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Three Major Talking Points From Arsenal’s Highly-Volatile Annual General Meeting Every Gooner Must Look At

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Three Major Talking Points From Arsenal’s Highly-Volatile Annual General Meeting

Arsenal fans are angry and this was quite evident in their latest Annual General Meeting. For those wondering, the AGM is a meeting where the club’s most powerful men face a public inquisition as they address Arsenal’s shareholders. Fireworks were expected after almost a year of unrest between the club and its supporters. Chief executive Ivan Gazidis, manager Arsene Wenger and Stan Kroenke were all present to address the supporters.

One main issue includes the defiance faced by several members of the board – including Kroenke’s son Josh and chairman Sir Chips Keswick – over their re-election. Besides that, the club’s leadership will have to provide responses regarding Arsenal’s commercial revenue, attendance at the Emirates and the future of wantaway stars Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Here are three key talking points from this highly-volatile AGM that took place today.

Discontentment Is In The Air

There was a lot of booing and anger but the general theme of discontentment was quite palpable among the Arsenal supporters. The smaller shareholders were visibly frustrated with the club’s board of directors, and their way of running the club. In fact, they also tried voting against the re-election of chairman Sir Chips Keswick and board member Josh Kroenke.

Stan Kroenke

They were still re-elected by Stan Kroenke since he does have the majority vote but this is a strong sign to denote that the fans are simply not happy. In fact, it was the first time ever in an AGM that the shareholders forced a poll vote in order to turn down the board’s proposal.

Is Winning The FA Cup Truly Enough?

The FA Cup continues to be a constant presence in Arsenal’s modest trophy cabinet – but is that enough? The supporters certainly do not think so. The Gunners board were more than happy to lap up their FA Cup success last season but the fans, rightfully, want more.

When Ivan Gazidis admitted that the club can take pride in their record-breaking success at Wembley, there were some shouts and boos among the crowd. However, this kind of attitude is alarming, to say the least. Winning the FA Cup is fine, but shouldn’t winning the Premier League be more of a priority?

Ivan Gazidis

Keswick went on to defend Ivan Gazidis but he was heckled by some supporters as he addressed them. In fact, the AGM ended in shambles with boos for the chairman.

Money Matters

It does seem like the supporters are not fully happy about the way the transfer dealings are happening. Besides the monumental deals to sign Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, Arsenal’s deals have not really caught the eye. Of course, barring the summer acquisition of Alexandre Lacazette. But has that delivered results? No.

It has also been a tricky start for Granit Xhaka who has been at fault for so many goals conceded this season. Questions were raised about the club’s spending, and when Xhaka was shown on screen as an example of where the club’s money goes, a few Arsenal fans ended up laughing – which only illustrates what they think of the transfer deals.