I think Cym is right. gazidis is an expert salesman and sweet talker (he made MLS popular again). He would be in to oversee the commercial side of Arsenal, but i really don't think he should be allowed to operate on the football side.
We can all guess at his job description. He certainly talks a lot about transfers so my guess he is very involved.
I don't know. I take it you were just speculating then...it's just from your post you seemed so sure.
You may recall at the time of Gazidis' appointment that the club did say that his brief was to maximise the Arsenal "brand"
I always thought the Manager of AFC was employed to try to win things ..... the current one targets making AFC more money ahead of trying to win things.
I'm going to be optimistic about Kronke until I am proven wrong. I am no lover of Americans as a generalisation (although I have met many nice ones); as a nation and individuals they can be ruthless in the pursuit of their own self interests and see it as a strength, rather than a weakness. Their nation missed the age of chivalry, and they have no tradition of not kicking a person when he is down, forget helping them. They have even warped Christianity to their own ends, to a point where it is one of the most unchristian religeons in existence. Jesus spoke to me and told me to launch a pre-emptive war my arse. So, unfortunately, I have no reason to hope, because most of the nice Americans I have met are not financially successful and he clearly is. Even more reason to believe that we are lucky to have Wenger IMO, but I know you differ. That is my rant for the day.
I think that is a grossly unfair generalisation of Americans! Don't confuse American politics with their people.
I admit it is a generalization and there are more than a few nice ones. As I say, the unfortunate thing is the rich and powerful ones are the ones that typify this generalization and they are the ones that tend to be prevailent. I have had this discussion with a few of my american friends and most of them agree. It is as big a curse, if not a bigger curse for them, as for those outside the USA.
I'd say having 11 assists for you're first season is VERY VERY VERY GOOD, you kidding me? That would have been a far better contribution than we are getting from Ramsey and Gervino. And 6 goals ain't too bad neither for a first season in England.
If his brief was to maximise the Arsenal brand then in combining with Dick Law to negotiate for new players would suggest that he is more involved. However from the results that we know of, it would appear that he should stick with the responsibility which you have suggested was his brief. And from your earlier remark that he was brought in as a business man and not necessarily an Arsenal fan, perhaps you may care to enlighten us as to whether you would be happy for him to be a supporter of another club or even one who cares little or nothing for the game. I think most of us would rather that he were to be a supporter of the club and quite frankly I would rather he leave if he has no affinity for us and was only here for the money. If we can take exception to a player who we suppose left for the money ( Nasri ) then why is it we are happy to entertain someone who is only here for the money?
But you are discussing the process. That is irrelevant. All that matters is the end result. We don t know who we bid for or what we offered people. All we know is how the transfer action effected the team. That is what we should judge on. I have no sympathy with excuses.
Yes we need be run like a business. Linked to this: I am of the view that football clubs should be run as not-for-profit organisations with a trustee and staff structure. The club belongs to the community...not to any owner. I think this is a problem for football at the moment and I really hope that 1 day legislation is passed to make football clubs into not-fro-profit organisations.
That is like saying it is a pilot's job to land the plane safely, so it is his fault it crashed, regardless of the reason; engine failure, bomb, shot down... You shouldn't be so quick to place the blame unless the facts are available.
He targets long term 'relevancy' and success. Can't think of better ways of ensuring that than being self-sufficient. I am very confident that Arsenal is one of the very few clubs which will be around the top consistently for a very long time to come. There will probably be more clubs in the future who see short-term success with artificially injected funds, but that doesn't matter. Our team has changed quite a bit in the past 4 years. But we now also have a group of mature players who have played together for quite a long time. We are in a good spot to leave that dry patch behind. And when we do start winning things, more dry patches will come. But this 'model' you don't seem to approve of will ensure that we will never be an irrelevant team in the EPL, even in seasons where we don't win.
It is the pilots job to land a plane safely. If it crashes, the investigators don't just say 'It could have been a bomb, so let's not criticise him. Case closed.' . To continue with your analogy, it's interesting that so many other clubs managed to "land their planes safely". The excuses for the truly awful mess Wenger made of the transfer window should stop. If he recognises what a balls up he made of it, then perhaps he will do a better job this summer.
Except we are talking about football clubs and not flying planes. Hardly analogies close enough to have any relevance.
I agree with you in this thrwead jayram. I was confident wenger would strengthen in the summer. Now I am less sure. I think we are 2-3 players away from the title now. But we must do this at least because city and united will improve. So we probably will need 4-5 players by next year.
The point is that we/you do not know the facts behind last season's transfer window. You know who we got, but have no idea why we never got other players. That you choose to blame Wenger despite your not knowing the facts is unreasonable to say the least. Jamrag, my pointing this out is not the same as making excuses for Wenger at all. It is merely an attempt to stop people like you from continuing a baseless witch hunt against the man. If or when the facts emerge and he is shown to be the guilty party, I can assure you I will lead the queue screaming for his head. Until then, stop with the kangaroo court crap as it makes you and the other kids look stupid.
