It’s kind of fitting that Ivan Gazidis should leave with a star player running down his contract. I feel it’s harsh to blame him too much. Like Arsene Wenger, you’re only as good as your boss. If Stan Kroenke gives you a certain remit, it’s your job to meet that criteria, it’s not your role to make the American more ambitious.
Like most in power at the Emirates, this was a man very good at making the club money. However his legacy will be more what he didn’t do rather then did. Perhaps he felt he never had the power to challenge the greatest manager in our history but he too seemed comfortable working at a snails pace.
While he will be credited for putting a recruitment system in place, this took too long. Whether it be the transfer market or contract extensions, there was a lack of urgency. Arsenal are one of the few clubs where sagas play out in public for weeks. We will negotiate for days over a couple of million while the likes of Chelsea and Man City seem to confirm deals the moment you hear the rumour.
That stance saw us lose out on big names. If he really cared about us being champions he would have sealed the capture of Suarez but he knows the man who pays his salary only cares about the income we bring in. It was often said that our board hid behind Mr Wenger, knowing he loved us so much he was happy to take the flak. It’s telling that in his first chance to implement change away from the Frenchmen, he’s bailed just 2 months into the campaign.
For most of his two decades in the hot seat, gooners respected Wenger enough to listen and believe in what he said. Only in the last 48 months was it clear he was the club’s mouthpiece. Gazidis had now lost his shield. It would now be him who would have to answer the tough questions, not just get Arsene to do it.
One of his famous quotes was predicting by now we would be competitive with Bayern Munich on and off the field.
Going by that statement, he won’t be missed.
Dan Smith