It was the annual Arsenal AGM this week and once again we Arsenal fans have been left scratching our heads a bit and wondering whether we are living on a different planet to the top brass in charge of our beloved club. We are told by the majority shareholder Stan Kroenke that he is fully intent on bringing as much trophy success as possible to the Gunners, but a lot of Arsenal fans will think that he has a pretty funny way of showing it.
We may not like it but we cannot get around the fact that money is a massive factor in modern football, so of course it is good for a club to make plenty of it and that is something that Arsenal are good at. So I suppose you could argue that our CEO Ivan Gazidis is doing a ‘fantastic’ job as the Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick has claimed, as The Mirror reports.
He said, “It is important that all the remuneration remains competitive. Our CEO’s pay is comparable to that of others of a similar stature at other clubs.
“Ivan is doing a fantastic job and representing it in the PL, European Club Association we are fortunate to have him as our CEO.”
Keswick was responding to a question about the huge bonus of almost £1 million that Gazidis got, but do we fans think he is doing such a great job? It is all very well to make money but unless that is used to finance the team in order to achieve the success Kroenke claims is his driving ambition, what is the point unless it is to line the pockets of Kroenke and co?
So does giving a massive bonus to the man who failed to bring a new manager in as we wanted and also failed to ensure that Wenger spent anything like what was expected in the summer transfer market just more proof that when silent Stan does say something to the Arsenal fans it is blatantly a lie?
D.N.