Arsenal AGM 3rd June 2016 - Gazidis "Wenger is going nowhere"

[Munchies]

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/06/02/arsenal-manager-arsene-wenger-is-going-no-time-soon-says-chief-e/

Gazidis: "There is not nostalgia. We have Arsène as manager as our board believes he can deliver success. We feel we are on a good path."
Gazidis on life after Wenger: "Whenever it happens...it is not something we are going to be facing imminently."

AGM tomorrow. Already know what it's going to be like. No accountability or anything :coffee:

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Wonderfully misleading headline by the telegraph

[Power n Glory]

Misleading?

[Gooner23]

Nothing we don't know already, Wenger decides when he wants to leave and no one else. I wonder if Gazidis genuinely believes the bit about having confidence in Wenger to deliver success though. I understand he's not going to say anything different publicly, but surely he has his doubts by now privately. Or maybe it's the definition of success, if it's about making the board members very rich then I have every faith in that.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Misleading?

Wenger is going nowhere anytime soon, which insinuates heavily that Wenger will stay beyond his current deal

And nothing Gazidis says suggests anything other than they are not sure what his decision is

[Globalgunner]

Wenger is going nowhere anytime soon, which insinuates heavily that Wenger will stay beyond his current deal

And nothing Gazidis says suggests anything other than they are not sure what his decision is

That is what you have determined to believe. A man has a contract ending in a years time and you think this means anything other than a renewal by Xmas. Its probably been signed already but were too embarrassed to announce it. Ive always had you pegged as a closet AKB. Come this time next year all you will be saying is. "Well its been renewed for another 3 years. Nothing we as fans can do, so we might as well get used to it"

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

That is what you have determined to believe. A man has a contract ending in a years time and you think this means anything other than a renewal by Xmas. Its probably been signed already but were too embarrassed to announce it. Ive always had you pegged as a closet AKB. Come this time next year all you will be saying is. "Well its been renewed for another 3 years. Nothing we as fans can do, so we might as well get used to it"

I often say that apart from a few usernames I recognise that most people on here fail to have a singular sense of identity on here, you are amongst the many who are not particularly discernible to me. But from now on I will remember you as being a berk.

I don't believe that saying that a man of 66 years who hasn't won a significantly major trophy in 12 years is the right man to take us forward is anymore than PR, and that makes me the pathetic acronym label you describe?.

Do I agree that the board will offer Wenger a contract come what may? Yes unfortunately I do. Does this particular article offer any particular insight into Wengers intentions that make the title anything more than inflammatory? No.

Why would I be in the closet anyway?. If I wanted Wenger to stay I'd say so....why would I be coy about it?

Because I don't become menstrual about him, doesn't mean I don't think he should go.

[Power n Glory]

There is nothing misleading about it. It’s not a piece that’s supposed to give us insight into Wenger’s intentions. It’s insight into where Gazidis/Board/Owner stand on Wenger. They’re happy with what he’s doing and it doesn’t sound like they’ll be adding any more pressure on him. He’ll most likely be offered a new contract and they can’t see him walking away any time soon. It just goes back to the argument about leadership and applying pressure.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I don't think it tells us anything we didn't know already, that they want to tie Wenger down to a new deal but they don't know what his own intentions are.

I think Gazidis is quite equivocal on that subject, and the headline seems to imply "a deal is done, deal with it"

Is it depressing that Wenger is the only one who can decide his future? Yes of course but we've had this discussion before and you have already said you don't believe Wenger would want to stay beyond 2017 if the atmosphere at the Emirates is as bad as it was at times last season.

[Power n Glory]

I don't think it tells us anything we didn't know already, that they want to tie Wenger down to a new deal but they don't know what his own intentions are.

I think Gazidis is quite equivocal on that subject, and the headline seems to imply "a deal is done, deal with it"

Is it depressing that Wenger is the only one who can decide his future? Yes of course but we've had this discussion before and you have already said you don't believe Wenger would want to stay beyond 2017 if the atmosphere at the Emirates is as bad as it was at times last season.

Didn't Wenger debunk that report about him being offered a new contract? It was all speculation on where the Board stood. Wenger has made it clear that he won't step down and has said he doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon so for me, the focus now shifts on the Board's intentions. I didn't pay too much attention to the rumours of a new deal on the table because that deal could have come with certain conditions and strings attached. The article suggests Wenger will still have the freedom he wants and everyone is happy with the overall progress despite being unhappy with finishing 2nd. It’s a pat on the back, ‘better luck next time’ attitude I’m sensing. It doesn’t sound like he’s under any pressure.

As for the headline, to me it suggest they’re claiming their man and throwing full support behind the manager. There isn’t anything misleading about it.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

And in the same press conference you cite he made it abundantly clear that he hadn't made his mind up whether next season would be his last or not, and implied heavily it was dependent on results.

[Power n Glory]

Is it depressing that Wenger is the only one who can decide his future? Yes of course but we've had this discussion before and you have already said you don't believe Wenger would want to stay beyond 2017 if the atmosphere at the Emirates is as bad as it was at times last season.

To answer that last part, I’m looking a little beyond Wenger on this one. This one is more about the Board’s mentality. It's a worry.

[Power n Glory]

And in the same press conference you cite he made it abundantly clear that he hadn't made his mind up whether next season would be his last or not, and implied heavily it was dependent on results.

Again, this isn't about what Wenger will or won't do when that time comes. That's for another debate. It's an indication of where the Board think we are and how Wenger fits into their plans. The article is about the Board's perspective on Wenger. I'm not trying to gauge where Wenger's mindset is based on words from Gazidis where he doesn't mention any private conversations he's had with the manager. He's not offering any insight into what Wenger is thinking on this and that's not his purpose.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

No but my point is the headline "Wenger going nowhere" implies that he will be here beyond the end of next season and that's why in my opinion it's misleading.

The board saying anything other than "Wenger is our man" would just never happen.

[Power n Glory]

Nah. This is football. See plenty of the same sort of headlines with a manager or Board declaring player A is staying at their club. Do you ever assume a new contract has been signed when such declarations are made? This language isn't new.

[Özim]

So Wenger will be offered a new contract after another season where he hasn't delivered, he really does have a job whatever happens.

This guy has the easiest most stable job in football, no wonder he was scared to move to bigger clubs, he knew he wouldn't last a year and would never be guaranteed a job and big money for years on end anywhere else.

Shameful to be honest that the club dare to come out with sh*t like this after what was a very poor season where a team with few resources left us trailing in their wake, this after more than a decade of underperforming, but then with some of the fans we have who basically will accept anything it's no big surprise.

I'd say we probably have the some of the most delusional fans in football.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Nah. This is football. See plenty of the same sort of headlines with a manager or Board declaring player A is staying at their club. Do you ever assume a new contract has been signed when such declarations are made? This language isn't new.

Yeah and the headlines are equally misleading in these cases.

It happens a lot with Arsenal, article headlines that are non attributable to anything said by the individual

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I'd say we probably have the some of the most delusional fans in football.

Based on what exactly?.

The deference to Wenger is something that is held by a small minority. The vast majority I imagine want a new manager, the difference is the extent to which they are prepared to make their feelings known on this.

[Power n Glory]

Yeah and the headlines are equally misleading in these cases.

It happens a lot with Arsenal, article headlines that are non attributable to anything said by the individual

Really? You're mislead by those headlines?

[Özim]

Based on what exactly?.

The deference to Wenger is something that is held by a small minority. The vast majority I imagine want a new manager, the difference is the extent to which they are prepared to make their feelings known on this.

Based on the fans who go to matches, you saw at the end of the season their views, I wish the majority wanted him out, it doesn't seem that way however.

