Ivan Gazidis's first AGM signals start of new Arsenal era
Let me try to describe last Thursday for a Gooner who may be living in Vancouver or Cape Town or Rickmansworth and has never attended an Arsenal AGM.
You arrive at the Emirates Stadium and the staff are super-polite and welcoming, you go up a short escalator, and then you have coffee, tea and biscuits, you chat to some friends, you sign a big Arsene Wenger birthday book, and after that you take your seats.
Then eight men come onto the stage as the shareholders are sorting themselves out and settling down.
The eight men, from the right, are David Miles, the club's long-serving Secretary, Lord Harris of Peckham who has grey hair and glasses, Danny Fiszman, Peter Hill-Wood, Ivan Gazidis, slim and bald but younger than the others, the American Stan Kroenke sitting next to Gazidis, then the white-haired Sir Chips Keswick, with Arsene Wenger on the far left.
Surprisingly, Ken Friar is not on the stage.
Company law dictates the form and content of an Annual General Meeting but not the tone. So, while this is a business event it is also a social event, a day of affirmation, a ritual in which tribal pride is expressed, a ritual in which the unique character of this institution has to be re-stated and celebrated. This football club, which has changed dramatically in recent years, means a lot to these shareholders, and has meant a lot in the past.
At 11.30 a.m. Peter Hill-Wood stands up and surveys the 400 faces in front of him in the spacious Woolwich Suite and says, “Looks like we’ve sold out again, which is very nice."
It’s a very English characteristic, to joke at serious moments. Newcomers might be surprised that the Arsenal chairman begins proceedings in such a flippant manner, but the rest of us don't bat an eyelid. Indeed, it's quite hard for me imagine these an Arsenal AGM without the old Etonian's one-liners.
In the recent past the format of the Meeting always includes the chairman's introductory remarks, questions on the accounts, a report by the Managing Director, further questions, and a top-of-the-bill address by the main man, Arsene Wenger, who is a superb public speaker, especially at the AGM
Hill Wood said, "Ken Friar's not here today- he had a new hip put in, he’s in hospital for another couple of days."
Ken Friar joined the club as a tea boy, became the wages clerk, then assistant Secretary, then Secretary, then Managing Director. Keith Edelman, Danny Fiszman and Friar worked tirelessly for six years to overcome many obstacles to the stadium move.
Following his agenda, Hill-Wood said,"Any questions on the accounts that you'd like to ask? Don't make them too difficult."
Nigel Phillips from the Arsenal Supporters Trust stood up, noted that while new shares had been issued to Granada for £80 million, mentioned the commercial and property deals, and asked, "Could you please explain which other financial options have been considered?"
Hill-Wood admitted that Nike had made a "one-off payment up front" and that, "the investment by Granada was extremely helpful in the funding of the stadium."
He said the club had no plans for raising further capital, and had always budgeted for not being in the Champions League once every fourth year.
Asked about a group of chasing clubs who are spending money to challenge the Big Four, Hill-Wood said, "I don't consider Aston Villa and Tottenham our rivals, really."
Shareholders laughed loudly and applauded. Inside or outside an Arsenal AGM, that is a reasonable remark. While only time will tell whether it is a complacent remark, we can safely say that Tottenham directors are obsessed with their more successful neighbours. Arsenal are not obsessed with Spurs, who last won the league in 1961.
"It's not true to say we haven't invested in players. Arsene Wenger wanted two players who cost a combined total of around £40million and both have been a great success. Sorry if you hadn't heard of them.
"So we are investing money in players. Over the last five years we have spent £150m on players and brought in about £90m through sales. We have made a big investment in player wages, and the players Arsene has brought in are as good as most others in the country. Our number one aim is to keep these players and increase their contracts and maintain stability. None of us just want to go out and spend millions on players who won't improve the squad. We have spent money and are spending money, but not recklessly.
"We are always looking for players who can strengthen the squad, but these good players don't grow on trees. If there is another Thomas Vermaelen out there then I'm sure Arsene will find him."
As always, there were a number of silly questions like, "Why do we have a wet pitch? Will schoolboys now have to hose down the local parks?" And, "What's the furthest distance any season- ticket holder travels to a match? And Does Gunnersaurus ever go abroad? "
One shareholder said he hoped Arsene goes on for another fifteen or 20 years.
Several directors were re-elected, with Hill-Wood saying, "Carried unanimously," before anyone had a chance to put his hand up to object. Not that anybody would have done. Regulars know that these formalities are mandatory, but Hill-Wood said, "Sorry, it's all quite boring for you, but I have to go through it."
