Tag Archives: Ivan Gazidis

Wenger GONE… Gazidis GONE… Usmanov GONE…

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The fall out from today’s news about Stan Kroenke being set to take full control of Arsenal was as expected. It was overwhelmingly negative.

I have always thought life is too short to be negative about everything, especially about football which for me is a release from the Monday – Friday of work.

When the news first hit, my thoughts were simple.

“I can not wait until Sunday to have a beer with my mates and watch some football”.

You see, football is not just about the 90 minutes. It is about meeting up with friends, old and new, having a few beers and releasing the tension from the working week.

The reality is as Arsenal fans we can do nothing about Kroenke taking full control. Just like we can not do anything about South West Trains having delays every single day, or the Central Line being boiling hot.

Protests, petitions and moaning on Twitter will do nothing.

And what are we protesting? What are we petitioning? What are we moaning about? We do not know Kroenke’s intentions will be as sole owner of Arsenal Football Club. Fans are getting their knickers in the twist based in rumours, based on speculation. Based on the unqualified Arsenal Supporters Trust releasing fake news.

If the deal goes through this week, will it actually affect me, as a match day going fan? No it will not. I will still go Sunday. Meet my mates. Have a few beers before, during and after the game.

In fact, The George shutting will have more of an affect on my life than Kroenke being sole owner of Arsenal.

How about we look at the positives of the situation of Arsenal?

We have long complained about Arsene Wenger’s influence on the club. His 22-year spell at the club went on too long. His autocratic style of leadership centralised power in his office. Wenger is gone. Unai Emery is in charge.

Power has also been further spread around with the appointments of Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat. No longer do we have one single man in charge of the entire football side of the club. Overseeing everything from set up to scouting, transfers to training.

We have seen the effect of the new men this summer. We have spent nearly £70million on some very good signings and moved decisively in the market.

Ivan Gazidis was also holding the club back.

Ignore the fact that he let Wenger remain in charge too long – although he was key in removing the Frenchman and if it was up to him, Wenger would have gone a year earlier.

Gazidis oversees the business side of the club. It is up to him to oversee the commercial team who bring revenue in.

For too long, this commercial team has under performed.

I ma not expecting Arsenal to be up with Manchester United. Their £268million in commercial revenue (and growing) is incredible. Alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona they are a level ahead of every other club in world football when it comes to reach, fan base and brand recognition. And that feeds down to the commercial revenue.

But to be £151million behind them is poor. To have the 5th highest in the Premier League is poor – although Manchester City’s high commercial revenue comes from within.

I do not see why Arsenal, with a motivated and successful commercial revenue team could not be close to £200million a season.

Manchester City have just signed a £50million deal with Puma; Chelsea’s deal with Nike is £60million a year.

Arsenal’s £30million deal with Puma runs out at the end of this season. Taking into account our shirt sales and brand – which are both superior to Chelsea and Manchester City – we should be looking at a minimum £60million a year from Adidas or whoever we do the deal with.

Kit manufacturers do not really care who is “successful”, they care how many units they sell. It is why Liverpool still command high sponsorship revenue despite it being 28 years since they last won the league.

We have recently signed a very good £10million a year deal with Visit Rwanda.

Under Gazidis the commercial revenue team has under performed, leaving us nearly £100million a year short of where we should be.

£100million a year is a lot of money. In very simple terms, it would enable us to buy an additional £80million player on £350,000 a week, every season.

How much better position would we be in if in the last 4 summers, we were able to have purchased 4 £80million players?

The commercial revenue team have held us back for years, and Gazidis is ultimately to blame.

If Josh Kroenke does come in as CEO, as expected, he brings a world of knowledge as president of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids and Colorado Avalanche with him. American sport is the bench mark as to what commercial revenue you can bring in.

Gazidis leaving should be seen as a positive.

Then we have the final change, the biggest. Stan Kroenke buying out Alisher Usmanov.

For too long, Arsenal have been stale, not really moving anywhere, and I am certain the civil war between the two largest share holders was the reason for this.

One had to go for Arsenal to move forward under the vision of a single owner with no restrictions. Whether you think Kroenke or Usmanov was the “better choice” does not really matter. What is important is the Arsenal Civil War 2007-2018 is over. And hopefully Arsenal can move on and rebuild as one unit.

Rather than be negative, and return to protests and divisions on the terraces, lets look at the positives.

Wenger is gone
Gazidis is going
The Arsenal Civil War is over

Keenos

 

Ivan Gazidis gone…what now for Arsenal?

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Talk on social media is that Ivan Gazidis has decided to take AC Milan up on their job offer in Italy.

So with Gazidis seemingly out the door at Arsenal, what does this mean for the club who recently got rid of their manager for 21 years.

Were it 12 months ago, I would be extremely worried as Gazidis leaving would have empowered Wenger further. But in the last year, the Frenchman has gone, replaced by Unai Emery, and the power shared out with the appointment of Raul Sanllehi.

My theory on the plan is a simple one.

Arsenal will not replace Ivan Gazidis as CEO. We will no longer have one man overseeing the entire operation of the club.

As Head of Football Relations, Sanllehi will have full reign to look after the footballing side of the club. From first team to youth, to transfers and contracts, he will head the team. With the likes of Emery, Sven Mislintat and Hugh Fussey reporting to him.

For the other side of the club – the business and commercial side which Gazidis over saw – we will bring in a big hitter. A Head of Commercial Revenue.

It will be there role to oversee the underperforming commercial department. To bring in new revenue to the club. To oversee the finances of the club.

