Ivan Merc
Mr. Gazidis stated that “many” clubs wanted to be in Arsenal’s financial position now. I totally agree with him - many. What is Arsenal’s financial position now? Very good. Why? Because Arsenal is no longer a Football Club. Arsenal is now a PPTA – Profitable Players Trading Agency. Arsenal regularly sells its best players to make its annual profits - or to feed mediocrities. As you like. This is the “Arsenal way” according to Mr. Gazidis.
But I know other clubs who are in a comfortable financial position - Porto, for instance. Porto is also a PPTA. But at the same time, Porto regularly wins the league, domestic cups and even a European Cup. So the issue is the balance between sales and purchases. Porto buys quality, develops it in good quality by winning games and titles, and then sells it. Not always, of course. Some seasons, Porto is real s**t, like in 09/10 when even Bendtner scored a hat-trick. It shows that this kind of balance is not easy to keep. But to keep imbalance is not difficult, as the “Arsenal way” shows.
I don’t think anybody is criticising Arsenal for being profitable or even for being a PPTA. Arsenal is criticised for bungling its football and management decisions such as denying that there were squad weaknesses and refusing to rectify them, panic-buying instead of working in a planned manner at the transfer market, having no defence-coaching, having an unskilled medical department, having no meritocracy, giving huge salaries to proven losers, raising ticket prices senselessly and lying constantly to the fans - from stadium attendance figures and the size of the season ticket waiting-list to “we will not sell Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri together” and “we give results on the field priority over our financial results”.
This is what Arsenal is criticised for these days. Not for its profitability but for its current management, which is leading the club to total mediocrity and, inevitably, to losses instead of profits. This is the “Arsenal way”. Nobody believed that the stadium would ever be half-empty. Now it is a reality. And it is a direct result of the implementation of the “Arsenal way”.
After our Ewood Park defeat, the Blackburn owners invited nine fans from Blackburn Rovers’ Fans’ Forum to the team’s trip to India, to discuss with the fans the frustration that the fans are feeling. The Blackburn manager said he would also take part in talks with the fans. After 2-8, I didn’t hear even one word of “sorry” from Arsène Wenger. Maybe I missed it and you heard? But I did hear that the annual Q&A has been postponed.
Ivan Gazidis is on 5K a day, Arsène Wenger is on 17K a day and they don’t want to talk to the fans, who pay half of their wages. Is this the “Arsenal way”? If yes I prefer “Blackburn way”. The texts of a defiant (according to The Guardian) Arsène Wenger after Shrewsbury, together with Ivan Gazidis’ statement before the game, showed that the current regime will fight for their salaries seriously. They MUST keep club profitable and I’m sure they have a plan – how to manage it for the next two years even without the Champions’ League. They have already got the season ticket income in place for this year and their main task is to sell the same number of season tickets next May. They do NOT care about an empty stadium, do NOT care about fans and do NOT care about football. They care ONLY about their salaries and their power.
The fans and Wenger/Gazidis have different interests. The fans need a winning team. Wenger/Gazidis need to keep their positions and money. Simply speaking, the current regime’s war against the fans has now been officially declared. The regime will lose – of that there is no doubt, but who knows what the price will be?
Porto is also very profitable and earns money from all parts of its business including the sale of their manager. The manager who brought glory to the club, with all the trophies in one year, including the UEFA Cup, was sold last summer for £13 million. But that is not possible in Arsenal, as the manager looks like the real owner of the club, and he doesn’t want to sell himself. And it seems that there is no power around which could force him out of the club. Except the fans. Gazidis, as usual, lied when he said in June that fans would judge Arsène Wenger. He never believed in his words. But he was right. In the end, everything is in the fan’s hands. Or legs.
