Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal set for “double your money” kit deal

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In 2014, Arsenal announced a new, long term partnership, with Puma. A deal worth £150m, or £30m over 5 years. It was, at the time, one of the largest deals of its kind in football.

Arsenal had been with Nike for 20 years, but in the early 2010’s, had decided to seek a new kit manufacturing partner. Adidas were in prime spot and were expected to sign a deal, until Puma swooped in late, gazumping the money Adidas had put on the table.

At the time, Cardiff City and Newcastle United were the only Premier League clubs to have their kit made by Puma, so the Arsenal deal was a massive coup for the German company.

“Arsenal represents a major commercial and marketing opportunity to reinforce Puma’s credibility as a global sports brand,” chief executive Bjoern Gulden said in a statement.

The deal Arsenal signed with Puma back in 2014 was one of the largest in world football lat the time. But as with our shirt sponsors, we are always at the beginning of the new cycle of mega-deals, and it was soon gazumped by Manchester United and Adidas:

It is clear that Arsenal are getting well below from Puma than what they could command in the current market. Half the value of Chelsea, 40% of the monster Manchester United deal. Not much more than the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham; whom we sell significantly more shirts than.

One interesting thing to note is the Chelsea deal. It is massive. Worth £900m at the time. But it is also a deal signed until 2032.

Whilst they might be getting more than they would “naturally” command now, you have to think in 5 years time, that deal could be considered poor.

Clubs usually sign 5 or 6 year deals, to enable themselves to not be caught out if there is jump. Arsenal suffered when they signed a long term deal with Emirates to help finance the stadium, and found themselves receiving a lot less than other sides in commercial revenue.

The Chelsea deal will be judged in the course of time.

Despite being fairly average, Arsenal are still amongst the runners for most shirts sold. It is this that makes Arsenal such a good proposition for manufacturers, rather trophies won.

Reports are that Puma and Manchester City have entered negotiations. With Manchester City looking to cut their £18m a year Nike deal short, and sign a £45m one with Puma.

This rumour is interesting, as it shows that Puma are concerned about not sponsoring a top Premier League team. Were the Arsenal deal to end, they would not have a major club in England wearing their shirt.

It also highlights how poor Manchester City are still seen abroad.

Despite running away with the league this year, the deal with Puma will still be a lot less than the Chelsea and Manchester United ones.

Puma base what they are willing to pay on the shirts they can sell – and not on the trophies won. Manchester United outsell every team in the Premier League (and the world) hence where there deal is the biggest.

It should also be remember that clubs do not get a “cut of global sales”. The only extra money a club makes on top of the licensing and manufacturing agreement is when they sell the shirts in the club shop or online. “Buy Direct” as Arsenal say.

When it comes to selling shirts, Arsenal or Manchester United are no different to Sports Direct or JD Sports. They make their money on the difference between what Puma (or Nike) sell the shirts to them for, and what they sell them on to us, the consumer, for.

Sorry for digressing.

Despite not winning a league title since 2004, Arsenal will still be considered by the likes of Nike and Adidas as a premium band. Someone that they want to supply, and pay big bucks to supply. Only 5 clubs in world football sell more shirts.

Barcelona have recently signed a £150m deal with Nike. Manchester United’s is at £75m a season. Chelsea £60m a season.

Adidas pay Bayern Munich £65m a season.

It is the Bayern Munich deal that is most comparable.

Arsenal sell a similar amount of shirts as the German giants, and Adidas want a London Premier League club after losing Chelsea to Nike. The deal will be done between Arsenal and Adidas.

Munich is the jewel in the crown for Adidas. A German based company, German’s biggest team. It is a match made in heaven. Despite this, they get less from their deal than Manchester United. Ultimately it comes down to business. Manchester United sell more shirts, so get more money.

Personally, I can see Arsenal signing a deal with Adidas in the region of £60m a season, doubling our current Puma deal.