Fact is on the whole Arsenal fans live in fear, they're scared to lose their precious 4th place which in real football teams in pretty meaningless for a club like us in any way but the financial sense, because let's face it we'll never get anywhere in the CL.

It's embarrassing that people are so attached to being 4th, a non achievement.

[Xhaka Can’t]

So Wenger will be offered a new contract after another season where he hasn't delivered, he really does have a job whatever happens.

This guy has the easiest most stable job in football, no wonder he was scared to move to bigger clubs, he knew he wouldn't last a year and would never be guaranteed a job and big money for years on end anywhere else.

Shameful to be honest that the club dare to come out with sh*t like this after what was a very poor season where a team with few resources left us trailing in their wake, this after more than a decade of underperforming, but then with some of the fans we have who basically will accept anything it's no big surprise.

I'd say we probably have the some of the most delusional fans in football.

I agree that he had and still has the most stable job in football. But the easiest? For the bulk of his career that has clearly not been the case. If anything he has had the most difficult of jobs in world football. The pressure in the lead up and follow up to the move had to be immense. And for that period he was incredibly effective. And we were lucky to have him and the legacy he has left us from that will benefit us for generations.

However, he has failed to make the transition to the current situation and is now holding this club back from the latent capability this Club has as a result of his body of work. For everybody's sake he should be out the door, preferably voluntarily but forced out if necessary. We know however that neither is going to happen so we are stuck in this purgatory until he goes.

[Özim]

I agree that he had and still has the most stable job in football. But the easiest? For the bulk of his career that has clearly not been the case. If anything he has had the most difficult of jobs in world football. The pressure in the lead up and follow up to the move had to be immense. And for that period he was incredibly effective. And we were lucky to have him and the legacy he has left us from that will benefit us for generations.

However, he has failed to make the transition to the current situation and is now holding this club back from the latent capability this Club has as a result of his body of work. For everybody's sake he should be out the door, preferably voluntarily but forced out if necessary. We know however that neither is going to happen so we are stuck in this purgatory until he goes.

I saw easiest because there's no pressure for him to deliver from his bosses, he has full control to do whatever he wants however he wants and compared to what most manager have to put up with that's easy.

But yes it's clear he won't be leaving and shockingly it looks like a new contract is in the offing and this there's no end to the nightmare in sight. People can say he's here till the end of his contract and there's nothing we can do, but for him to get another contract is just shameful really and just shows what the club think about what fans feel (some of them at least).

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Really? You're mislead by those headlines?

Not personally, I tend to know before I read that the article headline will tend to at best only fleetingly reflect the subject matter of the article and what is said by the person concerned.

[Kano]

A nothing story when there's little else to talk about and says nothing new at all.-

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

To answer that last part, I’m looking a little beyond Wenger on this one. This one is more about the Board’s mentality. It's a worry.

I think it's hard to ascertain what the boards attitude will be like post Wenger.

We know for definite that Gazidis has zero leverage over Wenger, we can but hope that as he will ultimately be responsible for hiring the new man that he will be able to hold him to account more.

But who knows, the attitude of the board has always stunk, this was the case before Wenger and it will be the case after him. Will Gazidis be more assertive like Dein or will he be every inch the Kroenke puppet. Time will tell.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

A nothing story when there's little else to talk about and says nothing new at all.-

Exactly

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Based on the fans who go to matches, you saw at the end of the season their views, I wish the majority wanted him out, it doesn't seem that way however.

Fact is on the whole Arsenal fans live in fear, they're scared to lose their precious 4th place which in real football teams in pretty meaningless for a club like us in any way but the financial sense, because let's face it we'll never get anywhere in the CL.

It's embarrassing that people are so attached to being 4th, a non achievement.

So fans who have gone to see the team play this season and who have endured a thoroughly miserable season, are deluded because they have tried to derive some joy in finishing above Spurs rather than choosing to wallow in more misery?.

Interesting

[GP]

A nothing story when there's little else to talk about and says nothing new at all.-

Pretty much this.

[Özim]

So fans who have gone to see the team play this season and who have endured a thoroughly miserable season, are deluded because they have tried to derive some joy in finishing above Spurs rather than choosing to wallow in more misery?.

Interesting

No fans are deluded because they support Wenger.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

No fans are deluded because they support Wenger.

This is my point they don't necessarily, if you want to believe the people singing one arsene wenger in the stands is representative of the majority of arsenal fans you can believe that if you like.....but one i don't think they are, and two i think there is a difference between wanting him gone and wanting him sacked.

The thing to take away from that fixture is that we aren't a club whose fans want to protest, especially not during a game.

But i think if you talk to enough Arsenal fans and ask them if they think Wenger is doing a good job and he should be allowed to stay as long as he wants, no i don't think you will find that a majority view at all.

But you are also not in the majority of views, as you've expressed to me that you sometimes wonder if it would have been better if Wenger had never joined the club.....and you aren't going to find many Arsenal fans in accordance with that. And frankly i think that's more deluded than the unsubstantial charge you make against our fanbase.

[Letters]

So Wenger will be offered a new contract after another season where he hasn't delivered, he really does have a job whatever happens.
No, he doesn't.

[Letters]

I'd say we probably have the some of the most delusional fans in football.
I actually agree with that... :)

[Letters]

It's embarrassing that people are so attached to being 4th, a non achievement.
We didn't finish 4th. Didn't last season either.

[Letters]

I saw easiest because there's no pressure for him to deliver from his bosses,
Yes there is. He's still our manager because he's meeting his boss's targets. This really isn't rocket salad...

[Özim]

This is my point they don't necessarily, if you want to believe the people singing one arsene wenger in the stands is representative of the majority of arsenal fans you can believe that if you like.....but one i don't think they are, and two i think there is a difference between wanting him gone and wanting him sacked.

The thing to take away from that fixture is that we aren't a club whose fans want to protest, especially not during a game.

But i think if you talk to enough Arsenal fans and ask them if they think Wenger is doing a good job and he should be allowed to stay as long as he wants, no i don't think you will find that a majority view at all.

But you are also not in the majority of views, as you've expressed to me that you sometimes wonder if it would have been better if Wenger had never joined the club.....and you aren't going to find many Arsenal fans in accordance with that. And frankly i think that's more deluded than the unsubstantial charge you make against our fanbase.

It does seem a large percentage want Wenger to stay judging from the stadium, one guy on AFTV acknowledged that and said the fans have said they want him to stay so that's that.

The thing is he won't leave, even at the end of his contract so really the only choice is to stick with him or get rid, the former isn't a good option IMO.

That view was based on more than half of his career where he hasn't (IMO) delivered on the field and more importantly has shown a real stubborness against doing what's needed (making lots of odd decisions in the process), I'll agree the 1st part of his careeer with us was sensational, but after failing so badly after that you have to question whether circumstances rather than managerial ability allowed him to achieve this sucess, by this I mean having the right players to begin with, having inside knowledge on French football which went through a peak around that time and inheriting/signing players who could make up for his defficiencies.

As for the stadium, yes financially it's great (though we're not really using that to the maximum), Wenger gets a lot of credit for this, but in the end he didn't put his own money forward, others took the risk, he may have had the idea (though let's be honest the idea of building a bigger stadium when you're successful isn't exactly one that comes as a surprise).

A top class manager isnt usually unable to reproduce some of the magc he did in over a decade.

[Özim]

No, he doesn't.

It seems he does, after such a poor season they're still talking about another contract, wouldn't happen at any other club.

[Özim]

We didn't finish 4th. Didn't last season either.

Due to luck more than anything else, it wasn't because we earnt it.

[Özim]

Yes there is. He's still our manager because he's meeting his boss's targets. This really isn't rocket salad...