On Arsene Wenger, he said, "We all appreciate him enormously and -" Hill-Wood then repeated an aside from the director sitting next to him. "Maybe he will sign a new contract, says Danny Fiszman."
Absurdly, someone asked Stan Kroenke about his intentions. That was almost as naive as a tabloid sports editor complaining that Roman Abramovich won't give him an interview. Hill-Wood just laughed and said, "He thinks it's a good investment and I agree with him."
On a more serious note, he added, "We've got the Takeover Panel breathing down our necks, so I’ve got to be very careful about what I say. Which I’m not, I'm often indiscreet."
One shareholder complained that some fans found the stadium name, the Emirates, to be "alienating", and suggested the club should reclaim that part of its identity ASAP. However, Hill-Wood said, “We've all got used to that now." When another shareholder said that Arsenal’s away strip had been yellow for 40 years and still should be, the chairman said, "I quite like the blue."
The chairman then welcomed his new chief executive.
"I’d like to introduce Ivan Gazidis.We're delighted that Ivan has now recruited a senior executive team because we need a strong team going into the twenty first century."
This was a lovely generational handover moment for Hill-Wood. Here he was, a 73-year old retired banker, introducing a corporate leader young enough to be his son, who joined the club two months after last year's AGM and who has been driving the business for the last ten months. At that moment Hill-Wood's face, voice and manner seemed to suggest: I'm really glad Ivan's here, I'm really, really glad Ivan's here because we didn't enjoy the seven months before he came, when we had no chief executive.
Gazidis stood up and said he was truly privileged to have his first opportunity to talk to us, emphasised "Arsenal's 123 years of tradition and integrity," and said the club needed more than a vision. It also needed the discipline and determination to turn that vision into reality
"We’ve re-signed eight first team players to long-term contracts and many youth players too, " he said. "We also engaged and listened to our fanbase on a number of issues."
He had hired four new executives "to give us a forward and out-looking management infrastructure." He said that Arsenal needed a strategic plan to take the club forward, that the plan was not complete yet, and that it was more important to get the plan right than to finish it quickly and tell us what it is. Nobody could argue with any of that.
On past commercial deals, Gazidis said there are "certain non-negotiables" and he noted that Manchester United appear to be moving towards changing their first team kit every year.
Tim Payton from the AST asked him about custodianship and plurality and said, "Can we work with you ?" and Gazidis said he welcomed input from supporters groups and wanted the club's strategy to take account of "the social, demographic and technological changes that are driving the world."
Hill-Wood was asked why the shareholding details were not printed in the Annual Report and he said those figures were not in last year's Report either. Gazidis explained that since the Companies Act 2006, that was no longer required, but the shareholdings were available on Arsenal.com and trades were covered daily by the PlusMarket website.
Educated, precise and thorough, Ivan Gazidis came over very well. He's smart and well-qualified but also a sincere listener. A lot of brainy people don't listen but he does and Arsenal should be run by someone who listens. The Arsenal CEO needs to have the right personality as well as the right CV. Above all, the role needs someone who is genuine and I believe Ivan Gazidis is that man. He is not a politician who knows how to fake sincerity. He is straight. He is genuine. He will be a huge asset and I'm very hopeful that Stan Kroenke and Gazidis will put Arsenal where I think the club should be.
Then Peter Hill-Wood, having lost his place on the agenda, exclaimed,"We have a film !" In a short commercial for the Wenger era at the club, the manager was asked which was his favourite goal : Thierry Henry's against Liverpool in 2004 "because we were down." His favourite game was the win at Real Madrid, when Henry scored.
Then Arsene Wenger spoke for eleven minutes. Gazidis had spoken for seven minutes. Using a hand-held microphone, the manager started by thanking us for putting up with him for so long, as he invraiably does on these occasions.
"I have the privilege to be in front of you for the thirteenth time, and not many managers have that privilege in the world. I have thought about all those managers who do not always remain in the job. So, thanks for your loyalty. It is unusual but it shows as well that this club is special. It is special about how we behave, how we want to behave, and that's why as well I think I have been loyal to the club because there is something special here that we want to keep you."
Then he claimed last season showed the potential for the future.
"We came out of the season where our mental strength has been tested, but I believe as well that, in the last season, you could see there were ingredients in the team that show the team has a future. We made a sloppy start, a slow start, and you could feel straight away at the start that not everything as right with the belief inside the team, with the belief of our fans, and it will be that our strengths will be questioned."
Wenger then had the audacity to predict that what we think now is not what we will believe in the future.
