Tag Archives: Ivan Gazidis

No noise, from the Arsenal Board

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It’s so quiet,
It’s so quiet,
It’s so quiet, over there.

Is this the Emirates?,
Is this the Emirates?.
Is this the Emirates?

The lack of noise that has come out of Arsenal since Sunday’s defeat to Brighton has been deafening.

On the South-Coast, not a single board member had the decency to turn up and support the team. They are not supporters, they are share holders, employees and leaches.

One director, Lord Harris of Peckham, has previously spoken about how football is not even his first love. Horse racing takes that mantle. And when I say horse racing, not the Ascot kind, but the gay kind where horses jump over pretty little fences.

Worth over £100m in his own right, having been the founder of Carpetright, Philip Charles Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham, has pumped millions into Equestrian and the Conservative Party, but does not even buy his own tickets for Arsenal.

I was not expecting much from this Arsenal board. I was expecting no vote of confidence, no statement. For too long, they have hidden behind Arsene Wenger. Allowed the Frenchman to take the blame – which has deserved – whilst sitting quietly.

The only time they were heard from was at the shareholders AGM. Like Peter Hill-Wood before him, Arsenal Chairman Sir Chips Keswick treats fans with disdain.

Back in 2007, Danny Fizsman declared that “the board…are the custodians of this club”. At the time, the likes of David Dein, Fizsman and others felt that they owned and operated the club on behalf of the wider Arsenal fan base.

The likes of the Hill-Wood and Bracewell Smith (and Carr) families had been custodians of the club since World War II. Their families were Arsenal through and through. Although as the generations went on, interest seemed to wane until Peter Hill-Wood and Nina Bracewell Smith decided to sell up completely. The Carr’s have also sold up most, if not all, of their shares.

In the early 1990’s, Arsenal were run by the Dein / Fizsman axis. There is no doubting either of their love for the club.

Dein and Fizsman bought success back to the club. Firstly alongside George Graham, and then with Arsene Wenger at the helm. They were key bringing the likes of Dennis Bergkamp to the club.

Both men were regulars over The Arsenal. Home and away. Reserves and ladies. It can not be a coincidence that Arsenal were successful when we had owners, board members and custodians that loved the fans like they were fans.

Fast forward to 2018…

The aforementioned Sir Chips Keswick was first appointed as an Arsenal director in November 2005. At the same time, his partner in crime Lord Harris of Peckham was also appointed to the Arsenal board.

For me these two are as culpable as anyone for the current situation of the club.

They are supposed to be the Arsenal men on the board, but clearly do not care. They drink their whiskey, smoke their cigars, and sit on their thousand pound oak chairs within the confides of the Arsenal stadium chuckling to themselves. Turning up to private members clubs in the city, for them being an Arsenal director is a status thing and nothing else.

Arsenal Football Club’s longest-serving director, Ken Friar OBE has been a mainstay of the Club for more than 60 years. His love for the club is 6 decades long but, at the age of 83, he clearly does not have the energy for it anymore.

Keswick, 78, Harris, 75 and Friar, 83, are simply not fit for purpose. They are not visionaries. They have no place in Arsenal’s future.

You then have the majority share holder, “Silent” Stan Kroenke.

It should not be a surprise that we have heard from him, we never do. He sees himself as a shareholder of the club, nothing more. No different to being a shareholder in Tesco or Toys R Us. He invests his money in successful companies, then allows the companies to keep operating the way they were.

On the pitch, Arsenal might not have been successful, but off the pitch the share price has trebled since Kroenke first bought his shares back in 2007. He will see his ownership as a success.

Ivan Gazidis’ silence is surprising. He is a man who has no Arsenal connections, but seems to understand the class and heritage of what comes with being involved in Arsenal. He has carried on many a tradition, and is seen at every game. His no-show against Brighton is a surprise.

He is not an investor, but just an employee. The club pay him over £2m to do his job. In the past, people have questioned what he does. Our commercial revenue is shocking, and even the resent “house deals” with shirt sponsorship seems below par.

We are nearly £200m down in yearly commercial income in comparison to Manchester United.