No there isn't, his bosses targets are very low, so like I said there's no pressure, even if he ended up outside the CL spots he'd still keep his job.

Easiest job in football, all the other managers would love to be in his shoes, getting paid handsomely for doing sooooo little.

[Letters]

Luck :lol:

[Özim]

I actually agree with that... :)

Glad you acknowledge it at last :)

[Letters]

No there isn't, his bosses targets are very low, so like I said there's no pressure, even if he ended up outside the CL spots he'd still keep his job..
How do you know? :)

[Özim]

Luck :lol:

Yup, basically the other teams collapsed and we won a few easy games, some we made hard work of.

[Özim]

How do you know? :)

It's an educated guess based on how far they are up his youknowwhat and the fact he's going to be offered a new contract after such a car crash season.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Depends first of all what you mean by want to stay, do you mean want him to stay until the end of his current contract rather than being sacked this summer?. Probably true. But long term no I don't think there is any particular enthusiasm for that.

And again the opinion is nuanced and varied, between those who want him gone now, those who want next season to be his last regardless of results, those who want him gone if we don't do significantly better than last season and those in the very small minority who want him to stay as long as he wants no matter what.

I think the fan base is far more anti Wenger than it ever has been, and is generally frustrated with him but I think the desire for him not to be sacked is based more on sentiment than anything. I think they want him to go, but they want him to make that decision himself.
And as discussed earlier if he fails as badly as he did last summer the atmosphere will become poisonous enough for him to walk.

In hindsight the expectation that he might have gone at the end of season just gone was probably fanciful although I can blame no one (including myself) for desiring it.

[Letters]

Yup, basically the other teams collapsed and we won a few easy games, some we made hard work of.

Over 38 games you finish pretty much where you deserve to. You don't finish in the top 4 every year by luck and we haven't finished 4th for 3 seasons.
Anyway...I think if we'd finished outside the top 4 - but close - for a season, maybe 2, then Wenger may have kept his job.
If we'd slipped seriously down the table - as many predicted we would - then I think he'd have gone.

It is just not true to say he's under no pressure and he'd be our manager no matter how we do - repeating it doesn't make it true.
He's kept his job because he's met his boss's targets not because his boss doesn't give him targets. And as other clubs have shown finishing top 4 that many years in a row is easier said than done.

All that said, I do agree he should move on. Last year was the biggest open goal for the last 10 years to win the title and he messed it up. But don't make up guff about how he'd be our manager no matter how we do, that obviously isn't true.

[Globalgunner]

I often say that apart from a few usernames I recognise that most people on here fail to have a singular sense of identity on here, you are amongst the many who are not particularly discernible to me. But from now on I will remember you as being a berk.

I don't believe that saying that a man of 66 years who hasn't won a significantly major trophy in 12 years is the right man to take us forward is anymore than PR, and that makes me the pathetic acronym label you describe?.

Do I agree that the board will offer Wenger a contract come what may? Yes unfortunately I do. Does this particular article offer any particular insight into Wengers intentions that make the title anything more than inflammatory? No.

Why would I be in the closet anyway?. If I wanted Wenger to stay I'd say so....why would I be coy about it?

Because I don't become menstrual about him, doesn't mean I don't think he should go.

"Violence is the refuge of the incompetent" Isaac Asimov: You say you are not an AKB yet get so wound up by it that you resort to insults. Saying that theres nothing you can do about a situation and so doing nothing yourself, then going out of your way to berate and deride those who carry banners and placards in an effort to achieve said aim is the definition of an AKB. If you believe there is nothing YOU can do about something then it behooves you to STFU about what others are doing. He is going to get another contract that much is pretty evident. BTW I dont give a milliparsec of thought to what you think of me. LLAP.

[Letters]

Why do we have to have a little civil war amongst fans and throw around silly labels like 'AKB'. I think in reality almost no-one thinks that. I doubt even those who think he should still be our manager think that.

[LDG]

Why do we have to have a little civil war amongst fans and throw around silly labels like 'AKB'. I think in reality almost no-one thinks that. I doubt even those who think he should still be our manager think that.

Because it's the internet and everyone is right.

Moranic.

[Letters]

Because it's the internet and everyone is right.

Moranic.

Even me?


Yaay! :trophy:

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

"Violence is the refuge of the incompetent" Isaac Asimov: You say you are not an AKB yet get so wound up by it that you resort to insults. Saying that theres nothing you can do about a situation and so doing nothing yourself, then going out of your way to berate and deride those who carry banners and placards in an effort to achieve said aim is the definition of an AKB. If you believe there is nothing YOU can do about something then it behooves you to STFU about what others are doing. He is going to get another contract that much is pretty evident. BTW I dont give a milliparsec of thought to what you think of me. LLAP.

I wasn't insulting you, i am just being honest and applying the best description i could of you. If you feel insulted at being called a berk, than perhaps it's better that you don't make absurd comments.

If i supported Wenger i would just say so....what would i have to be afraid of?. I actually find your accusation amusing because the genuine Wenger In people whom i've conversed with think i'm a "entitled plastic fan" which only goes to prove how idiotic and polarised people are on both sides of the argument.

No i'm calling you a berk because it's apt, only a berk applies pointless acronyms and uses them well outside the zone of their applied meaning

AKB means Arsene Knows Best.....it's interesting that you can come to such a conclusion.

I don't need to go out of my way to berate or deride people, plus actually apart from saying i don't think it would prove that effective i don't think i have been derisory to the placard carriers....it's up to them if they want to protest during matches. I personally wouldn't myself, but if that makes me someone that thinks Wenger is doing a great job...i rather think that says more about the person making the accusation than the accuser.

And by the way your entreaty for me to STFU (you do love your acronyms), i'll politely decline if it's all the same to you.

[I am invisible]

Look, just pick a side or you'll be assigned one, you AKB SOBs!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Why do we have to have a little civil war amongst fans

Because it's fun that's why, this kind of thing gets me through the work day when there isn't much to be done.

[I am invisible]

Even me?


Yaay! :trophy:

No, not you Letters.

[Letters]

No, not you Letters.

Oh :(


:getcoat:

[Özim]

Depends first of all what you mean by want to stay, do you mean want him to stay until the end of his current contract rather than being sacked this summer?. Probably true. But long term no I don't think there is any particular enthusiasm for that.

And again the opinion is nuanced and varied, between those who want him gone now, those who want next season to be his last regardless of results, those who want him gone if we don't do significantly better than last season and those in the very small minority who want him to stay as long as he wants no matter what.

I think the fan base is far more anti Wenger than it ever has been, and is generally frustrated with him but I think the desire for him not to be sacked is based more on sentiment than anything. I think they want him to go, but they want him to make that decision himself.
And as discussed earlier if he fails as badly as he did last summer the atmosphere will become poisonous enough for him to walk.

In hindsight the expectation that he might have gone at the end of season just gone was probably fanciful although I can blame no one (including myself) for desiring it.

By want to stay I mean till the end of his contract and beyond, those who think he's doing a great job and that we couldn't do better because he gets top 4 every year, which up until 10 years ago menat nothing to anyone.

I don't understand the desire to not want him get sacked, better managers than him have been sacked, players effectively get sold (essentially the same as sacking) when they are no longer wanted and to be honest he's been pretty patronising fans, some people totally ignore than and actually agree with his view that the fans are to blame (how daft is that?).

If people don't perform in a job they often lose it or are paid off and moved on in real life after all.

