Evaluating people from afar is always complicated and above all things – highly subjective. Whenever something like this is done, the big question is ‘What do I expect of person x?’. The whole matter could be approached in an absolute manner, for instance when talking about Arsène Wenger, someone might say “He hasn’t won anything for years, therefore he has failed.” At a club like Arsenal, an assessment like that, albeit very harsh, could be used. However, include the position of the club and the situation in the league and you might say “He’s not won anything, but considering his budget he’s done reasonably well to achieve what he has.” And so on. You get the idea. Both and many more opinions are possible and just as valid. It merely shows that unless you are doing it from a professional perspective, many different opinions depending on your level of expectations can exist.
The same can be applied to majority shareholder Stan Kroenke and chief executive officer Ivan Gazidis. Once again it is important to decide what you expect from either person. Or with regard to Kroenke the question might be ‘What is there to evaluate?’. We do not know a lot about him. He only visits a couple of games, does not speak too much about the club and in general it seems, or at least on the surface, he is not really involved with the club. Well… isn’t that exactly what the club wanted? An owner who lets the board do what they want, who does not push his money or ideas into the club and who allows the board to continue the path of self-sustainability. Mission accomplished. Furthermore, the involvement of Kroenke made sure that Alisher Usmanov had no chance of owning the club – something I’m personally quite thankful for. Apart from that, we really do not know to what extent he is involved with the day-to-day business or the long-term strategy of Arsenal Football Club.
The only real question mark concerning Kroenke might be his end game. What are his plans with the club and whether he would take money out of the club or not. On both accounts, the jury is still out. With regard to his conduct: sure he could be visiting games more regularly, but who is really bothered by that? I mean really. The club is well run and he seemingly is still content to have Arsène Wenger in control. Therefore, until he changes his conduct or approach, you feel that there is nothing to worry about.
The second persons in question is Arsenal’s CEO. Ivan Gazidis has been at the club since January 2009 and has overseen the club’s transition from cash–strapped to financial superpower. His start to life at Arsenal was rather complicated as firstly, he joined a project that he had not been involved with from the start and secondly, he would see his hands tied on several issues for the following years. In 2009, the club already trailed in the commercial department, with the main problem that no significant improvement was on horizon. This is highlighted by the fact that the commercial revenue increased only by ~£4m from 2009 to 2012.
As a CEO, he is in charge of setting the vision, direction and strategy of the football club. His job is to do off the pitch, what Arsène Wenger does on it. Build a team, know what you can do and where you want to be in a couple of years while maintaining competitiveness. With regards to the business side of the club, it means driving in as much revenue as possible: highly lucrative pre-season tours through Asia (which are becoming financially more rewarding by the year) or new and improved commercial deals. On the commercial front, the club has done well recently. A new 5-year deal worth £150m with Emirates and a very lucrative deal with Puma (that has yet to be officially confirmed). Add those deals to the improved TV-deals and turnover should reach an all-time high. On the commercial side, the only remaining concern is quality of secondary deals. However, even that should improve over the years as one major obstacle – the lead partnership deal, being the benchmark at £6m/year – will vanish.
Revenue is growing, cash reserves are growing and the fan base all over the world is growing. This should call for celebrations if it were not for the fact that Arsenal is not only a business but also a football club. And herein lies the reason why Gazidis often finds himself criticised. For the greater part of his tenure, Gazidis remained very cautious with what he said in public. Whether it was performance or transfer related, he approached public speaking like a politician. Say a lot without actually saying anything. This arguably changed this summer when he came out with highly ambitious statements of intent; that the club had all the funds necessary to attract the best players.
He stated “[…]we can do some things which would excite you […] we are beginning to see something we have been planning for some time, which is the escalation in our financial firepower.”
It has been argued that the main reason for these comments was to put pressure on the manager – to actually make use of the resources available to him – something that has yet to happen. This inactivity, or rather inability to close deals, is also often cited as one of Gazidis’ weaknesses. A subject that due to the lack of transparency is difficult, if not impossible, to assess. Yes, it could be that the officials in charge do not know how to close big money signings; or any signing for that matter. Or it could be down to several other rational reasons, as transfers in the past have shown that the club is able to wrap up premium deals within days. From a supporters’ perspective, Ivan Gazidis’ biggest flaw is that he is not David Dein and the associations that come with that name. Whether Gazidis and his team are able to put together a proper squad will also depend on how is able to push the manager, as Wenger seemingly has a big say on the amount of any bid. Whether that is the right way to approach any transfer, is up for debate.
In summary, it can be said that the club has come around. The ownership is dealt with, the club is in a decent position financially and if it were not for that pesky trophy draught, we’d all be delirious.
The real judgement day will arrive come September 3rd. Only then, we will know whether the club have acted on their statements and whether either Kroenke, Gazidis or both, have failed with regard to pushing their manager to make the right decisions.
