White away shirts based on Herbert Chapman, the name of our new stadium being dictated by a sponsor and club level. Just some examples of the change we are going through.
In the time of new owners and investors Arsenal seem to have held out. Therefore we naturally lose the money these people like Abramovich provide. Are we compensating for this through commercial means? The new stadium is the obvious example. The Ashburton Grove/Emirates Stadium debate goes on and this I will not address. However the reason we have the name is one I will. Our new sponsors “Fly Emirates” added a clause stating we named the stadium after them. Then there name is plastered on the electronic advertising boards. The second doesn’t seem so bad but they all add up. A small but very meaningful aspect to me is the Advertising boards around the concrete block under club level. Plastered with countless sponsors it strikes me as a signal of what our club is becoming more like. Above this we have boards about the club, the history of it, in RED. These sponsors’ boards are in WHITE, the colour of our local rivals and are there for all to see as the main thing we put on our ground. Where we could have had more boards regarding the important things to our club, the team itself, we have sold out to the corporate market.
Funnily enough these boards are right under Club Level, another debate, I am not saying that the people who sit there are all bad but I don’t like the idea itself. It literally separates the fans and is solely there to make money.
The one story that made me think more closely at this was the reports of a white away kit next season. Again this is the colour of Tottenham and other clubs like Real Madrid and Bolton with whom we do not like. This is solely a marketing aim of Nike to sell shirts. Personally I think it is wrong they have used Herbert Chapman - the manager who held firm place in the famous marble halls - to try and sell the shirts. Whether the shirt is nice or not, it’s not the point. Arsenal play in yellow, maybe blue. This is another tradition however small but they are soon running out. I want to see us in a yellow kit, the colour Adebayor most recently scored the winner at Old Trafford in, the colour Michael Thomas wore when he won the league at Anfield.
I know money is tight at Arsenal but surely the history matters, at least that is what the board says, yet these small things matter and the club seem to be throwing them away.
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Is Arsenal Being Commercialised Too Far?
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