[Letters]

I think it would be a shame if the end of his time at Arsenal is too messy after everything he's done for us, it does look like it's heading that way.
Best case is we win the league this year (:lol: I know, but hear me out) and he leaves with his head held high at the end of the forthcoming season.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Perhaps you don't understand that, but I think it's more because they don't want us to become a club like Chelsea who sacks their managers wantonly.....and there is a difference between underperforming and actually performing so badly in the job that warrants sacking.

Finances were right when we moved to the Emirates stadium, and I do think not a lot of managers could have kept us in the top four when it was so unnecessary, now the fact is that's no longer the case and there isn't the progression there should have been we have a manager who makes absurd excuses and has polarised the fan base

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/majority-of-arsenal-fans-unhappy-owner-stan-kroenke-divided-over-arsene-wenger-future-study-a3262986.html

Refer you to 49% of fans thinking Wenger is right man for job, and only 8% wanting him to extend his contract beyond 2017

Maybe they are more loyal to him than you think they should be, and you may be right....but that polling hardly suggests delusional.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Also ever since 4th place guaranteed champions league football teams have strived for it

Clubs like Chelsea and man united always presumed they would achieve at least that, and Spurs, Everton, Liverpool etc have gone hell for leather for it.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think it would be a shame if the end of his time at Arsenal is too messy after everything he's done for us, it does look like it's heading that way.
Best case is we win the league this year (:lol: I know, but hear me out) and he leaves with his head held high at the end of the forthcoming season.

Was hoping for that last season but it didn't happen, I think United, City and Chelsea will spend obscene money to make sure the title will end up with one of them

And the problem is if Wenger wins the title in this forthcoming season of all season, i think he would certainly sign an extension

I think the best you can hope for is a season that allows us to challenge properly in 2017/2018 but Wenger feeling the fan base polarisation means he can no longer be bothered sitting in the dug out for another season or two.

I have said constantly that if Wenger announced he was going, the atmosphere would change completley.....and his send off would be mawkish not a dry eye in the house kind of event....because people are no longer frustrated by his shortcomings and are excited by the prospect of change.

[Power n Glory]

A 'nothing' story but somehow someway it gets down to another one of these debates about Wenger. :doh:

So tedious.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

A 'nothing' story but somehow someway it gets down to another one of these debates about Wenger. :doh:

So tedious.

Listen, it's either that or take phone calls from people I've been going out of my way to ignore

[Letters]

Also ever since 4th place guaranteed champions league football teams have strived for it

Clubs like Chelsea and man united always presumed they would achieve at least that, and Spurs, Everton, Liverpool etc have gone hell for leather for it.

The top 4 thing shouldn't be underestimated IMO, as you say some clubs have thrown serious money at it and not consistently managed it. And there's no question that at times during the stadium move our finances were somewhat restricted, certainly compared to the clubs with sugar-daddies, and I think Wenger did overall a pretty good job keeping us in the top 4 in that era. Where he's failed though, and this is why he needs to go, is to push us on now the money is there and we've started signing players that should have pushed us on.
A load of nonsense has grown up around all this - I guess because of people's frustrations: "Wenger doesn't care about winning", "Wenger's under no pressure and would keep his job no matter how we do", etc. All rubbish. And the last 3 seasons haven't been the complete abject failure some make out. 4th and the FA Cup, 3rd and the FA Cup, 2nd. But we should have won the league last season, it was our best chance to for years, and if Wenger couldn't win it last year then I don't think he ever will again.

[Letters]

A 'nothing' story but somehow someway it gets down to another one of these debates about Wenger. :doh:

So tedious.

What else is there to talk about?
You could call me thick again if it makes you feel better.

[Globalgunner]

What else is there to talk about?
You could call me thick again if it makes you feel better.

Could I call you a berk. Ive just been told its not actually an insult

[Letters]

Could I call you a berk. Ive just been told its not actually an insult

If you must <_<

[I am invisible]

A 'nothing' story but somehow someway it gets down to another one of these debates about Wenger. :doh:

So tedious.
Whoa, that sounds like AKB talk to me!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Could I call you a berk. Ive just been told its not actually an insult

Well i meant it as in idiot or prat, rather than Berkshire Hunt if that helps

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Whoa, that sounds like AKB talk to me!

Ha you live in Southend

[Power n Glory]

Whoa, that sounds like AKB talk to me!

There's only one Arsene Wenger!! :run:

[I am invisible]

Ha you live in Southend

Sunny Southend, home of the longest pier in the world.

Edit: And TOTS, or whatever the f--k they're calling it this week...

[fakeyank]

Based on the fans who go to matches, you saw at the end of the season their views, I wish the majority wanted him out, it doesn't seem that way however.

Fact is on the whole Arsenal fans live in fear, they're scared to lose their precious 4th place which in real football teams in pretty meaningless for a club like us in any way but the financial sense, because let's face it we'll never get anywhere in the CL.

It's embarrassing that people are so attached to being 4th, a non achievement.

:gp:

The board and Wenger are a problem but the bigger problem are the fans. They are fickle as fuck... give them 2 wins in a row and they are back singing the managers praises. Nothing is going to change till the fans take a stand. Its a vicious cycle at the club!

Look at it this way though.. Wengers playing field this year is Guardiola, Conte, Klopp, Mourinho and Pochettino. If he carries on the same shit he has done in the last decade, then he is not going to have that 4th place trophy longer. I always believed that getting 4th place or CL was like a poisoned chalice for us.. we get it and Wenger brands the season as successful and we are back on the same cycle. If, and when his 4th place trophy is gone, thats when change will happen in Arsenal Bank Corporation.

[I am invisible]

There's only one Arsene Wenger!! :run:

Boooo! No there isn't, there's at least three! I disagree with everything you just said! Boooo!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Sunny Southend, home of the longest pier in the world.

Edit: And TOTS, or whatever the f--k they're calling it this week...

Transportable Orbital Tracking Station?

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Boooo! No there isn't, there's at least three! I disagree with everything you just said! Boooo!

Look it up in the Strasbourg phone directory and find out

[I am invisible]

Transportable Orbital Tracking Station?

I wish we could fire it into space!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I wish we could fire it into space!

If the USS Richard Montgomerie ever blows up you might get your wish.

Well either that or you might have to learn to breathe underwater.

[Power n Glory]

Boooo! No there isn't, there's at least three! I disagree with everything you just said! Boooo!

At least four. :trophy:

[I am invisible]

If the USS Richard Montgomerie ever blows up you might get your wish.

Well either that or you might have to learn to breathe underwater.

I'm kind of hoping it's drifted over to Canvey by now...

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I'm kind of hoping it's drifted over to Canvey by now...

Or Clacton/Jaywick

[I am invisible]

Or Clacton/Jaywick

Jesus, I'd forgotten about Jaywick! That really is the end of the earth...

[Letters]

Clacton :lol:

Awlful place.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

It's the irony of UKIP it's the only place in the country they have a seat in Westminster

Based on a fear of immigration and walking down your street and seeing different colour faces looking back at you

Yet it's the whitest place in the country.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Jesus, I'd forgotten about Jaywick! That really is the end of the earth...

As part of my job, I had to resource police officers to go to Jaywick about two-three years ago because they thought the sea wall might breach and flood the area, and they needed assistance for potential evacuation....all the time I thought "why bother".

[I am invisible]

As part of my job, I had to resource police officers to go to Jaywick about two-three years ago because they thought the sea wall might breach and flood the area, and they needed assistance for potential evacuation....all the time I thought "why bother".

No foreign-looking or sounding officers, I hope?

[I am invisible]

It's the irony of UKIP it's the only place in the country they have a seat in Westminster

Based on a fear of immigration and walking down your street and seeing different colour faces looking back at you

Yet it's the whitest place in the country.