Compare Gazidis to Daniel Levy over at Spurs. One has raised a club up (although not won anything yet), whilst the other has taken others good work before him, and taken us backwards.

Lastly we have Josh Kroenke, the son of Silent Stan.

He joined the board of Arsenal Football Club in December 2013, and is rumoured to have recently moved to London on the long-term basis to oversee Arsenal. No one knows what he does, probably nothing. And he probably just fancied 6 months in London, see the Queen, etc.

It is no surprise that the board have gone missing, as they have been silent for over a decade. They are no longer the custodians of the club. They have let down the fans badly.

One person who has been surprisingly silent is Alisher Usmanov. He usually jumps on Arsenal’s troubles, writing letters to the board and the fans.

With his partner in crime Farhad Moshiri joining Everton, you have to wonder if Usmanov he has lost interest in Arsenal.

My bet is he wants out. He realises he will never own Arsenal, Kroenke will never let that happen. He now his eyes set on Everton. It perhaps shows he was more interested in owning a football club, than owning Arsenal. He often portrayed himself as a lifelong fan, but he was no more a fan than Roman was of Chelsea or the Sheik’s supported Manchester City.

Usmanov is between a rock and a hard place.

He knows that he will never own Arsenal. Kroenke will never sell to him. But he owns about 30% of the club, and they are pretty much meaningless.

At £30,000 a share, Usmanov’s holdings are worth over £600,000,000. No one is going to spend that much money to not have a say in affairs. Likewise, he is not going to find 20,000 individuals who are happy spending £30,000 on a single share.

The only possible buyer would be Stan Kroenke. But he has no need to buy anymore shares, as being majority share holder he can pretty much do what he wishes with the club.

Kroenke owns the club as an investment, he is not going to pay a premium on shares that could make him a loss.

This leaves Usmanov unable to sell his current shares, unable to invest properly in Everton. Unable to make Arsene Wenger Everton’s new manager.

His silence is because he just does not care anymore.

Even the journalists who are in Arsenal’s pocket have barely lifted their head over the parapet.

At times of crisis, the likes of John Cross and Matt Law have often been drip fed sound bites from the club, so that they can attempt to spin it back to pro-Arsenal; pro-Wenger. The club is under lockdown.

And a look over at the Twitter page sums it all up.

At the time of writing (15:20 on Monday afternoon), Arsenal have not tweeted for 20 hours.

Nothing from the board, nothing from the Arsenal journalists, nothing from Twitter. It is almost like everyone has been told say nothing.

There has been talk of an emergency meeting being held on Monday. But this is one of them “mates of a mate of a mate” things. Like the bloke who knows a security guard, or the geezer who works in insurance. It is all probably a load of ITK rubbish.

We have to hear from Arsenal by Wednesday, as that is when Arsene Wenger will hold his pre-game Europa League press conference.

Until then, maintain radio silence.

Keenos

 

Change in transfer policy signals end for Wenger

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Our transfer dealings thus far in January have been interesting. Not just for the player we have signed (and those that we have sold) but for the way we have operated.

In the past, Arsene Wenger has been kingmaker when it comes to transfers. Heavily involved in deciding who he wants, how much he wants to pay, and what agents he wants to deal with.

This has led us to miss out on transfer targets in the past as he dithers over deals and shown a tendency to walk away rather than negotiate.

The signing of Henrik Mkhitaryan and the potential deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang show a change in the way Arsenal do their transfers.

Now I am not naive to think that Wenger has had nothing to do with these signings. As manager he needs to sign off on the deals, he needs to want the players, he needs to be working alongside those doing the deals to ensure the right players are coming in to fit into HIS squad.

But whilst Wenger has said yes to Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang, he has left the deals to be thrashed out by others.

Out in Dortmund to negotiate the deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was new Head of Recruitment Sven Mislintat, Huss Fahmy – Contracts, Legal & Commercial Expert – and Ivan Gazidis; whatever he does.

It is a move away from previous negotiations which would often see Gazidis and the now unemployed Dick Law be joined by Arsene Wenger.

