Kevin Whitcher
Ivan Gazidis told the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust members during the annual Q&A event with the managing director/CEO – now in its sixth year - that he suffered with the rest of us over the last three months of the season. I don’t doubt it, but not so much he would give as much as a second thought to the idea of changing the manager.
You would expect Gazidis to back Arsene Wenger 100% - what else is he going to say? And he promised a busy summer of ins and outs. Time will tell if the penny has finally dropped that many of the current squad are simply not worth what they are being paid, something supporters could have told the manager a good couple of years back. Actually, they did, in that infamous Wigan game with Emmanuel Eboue. Whatever happened to him? The one thing you could never accuse Arsenal of is listening to their public and yet for the CEO, if the manager was accountable to anyone, it is the fans. In that case, could I have your resignation on Mr Gazidis’ desk in the morning, Arsene? It’s not going to happen is it?
Still, at least there has been a development since we were all here 12 months ago. Then it was made clear to Gazidis that fans were unhappy the club were only credibly competing on two fronts for the four potential trophies up for grabs. That situation has improved. This year the message is that the players are not representing the club well in a lot of their behaviour both on and off the field, and that the manager is disrespectful to the fans. I hope this does change over the coming months, although it’s an uphill task with some of them.
There will be exhaustive accounts of the meeting elsewhere online and I think the whole thing will be available to view through arsenal.com if it isn’t already. However, I was disappointed to hear Gazidis claim that he thought the club’s spending demonstrated tremendous efficiency. Since the Invincibles season, Manchester United have spent only 8% more than Arsenal on wages and net transfers, winning seven trophies to Arsenal’s one. That’s efficiency.
The other thing that he stated which made my ears prick up was that there were very few non renewals of season tickets. Let’s get this straight. The figures on this are never published, so he can say that, and – to maintain the illusion of demand – he would say that. But anecdotally, I know plenty of people who are either not renewing or paying late who have been getting phone calls from the club threatening to let their seats go unless they pay up sharpish. What I interpret this as meaning is that the club anticipate so many non renewals that they need as much time as possible to sell the vacated seats, and so want a decision now as opposed to hanging on until July as is customary. It’s my prediction that even those a long way down the waiting list will be offered a seat (as those at the top pass up the opportunity) and God alone knows what is happening with club level, but Arsenal have already been advertising those seats in the press. So the club will not admit that a large swathe of season ticket holders have said ‘Enough’, because there is no way of ever proving them wrong. But the reality is that this is what is happening this summer. People have had enough of paying 26 times a year to watch Abou Diaby swan around with a distinct lack of urgency on £50,000 a week, having won diddly squat since arriving over five years ago.
To explain the increase in ticket prices, we were told that the stadium costs had risen 100% in two years. This is an astonishing figure. Does that include the wages of all the new staff employed in Highbury House? The electricity bill has gone up 33%, but that’s a long way from 100%. Surely, season ticket holders are not being asked to pay for the refurbishment of the plush new club level areas, designed to maximize the amount that can be made from the corporate market? I think we should be told, but the annual £50 million plus of ‘other operating costs’ has always been shrouded in mystery. One thing you could never accuse Arsenal PLC of is transparency.
The drum of self sustainability was banged a few times. “It would not make sense for this club to live on the edge every transfer window,” Gazidis said. So that’s why we’ve had £40 million in the player trading account these last four transfer windows. That’s a train ride with two changes from the edge. All of which suggests that any money that is spent will be that which is made from outgoings. Add up Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, Bendtner, Denilson, Almunia and Arshavin and there will indeed be plenty of cash to spend. £90 million by my reckoning. So yes, it will be a busy summer alright. I wonder if Nasri’s been given as tight a deadline for a decision as the season ticket holders that haven’t renewed yet?
Anyway, to get back to the main event. Gazidis is a master at agreeing with the sentiments of the questioner, ducking out of any difficult answers reasoning that the media will pick up his words and sensationalise them, and saying the things you would expect him to say. Still, fair play to him for facing an unhappy crowd, and fair play to the meeting’s chair Nigel Phillips for picking Gazidis up on some of his answers. It was not an uncomfortable night for the CEO, but as one questioner put it, “We appreciate you suffered as much as us during recent weeks, but you are actually in a position to do something about it.” We live in hope.
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