I had to laugh during the last election when someone suggested that "Farage" should be pronounced like "Garage", becuase Far-ahh-ge sounded too french!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

No foreign-looking or sounding officers, I hope?

Actually think I sent Croat fella up there, but he's still alive so no harm done

[Xhaka Can’t]

Look, just pick a side or you'll be assigned one, you AKB SOBs!

:lol:

[Globalgunner]

Well i meant it as in idiot or prat, rather than Berkshire Hunt if that helps

just as Zombie means a brainless, vacuous, biped, looking for someone to fill a vacancy between its ears.

[Xhaka Can’t]

If people don't perform in a job they often lose it or are paid off and moved on in real life after all.

Not me. :patrice:

[Xhaka Can’t]

Perhaps you don't understand that, but I think it's more because they don't want us to become a club like Chelsea who sacks their managers wantonly......

I fucken love won tons.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

just as Zombie means a brainless, vacuous, biped, looking for someone to fill a vacancy between its ears.

It just means an animated cadaver, and as for "looking for someone to fill a vacancy between its ears" you've just made that up.
But go ahead, keep on claiming I'm an unthinking Wenger accolyte/disciple/zombie if it makes you feel better.

I could tell you I've cancelled my red membership, that I don't intend on giving the club money for merchandise or match tickets whilst Wenger is still at the club but I don't want to spoil your narrative. I only go on average two-three times a year so I doubt my loss will be felt keenly.


But of course because I don't foam at the mouth over every pointless article I must worship the ground Arsene Wenger walks on.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I fucken love won tons.

They are ok I guess, some Chinese places do them better than others

[Niall_Quinn]

Clacton :lol:

Awlful place.

Not as bad as Shoeburyness.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Not as bad as Shoeburyness.

No fond memories of that place I can assure you, it's where my mum died last year.

[alexander]

Not as bad as Shoeburyness.

Thats like Monaco compared to Jaywick. I drove out that hole pretty dam fast

[cricketsi]

Well, seems this board is more annoying than Arsenal's, and some members more stale than Wenger. I'd campaign for their removal with the same level of vitriol, but they thrive in the face of such criticism more than Wenger himself.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

:gp:

The board and Wenger are a problem but the bigger problem are the fans. They are fickle as fuck... give them 2 wins in a row and they are back singing the managers praises. Nothing is going to change till the fans take a stand. Its a vicious cycle at the club!

Look at it this way though.. Wengers playing field this year is Guardiola, Conte, Klopp, Mourinho and Pochettino. If he carries on the same shit he has done in the last decade, then he is not going to have that 4th place trophy longer. I always believed that getting 4th place or CL was like a poisoned chalice for us.. we get it and Wenger brands the season as successful and we are back on the same cycle. If, and when his 4th place trophy is gone, thats when change will happen in Arsenal Bank Corporation.

If Wenger does enough to win the league next season of all seasons, I'm not buying that most will want him to then ride out into the sun and leave and understandably so. If he manage it there will be every reason to believe he should say. The list of managers you just named are no mugs.

[Niall_Quinn]

Criticise him when he gets it wrong. Criticise him from the rafters when he gets it wrong for the 10th season running. That's part and parcel of his job. But if he changes, if he starts getting it right then support him. That's what most "Wenger Out" fans have wanted all along. Not for Wenger to piss off, but for Wenger to change. They didn't want that after one season, or two, most not even after five. But after ten seasons - change please! Or GTFO!

We've signed a bastard in midfield, we might well sign a fast bastard who can score, if we sign a bastard in the centre of defence then that looks like change to me and I'll hold my hands up and say well done. Not because I'm fickle but because demands have been made and, fair play, demands have been met. And those demands are based on wanting the club to do well. That's all there is to it.

If only, if only we could avoid ALMOST getting it right this summer and instead actually get it right. That will go a long way to bringing Wenger back into the fold for some fans. Of course we still have formation, selection, tactics, adaptation, substitutions, etc, etc. A long way to go but some early positive signs.

We said get the business done and do it early. So far so good.

[Munchies]

Criticise him when he gets it wrong. Criticise him from the rafters when he gets it wrong for the 10th season running. That's part and parcel of his job. But if he changes, if he starts getting it right then support him. That's what most "Wenger Out" fans have wanted all along. Not for Wenger to piss off, but for Wenger to change. They didn't want that after one season, or two, most not even after five. But after ten seasons - change please! Or GTFO!

We've signed a bastard in midfield, we might well sign a fast bastard who can score, if we sign a bastard in the centre of defence then that looks like change to me and I'll hold my hands up and say well done. Not because I'm fickle but because demands have been made and, fair play, demands have been met. And those demands are based on wanting the club to do well. That's all there is to it.

If only, if only we could avoid ALMOST getting it right this summer and instead actually get it right. That will go a long way to bringing Wenger back into the fold for some fans. Of course we still have formation, selection, tactics, adaptation, substitutions, etc, etc. A long way to go but some early positive signs.

We said get the business done and do it early. So far so good.

:gp:

Spot on mate

Let's hope the players can sort it out on the pitch if the tactics are shite lol. Hopefully Vardy is straight in the middle

[Maestro]

Criticise him when he gets it wrong. Criticise him from the rafters when he gets it wrong for the 10th season running. That's part and parcel of his job. But if he changes, if he starts getting it right then support him. That's what most "Wenger Out" fans have wanted all along. Not for Wenger to piss off, but for Wenger to change. They didn't want that after one season, or two, most not even after five. But after ten seasons - change please! Or GTFO!

We've signed a bastard in midfield, we might well sign a fast bastard who can score, if we sign a bastard in the centre of defence then that looks like change to me and I'll hold my hands up and say well done. Not because I'm fickle but because demands have been made and, fair play, demands have been met. And those demands are based on wanting the club to do well. That's all there is to it.

If only, if only we could avoid ALMOST getting it right this summer and instead actually get it right. That will go a long way to bringing Wenger back into the fold for some fans. Of course we still have formation, selection, tactics, adaptation, substitutions, etc, etc. A long way to go but some early positive signs.

We said get the business done and do it early. So far so good.

:gp:

that is all most of us ever wanted, if he's doing what we asked then let's support him. get the players required in and then put them out there to perform

[Coney]

I had to laugh during the last election when someone suggested that "Farage" should be pronounced like "Garage", becuase Far-ahh-ge sounded too french!

But they DO pronounce "Farage" like "garage". It is yoofs who pronounce it "garrij".

[GP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXJkLBj6G1k&ab_channel=hj34jjj5j

[Coney]

:d

[Kano]

Tom Watt: Ivan, obviously we’re not fools, we all read the newspapers. We see pictures, stuff turns up in newspapers. One question you won’t be surprised that I have got to ask you. Errrm…Aaron Ramsey’s hair. Are we in a position to fine him even though he’s on international duty?

Ivan Gazidis: I’ll be very surprised if he turns up to pre-season looking like that! Is there a Samir Nasri influence there?

TW: No, no, Samir Nasri will have no influence, guarantee it……He’s got a stupid haircut, but he’s not a stupid boy. He knows right from wrong.

We’ve got to start with our season. You’d have thought we had run out of ways to finish above Tottenham. We’ve done lasagne (applause)…we keep finding these ways. But, for all that that was a fantastic afternoon, and it was, I just wish people that claim to know about football could understand that as much as we were happy about that day, yet know we went away from the season feeling like we’d failed. It’s the strangest thing because that Sunday afternoon was perfect, but we know even finishing 2nd, we know that we came up short. How can you have a day like that and feel like that? You must have felt the same?

IG: Yeah, I do. I feel it. It was a really strange thing, we come out of it fundamentally really frustrated, the team does, I do, everyone does, Arsene certainly does. We had chances and we had them given back to us, even when we hadn’t taken those chances and we still didn’t take them so there is a big sense of frustration around the overall season.

