Arsenal chairman threatens to stop AGM as fans demand answers over £3m p...

Arsenal’s chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, threatened to close the club’s fractious annual general meeting after fans and officials locked horns over a controversial £3m payment made to Kroenke Sports and Entertainment – the company belonging to the majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke.

With Arsenal supporters paying the highest admission prices in the Premier League, the £3m fee – the equivalent of the revenue for one matchday at the Emirates – in return for unspecified “strategic and advisory services” has become a bone of contention. This is the second successive season Arsenal have given this exact amount to KSE.Arsenal’s second largest shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, reportedly added to the pressure by writing to the club before the AGM, seeking clarification over whether “value for money is being obtained”.

Shareholders in attendance at the AGM repeatedly pressed for details of the payment but the ambiguous response from the club’s board prompted increasing frustration from supporters and disdain from the top table.

Sir Chips sought to explain the payment without giving insight into the specifics of the specialist advice Arsenal receive from KSE, saying: “I felt it was right to pay a fee for a wide range of services provided by KSE.

“We should not be in a position where we expect these things to come for nothing – that would not be good governance. I would remind you that KSE is one of the most respected sports organisations in the United States. This has contributed to our positive evolution in a number of areas. Finally, I’d remind everyone that we have a majority owner who is respectful of our traditions.”

That provoked heckling from shareholders who wanted to know exactly what services were part of this transaction. One of the questions from the floor summed up the mood of mistrust: “Is there a written contract or is it like Platini and Blatter’s verbal agreement?”

Sir Chips was noticably piqued as he responded: “I am not Mr Platini, I am not Mr Blatter, and there is not a written whatever-you-wanted because as I have explained, good advice is where you can get it and how you get it and if you get good advice then you succeed. If you don’t get the right advice, then you fail.“You cannot codify how many times we have taken advice or how we have taken them. I will make no attempt to do so except to say we get the best advice as quick as we possibly can, and if you want proof of what that is worth, you can look at this [nodding to the FA Cup], look at that [the Community Shield], and look at our accounts.“I don’t know how many of you here run your own businesses but those of you who do will know that the best advice you can get is the quick advice from people – and this is the point – in other organisations who know more about the problem than you do. If you are humble enough to accept that then you go and you get good advice. That is precisely what we do at the Arsenal with KSE.”

Arsène Wenger spoke at length about on-field matters. The manager accepted he must do better, having won two FA Cups since 2005, but said he was proud to have qualified for the Champions League for 18 seasons in a row. “Only one club in Europe, Real Madrid, has done better with 19,” he said. “I can understand it is not enough. It shows the quality of our behaviour has paid off at least with consistency of the results. We want more and I am the first to agree that it is not enough. [But] if it was easy everyone would have done it. Sometimes it is important to remind people that to remain at the top is difficult. And we do not rate that enough.”

Wenger said he felt Arsenal had a “good chance” to win the Premier League. “We have to show what we showed against Manchester United. Be capable to win the big games, show that level of urgency in every single game and show the consistency we have shown since the start of 2015.” He reiterated he was “not scared to spend” after being criticised for buying only Petr Cech this summer.