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Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham says he has had sleepless nights due to recent layoffs.
The club came under fire for buying players shortly after announcing 55 layoffs, mainly affecting the commercial and administrative departments, on August 5.
Management staff, including coach Mikel Arteta and his players, received pay cuts.
“I would be lying if I said there were no sleepless nights,” Venkatesham said.
Nine days after announcing the layoffs, Arsenal signed Willian to a three-year contract from Chelsea, before paying Lille £ 23.14 million for Brazilian defender Gabriel Magalhaes in early September.
But Venkatesham pointed out that top clubs face financial uncertainty even when investing in players.
The Association of European Clubs, which represents professional clubs across UEFA’s jurisdiction, estimated this week that the total losses suffered by its members will be around £ 3.7 billion.
And Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters has said in recent days that top-tier English clubs faced £ 700 million losing if fans were not allowed into stadiums during the 2020-21 campaign. .
“This has been a really tough week,” Venkatesham said. “It is a week in which many people have found out how everything lands.”
The Arsenal chief executive said the decision to fire the people had not been made easily and defended the player recruitment that followed, arguing that further investment in the team was necessary.
He added that he was concerned about how the club would be affected by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement on Wednesday that plans to allow spectators to attend sporting events in England from October 1 will be reviewed following a hike in fees. transmission of the coronavirus.
“This is not a great organization,” he said. “We have hundreds of employees, all within 30 miles of each other. I know the people, I know their families. Making that decision was really difficult, but we needed to restructure our organization.
“We hope that the government announcement will not change the goal for fans to return to the stadium on October 1, but it may do so. Then there is the end of the Premier League TV deal in China.”
“Does anyone really think this will go away in two, three or six months? It won’t. All of our sources of income, broadcasts, working hours and commercials will be affected for a long time.”
“At the same time, we must ensure that we are looking out for the long-term health of this football club and, like any organization, that means investment is necessary.
“I understand the situation of layoffs and then investment. But that’s because in other industries, the investment is in machines. If you work for an airline, you need to buy new planes. Here, we have to invest in equipment.”
The Premier League is anticipated to pressure the government to allow fans to return to the grounds.
Plans for Tottenham, Manchester United and others to judge a percentage of viewers at this month’s league matches have already been shelved.
“The virus is evolving in a way that is completely unpredictable, but I hope that within the grounds through the pyramid we can find a solution that will get the fans to return to the stadiums safely,” Venkastesham said.
“We could know the names and addresses of everyone in the stadium, they can self-certify, arrive earlier and leave later, and we can check temperatures and socially distance them for what is predominantly an outdoor environment rather than an indoor environment.”
New title for Arteta
Arsenal are heading into the new season with the stated goal of qualifying for the Champions League.
This will be their fourth consecutive season in the Europa League, which they only qualified for by beating Chelsea in the FA Cup final on August 1.
But Arsenal have been impressed by Arteta, who replaced the fired Unai Emery last December, and has upgraded from head coach to manager. That has been done to reflect the broader scope of his responsibilities, though they don’t extend as far as Arsene Wenger did before his departure in 2018.
“This is an acknowledgment of what he’s been doing since the day he walked in the door and also of the capabilities that we believe Mikel has,” Venkatesham said.
“He has probably entered the most difficult nine-month period this football club has had in its 134-year history. He has a long-term contract and we are really comfortable with what he is doing.”
“We belong to the Champions League. Yes, we have been in European football for the last 25 years, which is a great record. But the last three years and this one, we are in a competition we don’t want to be in.
“We want to go back to competing for the Premier League, and to do it like Arsenal have always done, playing the entertaining and engaging football that our fans want to see.”