"But despite that, when we take it all into perspective we will one day realise that it was not such a bad season. Why? Because we had the longest unbeaten run - 21 games from November to May. Why? Because we reached the last four in Europe and that is not so often the case. We were in the last four of the FA Cup and the overall achievement was not as bad as many suspected. But the most encouraging is that when we were under pressure in October, the team responded where many teams would have gone down we maintained united, strong, and saved the place in the Champions League and went into the last four. When I say saved the place in the Champions League, it looks today obvious that every ear we just turn up and play in the Champions League. It is not. It is not obvious and we have to right that because it is not given to anybody."
Then he talked about Arsenal staying the top without spending recklessly.
"It is today the twelfth consecutive year in the Champions League. There is only three clubs in Europe who have achieved that; Manchester United, Real Madrid and Arsenal Football Club and that means first of all the consistency is there in the club, it means as well that other clubs, massive clubs who invested huge amounts of money, have not done it. It is not always about just pumping money into the teams. There is something more magical in our sport because it is a team sport. And that magic that is in the team sport we want to develop and create."
Then he became somewhat political, talking about conflicting trends in today's football.
"But of course, I believe that we have to identify as well where we want to go. To have vision we have to try to identify where football goes today. The Premier League is the most attractive league in the world. That is a fact. What's happening in the Premier League is that many investors all over the world come in with investment. That is one trend. There is a second trend completely opposite to that. It is from the European Union to control exactly the money that is pumped into the game and eliminate it.
"We are in the middle today of two different ways to see the development of the game. One is people with unlimited resources who do not care about balancing the budget and one, and attempt from the European Union to regulate that, control it, and get that out of the game."
Wenger always wants to keep "our values" which are, of course, his values.
"I believe that will happen. And fortunately we are on line with the modern development of the European game, and that is why I believe to keep a club strong that is essential. Now of course, to identify with the club. I believe that when I arrived here 13 years ago I could sense that this club had values, tradition, and strength in their belief and in their values. I believe it is essential that we maintain that inside the Club. When I travelled at that time to Derby or to Coventry when they were in the Premier League, they always told me it is the Arsenal way to do things. They do it their way and it was always respect and admiration in their statements, and I believe it is essential we keep that inside the Club. I believe it is essential and important that we keep that."
That's not far from claiming that Coventry and Derby admired his way of doing things thirteen years ago.
"To identify with the team, it is important that we are proud of the culture, of the way we play football, of the way we see the game, of the way we develop our players. And I personally do believe that is vital. You cannot be a big club, or have ambition to be a big club, and have a petite culture in the way you see football. You need to be big and ambitious and have the desire to give quality in what you do. That when people wake up in the morning, they think 'I go to an Arsenal football game today and it will be great'. The expectation has to be great - and I will always take pride from that.
"To identify with the Club it is as well important that you feel a part of a winning team. I know that we have not won a trophy for four years but we were very close. And I believe as well that this team, this year, will do it. And when I said that it is not to please you, it is because I am really convinced of it. I believe as well that the fans who turn up at the games know that this team will go for it.
Arsene, if you put some British players on the pitch your fans would be happier. The fans could identify with them more easily. Kieran Gibbs would sell more shirts than Clichy, and Jack Wilshere would sell more than Eboue.
"At the end of the day, we know today we are 22nd October, we know it is very tight, so it will be down to how resilient, how consistent, how intelligent and how united we will be until the end. Because there will be periods where it will be a bit more difficult but that's where we have to show that unity and that strength that has always made Arsenal special. You cannot want to be from Arsenal and be average."
Yes, Arsene, we know that football needs a sustained collective effort.
"That's why I believe strongly this year. We have developed the team in the last four or five years with a tremendous amount of work, a tremendous amount of training to develop the players like we want. "
Like you want, Arsene. And you want a team of foreign nice guys who will not shout at you or each other.
"I personally believe that a real team is easier to develop if they are grown up inside your own club. Ideally from 16/17, they are at the club, even before that. They learn to love the club, they learn what is important about this club and they learn about the game we want to play and I believe that this team is ready today to go for it in the Premier League, in the Champions League and of course, as well in the cups. There is a strong determination inside the team and I am convinced that we will perform throughout the season.
As always, this consummate spin-doctor defined "success" by saying success was what he had achieved.
"I know that when we moved from Highbury to the Emirates, it would be a sensitive period. But I know as well that the most important is to stay at the top on a consistent way, and that's where you see really the quality of the club. Can you maintain through 10 years, 15 years to play at the top, top, top of the game in Europe. That's where you see if the club is managed well or not. And I believe that we will achieve that together."
Part 2 to follow
Oct 28, 2009