Arsenal, at Last
By Azu Ishiekwene
I love Arsenal fans. I sometimes think there can’t be many of them who won’t make good spouses or lifetime friends.
It takes the patience of Job and the fidelity of a monk to support a team through 22 winless seasons and still have the heart to sing “The Angel (North London) Forever,” each time that they filed out to play about 835 Premier League matches before this season’s glorious dawn.
When the Manchester City v A.C. Bournemouth match ended in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night, giving Arsenal an irretrievable win, the relief and joy that erupted amongst Arsenal supporters was beyond belief – the pure, unbounded ecstasy of “Arsenalotary” was in full display after more than two decades of shattered dreams! And who knows what might happen if Arsenal were to defeat PSG on May 30, and also win the UEFA Cup?
The world has changed since Arsenal last won the English Premier League (EPL) trophy in the 2003/2004 season. Barack Obama became the first Black US president. Brexit and COVID-19 happened, and Queen Elizabeth II died, ending the longest reign in British history.
Nigeria has had four presidents, and the fifth, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is ending his first term.
iPhone was launched, and Facebook became a global giant. Twitter did not even exist, nor did Instagram, TikTok or ChatGPT.
And two of the Club’s players – Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri, on loan to Olympique Marseille – had not been born. That was how long Arsenal fans waited, singing Louis Dunford’s “Forever” most of the time.
Bookies nightmare
But it wasn’t always funny, especially in the last five years. In 2023/24, for example, pundits wagered that it would be Arsenal’s season. City, a serious contender, was on the back foot, and Mikel Arteta’s side looked formidable with the signings of Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.
Analysts felt the club had matured. Arsenal topped the table for nearly 18 weeks before City toppled them and snatched the title by two points. It was another heartbreak year, as it turned out that City’s decline was slightly exaggerated.
Even in 2025/26, which is ending in glory, it seemed, at some point, that the curse of “nearly there” was about to repeat itself. I’m speaking not as an Arsenal fan, but as a father at the receiving end of the emotional turmoil suffered by family and friends broken by Arsenal’s many torrid seasons.
My barber, my cousin
This season has been particularly traumatic for them. For example, after Arsenal stumbled to a 2–1 defeat to City in April, my cousin vowed he would not watch the team again. He said the games were giving him mental stress and causing him nightmares. “If Arsenal doesn’t give me HBP,” he lamented, “then nothing will!” It’s what the Reggae star, Peter Tosh, might have called, “Arsenalmylitis.”
Like my cousin, my barber also managed to keep his sanity by telling anyone who cared to listen that this would be his last Arsenal season. For me, a Chelsea fan with nothing more to lose this season, I found myself playing a pocket therapist by assuring him there was hope, to lessen his misery, and also from what I thought was the mentality, depth and alignment of Arsenal’s squad this season. No Arsenal team has wanted to win more in the last 22 years than this one.
It’s been edgy for me, watching the Blues slip off the Champions League perch and losing the FA Cup final to City in the outgoing season. With a new coach and an overpriced, underperforming squad without major competitions to challenge them, even the new season looks uncertain. Yet, I’m not up for the fans’ transfer market.
More than just a game
Professional football, generally, has gained a frenzied global ascendancy that only religion can surpass in numbers, followership, and fanaticism. Despite the global economic downturn, football arenas fill up across cities and towns whenever there are fixtures. There seems to be more hunger for matches than there is in the stomach.
But there’s more to it than matches. I’ve often heard stories, both comical and sad, of how an increasing number of folks, young and not-so-young, are losing what ought to be residual income, savings or even borrowed funds in football pools and betting ventures. Even though it’s a matter of choice, the allure must feel like dope – overwhelming and psychotic.
The EPL Annual revenues for the 2023/24 season, according to Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance, were worth around €38 billion. That figure covers professional club football, including the big five leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, as well as smaller domestic leagues.
Its sheer size, efficiency and organisation are probably the reasons EPL has spawned a betting industry which has outgrown social inhibitions about gambling and now defies even religious preachments that gambling breaches the righteous code.
Boosted by digital satellite television, betting, especially the football brand of it, is no longer a street corner venture, but one of the fastest-growing businesses.
The tragic fallouts and losses have become part of the silent misfortunes of many folks, who, like insects attracted to the sweet smell of a poisonous plant, are ever again fatally tempted by the prospects of making easy money. So long as there’s a game, there’s hope.
Follow the money
Premier League clubs generated about £6.3 billion in revenue in the 2023/24 season, and Manchester City alone made £719 million. If the EPL were a country, its economy would be larger than those of at least nine African countries, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, and Lesotho.
Premier League clubs surpassed £6 billion in aggregate revenue in 2023/24, with the 2024/25 season projected to push total revenue even higher thanks to broadcast rights, new commercial deals, and rising match-day receipts.
Despite successive seasons of price rises, the average EPL fan paid around £53 per match-day in 2024/25, up from about £51 the year before, reflecting strong demand and limited stadium capacity. That pricing power underscores the basic economic truth: in a league where TV and commercial revenue insulate clubs from gate dependence, owners can treat match-day as a premium experience business, not a charity.
Before the title, Arsenal was already valued at £2bn to £2.8bn, according to Forbes. According to some estimates, ending a 22-year league drought could increase the club’s value by 10-20 percent over time, especially if it also wins the European title.
What next?
As the 25/26 season gives way to the World Cup, which Canada, Mexico, and the United States will jointly host in June, emotions will find new avenues for expression, as football takes centre stage. Whether for club or country, the game can count on the tribal loyalty and emotions of hundreds of millions of fans to keep the cash register ringing and the stakes high.
- Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book, Writing for Media and Monetising It.