It wasn’t all bad, you look back and there are moments there but we weren’t able to take that extra step that we want to take. So it was strange really, because at the end there wasn’t anyone connected to Arsenal in that stadium who didn’t have that curved mouth coming out.

TW: It was more than that I think….

But when you come off the back of that season and the players are all off and some are on international duty and they’re onto the next thing. Do we sit down as a football club and say, ‘what’s gone wrong there?’ Leicester were unbelievable, but we battered them twice.

IG: I don’t think we battered them in fairness.

TW: If Jamie Vardy hadn’t bought himself a penalty we would have battered them. How did we not finish ahead of them in the league?

IG: There was a combination of things that happened there. The first thing to understand is that a lot of the thinking is going on during the season, there’s a huge amount of work going on during the season working out where we’ve been successful, where we’ve not been so successful and how we can improve. So by that last game, a lot of that thinking has been done about what you think you’re going to need to do.

So the preparation starts right at the beginning of the season and goes right through continually monitoring and planning for the transfer window. Other things too, what’s happening with all these different areas, technical, fitness, analytics, all of that, scouting. You’re also trying to understand what’s happening with the league. Some people were saying this was a weak league this year, I don’t agree with that, it was an incredibly competitive league.

If you are on the edge, it is very easy to finish as Chelsea did, down the league. Even teams with modest history in the Premier League, all have money, resources, they all have top class people baking up their manager. So every game there are players on the pitch that can hurt you and if you are not on top of your game you will get punished, as we did too often. So we try to take all of the lessons from the season.

For us, there’s no break, we’re straight, straight into it. You try to work out what lessons you’ve learned, not just from your club, but from other clubs.

TW: Are there lessons from Leicester then?

IG: Yes, there are.

TW: What are they? There’s only so many Thai billionaires in the world….

IG: They didn’t do it because of their Thai billions. They had exceptional scouting, great fitness work all the way through the year- they had advantages there but it was great work. Tremendous psychology work, there’s a lot of work that goes into that. Good stability and continuity, there are a lot of different elements that you can learn from. In particular, smart player acquisition. Seeing players from the French second division it means that we’ve got to broaden our perspective on where we can get good players from. These are things that we need to work on.

TW: When you say ‘we’, when you talk about this collective at Arsenal. Just give us an idea of who that is, who is involved in that process? I’m not sure we do know how we go about scouting players, how we monitor players’ fitness. Lord knows that if anything has cost us over the course of the last 7-8 years injuries have cost us. What are we doing to change that, Ivan?

IG: Well, one of the reasons I am talking about this, when you have a manager that has been there for so long, has been so consistent, and he is the face and voice of the club, people more or less think that it’s a one man club. The reality is that there is a team behind that, that works with incredible passion and knowledge and expertise to make sure we’re improving all the time.

Over the last few years there have been dramatic changes in terms of what we are doing behind the scenes. There is a whole team of people that work on fitness and conditioning and physios and all of that has expanded beyond recognition. New ways of training, new ways of monitoring players. Data analytics is another area that is growing and we have an enormous team of people that work on and analyse the game.

Mohammed Elnenny is a good example of that, that wasn’t a player that was on everyone’s radar. But our scouts did a very good job in pointing him out, the analysts had a look at him. We have scouts all around the world that work full time and part time and we have a scouting database that we have been building over time. So when we sign someone that is 22-23, we have been watching them since they were 14 years old, playing in France, or Switzerland or Serbia or wherever it may be.

So we’ve got an enormous amount of people, lots of different sets of eyes looking at that, data analysts who are looking at this not just here, but all across the world. They put it together to come up with player recommendations. We also use that data to analyse opposition, before every game we have reams and reams of knowledge about the opponents that we’re playing. The after the game we use it.

We’re on a rollercoaster all season, we all are. I think I nearly broke my hand when Joe Allen equalised in the last minute at Anfield, thumping the steel bar in front of me. But we can’t afford to do that, what we have to do is get away from the emotional review of the game and get back to what really happened and data can help you do that, it can help you get back to the reality. Sometimes the emotion affects how you think.

The Bayern games are a great example. We beat them at home and in the away game they absolutely battered us, but actually when you strip it away and get underneath the bonnet of what happened there, the games were not dissimilar. Their finishing at their place was completely unbelievable and ours was bad, but we had chances. Here, we more or less converted all of our chances.

We review our performances along the way. I know people want me to keep my answers short and I am aware of that, but we monitor our own performance and as we go through the season, we’re always conscious of where we need to improve.

TW: So when you get to the end of the season, you must already know what has got to happen between now and August. Obviously already one player has already come. But you know what lies ahead between now and August. Feel free to name names! (Laughter). You’re among friends here! It will stay in the room…Those decisions, whether off the back of data analytics, off the back of scouting reports, or just looking at what happened last season, what happens now?

IG: One thing to understand, I know all of the focus goes onto the transfer window and I understand why, and that’s a big business now, almost another entertainment in itself. A big thing is working out where we make improvements in all the things around us, the things I have mentioned. Strength and conditioning, data analytics, scouting, all of that. Actually, we are looking at the way the Premier League is developing and money is not going to be as important, because everyone has money now.

Spending cleverly and well and efficiently, on players that are available and spending well, those things are more and more important. It’s less and less easy to just use money to dominate the league. We do a lot of work in those areas. We have a pretty good idea, we get to the last week of the season and some of the things are already in train. We get them as early as we can, if we can get it moving in March then we’ll do it.

There are reasons why we can’t always conclude these deals early, there are other clubs involved and all kind of situations. The other thing is, we have a lot of insight which is not really public information about what we have in the club and the young players we have here. So it’s not necessarily always what people think. The squad has strengthened a lot over the last few years now.

Frankly, and I think this is where a lot of frustration comes from, 4-5 years ago I don’t think people were looking at our squad and thinking that we were title contenders. Now I think the frustration is that we do believe that we have a squad that can contend and we didn’t quite manage to do it.

TW: So we have Granit and that’s one, Ivan. Tell me when to stop. *Tom begins to reveal fingers one by one*

IG: I will say that I have been over 20 years in football, all of my background in the US was on the football side, not the commercial side. My background is in football, so I think about these things quite a lot. My two sons give me plenty of advice and whatever is happening on social media, please believe me when I tell you that nobody is as abusive as my two sons!

TW: I’m very pleased to hear that, shows they’re being brought up right!

IG: Arsene speaks for the club every week, multiple times, adding in a lot more voices isn’t helpful. I don’t like having lots of talking, it isn’t very helpful in a transfer window to start talking about how many players, what sort of positions and we know people are curious to know. But our most important thing is that in August we have the best possible squad and give us the best possible chance of signing players.

The less we show our hand in public, the better it is for us. I know that’s a source of disconnect because people think, because we’re not talking, we aren’t listening or we don’t understand, that we don’t have expertise and all of these different things. Please believe me when I say that is not the case. There are reasons why we don’t talk about it.

TW: It’s only a little part of the game (laughter). Next season is going to be memorable for all sorts of reasons, I’m sure. I never thought I would hear myself asking this question, but is it possible that next season will be our manager’s last season managing Arsenal?

IG: Anything is possible in football. All I’m going to say is that I don’t get the sense that we are losing confidence in him. The board have always been fully behind him and that’s the right way for us to be. We are not driven by the last 20 years when we say that, believe me. We are more than capable of making difficult decisions if we have to.

We look at the club and we still think we are making progress. We are not where we want to be, but we wouldn’t be where we are if we didn’t make difficult decisions. We do see on field progress, we do see progress in the squad, we see progress in all of those other areas that I was talking about. With Arsene, I see progress and change and challenge and development.