The fact that Wenger is staying at home – and preparing the team for the League Cup game against Chelsea – shows that some of his job roles have been taken away, and the grip on the club loosened.

Henrik Mkhitaryan was also an interesting deal.

His agent is Mino Raiola. The Italian “Super Agent” who also represents the likes of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He has a reputation for demanding huge fees and moving his clients between clubs at regular intervals – and making money every step of the way.

He is the type of man Arsenal have refused to do business with in the past.

Back in the day, David Dein used to refuse to pay any agents fees (unless the agent was his son). Arsene Wenger is over the same thought process, that agents are a leach on the game who get paid huge amounts by clubs to bring players in. In the past, Wenger would not have dealt with Raiola.

As much as “Super Agents” are a cockroach within the game, they are now a key part of the transfer process. Major clubs now need to accept that they need to deal with these people.

It is interesting the shift in mentality at the club that Arsenal were now willing to deal with Raiola. You have to think this was a decision made above Wenger, by Gazidis, Kroenke, on the advice of other new incoming members of staff.

Raul Sanllehi does not join the club until February, but coming from Barcelona, he has had plenty of dealings with these agents that previously the club would refuse to work with. He had potentially given the nod for the club to deal with Raiola before he has even started.

The future will also be interesting once Sanllehi joins. It potentially means no more Gazidis at the negotiating table, as Sanllehi will be Head of Football Relations and surely deal with the footballing side of the club, leaving Gazidis to deal with the commercial activities.

The dream team of Sanllehi, Mislintat & Fahmy will lead future transfer negotiations – leaving Arsene Wenger to a side.

It shows a shift in policy, and the club preparing for Wexit.

Keenos

The Arsenal are a complete shaambles

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Well no shocks in this transfer window.

What started off looking optimistic with two early signings, the transfer window slammed shut with plenty of ITK’s and gormless main stream journalists looking as foolish as Wenger’s die hard fans.

It should never be a shock that we make a profit in the transfer window. We have heavy form for that, but at a time where the financial constraints were deemed to be over 3 years ago, it has kick started even the most mild mannered head in the sand supporters.

I don’t blog much these days, leaving more or less all of it to Keenos. I get on with the Facebook page, Twitter, shop and 2 young kids who seem to run all over my gaff quicker than Stan getting out of an AGM and on a flight back to the States. But after the shambles this summer I felt the need to get things off my chest…

Stan, our Billionaire majority shareholder. What is left to say about a man who runs sporting franchises which all seem to fail where it matters on the pitch/rink. A good ‘Business’,(as much as I hate that term when speaking about a football club) needs firm strong and often charismatic leadership, Stan offers none of these. Add his complete lack of knowledge of the game and his hands off approach, it leads Arsenal to be an almost rudderless ship.

Our board, who in the past could sometimes reach a half decent decision, is now just the old men and tax exile lady who he allows to sit on it in name only. None of them are in a position to make a decision. They just sit around smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and patting eachother on the back over an ever increasing share price.

Make no mistake, Kroenke’s decision to let Wenger stay another 2 years is baffling and to have no succession process in place is incompetent and threatens the future of our once great club.

The decisions by people who pretended to love the club like fans which lead to him being invited into the club and then allow him to take control are completely to blame for this mess we are now in. The former share holders who sold out to both him and Usmanov have a lot to answer for. They got rich(er) selling their shares, and walked off into the sunset.

Our dear CEO, Ivan, the master of spin, the catalyst of change…now I do feel in the past I may have been a bit unfair on him (apart from any role he has played in ticket price increases). He has an employee that’s really his boss, he has a boss whose always absent and right now he must seriously be considering getting a big brown box putting his personal effects in it and driving off into the sunset.

I bet every time a UEFA or FIFA vacancy pops up, he ponders whether to Apply Now through LinkedIn.

No-one will ever fully know what he does for the club. His main role seems to be that of Alistair Campbell in Tony Blair’s Labour government. Trying his hardest to spin yet another bad news story and to give him some credit he tries and tries and some do fall for it – he is always the man who puts his head above the parapet.

