After the positive feedback on our post last month about reconnecting with the Club we returned to the club and let them know that we were interested in re-opening communications.

Last week several of the moderators got a chance to chat with two members of the Arsenal communication staff, Mark and Johnnie.

The purpose of the discussion was to further the initial conversation about reopening communication and collaboration between the club and the subreddit.

A little bit of background. Mark is the club’s Media & Communications Director and has worked with the club for 11 years and Johnnie has been at the club for a short time now and leads the club’s social content.

One of the big things that Mark stressed was that while the club enjoys and finds importance in the big public relation campaigns (which they consider shop window projects), the more important ones are the smaller more personal things that they can do to support the people of Islington as well as allow supporters from all over to feel more connected to the club, even if it might not get the same engagement online.

As part of the discussion we were able to ask a few questions. I’ve tried to summarize them with the answers below.

We want to make sure that we are not seen as a part of the club. It is important for users to feel like they can be open and honest with discussion topics/comments on the subreddit.
The club agrees with this. They have no desire to interfere with the running of the subreddit but instead see it as an opportunity to expand communication on a more personal level to supporters.

Supporters saw the large number of redundancies last year immediately followed up by spending large sums of money on incoming transfers. There seemed to be some concern over how the club was able to justify both actions as well as how they were communicated.
The redundancies last year were sort of two-fold. There were always plans to identify and address ways the club could streamline and improve processes. The financial implications of COVID did speed up this process.
Additionally, in regards to money spent on transfer funds and how the club is spending money, it’s important to remember the goals of the club. Without player investments it would be even harder to make it back to the top. The juxtaposition between the redundancies and transfer fees is tough and understandable, but unfortunately it’s just part of owning a club. Comparison used was airlines still buying airplanes last season despite air travel being down.
In terms of communication, Mark brought up that between Josh and Vinai (and previously Gazidis) Arsenal higher ups communicate more than any other club in the big 6. Josh’s public appearances and interviews are more than what any club owner or family member has done. As we have heard before, the biggest reason for more communication recently vs before is the Kroenke’s not having 100% ownership and control of the club until 2018. Unfortunately the model of a “local lad” making it big and buying his club and funding it is no longer the way of the Premier League, but Josh is committed to being more visible and forthcoming.

Dortmund have recently voted on a code of values, are there any thoughts from the club around this and how the club decides which partnerships to accept?
We have to run the football club. We need to use the values of the club as an internal guide but it’s important to remember that financial realities exist. The club does a lot of due diligence on all partnerships, including turning many away. The club accepts and agrees that even with all of the due diligence being done there are always many long debates that could be had about the deals the club does make. The important thing is that the club does a lot of work in the background to be comfortable with those deals. Mark stressed the club has to be careful, but also pragmatic.
Fan openness is something that they’re trying to improve. The example given was with the recent Socios deal. The club worked with a subgroup from the fans forum who were aware of the incoming partnership. Mark stressed that as a member of the executive team he approaches club decisions from both the fan and club perspective. Additionally the same goes for the executives.

There were of course questions about the club and the Super League and what they have learned from that process.
The club knew that it would not be a popular decision but the train was leaving the station and as the club have stated before “What do we want, a super league with or without Arsenal. The train was leaving the station and a decision was made.” The club felt it was in the best interest of the long-term future of the club. Additionally they learned to very quickly admit their mistake and pull out, even if from a legal perspective it’s a longer process.
Additionally they have introduced the Arsenal Advisory Board which recently held their first meeting. Any large decision, things like a super league, moving from Emirates, etc, would have to go through them first, although ultimately the decision would rest with the board.
Finally the reaction to the super league reinforced what the club already knew. Football clubs are about the fans, and every decision that the board makes is made with the clubs best interest at heart.

There was also a short discussion on what the club’s goals are for partnership with the club.
They want to bring reddit to Arsenal and vice versa. The initial thought is obviously things like AMA’s with the players, however the club are interested in any ideas that we (the mods) as well as we (the entire subreddit community) have. Additionally there are goals for the mod team to meet a few times a year with the club, as well as an open line of communication.

We want to make it clear that we as mods took this conversation mostly as a chance to continue opening the lines of communication with the club and not a chance to be hard-hitting journalists. Additionally if you guys have any realistic ideas for ways you would want to see us (the subreddit) work with the club, please put it in the comments below.

Note: This post was reviewed by the club before we put it out to ensure we were accurately representing them and the answers that they gave.