Since Ivan Gazidis became CEO of Arsenal in 2009, I’ve had a Google Alert on him.
If Ivan says something, or does something, I know straight away.
Late on Tuesday night I started to write this :
CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT IVAN GAZIDIS HAS SAID?
“Arsenal are not focused on winning the Champions League above all else.”
CLEARLY!!!
They’re still managed by Wenger. And they’ve been knocked out in the Round of 16 for five years in a row.
“When we talk about the destination, it’s not winning a Champions League, it’s making fans proud. It’s about making the people at the football club proud of what we do and how we do it.”
Gazidis said, “We get a lot of criticism, but we have people at the club who are very firmly fixed on where we want to get to and won’t get knocked off course by the whims that happen day to day.We are very much on that journey, and we may never reach the destination.”
I quite liked Ivan till I read that!
Proud of what we do and what we are? How vague is that?
Gazidis has obviously spent too long working for Wenger and Kroenke.
The Chief Executive is now managing your expectations downwards.
AMAZING COMMENTS. I REST MY CASE !
Run by Bob Wall, then by Ken Friar, Arsenal has never been an ambitious club in my lifetime.
Despite that, Arsenal has sometimes had great teams and won titles.
It’s always had a realistic business model and it’s mainly been a gentleman’s club on match days.
The Arsenal Corporation is now very rich because Sky and other TV companies pump billions into the Premier League.
And the Emirates Stadium is a versatile profit-generating facility, a big shiny cash machine conveniently functioning in the capital of the world.
Building a new stadium was the most ambitious and difficult thing the club has ever done.
London is a megacity where hundreds of millions of people want to live or visit or do business or find entertainment.
Geographically, Arsenal is in the right place.
But Ivan Gazidis can’t really call himself a CEO until he appoints a new manager.
And that’s impossible because he works under Wenger, who interviewed him for his job.
Gazidis is a corporate lawyer who believes in sensible governance and that’s OK because sensible governance is better than irresponsible governance.
And we all know that excitement and Kroenke are two words which will never belong in the same sentence. Silent Stan’s model is profitable mediocrity.
I think I’ll cancel my Google Alert.