He tried his best for change, apparently. It is likely it was even him that leaked stories about getting in a director of football and telling players there would be a new manager this season. All decisions it seems he was left out of when Stan and Wenger had a cosy chat in the summer.

Gazidis could be a great CEO, but under the current messed up Stan/Wenger love in he will not get the chance to prove it, but I guess the pay packet and bonuses for turning a profit makes up for his lack of any real control.

Wenger, oh Wenger, I really have nothing to say on him that I haven’t said for the last 6 or 7 years. He has played a blinder. He has Stan around his little finger and he still has complete control of the club.

The next 2 years will be more of the last few years – which FA Cup victories aside, has felt like we are jumping from one disaster to the next on the pitch.

Round holes in square pegs, not learning from past mistakes and a pigheadish approach to anyone who  would dare question Wenger.

If he truly loved the club he would look in the mirror and leave before he goes even more nuts than he is right now. But then at £10m a year, why would he resign? The board are not going to sack him. He is onto a good thing. Unaccountable and paid handsomely.

Everyone knew another contract was a big mistake. Even the most hardened of the ‘Arsene knows’ wet blankets excused it by saying there would be changes and help would be brought in to ease his work load. Wenger, of course, was having none of that and sadly Stan agreed.

It seems the way it went was Gazidis wanted a Director of Football. Wenger said he would not stay if a Director of Football was bought in above him. Kroenke sided with Wenger and quashed Gazidis’ idea, and Wenger stayed.

The next 2 years (if he lasts that long) will be hell for him.

The next few games will be very toxic no matter the result. Once that has died down, and we have maybe put a run together, the abuse in the terraces aimed at him will return after every defeat.

The sooner he goes and the fans can unite behind getting rid of Stan the better – or him leaving might force Stan to step up and support the club to move forward.

Protests…The problem with them right now is too many seem to want to talk on social media then not turn up. They would rather stay in the pub (Keenos has said this a few times “cant be bothered to protest, I would rather get another pint in” – although his opinion is changing).

Too many others want to be “fan famous” and position themselves front and centre, ensuring they are on camera, even if it is them recording themselves. This leads to others not turning up to protests as they do not want to be associated with the wannabe self proclaimed Super Fans”.

Others are too scared to lose any club access they get. They will not criticise the club to aggressively for fear of not getting an invite to a meet and greet, or not having their next book put in the membership pack.

Too many up late to the party that the clearing up has been done, everyone has had a nap, had the hair of the dog and cooking a bacon sarnie. Then of course we also have the ‘wrong time’ merchants, those who are worried any protest before the game will put the players off, worried it looks stupid to protest after the game if we win.

Before a game is the wrong time, during the game is the wrong time, half time is the wrong time, after the game is the wrong time. The wrong time lot will never agree there is a right time.

Personally, I will not be partaking or encouraging in any nicely organised walk around the ground then sit at the roundabout waving a few banners with people who just want there boat in the papers and on film who then stream off nicely into the ground and sit on their hands.

The club do need to know how you/we/I feel and the best way of doing that is by not going into games, but I understand this is hard to do.

With 66% of the ground being season ticket holders who have paid £1000+ for their seat, and the rest having to book up 1-2 months in advance, I understand why people will want to waste something that they have spent their hard earned cash on. And the club already has their money, so it is a bit futile.

There will never be a mass boycott of any game, and why should people who spend their hard earned cash not watch the game they have pair a fortune to watch!

History does show the best way of getting rid of a manager and putting pressure on the owners is withdrawing money from them. But sadly this is hard for Arsenal fans to do. The season tickets are paid for in advance, and for every silver or red member who boycotts, another one will happily purchase a ticket in their place.

So like the title says, we are a shambles, from the majority shareholder, to the board, to the CEO, to the manager and to a fanbase who will never agree on the same course of action…..This would never have happened at Highbury…..

The only hope is that we can get through the next 2 years with as little collateral damage as possible. That Kroenke does not get tempted to offer Wenger another extension. And that we are sitting here in 2019 with a new manager and new players who actually want to play for the club.

Up the Arsenal

SheWore