Thursday, 6th December, 2012
Arsenal’s chief commercial officer Tom Fox believes that the club’s fans are proud of their financial performance off the pitch, while on it not having won silverware since 2005 has not hurt the Gunners’ brand.
The North London giants have reported healthy financial performance and recently renewed their sponsorship agreement with Emirates (for both shirt and stadium) with a £150M deal.
However, on the pitch Arsenal have failed to win a trophy since lifting the FA Cup in 2005, while their last Premier League title will have come almost ten years ago by the end of the current campaign.
But Fox believes Arsenal are not just about winning and has beamed with pride at the club’s financial performance, which he thinks the fans also feel a sense of achievement about.
"Arsenal Football Club is not only about winning. We have a large and engaged fan-base around the world who wants to feel as if they belong to the club, and want to feel proud to belong to the club. That’s my primary business", he was quoted as saying by Sport 360.
"Obviously nothing instills pride in our fan-base more than winning but there’s many things we do that make our fans feel proud. So developing the kinds of young talent, finding those players in the marketplace make our fans feel proud", he continued.
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"Coming to a stadium that the club built really at a time – 10 years ago when the board decided to build that stadium, everything was going our way, it was Manchester United and Arsenal, but we made a very bold decision and we built that stadium on time and on budget, that makes our fans very proud.
"When they see that we can attract – even though we haven’t won a trophy in seven years – one of the top global brands in the world for the type of money and financial commitment they’re making, that makes our fans feel proud.
"So our brand is defined by more than winning."
It remains to be seen how Arsenal fans will view this season if it ends without the club’s silverware drought being broken, despite healthy financial performance off the pitch.
The Gunners have continued to lose their best players, a trend which was again in evidence over the summer as Robin van Persie was sold to Manchester United and Alex Song headed to Barcelona.
In the Premier League Arsenal have slumped to tenth in the standings, with the side being roundly booed last weekend when they lost at home against Swansea City.
However, Arsenal have safely qualified for the Round of 16 in the Champions League and are now awaiting their opponents.
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