From Highbury to Emirates Stadium: What happened to Wenger and Arsenal?
In life, we always say: Having a house is a home. For the sake of the house, we are willing to pay great hardships and costs. In football, the same is true. Wenger has a special significance and contribution to Arsenal. He not only brought the Gunners three Premier League trophies, but also left a new "cornucopia". From Highbury to Emirates Stadium, what exactly have Wenger and Arsenal experienced?
Glory of Highbury: Witnessed Wenger's championship and 49 unbeaten games
When arsenal and Arsene Wenger are mentioned, countless people will think of the gorgeous coordination and unbeaten glory of the Gunners in the past. As Arsenal's home from 1913 to 2006, Highbury witnessed the team's peak years.
Wenger's sweetest days at the helm of Arsenal were all done on the pitch where he served the team for 93 years. Three Premier League titles and a 49-game unbeaten run are memories that Arsenal fans will never forget.
However, the warm hometown will one day usher in a farewell, accompany the gunner through 93 years of years, the great Highbury Stadium completed its historical mission. On 7 May 2006, thanks to Henry's hat-trick, Arsenal defeated Wigan Athletic 4-2, stealing the following season's Champions League qualification from the city's rival Tottenham Hotspur as a farewell gift to Highbury.
A perfect ending, Arsenal bid farewell to Highbury, once the spiritual home of gunners, and entered the era of the Emirates Stadium. On July 22, 2006, the Emirates Stadium welcomed its debut: the farewell match of the "Ice Prince" Bergkamp. In this way, a new chapter for Arsenal FC is opened.
Wenger with a 'mortgage': Emirates Stadium forces Arsenal to 'sell captain'
"The average cost of each seat at Emirates Stadium is £4,000 (multiplied by 60,000), so the stadium costs £240 million. Coupled with the surrounding properties and land that Arsenal bought out, the total cost of the Emirates Stadium exceeded 420 million. This resulted in Arsenal having to repay large sums of interest and principal every year thereafter, while also having to qualify for the Champions League. "
Although it is gratifying to move into the new stadium, Wenger always recalls these years with endless bitterness. Arsenal because of the "mortgage" they are carrying, so that they began to become more and more "stingy" in terms of contract renewal and reinforcements. The days of selling the captain began and became an eternal pain in the hearts of fans.
What makes Wenger even more amused is that because the bank that issued the loan only recognized Wenger, he was asked to sign a 5-year contract to guarantee that he would stay at Arsenal. Wenger later explained his loss at the time: "I have turned down real madrid's invitation more than once because the bank asked me to stay at Arsenal. When I received an invitation from Madrid, it coincided with Arsenal's construction of the stadium and we had to make sure we paid off our debts. I'm the last "manager" of this type of coach, an impossible task in today's football where it's impossible to do everything alone because the economic relationships are much more complex. "
However, Arsenal seems to have lost a lot in this "relocation", which is not just about selling their core players. Even Wenger later lamented: "There is a soul in the Highbury Stadium, and now we are building a new Emirates Stadium, but we have not been able to find our own soul, we have left the soul of Arsenal in Highbury." "
The Emirates Stadium holds Arsenal's economic chassis in the trough: there is a silver lining for a future renaissance
From the day it was built, Emirates Stadium was considered one of the best in the world. In the first season after Arsenal "moved into a new home", the team sold all the tickets for the Emirates Stadium that year.
The new stadium soon brought Arsenal a lot of wealth, and after just entering the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's ticket revenue accounted for 30% of the total annual revenue from 30% in the Highbury era to 50% of the Emirates Stadium era.
Even if the soaring broadcast fee revenue in the Premier League has led to a decline in the proportion of ticket revenue, Arsenal's ticket revenue is still the basic plate of the team's economy. Because of the failure to win the Champions League, Arsenal's ticket revenue fell from 134 million euros in 2016 to 109 million euros in 2018-19 (still significantly higher than the average ticket revenue of the top 11-15 clubs). However, this figure is still the fifth most ticketed revenue of a club in the world (Arsenal's total revenue is 11th). Arsenal in the trough, because of the advantages brought by this stadium, they still have the possibility of turning over.
Originally thought that Wenger left such a "cornucopia", his successor can complete a greater leap on this basis. But Emery failed, and the best Emery seemed to be inferior to Wenger on the "downhill road".
Can Arteta do better than Emery? After all, with advantages like the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal should have created even greater glory. The expectations of the fans are high, but the team's current record is far from meeting people's expectations.