I also do not think we will join Chelsea in a 15 year long deal. We should look at the Manchester United deal, expiring in 2024, and look at an expiry date of around that time.

In 2024, Manchester United might double their deal again, taking themselves to £150m. That would dwarf every other side in the Premier League.

Arsenal would not want to be sitting there in 2024 on £60m a year with 8 years to run, whilst Manchester United have a £150m a year deal. That could create a long term deficit of £720m. A lot of money.

Arsenal need to close that commercial gap between themselves and Manchester United. House deals with Emirates and a new kit manufacturer need to be just the beginning.

Keenos

Lucky, Lucky Arsenal

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Well that was easier than we thought.

Despite AC Milan not being the great side they once were, they are still a good side.

Before last night, they had lost just once this year, a run of 1 defeat in 14 games. they had been revitalised under the stewardship of Gennaro Gattuso.

That single defeat was against Arsenal in the San Siro in the first leg.

To emphatically win 5-1 on aggregate sends a message to the rest of the teams in the Europa League. That we are taking the competition seriously.

Looking at the sides left, only Atletico Madrid are on par to Arsenal. And if we perform to our best, they can be swatted aside with ease. The Europa League is Arsenal’s to lose.

An interesting little stat for you all now:

When not in the Champions League, Arsenal have made the final in 3 of the last 5 occasions.

1993/94: European Cup Winners Cup (Winners)
1994/95: European Cup Winners Cup (Runners-Up)
1996/97: UEFA Cup (Round 1)
1997/98: UEFA Cup (Round 1)
1999/00: UEFA Cup (Runners-Up)

Hopefully this year we can put the run of 3 European Final defeats in a row to bed.

Whilst we praise Arsene Wenger for what he has won at the club, we have also lost a lot of finals under him (1 Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup, 1 FA Cup, 3 League Cup). One thing that people will always ask once he is off retired into the sunset is did Arsenal under achieve under Wenger. With 6 final defeats and 3 league titles that we should have won (99, 93, 08), a strong argument can be made for yes.

Anyway, I digress, this is not a blog about bashing Wenger, it is about the Arsenal. I love the feeling and sense of pride when we win. Made even better when Tottenham and Chelsea are no longer in Europe. But it seems some people are not as proud as me when The Arsenal win.

Despite us winning, and getting in to the QF in Europe, some still moaned. One chap on Twitter said “a better team would have taken us apart. arsenal got lucky.” We scored 5 goals mate.

To claim scoring 5 goals and gong through was due to “luck” is just silly. It is bitter. It shows the person who wrote the tweet, and those that agree, are just sad. Sad little men who probably sit there tweeting Arsenal’s sponsors during a game that he has to go. Who claim it is Arsenal FC not Arsene FC; yet dedicate there waking life to wanting #WengerOut.

The majority want Wenger to leave, but there is a point where you have to look at your own behaivour, as a middle aged man, and realise the fact that you are just a sad bitter man.

So onto the next round?

Not sure who I want, but the hope is the away leg is second so that I can give myself a chance of going. Will probably consider anything but Moscow. Madrid in mid-April will be beautiful weather. Marseille and Lazio could be fun. The two Red Bull teams are cities I have never visited.

Lets see what the draw brings us at noon today.

We now do not have a game for 17 days. My advice? Get off twitter. Get out and enjoy your life. It is a short one. Spend some time with your kids. Your family. Get out doors, get some fresh air. Use the time to not think about Arsenal 24/7, not think about Wenger 24/7. Do not become bitter like the weirdo that tweets Arsenal’s sponsors, journalists and various TV channels #WengerOut during the game.

Enjoy a few weeks off.

Up the Arsenal

Ps: Danny – no need to dive mate

Keenos

Wenger the Talent Extractor, AC Milan, Chelsea Fans

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Wenger the Talent Extractor

Over the years, I have been more than happy to criticise Arsene Wenger when he gets things wrong. And it happens a lot. I am more than happy to point out his lack of plan B, his predictable substitutions, and his failures in the transfer market.