I know at times he can appear to be impervious and unchangeable, that’s not actually the case. He’s a highly intelligent guy who asks himself a lot of difficult questions and he hates losing and he wants to win. And all of us are deeply invested in this. I give my life for this.

TW: Us too. (Applause)

IG: I know, I know. One of the things that makes me feel sad sometimes, is that I feel there is a disconnect there that actually isn’t there. All of that passion, all of that love, all of that desire, that I know you have, we have too. We do. When I come out as CEO, when Arsene comes out, when the board comes out, we have that passion too. And I can tell you the most challenging person of Arsene is Arsene.

I’ve seen it, people have this image that we’re happy sitting there, we’re in the top 4, we’re in the Champions League everything is great. That isn’t Arsenal, we wouldn’t do the things we are doing if we felt that way. You wouldn’t sign Özil, you wouldn’t sign Alexis, you wouldn’t sign Xhaka now, there is so much behind getting this club where we want it to be. We know we’re not there, and that’s a frustration.

Coming back to Arsene, we’re not thinking about the end, at all. We’re thinking about moving forward, we’re thinking about next season and we’re making decisions with him about the longer term. We’re spending a lot of money on our academy, at Hale End and London Colney and that’s a 10, 15, 20 year investment and Arsene is deeply involved with that, helping us to work it out, how he develop those sites and those facilities and what we want. So we’re just not in that mode. I know the question will come up again and again and again because of Arsene’s age and the rest of it. I just hope we are not going to have a season where that is the whole discussion.

TW: But is that discussion and whether it dominates the season, or whether it is seen to dominate the season, is that entirely to do with how we do. Everything you say about Arsene looking forward, I’m sure that this is something that everyone recognises and admires and understands about him. But when Arsene leaves, in a year’s time, 5 years, 10 years’ time, whatever it is. People will recognise that he has gotten this club ready for the next 50 or 60 years.

You see the old boy leave at Old Trafford and the place is a shambles. They’re a mile off recovery, they can bring in who they like as manager. That long term stuff we know, but it puts a lot of pressure on this coming season doesn’t it? People know this is the last year of Arsene’s contract, we will honour that contract, he will honour that contract. Surely everyone respects that. Does it hang on what happens next season though?

IG: Everything in football depends on what happens. When we talk of honouring the contract, that’s not the reason Arsene will be with us next year. It’s not about honouring the contract, it’s about understanding the work that that guy does and how we feel on the development of the club and the reasons that we feel the club is going to be able to mount a challenge next year. If we didn’t think we were moving in the right direction, we would sit down and have that conversation. That is not where we are at. I understand that this is going to be a point of speculation, but we are thinking about progressing the club and Arsene remains an intrinsic part of that.

TW: How is he with it? That season when we won the cup against Hull, it put years on all of us, the final put years on all of us. But you almost get the feeling looking at Arsene in press conferences that the fella has about had it.

IG: I have to tell you that I have known Arsene really well for the last 8 years now. I have never seen him more engaged and more excited than I see him now- or frustrated. Because I think he knows we are building something special and we fell short in delivering what we wanted to last season. But we’ve got some really top class people in the team aligned with Arsene. Behind the scenes what we have, it doesn’t come to the surface a lot, but we have a lot of dynamism, a lot of change and I think we have got progress.

I think you can see that in the quality of the squad, if you look over the last 4-5 years and you look at the transformation of this squad over that time, we were losing big players but you look at the kind of squad we have today and compare that with our rivals with great spending power, I think it stands up.

TW: Arsene is obviously the public face of Arsenal Football Club, someone that is hugely significant. But there is someone else, someone that isn’t a public face. The majority shareholder. It winds me up when people say ‘owner.’ *stands up and shouts* I’M THE OWNER, WE’RE THE OWNERS!

Our majority shareholder Mr. Kroenke, just seems to be this kind of nebulous figure that people latch onto and say whatever is wrong is probably to do with him. What is his involvement with the club, Ivan? What are we getting for our money? (Laughter)

IG: What you’re getting for your money is mainly what you see on the pitch, but also he upholds our club values. I understand that when we are frustrated, maybe we want to kick the dog, it’s difficult for me to understand the disconnect that appears to exist. What we have is an owner who has been nothing but supportive, for me, for Arsene. Has encouraged us to spend, encouraged us to invest, on the training centre, on the long term things, on buying Mesut Özil.

That’s what he wants, he wants us to win, he wants us to progress. If this was just about money, this is a nonsensical investment. By the way, if you have shares in Arsenal, I’m not discouraging you from investing and buying some more, but it’s not financial investment, there are better ways to make money than to invest in a football club.

TW: Ivan, you and I see eye to eye on a lot of things, but I’ve got to say there is no better way to make money than Arsenal shares! Absolute solid gold, economically, spiritually.

IG: I believe in Arsenal as well, but ask Randy Lerner at Aston Villa.

TW: But we ain’t Aston Villa.

IG: He loves talking about Arsenal, he comes to a lot of games. You’re not going to see Stan Kroenke talking, he doesn’t consider himself a soccer expert. Soccer! He doesn’t want to give interviews, he’s not a TV personality he’s not someone that wants to be in the public eye. Equally he’s not someone that interferes. He came into the club as a now majority shareholder and he kept independent directors on the board.

They are lifelong Arsenal fans, Sir Chips Keswick our chairman, corporate governance is very big with Chips. Lord Harris, these are lifelong Arsenal fans who were involved long before Stan Kroenke came in. Most owners come in and take that away, ‘let me put my people in and now we’re in charge.’ To Stan’s credit, what he has done is kept that independent oversight, that independent voice.

Those people are not beholden to Stan Kroenke, they’ve been twenty years on the board. That’s not what they’re there for. They want us to win and for the club to progress and Stan, to his credit, has kept them around. I know we all might want to have the local boy made good, loved Arsenal since he was a kid, engages with us emotionally, the ups and the downs and all the rest of it.

But we’ve got someone who is steady, through all the ups and downs and who doesn’t interfere on the football side and we’ve got a lot from him. We don’t have maybe the accent that we want, maybe we don’t have the same feel for the game, or at least a guy that doesn’t believe that he has got a feel for the game and wants to get involved and talking about how we’re going to tip things upside down.

Questions from the floor. (I have abbreviated some of the questions for the sake of our collective sanity and because my typing fingers are beginning to feel like worms under an electric hammer).

Q: Last year here, Ivan, you spoke about cohesion (he didn’t) and Arsenal were the one club in the top 5 leagues in Europe not to sign an outfield player, time has shown this to be incorrect. Was there an error in judgement, have lessons been learned from last year and is there any regret on the focus on cohesion rather than player additions?
IG: We make mistakes along the way. I don’t want to say that was a mistake, I think that there are reasons for the way things happen and they are often more complex than just a one reason that we weren’t successful and that’s what cost us. Did we find the right combination of players last summer that we felt would progress us, we had the money to do that? That’s not the way it went. In this situation, all of our confirmation biases kick in.

If you think that it’s all about squad depth, that’ll be your issue. If you think it’s all about keeping our players fit enough, that’s gonna be the issue. If you think it’s all about players missing chances, that will be the issue. If you think it’s because of referees, that’s going to be your issue. It’s a combination of so many different things.

What I will say to you is that we ask ourselves the difficult questions, we don’t think we’re perfect. We sit and we ask the difficult questions and what we are trying to do is work out where we made mistakes and where we can improve. We’ve signed Granit this summer, I still don’t know if that’s going to work out or not. Nobody does, you’re always trying to make judgements the best way you can.

