If Ivan Gazidis Leaves, He Shouldn’t Let the Door Hit Him On the Way Out
With all of our transfers wrapped up before the start of the season, the new Adidas deal sort of announced (or at least leaked.) and the games already underway, the end of August has been sort of quiet. Sort of. . .
One persistent story that just won’t go away is that of whether or not Arsenal CEO, Ivan Gazidis will depart Arsenal and take a similar role at Italian giants, AC Milan. Since Arsenal were on tour in Singapore, the rumor mill in Italy and to a lesser extent in England has been carrying a story that the hedge fund owners of Milan have been trying to lure away the man who finally got Arsenal to change managers after 22 years.
It seems an odd story given the monumental change at Arsenal. Odder still, is its timing. We’re barely 8 months into the revolution that Ivan Gazidis initiated when he began to reshape the executive staff to be more in line with modern clubs.
Sven Mislintat was brought in as chief scout and recruiting guru. Raul Sanllehi was brought in to work alongside Gazidis and Huss Fahmy on contract negotiations and representing Arsenal to football’s governing bodies.
Then at the tail end of the 2017-2018 season, Ivan presided over the removal of Arsene Wenger as the club manager and appointment of his successor in Unai Emery. It was perhaps the biggest thing Ivan had done. All of this was done to reset the trajectory of this club all under the expected guidance of Gazidis.
But let’s be honest, no one is really that upset if Ivan goes. He doesn’t elicit the kind of loyalty that Wenger did or even some of the historic board members like Dein and Fiszman. He’s just Ivan the guy Arsene hired.
He hasn’t exactly turned Arsenal into the competitive force he promised us when he said we’d be able to compete with the likes of Bayern in Europe. Of course, he was talking about commercial strength and attractiveness to players but he’s been absolutely wrong on that and many other things.
For instance, who can remember this ditty on Financial Fair Play:
“We will be able to be more financially competitive, which will enable us to push forwards on the field. We can pay bigger salaries and I think we can invest more in transfer fees.
But we aren’t more financially competitive. Sure, we’re doing bigger salaries and we’re paying some higher transfer fees but we’re not competing with the likes of Bayern or Real Madrid or hell even the likes of Everton these days for transfers.
In fact, under the “leadership” of Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal have seen a steady decline in their financial strength as the ever-awesome Swiss Ramble (@swissramble) pointed out on twitter last week.
For instance, while revenue has grown to £198m under his time as CEO it’s the 2nd smallest percentage growth of the big 6. And with our continued absence from the Champion’s League we can expect that to about £40-£50m lower
Swiss Ramble goes on to note that in the area where Ivan could have the biggest influence, commercial growth, we are the second lowest in the period Ramble reviews. To put in perspective, MUFC grew by £209, MCFC by £180m, CFC £81 and LFC by £76m. Our £69m gain only managed to beat out local rivals Tottenham.
#AFC commercial revenue, where you would expect Gazidis to have most influence, has grown by £69m, the second lowest of the Big 6 over this period, only ahead of #THFC £44m. #AFC growth was around a third of #MUFC £209m and also behind #MCFC £180m, #CFC £81m and #LFC £76m. pic.twitter.com/B1T4GksjK8
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) August 23, 2018
When we moved into the Emirates we were promised riches galore and it has yet to materialize. Yes, the nature of football has changed but a club of Arsenal’s stature should’ve been poised to take advantage of that. Frankly, when you look at everything you wonder how Ivan has stayed in his job as long as he has (this is actually a rhetorical question – we all know the answer.)
Who can also forget the ever popular “we’re keeping the powder dry” statement in 2011.
“We have looked at the market and the players that were available and decided we would keep some powder dry as a deliberate strategy.
“Certainly, for January and next summer there are funds available in a significant way to invest in the team.”
That winter – the winter of 2012 saw only Thierry Henry come in for the senior team on a loan from New York Red Bulls. Investment was minimal and more reactive especially in the summer of 2012 when RvP left along with a slew of other supporting players. Sure, we got some good players, the best being Cazorla and Monreal but none of the players brought in after that statement could replicate what we lost in RvP that summer and Cesc the summer before.
And as we moved along we aren’t in a strong position to outspend others like we used to. Again, from Swiss Ramble – In 2012 Arsenal had almost as much cash on hand as the rest of the Premier League combined. However, with the influx of increased TV revenue, that is no longer the case as the league combined sits at £819m vs Arsenal’s £180m.
We’re also reminded on a regular basis by the press of the exorbitant amount our fans have to pay to see the Arsenal. The most expensive ticket is £97 And you’d think our club would be in favor of any measure to make football more accessible. But no.
Ivan Gazidis is on the record as being against the Premier League’s 2016 decision to cap away tickets at £30. His rationale at the time was being in favor of more wide-ranging steps he believed would save the fans more money.
And in something as simple as safe-standing all Ivan could muster up is that the concept is “attractive.”
So, is it really a loss to Arsenal to lose a guy who seems to be on the wrong side of everything from commercial deals to the support for the match-going fan? I get that need for stability. I do. And we’ve had more turmoil in 8 months than we’ve had in a life time of Arsenal.
But for £20m the man has been paid so far, you’d expect more on the return and if we’re going to blame Arsene for the on the pitch woes that led to his departure, we should equally blame a man who’s only previous experience before CEO of Arsenal, was deputy commissioner of MLS.
To me the biggest concern isn’t whether or not Ivan stays or goes. He’s been useless so far so his continued presence is inconsequential because we are going to experience more of the same under his leadership.
The bigger concern is who replaces him. The safe bet is Josh Kroenke. With Stan now in sole possession of 100% of Arsenal shares, he can make whatever moves he wants. We all know Josh has been around London more frequently since February. So it is a logical choice.
Maybe.
I just can’t see it, he’d have to give up the NBA and NHL roles he has. Josh being a former basketball player may not want to give up his NBA role. Josh isn’t stupid, and he’ll know that to be Arsenal CEO would require him to be more a regular presence than either the NBA or NHL leadership roles he has would allow. Is he willing to do that?
Of course, he could be made Chairman of the Board and appoint a Director of Football. But that’s all speculation. Right bow, Ivan is still here but if he does decide to leave – don’t let the door hit in you the ass on the way out Ivan.
