long but important analysis..

Stan Kroenke :  he has been co-owner of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams since their relocation to Missouri in 1995. In 2000, he became full owner of both the National Basketball Association's Denver Nuggets and the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, purchasing the team from Charlie Lyons' Ascent Entertainment Group. In 2002, he partnered with American football legend John Elway and Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen to become co-owner of the Arena Football League's Colorado Crush. He continued to grow his sports empire in 2004, when he purchased National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids from Phil Anschutz

OK , HERE WE GO..

 Ivan Gazidis's first Arsenal AGM (Part 2)

By Myles Palmer

My friend Martin Wengrow, one of Wenger's most passionate admirers for the last thirteen years, asked  the final question at the AGM : Are the Arsenal goalkeepers good enough, because it is such a vital position ? Naturally, Wenger said they were and he has since said that Fabianski will be world class.

Interestingly, however, after Vito Mannone's mistake at West Ham, Wenger said he was disappointed with Mannone. That is something new. Direct criticism of a player is almost unprecedented by this manager, whose players are always “injured” rather than “ｄ ｒｏｐped.”

So here is where we are : Arsene Wenger is still the biggest star at Arsenal. His command of the media is still amazing in a Premier League set up for the big managers. Ferguson, Wenger, Benitez and Ancelotti are the real superstars of a Sky-financed global circus that lives on rolling news, huge characters in a real-life sporting soap opera, and their talking heads provide a constant flow of news, previews and reactions for a worldwide audience of fans, footballers and gamblers.

Last Friday night I happened to see the Barclays Premier League Preview and there was no disguise in what Wenger said, no compromise. He said, "The only important thing is that the club is run properly in every department. And the most important department in any football club is what happens on the pitch. As long as who owns the club doesn’t interfere with what we do on the pitch, for me it's OK."

In other words, his message to Stan Kroenke is : leave me alone or I'll walk. Don’t interfere with what I do or I will not extend my contract.

His tone, compared to how he normally talks, was grumpy, even confrontational. It wasn’t the tone of  manager who had won seven of his last eight games. It was more like the tone of someone who knows that Arsenal FC has come to a fork in the road. He knows that Danny Fiszman wants  him to extend  his contract but he realises that Kroenke and Gazidis are not afraid to replace him.

So the goalposts have been moved on Wenger. He finds himself in an entirely new situation and has had to adjust to it. That is quite ironic, because ever since Chelski happened in 2004,  Wenger has proved to be a master of moving the goalposts by saying : It’s about having the best kids, it's about playing the prettiest football, it’s about the Arsenal way of doing things, which is admired all over the world. By which he means : my way of doing things

Arsenal is a one-man show and Kroenke and Gazidis realise that. Wenger is a hard act to follow but they have to hire Arsenal's next coach at some point and they are shrewd enough to manage Wenger's departure respectfully. That process may have already started. If Wenger goes, he will be allowed the graceful exit his achievements deserve. For all we know his contract  may be a 3+1 agreement, giving him the option to walk in June 2010.

Last week silent Stan Kroenke heard all the questions and  went home to St Louis to think about where European football is going, where the Premier League is going, and how Arsenal can become a more exciting business.

He obviously thinks it's under-achieving as a company and as a team. It can be far bigger globally than any of his American teams. If Stan didn’t think that, he would not have bought 29% of the club. That much is clear.

Stan’s silence suggested he is closer to buying Arsenal than ever before. If he had said he was NOT buying the club, he would have been disqualified from making a bid for six months. He might make his move next year and if he does it will be a friendly takeover because Stan doesn’t do hostile. A hostile takeover is too expensive, involves too many lawyers, and generates bad publicity. He is not an attention-seeking billionaire who gets a kick out of making headlines. By buying his shares from the Arsenal establishment, Stan has joined the Arsenal establishment. Stan will wait till the end of the Arsenal season to make his call. If they win nothing, it is conceivable Stan might say: "Enough of this madness, let's hire a Hiddink, a Capello, an Ancelotti, win trophies, tour the world and make Arsenal massive!"

For me, this AGM had an a end-of-an-era feel to it because Peter Hill-Wood seemed more throwaway than ever before, and because Wenger, as one of my friends said, was not as inspirational as usual. I wondered whether that Shareholders Q & A killed something in him, and whether he resented being hung out to dry by Friar and Gazidis, who sat in the front row while frustrated shareholders asked questions, some of which were angry questions. Maybe he now feels vulnerable and expendable.

My guess, as you probably know by now, is that Danny Fiszman does not want to choose the next manager of Arsenal, so he has chosen the next owner.

Danny had only been at the club for five years when Wenger was brought to Arsenal by David Dein in 1996. So I Danny has enjoyed trophies at Highbury, seen a lot of sparkling football and had a lot of fun. But he has also suffered huge stresses brought about by the stadium move, by the sackings of David Dein and Keith Edelman,  by Usmanov, Lady Nina, Highbury Square, and the recession. It's a long list of big stuff and so far Arsenal has done well to be where it is. Unfortunately, it can't stay where it is. The club has to move to the next level.

Mainly, though, this AGM was significant because it clarified the situation. In other words, it confirmed that the Wenger youth project is in its final year. Ivan Gazidis has categorically stated that fourth place isn't good enough. He says Arsenal need a significant trophy this season, so Wenger has had to tell shareholders that Arsenal will win a trophy in 2010. At the moment the manager and the CEO are singing from the same hymn sheet. Both men said it is more rewarding to build success rather than to buy it and both said it's time for this team to deliver.

I have no crystal ball and no idea what March, April and May will bring, any more than I know how many goals Arsenal will beat Spurs by on Saturday.

All I know is this : We are witnessing the culmination of Wenger’s youth project, which will either succeed or fail. He has to show Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis that his philosophy is correct, that the culture he ｃ ｒｅａｔｅs at Colney is a winning culture. It’s time for this team to deliver. The clock is ticking, the calendar is turning month by month, and the team has to prove their manager is right to believe in them so fervently.The team has to deliver.  Everything else is irrelevant.
 
Over the last decade the club has been better at set-pieces than the team, so the AGM went off smoothly, as you would expect. This was the first time we saw Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis sitting next to each other, and one where Wenger said something he has never said before : We will win a trophy this season.

For me, Ivan Gazidis looks like the main man now. Not because he seized the spotlight or said anything newsworthy, but because Gazidis convinced me that Arsenal will now treasure the past while thrusting ambitiously into the future. The club is becoming an American corporation, so the new boss is performing a balancing act. He has to be a custodian and a chief executive at the same time. He wants to move the club into the future without abandoning the past and his overdue “Arsenalisation” of the stadium is a good example of that.

After we left the AGM, four of us were walking past the big red photomural on the outside of the stadium wall, the one with Cliff Bastin, Tony Adams, Liam Brady and Thierry Henry.

"I like that," I said. "I think it works."
"I like it as well," said Stewart. "But I've got issues about Bergkamp not being up there."

Oct 30, 2009