In the end, on the football side, it’s with Arsene because he will make that final call. I don’t believe in pushing players at managers that they don’t want. We also have insight that is not public on players that are coming through. Arsene has been talking about Alex Iwobi for quite a while. We take the criticism and every time we don’t win, you have to take it on the chin. All I can tell you is that we do look at it and ask ourselves difficult questions.

Q: At one of these events a few years ago you described every empty seat as a tragedy and you were right because we know how many people there are that want to get in that can’t get in. But more importantly Arsene Wenger has talked about the atmosphere and the effect on the team, and you spoke about marginal gains; scouting, psychology, fitness. Having a stadium that is full every week could be the difference between 1-2 points that win us the league. Can you do something about it, invest in a better ticket exchange, introduce home credits, because it’s getting worse and worse and it drags the atmosphere down. Maybe spend £3m (!) on a better ticket exchange?

IG: Our ticket exchange is one of the most used in Europe, more than 70k tickets were sold through ticket exchange last year and it’s something we’ve spent an enormous amount of time and money on and put internal resource behind. There’s probably somewhere between 10 and 15 different initiatives online now, there’s cashback which means you’ll get the money straight away, rather than having to wait for renewal times, so there are work streams behind that that are tremendous and are very, very draining on resources and we do it because we agree with you, we don’t want a single empty seat.

We are also tied in with ticketmaster, so the technological issues we face are not simple, it’s not just a question of throwing £3m at a fantastic system that solves all the issues. This is another thing we are working on, we are getting there, we have the best one in football and we are trying to make it better and there are more things coming online all the time, better and better improvements.

Some of the ideas we are given, I don’t think are solutions. A lot of people ask why we can’t have a ticket exchange that can go until the last minute. But that has a counter, because then people do wait and then people aren’t ready to pick those tickets up on the day of the game, then the people that put those tickets on the exchange, don’t sell them, so they have less propensity to use ticket exchange.

It’s complicated, but we are learning as we go along how to make it the most effective and it is a high objective. Obviously, all of us want to have a full stadium with all of those seats occupied, we want to fill those seats. Something else is ticket exchange for people that are not members, ticket exchange to give your seat to charity, all of these things, in response to suggestions and also in response to research we are doing, are under consideration. It’s a great system.

Q: You’ve spoken a lot tonight about the vision and strategy for the club and the “majority shareholder”, we’ve got a manager on a very high salary. What does the board set as the objective to the management team at Arsenal and all those people in the background that you mentioned?

IG: There is a broad question here about where we want to be as a football club. I’m not prepared to say everything is bad, and this is projected by those that have a confirmation bias that we’re happy with top 4, that we are not trying to win. All I can tell you is I give my life for this football club and I want us to win. I want us to win the Premier League and I want us to be one of the top teams in Europe. That’s what it’s about for me, that is what I am involved in this football club for (applause).

It’s frustrating that we are not quite where we want to be, but we have a chance to get there. A lot of clubs that haven’t made those difficult decisions, made transformational decisions along the way, been hesitant or had a clear vision and didn’t have the patience to see it through, a lot of those clubs along the way are falling by the wayside.

We’re the ones that have got a chance to do it and we’ve got a chance because we’ve got passion, we’ve got vision and we’ve got the discipline to see it through. We make mistakes along the way, I don’t pretend at all that we are perfect and I don’t pretend that we haven’t fallen short of what we want. But that is what we want.

We want to be at the top of football and that is the direction that we’re heading in. Within the Premier League, we continue to grow, we continue to get bigger. The Premier League continues to grow too, because of clubs like us. To me, that is beginning to put us on the cusp of being at the top of football and I think that is a magical position. I’m really excited about it.

Q: Why are the board so against giving Alisher Usmanov a place on the board?

IG: The board has a good relationship with Alisher Usmanov, we had a meeting with him just a few weeks ago, so there is an ongoing dialogue there. But we feel like we are in a good position, in terms of our position as a football club. We feel like we’ve got a unity behind that vision.

I think the one of the things we are conscious of is that we need more diversity on the board. In terms of bringing Mr. Usmanov onto the board, that is not on our agenda at the moment and it’s certainly not going to happen imminently.

TW: Is it on Mr. Usmanov’s agenda?

IG: I don’t think it is. It’s not an ongoing discussion.

Q: 5 years ago at this event, you said Arsene was accountable to the supporters. Given the recent supporter unrest I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts.

IG: I said something 5 years ago that I thought was relatively uncontroversial, because I feel like we are all accountable to the fans. Because what is a football club without fans? Who makes the decision about the manager? Self-evidently, it is the board. So there is that accountability built in. But in a broader sense, we’re all accountable to the fans.

My best experience with this football club was on the open top bus tour after the 2014 FA Cup. Forget about globally, just looking locally, here, on the streets of Islington, what that meant to people. Seeing how that day, everybody just came together and enjoyed that moment, uncritically, just being in the moment. That’s what I want to create more of.

So one of the things that makes me really sad, really, really, is seeing these divisions and this argument that goes on and on and on. I wish, I hope that we can all come together and understand that we all have the same objective here. Whether we agree about whether Arsene is the right man as our manager, or whether it should be someone else. That debate goes on all the time at every football club in the world.

That shouldn’t be causing divisions between us where we are questioning one another’s love for the club. Where we’re questioning what it is we want from this club, we all want the same thing. So to me it is incredibly sad to see those things, but still the board has to focus on the things that it believes are best for the club to progress us to where we want to get to. It continues to make decisions it believes are in the best interest of the club and that is what it’s doing. I want us to come together and understand that we want the same thing.

Q: I would like to know what kind of information you get from data analytics. I haven’t seen any benefit so far, for £45 I can get a copy of FIFA 16 and get lots of data. (I think this gentleman was kind of joking, but kind of not joking at the same time, if you catch my drift).

IG: If I would have known we could get that for £45, I honestly wouldn’t have done what we did! We identified this company and we acquired them because we believed we needed to be at the forefront of data analysis in football and we think that this was the best thing. So, “we” that is me and Arsene, decided to go with it.

It has been incredibly valuable and I would point to our transfer activity 6 or 7 years ago, if somebody sits down and analyses that it would be interesting (WHY NOT HAVE YOUR DATA ANALYTICS COMPANY DO IT FOR YOU IVAN? WE’RE ALL VERY BUSY) I think you would see more mixed success then. There are far less, adverse, bad surprises since we acquired that data company.

We’re spending tens of millions on players and it’s really important we get that right, we can’t afford to make mistakes like Manchester City can, I didn’t mean they make lots of mistakes! I mean they can more easily correct their mistakes by throwing money at it. We can’t afford to make mistakes like that, so it has been a really important acquisition.

TW: Also, I’ve got to say, you’ve never seen Ivan play FIFA!

Tom Watt draws events to a close to applause, not before Ivan dished out a verbal bouquet to the audience.

IG: This is a Friday night and there are a lot more people that would like to have been here, but we’ve got around 350 people here who have given up a Friday night to come and be engaged and passionate about our football club. I appreciate you guys caring about this club and I want to promise you that I and the team that work here feel the same way about it as you do, we feel the same as you do and I’m convinced that we can bring it on even more. So thank you for coming.

Full transcript with Gazidis

[Maestro]

Thanks Kano

[Özim]

Full transcript with Gazidis

Couldn't be asked to read all that because quite frankly the guy is a bore, but from what I did read there's excuses, BS about how we recognise our failures and why we only signed on player last summer.

This is basically just nonsense, hollow words that are meaningless and trying to pull the wool over the fans eyes with some cheap words.

[Kano]

You're no doubt right but those are his words for everyone to read.