With the families links to Sports in America, do not be surprised if this is a big NFL hitter.

Knitting it all together will be Josh Kroenke who has taken a much more “hands on” roll at Arsenal in recent months.

As vice-Chairman, he will oversee the monthly board meetings which will become a lot more than the whiskey and cigar club that they are now. It will be up to him to ensure that all sides of the club are working as one with a common goal. Making Arsenal successful.

He will still leave the day to day running of the club to Sanhelli and the new Head of Commercial Revenue, but they will both report to him and he will have the final day on any difficult decisions.

I think we will also see David O’Leary officially join the Arsenal board. The Arsenal legend has been seen in the directors box at nearly every game last season.

Just as Gazidis was showing us what he could do, he is gone.

Keenos

Ivan Gazidis gets backing of Arsenal fans

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It may come as a surprise to some, but Ivan Gazidis has been Arsenal’s Chief Executive for less than 10 years.

In November 2008 Gazidis accepted the post of chief executive of Arsenal, a post he formally took up from 1 January 2009. He succeeded former managing director Keith Edelman.

South-African born Gazidis moved to Manchester at the age of 4. He attended St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford, where he was twice awarded a blue playing football against the University of Cambridge in 1984 and 1985

He graduated with a degree in law in 1986 and in 1992 he moved to the United States to work.

In 1994, he joined the founding management team of Major League Soccer, becoming in 2001 its deputy commissioner. He oversaw MLS’s key strategic and business decisions and its marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, of which he was president.

Many fans have been justifiably critical of Gazidis’ role at Arsenal. His arrival was in the middle of the trophy drought, and with Arsene Wenger keeping an iron grip of control, many questioned what he actually did at the club.

Some of the criticism was unfair.

Many saw him as Stan Kroenke’s crony. They labelled him a “yank who knew nothing about football”.

That last comment probably showed how little people knew about him. As we have seen he was born in South Africa (not America), grew up in Manchester (supporting Manchester City as a child) and spent 15 years working the MLS before joining Arsenal.

With the recent AC Milan interest, and everything that has happened at Arsenal in the last 12 months, it is worthwhile stepping back and taking stock.

Whilst Arsene Wenger was at the club, there were constantly two schools of thought.

The first was that Wenger restricted Gazidis. That he could not flourish. There were reports he wanted Wenger gone a year or so ago and was talking to replacements, but the Kroenke’s put a stop to this by offering the Frenchman a new deal.

Whilst there were others that saw him as part of a problem. As a sheep. Doing whatever Kroenke or Wenger demanded, and protecting them.

The truth was probably somewhere in the middle.

During his time at Arsenal, we have seen ticket price rises. £126 for a top end “normal” ticket is way too much.

But he has also overseen a discount to away fans; not just the £30 Premier League cap but a further £4 per game deduction. He has also kept League Cup game costs to a minimum.

Whilst our Category A tickets are extortionate, our Category C tickets are very good – you can watch Arsenal play in the Premier League for less than you can watch Leyton Orient in the Conference.

With Gazidis, it always feels like he gives with one hand, takes with the other. He would probably make a good Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer.

He has also overseen a period at the club where we sold our best players, targeted top 4 rather than trophies, and was more interested in net spend than success. Although in more recent years the wallet has opened a bit more – with us breaking our transfer record twice in 6 months.

Gazidis’ background is commercial activity.

Under Wenger, it was a simple set up. Arsene ran the football side, Gazidis the revenue and commercial side of things.

As a commercial executive he has struggled.

A lot of the deals signed whilst at Arsenal have been average. Often record deals at the time, they are quickly gazumped by other sides, ultimately making the deals look poor.

The commercial revenue has held us back over the last 5 or 6 years, and we are still too reliant on stadium income, hence the high ticket prices.

We currently lag a long behind Manchester United in terms of commercial revenue. £161m a year to be exact. To bring this into perspective, this gap is larger than Arsenal’s entire match day revenue.

In terms of signing new players, £161m is the difference between 2 or 3 £50m+.

Since Gazidis’ arrival, and prior to this summer, Manchester United have had a net spend of £475m. Arsenal just £150m.

How much more could Arsenal have achieved over the last 9 years had we had an additional £325m to spend on players?

Our poor commercial activity has held us back, and Gazidis has to take the blame.

For Arsenal to become competitive again, we need to close the commercial gap on those above us, starting with the new kit supplier deal where there is a £45m difference between us and man U, and a £30 difference between us and Chelsea.

The feeling from many fans is that Gazidis is doing a better job these days than previously. this go’s hand in hand with the positive surrounding the club.

Gazidis moved himself from Highbury House to the training ground, and he was him who became executioner for Wenger. It was also Gazidis who oversaw the recruitment of Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanhelli.

This summer, he oversaw significant personnel changes at the top of the club in preparation for then manager Arsene Wenger’s departure, the backroom staff changes and the recruitment of Unai Emery.

Having got to the top of the Arsenal tree, he is now king maker. He lives and dies on his own sword.

it is for that reason  was surprised with the AC Milan news. He pushed for the changes at Arsenal, it did not make sense for him to leave after his ideas have finally been implemented.

Ultimately, Gazidis’ is now on a clean slate.

With Wenger gone, he can start again, draw a line in the sand. His future is now determined by himself.

He leads us back to glory, people will talk about him in the same vain as David Dein. He continues with poor commercial deals which in turn leads to poor performances on the field, the whispers of what he does will circulate again.

The next 2 or 3 years will be how Gazidis is judged.

Keenos