Mark Arthur - Quotes
The following quotes are
taken from press articles, which have quoted Mark Arthur
since he he joined the club.
| It's difficult to actually find
something Mark Arthur has said or pledged which
hasn't been proven by time to be ludicrously embarrassing.
His first real statement and interview at Forest
summed him up perfectly.
Quiet man at the top.
19 October 1999
Nottingham Evening Post
NEW CHIEF WILL LET SUCCESS DO THE TALKING
AT FOREST
Mark Arthur won't mind if fans ask 'Mark
who?' while he helps to lay the foundations for
long-term success at Nottingham Forest.
OLIVER KAY meets a man who will be happy
to stay in the background when he becomes the
club's new chief executive SPORTS administrators
have their heroes, too, you know. Just as goalkeepers
idolise Peter Shilton, or wingers George Best,
chairmen and chief executives try to model themselves
on those at the top of their profession. Mark
Arthur, who will take over from Phil Soar as Nottingham
Forest's chief executive on January 1, cites Peter
Robinson as the man he will attempt to emulate.
Peter who? Robinson was the quiet achiever
who filled the same role with distinction at Liverpool
in the days when that club was peerless on and
off the pitch. Arthur, the corporate face of Nottinghamshire
CCC for the last five years, aims, like Robinson,
to be unseen and barely heard outside the confines
of the football ground.
"That's the sort of chief executive
I want to be," he said. "Peter Robinson
ran that well-oiled machine for years and years
and nobody knew who he was." …
While he would look at you with disbelief
if you suggested his position at Notts had been
"cushy", it is at least a job which
is unlikely to see your car disgracefully attacked
by so-called supporters, as Soar's was last year.
Arthur said: "Forest are restructuring
on and off the field, and I'm just one part of
that restructuring process. We want to lay down
solid foundations in order that there is success
on the football side in the long term. Our permanent
aim will be to provide excellence both on and
off the field, but the priority will always be
on the field.
"We want to re-establish ourselves
in the Premiership, regain our position as the
number one football club in the East Midlands
and - once that's achieved and sustained - we
will look to the longer term ...
And eight years later ...
|
Arthur starts as he intends
to go on. By leaving the City Ground during the hectic
winter season and visiting the Caribbean on what is
politely labeled a ‘fact-finding mission,’
fully paid for by the club.
Forest spokesman Nick Lucy said: "Mark
Arthur has already met representatives of one of the
island's top clubs as well as members of the Caribbean
Football Union. This trip will also be used as a way
of trying to increase merchandising opportunities on
the island.’’
February 10 2000 - NEP
"The manager's position was not on
the agenda for a routine board meeting held on Monday.
There has been a lot of talk of pressure in the media
and that is not the case. We are a single unit at Forest
and that includes the players, the fans, the board members
and the manager we're in it together. And the manager
of Nottingham Forest is David Platt and nobody else
… David came here as a young and fairly inexperienced
manager but the evidence is there that he is equipping
himself.’’
Arthur expresses his support for the
disastrous David Platt
October
2 2000 – BBC website.
"The situation with Chris is a one-off
and we can't see a similar situation arising in the
future.''
Arthur defends the board’s decision
to prevent Paul Hart from playing club captain and reigning
player-of-the-year Chris Bart-Williams. Just two months
later the board also restrain Hart from playing leading-scorer
Stern John.
November
28 2001 - BBC website
"A new stand is very much in our thoughts
for the long-term strategy of the club.’’
October
22 2002 - BBC website
"There will be price increases for season-tickets
and match-day prices regardless of which division we're
in next year because of the impact of ITV Digital and
what we want to achieve as a football club. We make
no apology for that because we have to take Nottingham
Forest Football Club forward … Arthur believes
the rise in the size of their crowds is another indicator
that Forest, as a club on and off the field, are on
the right track. "Coupled with the size of our
crowds at home, the travelling support that we take
to away matches means we are once again regarded as
a big club," he added.
May 13 2003 – NEP
"For the first two years at Forest
I had serious reservations. I kept asking myself why
I had left the relatively safe world of cricket where
I could always balance the books for all of this …
I've been quiet up to now because we didn't have much
to shout about. I wanted to make tangible improvements
to the club. I didn't want to make empty words. We did
not want to be shouting from the rooftops."
January
2004 – Interview with Midlands Business Insider.
"The money raised will go to help Joe
Kinnear build up the squad. That is most definitely
the case … We carried out an extensive survey
of other First Division clubs before we decided to increase
our prices … We're serious about mounting a promotion
bid and any extra revenue raised will go towards helping
Joe achieve his ambition of bringing Premiership football
back to the City Ground. It is a fact that to run this
football club we need a certain amount of money to make
the squad strong enough to challenge for promotion.’’
Arthur attempting to justify the significant
rise in ticket prices in order to fund a promotion campaign.
Despite the fans keeping to their side of the bargain
(season ticket sales and average gates rose) the campaign
(2004-05) ended in relegation.
May 26 2004 - NEP
"Leicester's offer was derisory …
If we go to a tribunal we want compensation of between
£3m and £5m."
Leicester were believed to have offered
Forest a pre-tribunal fee of 750k for Gareth Williams,
which Forest rejected. The tribunal later set a fee
of just 500k.
June 14 2004 – BBC website
"We have used 36 players this season
and even the players who played against QPR will not
be good enough to challenge in League One next year.
We haven't attracted the right players, we haven't had
enough discipline and we weren't fit enough at the start
of the season."
Arthur points out the obvious, but
stops short of accepting any responsibility once more.
May 1 2005 – BBC Radio 5 Live
Interview
"We've got to try to give Gary Megson the backing
he needs to find a squad of players that has the ability
to play the type of tactics he wants to play."
Was the terrace chant, "You don't
know what you're doing,'' ever more relevant.
May 3 2005 – BBC website
"I do not have a road map and I'm not
setting a time frame because we've come a cropper before
with our five-year plan. We'll take one step at a time
and deal with the issues which face us now. There is
a lot of work to do in the summer and that will be to
get a smaller and more motivated squad."
May
4 2005 – BBC Radio Nottingham
"We are very ambitious when it comes
to getting out of League One and we want to maintain
our commitment to achieving that goal. To do that we
will have to continue to finance the football side of
things at the club." Some fans have already accused
the club of asking fans to pay the price for their failure
to win promotion. Arthur says the opposite is true.
"We are asking them to contribute more so we can
maintain a squad that is capable of fulfilling the ambitions
we all share," he said. ''We want to add to the
squad to get this club where we want it to be."
Arthur attempting to justify another
10% hike in season ticket prices following the worst
season in Forest’s entire history
June 2006 - NEP
"To Colin and myself the priority is to do whatever
is necessary to further strengthen the squad... Our
priority is promotion this year and next year. Then
staying in the Premier League and qualifying for Europe."
June
20th 2007
- NEP
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