.

“It’s true [you keep fans loyal with big signings]. But you keep your fans loyal as well if your club survives.

The gulf between football and its supporters is ever increasing. The possible arrival of kaka would show that match revenue is no longer needed. Surely then price tickets should be lowered? Perhaps not, but it shows a different business to the one that attracted ques streching from Highbury to the Oval on a May afternoon.