The AST, who attended the Fan’s Forum meeting last Sunday before the Man City game, have released details of the event and expanded on some of the quotes attributed to Ivan Gazidis in the wake of it.
The Chief Executive spoke about this season being a ‘catalyst for change‘, and insisted that no decision has yet been made about the future of Arsene Wenger.
Via the report:
In terms of Arsenal’s football performance Ivan Gazidis assured the meeting that he recognised supporter concern at current results. He said Arsenal ‘were not where we want to be’ and said he ‘shared our pain’.
He also said that it was wrong to assume that the Arsenal Board were not addressing this and that they have an on-going objective that Arsenal should be competing to win in the Premier League and Europe.
He didn’t give any specific personnel details but made it clear that a major review of football operations and how they are structured is underway. He described his role as that of a ‘catalyst for change’.
The AST representative asked him to confirm the previous club announcement that any contract decision with the manager had to be mutually agreed and whether those decisions had been taken. Ivan confirmed it was the position and also that no decision had yet been made by the Club on how it would proceed.
We also asked how much the views of fans would inform decision-making and Ivan said that the views of fans view were important and one of a range of factors that were considered in decisions like this.
There was also some talk about safe standing in which Gazidis said he had a ‘natural affinity for’, but the club are waiting for a Premier League review before they consider it further.
In the wake of stories over the last couple of days about a schism between the board and the manager it remains to be seen exactly what the future holds, but it seems more uncertain than ever, and the lack of clarity from the very top of the club continues to be a genuine worry.
Headless chickens
Really insightful Ivan, on behalf of all fans thanks for clearing that up
Steve Bruce. (I AM JOKING)
Gazidis out !
I think we’re heading towards safe standing… very very good news.. english football atmosphere is about to get a whole lot better
He said we should be ‘competing to win IN the premier league’ rather than ‘competing to win THE premier win’
Am I exaggerating the significance of this statement?
Look, if Ivan and Stan are gonna lie, they will lie to our face. They’re not going to sit down for a meeting and decide ‘oh yeah let’s phrase things SLIGHTLY ambiguously so we can tell the fans ‘Haha we didn’t say that’ when we fail to win the league according to our grand master plan! It’s perfect, no one will blame us because we put an ambiguous disclaimer!!’ It’s good that we’re putting pressure on Ivan and the board, but this is as nonsensical a criticism as saying it’s Wenger’s zippers that’s holding us back. What next, we say… Read more »
Yes. #newhaircutforHector
Hector looks like a clueless extra in a melodramatic western. But Zlatan’s look of an old tarot card reader lady (thinning hair in a bun and unwaxed upper lip) isn’t holding him back… so…
Zlatans main character traits are confidence/arrogance.
Without them he’d shrivel into a walnut of a man….
Hard to know whether or not there is any real substance to what Ivan says, the guy has practically been in hiding over the last couple of months.
This all sounds like the standard hot air we get sent our way when we aren’t performing ‘Oh we promise there will be big changes,’ then nothing different ever happens.
So call me a cynic, but if Wenger stays I don’t expect things to be any different this time next year.
he does the same thing every game . he hasnt changed for a decade and even hasnt changed anything last game too as far as i know . i dont expect him to change even if he stays one more year.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – Albert Einstein
oh my god stop saying this ‘quote’, it’s not even Einstein’s.
Just to put you right it was Albert Einstein.
“The problem with internet quotes is that you cant always depend on their accuracy” -Abraham Lincoln, 1864
“……..” – No One
Just to be clear, Arsene Wenger is not insane ffs
Then we the fans must be the insane ones expecting arsenal yo win the title every year with the same tactics since 2000s
Maybe you are right, but I never once “expect” to win the league and insanity has little to do with it
I don’t expect to win it too nor do I care about the the team having poor league position or lack of champions league right now becausr lets face it any team can have an of season.because we will have a hope that Next season we will rectify our problems and become better. But in arsenals case that hope is not there , because the manager is not even indicating anything that suggests that he will change anything from the current setup because he still thinks this is the only way. When Liverpool finished seventh in klopps first ever season… Read more »
I’d suggest repeating the same quote again and again and again, over and over, is probably a sign of insanity….
Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.
This club needs leadership on and off the pitch, and that includes Gazidis, he is useless and should go
Would like to see Gazdis brought to account on some of the things he’s said, like how according to him we are meant to be competing with Bayern Munich now, and asked why this hasn’t happened (If it were seen as a reasonable enough target for him to say it) and what we are doing to try and make it happen.
I just watched the Rocky & Wrighty documentary. Back when we won the league in the 1990-1991 season, what did the club do? Yep, they strengthened immediately, paid a record fee of 2.5mil for Ian wright. Dein himself ensured the deal went through, palace asked for 2.5mil and he agreed instantly, can you imagine us doing ANYTHING similar now? Our standards have dropped immensely over the years and it’s because of charlatans like gazidis and co that our standards will continue to drop as long as they are around.
About the infamous Catalyst remark, doesn’t the AST statement change the inferred meaning quite a lot from what was previously understood? It says ‘He (Ivan) described his role as that of a ‘catalyst for change’. That’s quite different from saying the failure and fan unrest has been a catalyst for change, its suggesting he alone is pushing for change, perhaps against other more stubborn or broken elements.
Doesn’t it just mean that he could be the person that could instigate change? After all, a catalyst doesn’t have any effect until you add it to a reaction.
Yes indeed, I meant that all the reporting of it from a few days ago was in the context of the fan reactions being the catalyst for change rather than Ivan.
When he says he shares fans pain and dont want club to be at 6th. While fans want to see their love win something or at least give them a real hope that they are trying best and changing to do that. Gazidis means 4th should be achieved for them to keep the Kronkes business account fat. None of his teams win anything and he never talks about any goal of doing so. He only did say things like we will be like Real and Bayern and win many titles (with financial stability the crazy tiket prices brings) when we… Read more »
I’m not sure I agree with this. Winning bugger all is not a great thing to have on your CV as a football CEO at a club whose turnover is in the top 10 in the world. What self-respecting club is going to hire him based on increased share prices (largely based on the increasing revenues from broadcast media and not on his output)? Surely, if for nothing other than professional pride, he would want the footballing side of the organisation to be successful? I’m not saying he is doing a fantastic job, or that he loves the club, but… Read more »
We hired him…
Time to start a justgiving page for the amount of £1B to buy the club…
How do I become a member of the Ivan Gazidis Fans Forum?