But one thing I will not call him is a “talent extractor”. It is just BS.

You only have to look at the amount of players that have come to Arsenal, and improved under Wenger. And the amount who have then left Arsenal ,and not gone on to be any better.

Whilst the likes of Gael Clichy, Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri might have won trophies elsewhere, they did not improve as players.

As Arsenal fans, we often expect too much. Not every Yaya Sanogo can be turned into a Thierry Henry.

I always laugh at people moaning about Andrei Arshavin. He is the player that many fans complain about the most. But these people base their view on little knowledge. Arshavin, in Russia, was always inconsistent. Capable of doing brilliant, game winning things, before disappearing for weeks on end. It is his incoistency that saw him struggle to become a regular for Russia in the early days.

Arshavin was excellent for Arsenal in his first 2 and a half years. 25 goals, 30 assists, but some have re-written history.

And we see the same with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

People are pretending that he was absolutely awful every single game for Arsenal. And since moving to Liverpool, he has been brilliant, every single game.

The reality is somewhat different.

At Arsenal, he would have a couple of good games, showing the raw talent he clearly has. Getting people excited that he might have finally broken through the glass wall. But then he would go missing for a month. Not being able to play a pass. Not contributing anything.

Then he would have another couple of good games. It is his consistency which has made him so frustrating.

At Liverpool, he is no different. He has had the odd good game, but has had a lot of rubbish in between.

The big difference is we no longer have to watch the poor performances, or get frustrated by them, so they kind of disappear from memory. Meanwhile his odd good performance is repeated on Match of the Day and Sky Sport and fools you into thinking he has been playing like that every week.

So I had a look at some statistics:

Make your own conclusions.

AC Milan

We are 2-0 up after the away leg. A solid base to start from, but Arsenal must not rest on their laurels tonight and become complacent.

Whilst AC Milan are certainly not the side of yesteryear, we still need to take them seriously.

If we go in to start the game how we did against Östersund, AC Milan could find themselves back in the game quicker than it takes me to find a stream to watch out on.

Do not forget that this Arsenal side has lost to the likes of Östersund, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bournemouth and Swansea this calendar year. Small, weak sides that we should have rolled over with ease.

Tonight we need to take the game seriously, get an early goal, get the job done, and look forward to the Quarter Finals.

Chelsea Fans

Absolute disgraceful scenes in Barcelona last night involving Chelsea fans.

https://twitter.com/Jennifer160301/status/974085552558440449

https://twitter.com/TNawsr/status/974066765813645313

All football disagreements aside, the way English football fans are treated abroad is sickening. We are walking targets for the police. In previous years, I have been at Roma, AC Milan and was in Lille for Wales v England.

At each game English fans were targets to be attacked by the police. An over aggressive police who would be quick to use batons and tear gas.

Whilst when other fans come into the UK, they get the run of the streets, as we saw with Cologne, English fans abroad are attacked.

What is most worrying about the incident in Barcelona is it is stewards using batons and attacking fans, not the police. How is this right? How does UEFA allow this?

A similar thing happened with Arsenal fans in 2016. And that bridge you have to walk over is dangerous. On the other side is just two turnstiles.

So at one end of the bridge you have stewards physically forcing people onto and over it, and on the other side, you have no where to go. It is an accident waiting to happen.

Earlier this season, Liverpool fans were attacked by the police in Sevilla.

English fans were banned in the 80s for their behaviour, and justifiably so. But it is now 33 years since the Heysel disaster. Things have changed.

The fact UEFA remain so silent on the issue indicates that they condone it. That they accept English fans – same young teenagers and children – being attacked by police and stewards up and down the country.

I do not expect UEFA to act, just like they have not acted when English fans have been stabbed (and killed) in the likes of Turkey and Italy.

Attacking English fans seems to be acceptable. It is not.

Keenos