For anybody who doesn't have twitter or is living under a rock, Ivan Gazidis had a Q&A with the AST and a few others, last night. Some questions were organised, later on he opened to the floor and answered numerous other questions. Anyway, here are the main points: - Season was satisfactory, nothing more. Disappointing not to compete for trophies. - Wenger has guided us through a difficult period. We will work hard to back him this Summer. - Club keen to extend Wenger's current contract beyond next Summer. - We hope to have revenues in excess of £300M by next Summer. - It is Wenger's decision to sell key (any) players. RVP was not motivated by money when he decided to leave. - Wenger has always had money to spend. Increase in revenue means he will have more money to be more competitive. - Money will be spent on players Wenger believes in. Club will look at talent first, then price. - Socialist wage structure will be scrapped, we will pay market rate for top players. Wenger will still decide what wages we pay to players. - Club unaware of what effect FFP will have but remain committed to it, even if UEFA do not enforce it. - FFP regulations are scheduled to come into play next Summer. New PL regulations will be enforced this coming season. - CL qualifiers won't be considered when signing players. Club trying to get deals done early. - So many managerial changes in the off season has made it difficult for the club to do business. - Stan has not taken money out of the club. - Club will review ticket prices for away fixtures. - Club will review aging boardroom and are aware it needs revamping. - Club will back safe standing, it is down to the government whether it will be allowed or not. - R&W won't be given a seat on the board, Arsenal against big cash injections. - Club will do its best to remove deadwood this Summer. Some interesting stuff in there. Some stuff we have all seen and heard before, some stuff that is actually promising. I always take anything Ivan says with a pinch of salt, but one thing for certain is that the club has a lot of money to spend this Summer and it is now down to the manager to deliver and spend it wisely. There is no way Ivan would run his mouth so much about our financial power if we did not plan on spending it, he has put a lot of pressure on Wenger. Also, another point. Sky are going with a story saying that Ivan says we are trying to sign players from managerless clubs (fueling Rooney, Higauin, Fellaini speculation). That is not what he said, what he said is that we are finding it difficult to deal as there are so many clubs with new managers settling into their new clubs which has slowed down the whole market.
They're great answers. Now for the actions to go with them! Particularly happy about cutting deadwood & changing the wage structure. Not so sure about Wenger deciding wages.
Agree with that, too much power imo. However if half promises Ivan has made are actually true this time then I can live with it.
I think that means that Wenger has always decided how much each player is paid within the "socialist" wage structure. Now he will be free to pay whatever he wants. It can't mean that he could previously pay players whatever he wanted, because then there wouldn't have been a "socialist" wage structure to scrap.
Of course he could pay them what he wanted, there are plenty of teenagers on double figure wages at the club, no club pays their youngsters as well as Arsenal do. Then there are squad players on £50K+ who would struggle to earn half of that at clubs we supposedly cannot compete with financially. Because of that we can't afford to offer the highest wages to the best players. Gazidis says that Wenger always paid players what he felt their talents warranted so it is fair to say when guys like Denilson, Squillaci, Almunia, Chamakh are earning over £200K a week between them, that his judgement is not what it once was.
So why talk about the "Socialist" wage structure if it never existed? Those players did not earn that money because Wenger thought they were good (apart from putting them in the team), they were paid that because they were members of the first team squad, and the "Socialist" wage structure said that you paid all first team squad players between 50-70K (say). The minute players became members of the first team squad they were offered a new contract. Also 150 first team appearances seemed to be a milestone for a new contract, Bendtner, Denilson and Djourou were all offered new contracts on reaching this figure. I know you don't realize this, but your childishly simple beliefs are really non-starters for intelligent adults. I know you think that you have somehow proved that a highly intelligent, well-respected manager like Wenger is an absolute idiot, but we know that isn't (can't be) the case. The vastly more likely explanation is that your guesses and assumptions are wrong. If you didn't start from the position that the guy with the economics degree and the UEFA coaching licence is a half-wit, and worked more logically, within the bounds of the possible, not the fantastic, then we might be able to have a discussion, but your constant descent into conspiracy theory and melodrama, just marginalizes you. I really am trying to help. Try and stay within the bounds of sane reasoning, and you will be treated with more respect. If you keep going all goal.com or bleacher report on us, or worst of all talksport, you will continue to get beaten with the stupid-stick! I am fairly sure what Ivan means by the "socialist wage structure" is that the players were paid based on tenure and experience and NOT on ability or performance.
WTF are you talking about? Gazidis said last night that Wenger paid players on what he felt their talents warranted. I am not trying to 'prove' anything, never mind prove that Wenger is some sort of idiot. What the **** is it with AKBs and ****ing paranoia? You have got the complete wrong end of the stick, I am just posting what Ivan said.
I have to say he came across pretty well. Afterall this talk though, we need some action. I'm sick of hearing about the Clubs finances. Lewandowski, Higuain, Rooney, Fabregas.. this is the quality of signing the club needs.
Did he actually use the term 'Socialist wage structure' or is that just the OP's paraphrasing ? Encouraged by all of the answers to be honest, the strongest indication yet that we're actually going to make some quality additions to the squad this summer. One other point of interest that sticks out for me is that the club are backing the safe standing movement. I've been a keen advocate of this for a number of years. It works in Germany and has the potential to increase capacities (no need for new stadiums) offer cheaper tickets and give fans who want to stand and sing together the chance to do so
For me a good window would be: Higuain, Fellaini/That Asian looking German fella from Dortmund, Cesar as 2nd choice GK if Flappy leaves.
PISKIE, Ivan actually said that Arsenal are watching and learning from German football, it is no coincidence that we support safe standing, are reviewing ticket prices and are looking at revamping the board. Oh and he did not use the term socialist wage structure, that's just me.
As I understood it, only Villa and a couple of other clubs had come out and said they support safe standing. So this is quite an announcement from Arsenal. Problem is that the last sports minister completely ruled it out, for fear of being held responsible if there were any accidents (despite evidence showing that it's actually safer than people standing up in seated areas). That said, we get a chance to vote the Tory ****s out in a couple of years, so this might see the light of day yet
Yep the issue is still too 'sensitive' for other clubs to openly back. I do think Ivan's whole demeanor was different yesterday, usually he is hesitant and very defensive, it's clear you can't trust him. Last night he was very open, even allowed unscripted questions to be asked, first time since forever it seems like he has nothing to hide. Fingers crossed it is because he is actually telling the truth for once.
Something that I think every Arsenal fan should read. http://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/...s-and-the-birth-of-a-superclub-arsenal-201313
The crux of this article rests on the assumption that we will now start investing properly in the squad; that remains to be seen. If we do then I agree, as I always have done, that Wenger, with a great squad, will bring trophies.
I agree that we need to see investment first before we start celebrating, but the club look to have delivered on their promises that they set out 10 years ago. For me there's a paragraph that sticks out in this article that sums up my feelings about some of the interactions on here:
