[Rick B]

As many know I attended the meeting today and will try and give some information on some of the things I raised and things that were discussed.

Emirates Stadium 11am 22nd September 2007

1) Membership packs/Contact with club/Customer Service

I raised the point near the beginning of the meeting regarding the lack of customer service that Arsenal have given their members, especially their oversea's members. I specifically mentioned names and address's of all those who had contacted me previously to say they had not received their membership packs. Keith Edelman answered my question with the following:

Originally Posted by Keith Edelman

At present I am dramatically unhappy with our customer service and it is obvious that our fans [he said customers but got a death stare from Amanda the Press Officer so changed it to fans!!!] are finding it too difficult to contact us and find the right person to contact. We are going to be opening a specific Customer Service centre through which all calls and e-mails will be routed in the New Year.

He went on to talk how there will be new technology to make sure all e-mails will be tracked so they do not lose any.

With regards to the actual Membership packs, Sue Campbell who is the Travel and Supporters Manager asked for all the names which I had printed out and I received an e-mail later telling me all packs had been packaged already to those people and you will receive them in the next two weeks.

The simple answer of what had happened before is that when they downloaded the postage labels onto the packs, it didn not include any Countries. This led to very few packs being posted outside the UK. This has now been resolved and I have been asked to keep them up to date with anyone not receiving packs in the future.


2) Ticket Buyback scheme.

This will go live on Thursday next week. It will be ready for the Bolton game. This means a season ticket holder can sell their ticket to the club who will sell it to Red Members. It will be through the internet booking office and will cost season ticket holders 10%.

3) Clock End Clock

It was bought up again how we should have the Clock at the stadium. mr Edelman replied that it would not look good aesthetically at The Emirates and therefore in the near future it would not be displayed at the stadium. It could not be on one of the levels for safety reasons.

4) Takeover/Finances

This was the bit it seemed most people were waiting for and eager to talk about. It mut be noted that today is a Jewish holiday and yet Danny Fitzman made himself available for the meeting which was appreciated by all attendee's.

I have some quotes and I will add notes under each one:

Originally Posted by Danny Fizman

No hostile takeover bid will be successful, but we recognise that the success of the Emirates has caused takeover problems and fears

He added that the have held talks with Kroenke regarding what he has to offer the club and then said

Originally Posted by Danny Fizman

We are open to anyone who wants to help take the club forward. Regarding the comments of Mr Usmanov yesterday, having a so called "blocking" vote is nonsence. Owning 25% of the shares will only allow you to block special resolutions. In the past 16 years Arsenal have had 2 special resolutions, one is the Emirates and the other a share issue to Granada. Therefore his share holding will not affect the running of Arsenal in any way

Mr Edelman said

Originally Posted by Keith Edelman

It is not the right way to run a football club with a Billionaire. Quite simply they see it as an investment and want to make a profit. The current board are fans of Arsenal and see this club as part of their family

I then asked the following question to Danny:

"As we know the board have an agreement in place not to dispose of any shares before April 2008. At that point we could well be in the midst of an important part of the season where it is important not to have outside interruptions affecting the squad, not to mention the media interest will heighten the nearer to the date we come. Will the board be announcing a timetable of their intentions to either extend this agreement or alter it in a timely manner so as to cause least disruption to the Squad?"

Originally Posted by Danny Fizman

It's simple, in principle I am not a seller. There is a new agreement at the moment being written that will extend the agreement for a further 12 months. This will be announced so as to cause the least disruption on the Club.

He was then asked a question on the tax issue which I have gone over on this board before. His answer and really I think he would know the answer not anyone else was:

Originally Posted by Danny Fizman

The tax stuff being written is just nonsense. I am a non-resident and have been since 2004. That affects nothing, if I wanted to sell I would be paying tax at 10% after taper relief. having sports journalists writing about tax and business means you wll never get the full picture in thre media.

The next few questions came regarding finance:

Mr Edelman said that we are in an extremely strong financial position. We certainly do not need outside investment and the debt that we have is at a very low interest rate. He told us we have 210M GBP at 5.14% and 60M GBP at 5.6% which is over 25 years. He said that it is one of the best loans there is and that it is nothing like Manchester United who had to pay 80M GBP in interest to service their debt and have done that through ticket price increases. The figures will be released on Monday and will show Arsenal are in a supurb position.

When asked about Arsene Wenger and David Dein the answer was from Danny Ftzman

Originally Posted by Danny Fizman

The public perception was that David did everything at the club, this was not the case at all. Arsene Wenger will finish his career at Arsenal, we always knew this was the case. With regards to transfers, only one guy decides - Arsene. We are in a very strong financial situation and if he wanted to spend 100M GBP, he could. he decides whether a players fee and salary is worth it. It is his decision and his decision only.

Danny then told us a quote from Arsene from the meeting last week. This was

"Can we say we are poor because that perception helps me when buying players"


5) Ticket Prices

Originally Posted by Keith Edelman

We will look in the New Year at ticket prices, we will not do huge increases, it will be around inflation

6) Setanta in the USA

As this is a new venture it really depends on whether the US broadcasters pick this up. There is no news as of yet about this, but when there is we will certainly let you know.

7) Scarves on Champions League nights

The club has said they recognise this has created a good atmousphere and has gone down well. Therefore on home CL nights the Red and White scarfs will be available in club shops for 5GBP so as to keep on creating this atmousphere.

The meeting then ended with drinks and sandwhiches.

[arsenalgirl30016]

So it was a pretty good meeting then. I feel comfortable with the answers regarding the takeover and really hope they decide to extend the agreement not to sell their shares for another 12 months.

Thank you so much for the update Rick.

[alain_9510]

Sounds good. Many thanks for the update.

[Lanesra]

I think the statement about the clock is bollocks,are they telling us the clock could not be fixed to one of the stands.

As I've said they sold the white shirt using Chapmans name as a selling point,yet they can't find a place for the clock he fought so hard for inside the ground..Bullshit!!

Let's not lose our history,asthetics my Arse!!

Ps thanks for the update

[blueguitar322]

Top job, Rick. Thanks for the info.

[ZIAD]

Thanks Rick a lot man. Its nice to hear news through other sources than the biased media.

[DcGooner]

Cheers Rick. Great news about the board signing a new non-selling agreement and Fitzman's tax status.

[CaptVimes]

Thanks very much for that Rick. Some very encouraging comments.

[NorthBank74]

Wow, awesome work Rick.

We spend so much time on BS.com speculating on this or that. Yes I know that's part of the fun, but it's really great to cut through that speculation and get answers straight from the horses mouths.

[Gooner_for_Life]

Originally Posted by NorthBank74

Wow, awesome work Rick.

We spend so much time on BS.com speculating on this or that. Yes I know that's part of the fun, but it's really great to cut through that speculation and get answers straight from the horses mouths.

Ya too bad the media doesnt give a f*ck or maybe it would help to shut them up.