KEITH EDELMAN was Arsenal’s managing director during one of the most successful and defining periods in the club’s history.
Alongside vice-chairman David Dein and legendary manager Arsene Wenger between 2000 and 2008, Edelman oversaw the construction of the Emirates Stadium and departure from Highbury, as well as an iconic recruitment drive that won two Premier League titles – including the 2004 Invincibles.
Keith Edelman (right) knows what it takes to succeed at Arsenal[/caption]
The former managing director helped to build the Invincibles team[/caption]
He also oversaw the construction of the Emirates Stadium[/caption]
And nearly two decades on, in an exclusive tell-all interview with SunSport, English businessman Edelman has opened up on:
- The “failure” of the current board to provide Mikel Arteta with a title-winning squad
- How cash-strapped Arsenal worried about paying player WAGES in 2003
- Why the Emirates will stand the test of time WITHOUT increasing the capacity
- Selling Thierry Henry because he was “losing his speed”
Twenty-one years on from their last title triumph, the Gunners look set to finish second for a THIRD year on the spin following yet another drop-off that sees them 12 points behind leaders Liverpool with nine games remaining.
Arteta has been left hamstrung in attacking areas this term after failing to sign a striker in the past two windows, compounded by long-term injuries to forwards Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.
Edelman, now 74, knows the value of building a squad capable of challenging for – and ultimately winning – major honours, working on deals for the likes of Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Sol Campbell, Gilberto Silva, Jens Lehmann and Jose Antonio Reyes during his time.
Those six stars were bought for a combined total of around £42.5million, which in today’s money would be around £76million. In comparison, Havertz and Jesus were brought in for £110million.
Edelman told The Sun: “I’m quite strategic in the way I see squads being built up and [Arsenal now] haven’t really built a balanced squad. They have failed on that front.
“If that happens, you normally fail. You get what you deserve in a competitive environment.
“If you look at the wage bill and the playing squad they have, you have to conclude that they’ve spent their money unwisely.
“At the end of the day, the board has got to be responsible.”
Arsenal are hoping to announce the appointment of new sporting director Andrea Berta in the coming weeks, following the resignation of Edu back in November, ahead of a huge summer window.
Berta will work alongside current managing director Richard Garlick, co-owners Stan and Josh Kroenke, executive vice-chair Tim Lewis and Arteta.
It’s amazing how people who are paid huge amounts of money make so many big mistakes. People do lose their marbles a bit.
Keith Edelman
From an era where Wenger ruled the roost when it came to incomings, Edelman continued: “It is clear that the manager now, with all the pressures and all the strains, can’t do everything.
“He needs support in building a team and doing deals and transfers.
“When I first joined Arsenal, there was one executive who ran one of the big football clubs who said to me: ‘You know, if Wenger doesn’t win the league this year or next year, you ought to fire him’.
“He said, ‘It’s no good coming second all the time. You’ve got to win these things’. Fortunately, we did go on to win things.
“Quite often people who are running football clubs seem to lose what I call their strategic nous in terms of working out what it is they need to do and how to build the squad.
“There are a lot of people who do it very well. There were some very wily operators like Ken Bates (Chelsea), Martin Edwards (Man Utd), and Daniel Levy.
“And then of course, we’ve moved from that to large American organisations who think they know how to do football because they’ve done baseball or American football.
“I’m not against all that. I’m just saying it’s a change. It’s different.
“But it’s amazing how people who are paid huge amounts of money make so many big mistakes. People do lose their marbles a bit.
“It’s extremely important to be really thoughtful and strategic and not be too emotional.
“One CEO I knew used to go down to the training ground every day and had his initials put on his training gear, like one of the lads. That’s not what a CEO should do.”
In their recent financial report, Arsenal’s wages have risen from £234.8million to £327.8million and posted an annual loss of £17.7million, despite record revenues of £616.6million – up £150million from last year.
Those numbers are a world away from Edelman’s time at the club.
Despite being one of the biggest clubs in English football, money was tight with little investment – even ahead of their unbeaten season of 2003/04.
Arsenal were forced to sell many of their stars under Edelman[/caption]
Edelman explained: “It was a very, very small business at that time. We had some big ideas about building a new stadium but we had no cash at all.
“We used to turn over £65million when I joined. It’s a small number. The highest-paid player was on around £1.4million a year in those days.
“Late in 2003, we’d sent some guy off to do a property deal. He said to me, ‘They’re not coming up with the right number. I should walk out of the room. I’ll get more tomorrow’.
“I said, ‘No, you’ve got to sign the deal tonight because we can’t pay the wages on Thursday’. So yes, it was a bit stretched.”
It was this sort of financial situation that led to the Invincibles squad being broken up just a few years after their historic 2004 triumph, seeing the likes of Pires, Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry depart and replaced with young, bargain-buy hopefuls with potential.
In the aftermath, Arsenal went nine years without lifting a major trophy.
Edelman said: “If you’ve got endless amounts of money, as Manchester City had, you could keep a team going longer.
“If you win things, you have a lot of world-class players because that’s how you win things. But when they get older, it’s very difficult to replace them. They won’t be world-class forever.
“This is what I mean about looking at things strategically. You’ve got to ask the right questions. You’ve got to be probing. I don’t think a lot of people do that.”
Henry – who was club captain and 29 at the time – was sold to Barcelona in the summer of 2007 for £16m.
The Frenchman cited Dein’s departure and uncertainty over Wenger’s future as the reason.
Edelman continued: “The reason Thierry moved on was because he was losing his speed. His game was basically all about speed. And if you lose your speed, then you’re dead.
“So, we got money for him despite the fact that he was on the downward trap. It’s like Kevin De Bruyne. Would you have been better to sell him for more money at the end of last year?
“Or, keep him and risk that he’d keep going this season?”
Edelman is arguably best remembered for the Emirates Stadium, raising around £500million through loans and sponsorship to finance the construction, which was finished on time in the summer of 2006.
Nearly 20 years on, there have been calls to increase the 60,704 capacity to compete with the likes of Old Trafford and Tottenham’s billion-pound stadium, something that could prove impossible given the original design and surrounding housing estates.
And Edelman argues: “When I go there, I look around and it has stood up terribly well over time.
“There are some things that are ageing and need to be replaced, but the fabric of the building is still amazing. It looks like it could have been built two years ago, not 20.
“I know everyone wants to go bigger, but when I go to Wembley, I don’t enjoy the experience. You’re too far away from the pitch.”
Edelman has landed a new role away from football. He has taken up a position with the country’s leading keynote speakers’ agency, Champions Speakers, to deliver speeches in the business world
