A few weeks ago, when announcing that three new executives were joining Arsenal, did Ivan Gazidis say his team was now complete?
I can’t remember. But I always thought Gazidis would build a team who were loyal to him. That’s how a corporate lawyer works and that’s how he creates the power base he needs to drive the business and achieve long-term success.
The new CEO has been in place for almost nine months. We know what he says but we don’t know what he thinks. We have to guess what he thinks. My guess is that Ivan Gazidis was shocked at how much power Arsene Wenger has. He may have thought, “It’s very, very unhealthy for one man to have the amount of power that Wenger has accumulated. This is not how we do it in the States.”
As regular readers know, my view is that Wenger does not like to delegate or hear any voice contradicting him. He is a control-freak and his iron grip on Arsenal has not produced any trophies for four years and that will soon be five years. Therefore his methods, his culture, and his very large staff should now be put under the microscope as never before.
In the light of all this, it was interesting to read Matt Scott’s piece in Wednesday’s Guardian:
Arsenal appoint Richard Law to chief executive Ivan Gazidis’s team
• Appointment formalises long-standing consultancy role
• Arsène Wenger remains chief decision-maker at club
Arsenal have made their final appointment to the executive team in Richard Law, bringing to an end the recruitment process that began with the departure of the former chief executive David Dein in April 2007.
Law, a trilingual American who speaks Spanish and Portuguese, will take responsibility for player contracts in support of the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, and the club secretary, David Miles. The appointment formalises a long-standing consultancy role Law has held with Arsenal’s scouting operation in South and Central America.
Arsenal have been keen to stress that Law will not become a traditional director of football, a role that might suggest the diminution of the manager’s influence. Arsène Wenger will remain the supreme decision-maker at the club, with Law instead acting as a facilitator for the manager and Gazidis.
Law, who has been central to the club’s partnership with Salamanca, the Spanish second division side who have taken several Arsenal players on loan, will also act as a buffer from the management team for agents attempting to place players with the north London club.
Upon Dein’s departure Wenger made clear his intention to bring in an executive to assist him in his transfer dealings but with Miles and Gazidis jointly assuming those responsibilities, the position has been recalibrated. The new appointment ensures Arsenal have a single point of contact on transfer matters.
What’s happening here?
It’s interesting that Matt Scott makes no comment on the appointment.
What is he saying? That it’s taken five executives to eventually replace David Dein? Why does Gazidis need Richard Law to join the payroll full-time? Does it mean that Arsenal will be signing more Spanish and Brazilian players?
Is Richard Law there as a gatekeeper, a filter, to keep agents away from Wenger?
Or is he there to tell Ivan Gazidis which players are being offered to Arsenal?
If I was the CEO of Arsenal, a declining team with five unpopular players, and thousands of season-ticket holders not turning up for some games, I’d definitely want to know which players are being offered to my club, by whom, and at what price.
This week Gazidis said that Arsenal will be one of the world’s biggest clubs five years from now. How does he know that? How can Arsenal be big without winning trophies? How can a lawyer look in a crystal ball and tell us that Arsenal will be huge in five years time?