When failure to compete on the executive management level leads to failure to compete on the pitch: Arsenal FC is in crisis. This season has been the esteemed English football team’s worst since its legendary manager Arsene Wenger took over the club 19 years ago. The club has been on an impressive losing streak for its away games, going down 10-2 on aggregate in its Champions League matches with Bayern Munich (the worst loss by an English team in the competition’s history) and most recently 3-0 to bottom-three Premier League team Crystal Palace. All this despite boasting one of the best selections of world class superstars, including Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, and Hector Bellerin. The losses have seen calls by fans for the club not to renew Wenger’s contract reach a fever pitch. Even worse, their star player, Sanchez, has been fanning the flames of speculation that he is leaving the club, with reports of interest in him coming from rivals Chelsea and Manchester City. Arsenal is currently outside the qualification places for Europe’s elite Champions League, a competition in which it has played every season for the past two decades.

While fans hold Wenger primarily responsible for the losing streak, many have taken the view that the board of directors’ business and financing strategy is being the club’s dysfunctionality. At the heart of the problem: bn’aire US sports mogul Stan Kroenke. Arsenal had been financially strapped, something the board felt would be resolved if they sold a majority stake to Kroenke, often described as an absentee landlord. This came despite Alisher Usmanov, who owns more than 30% of the London club, offering to underwrite a rights issue he said would have provided Wenger with the money to try and buy the very best players, according to Bloomberg. Usmanov also called for an overhaul of Arsenal’s commercial operations. Arsenal’s full-year revenue of about USD 434 mn is about 30% less than rival Manchester United, which generates more commercial income from jersey-sponsorship rights and its branding. Other cost saving measures adopted by the club including a wage capped for players at GBP 150K per week, which has impeded the club’s ability to buy new players and retain vital ones. Recently Arsenal made an exception for Sanchez offering to double his pay if he renews his contract.

But perhaps one of the biggest issues that have been raised is how the board has set the bar low for the team and its manager. So long as Arsenal remain in the top-four (a difficult feat for the team this season), Wenger has been able to keep his contract, something which Arsenal fan Piers Morgan has rightfully noted would never happen to other Premier league managers (yes, this is the only time in which we will actually listen to the man’s blathering). The leadership vacuum has opened the door for Wenger to take full control at the club and effectively set his own contracts. Wenger has refused to so far disclose whether he is staying next season or leaving. Either way, these problems on the pitch cannot be resolved until the problems with the board and the business are addressed.