RTK Blog: Gazidis Speaks Live! Lala land chronicles pt 3

This morning Ivan Gazidis is holding a breakfast meeting with a select group of Journalists from the Sporting and Financial world, it may have been prearranged, but one cannot help thinking that this is opportunity is being used to rebut any hint of Crisis. From a selection of tweeted responses from people close to the action, let us analyse Ivan Gazidis’s responses. Before I present this, I tweeted that Ivan Gazidis’s predicted soundbytes would be No Crisis, AW will turn things around, KSE are very happy. Ivan Gazidis will want to steady the ship and this is purely a PR exercise and he may shed crocodile tears, but no changes will be announced in my view so here we go, check back regularly for tweet updates every five minutes.

James Olley Football Correspondent of the Evening Standard

At Sports Industry Q&A

ON STAN KROENKE

“The Silent Stan moniker is overused. The truth Stan Kroenke is not silent and very involved throughout.”

Stan said he’ll speak to the fans when he’s next in UK and he will. He is not media adverse but not here for ego gratification.”

(other non James Olley tweets)

“Stan kroenke is not in sport for his own ego gratification but that doesn’t mean he isn’t supportive and has a clear vision”

ON THE GAME IN GENERAL AND ARSENAL IN PARTICULAR

“Financial Fair Play is here. If you go out and spend enormous sums on players, you must ask how you are going to get compliance.”

“We’re in a very healthy financial position. We didn’t have to sell to buy and have ability to make further moves if needed.”

“We have tremendous primary partnership deals with Nike and Emirates. They were structured in a way to help build our stadium.”

“In 1 sense we appear behind Man Utd etc but these deals are delivering revenue in a different way. They’re up for renewal in 2014″

“When we look at #afc in last 5 years, some people say its a total failure. I can’t accept that- we’ve been incredibly consistent”

“Chasing after the same players as Man City or Man Utd would not be sustainable or necessarily successful.”

“We’ve increased ticket prices twice in last six years, in contrast to other clubs. 4% of the rise was inflationary…”

“…and the other 2.5% was VAT. That one is an issue between you and your government. I am not responsible for that.”

OTHER TWEETS (not James OLLEY) courtesy of retweets from @darrenArsenal1

“We need a tactical adjustment – signing of more experienced players”

“Season ticket non-renewals extraordinarily low- manifestation of public angst not translated inot non-renewals. We understand fan base”

“The discussions around Arsenal at the moment are relentessly negative”

“Transfer strategy is extremely disciplined, and WILL NOT CHANGE. We have significant funds to invest”

Tremendous support from partners with deals structured in way to allow us to build stadium + generate revenue”

ON ARSENE WENGER

“Arsene is not broken. He is portrayed as some kind of idiot and that is damaging, not for Arsenal or Arsene, but for the game.”

“Arsene has not become a bad manager or out of touch- that is absolute nonsense. He is frustrated and shares our frustrations.”

(Other Tweets -non James Olley)

Arsene is frustrated, he’s focused on delivering success as ever. he didn’y suddenly become a bad manager, that’s nonsense”

“On Tweeting about the Club “  (non Olley source)

“Social media accentuates mood swings as you can learn exactly what the AFC community is thinking straight after matches”

“The Club does monitor tweets to guage mood of Arsenal Community”

“The aim of Arsenal is the creation of pride for the fans”

Ok, the tweets have dried up for the moment, and I wonder if the dig at social media made journalists present put down their blackberrys??? hahahaha

I shall discuss what has been said shortly as an interactive blog throughout today as more reports emerge.

COMMENT

Well my prediction which didn’t require more than the IQ of a mosquito was confirmed. this is now

FORTRESS ARSENAL

Gazidis is unrepentant and as expected he does not agree that there is a crisis. The fans are solidly behind Arsenal Football Club if the best indicator represents Season Ticket renewals. Arsene Wenger has the confidence of the Board and there is absolutely no chance of any change anytime soon.

So there you have it. Ivan Gazidis is in charge, and all is well. Be patient, Arsenal is in a temporary shite storm and it will blow over. Arsene will emerge from the ashes Phoenix like, with feathers resplendant, preening at his ability to get Arsenal into the top four at the end of the season.

But what if this bravado falls flat upon it’s face?

What will Ivan Gazidis say as the share price of Arsenal falls, and if we finished fifth, the loss of broadcasting revenues from UEFA and Sponsors through our Champions League involvement will hit the club very hard indeed, that is when there will be a crisis. We will not be able to sign world class players as we will have lost that lure. So finishing outside the top four will bring our “Forward” momentum to a standstill

Literally the wheels will come off.

To quote my tweet to DarrenArsenal1 yesterday

“Will Gazidis confirm that the huge financial crisis in football predicted by Arsene Wenger (in the next 3 weeks to 3 months) , is going to arrive at the Emirates first…”

I fear for our future…

I fear for our fans…

I fear for our Club…

Signing off from lala land….

RTK, Follow @RTKafc_insider