Arsene Wenger and his investments

I have been a fan of the Arsenal football club since Arsene Wenger took over the helm as its manager. Before him, under George Graham, Arsenal was playing a more defensive game. After Mr Wenger arrived at the club around 10 years ago, he changed their games into faster pace, attacking minded, more direct passing. And in my opinion, they have been playing the most attractive football in the English Premier League since he took over. Until today, Arsenal still holds the longest unbeaten records in the League. Unlike other rich clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and etc, who prefer to splash out some crazy monies to buy super star players, and in turn, hoping to buy successes and trophies, Mr Wenger prefers to buy young players with potential and develop them into world class players. These players include Thierry Henry, Anelka, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Cesr Fabregas, van Persie and etc. The prices which he paid for them were so much cheaper compared to what they've achieved for the club. (No offence to those fans of other clubs, but please do not argue on the facts above) (For those who do not follow English soccer, and want to start following a team, watch Arsenal!!)

The 3 pictures above shows: Warren Buffett at the top, Arsene Wenger in the middle and Tan Teng Boo (from Icapital, also a very good investor, refer to my other blog at here for more of his details) at the bottom. Sense anything OBVIOUS they share in common?

The answer is after this paragraph. But first, if one were to compare Arsene's success with the other master investors in the world, it's not hard to noticed that he has the eyes for "undervalued assets", like what he saw in those undervalued young players he had bought. Just like any other successful investors, he unearthed raw gems, and wait for them to shine. Those football stars are his successful investments. Just like how Mr Buffett bought Berkshire Hathaway when it was a textile manufacturer who nearly went out of business, and transformed it into one of the largest conglomerates in the world today. And how Mr Tan Teng Boo unearthed Lion Diversified when it was trading below RM1.00 in his I-Capital newsletter. Now, LionD is traded at RM11.00+, within 3~4 years (I was lucky enough to have read his recommendation back then). That's why all three of them earned my full respects!

Answer to their similarities: Of course it's the white hair!! (That's obvious!)

Lastly, please refer to the stock chart below:

It's the stock chart of Arsenal Holding PLC, the holding company of the Arsenal football club, for the last 5 years. See how it soared from 125k Pounds per share to over 1mil Pounds per share? See how a good management can bring good returns to a stock and its investors? There are many other such examples which I would like to share at later dates. Moral of the story: Good investment picks are all around us. And a reminder to those who are not yet a football fans, remember to watch Arsenal this weekend!!