Arsenal 08-09 Retrospective: An End-of-the-Season Review Part II

(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Politicking at the Top Level

Arsenal's boardroom currently stand divided. There are cliques at the top level, which has seen high profile departures over the past three years. Arsenal's slump on the field and the constant departures of players has been marked by a similar exodus at the board room level.

David Dein, pushed out of the board in 2007, went on to partner Alisher Usmanov—who then ushered him out of the newly formed Red and White Holdings to gain the acceptance of the board.

The Uzbeki is widely disliked by the Arsenal fans, who see him wanting control over the club for money and nothing else.

Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, who owns a hefty 15.9% of Arsenal's shares was also shown the door during this season—she then blasted the board for "not having manners."

Stan Kroenke, who was vehemently opposed until recently by the club chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, was then invited to hold a non-executive director's position on the board. 

This, coupled with a potential bidding war for Arsenal between Usmanov (who owns 25% of Arsenal's shares) and Kroenke (who owns 28.3% of Arsenal's shares), could escalate tensions in the board.

Half of Arsenal's shares are still owned by families such as the Carr family which have run the club for decades. Such dynastic ownership of Arsenal, while unique in today's climate, has divided the board and caused instability at the club.

The board at Arsenal is divided internally, and tried to hide behind the manager's success for a long, long time. But then, the fans started to turn on Wenger and he could no longer be a scapegoat for the board's ineptitude. He promptly made statements linking him to the then vacant Real Madrid post, which shocked Arsenal fans.

That message wasn't to the Arsenal fans as such—it was a warning to the board. They could no longer take Wenger for granted. They could no longer let him take all the blame for the happenings at Arsenal.

Whether Wenger and Gazidis will replicate the success of Dein and Wenger remains to be seen. Gazidis does looks like a suave and intelligent operator.

For now though, Arsene Wenger seems to have won a power battle of sorts at Arsenal football club.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?