Arsenal: Europa League means more than money

Vinai Venkatesham stated that Arsenal being out of the Champions League will not catastrophically impact the team’s spending. That may be true, but, for the fans, the Europa League is more than just money.

Arsenal are in their second year out of the Champions League. For many of the years under Arsene Wenger, there was always an assumption that Champions League football would be coming to north London. But in his final two years, the Gunners dropped out into the second-tier of European competition.

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That has continued this season after Wenger’s final year ended in a disappointing sixth-placed Premier League finish. The Champions League is the elite of competition in club football. It is always a shame to watch the matches knowing that they have no impact on the Gunners’ season.

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But, according to managing director Vinai Venkatesham, the lack of Champions League football does not mean that the finances of the club have been critically and catastrophically affected, as he stated in an interview this week:

"“We do have a self-sustaining business model so the more years you spend out of the Champions League, the bigger strain it puts on the business model. There’s not a final point we get to where it becomes a catastrophic problem and we are nowhere near that. We run the business in a responsible way – we know there are at least six teams who have a minimum requirement of being in the Champions League. So we have that robustness built into our business model that we can have some seasons in the Europa League and still make the investments we need.”"

Now, I am sure that Venkatesham is correct in his assessment and analysis. He seems like a very intelligent and aware individual. And I am sure that he does not mean to demean the competitive value of other competitions. But there does seem to be a little bit of a disconnect between Venkatesham’s perspective and what the fans may want.

While it is good news that the club will not be drastically impacted by their lack of involvement in the Champions League, at least for the foreseeable future, it is not the lack of added revenue that is frustrating the fans, it is the fact that Arsenal are no longer playing in the biggest club games in world football.

The sound of the anthem reverberating around the stadium, the tingle down your neck as the gargantuan players trudge out the tunnel, the tense, slow excitement that builds through the afternoon in anticipation of the evening’s entertainment.

There is nothing like the Champions League. And just don’t Arsenal know it.