afc WHOAG

[darkman]

Alisher Usmanov in News of the World

'I don't want to be on the board of a trophyless club'"If the role of a board member is to oversee a trophyless period, while making significant personal profits and asking fans to pay the cost with inflation-busting ticket price increases then, no, I would not want to be on the board.""In terms of doing things differently, let me give you a very clear example. Arsenal has all of its major commercial contracts coming up for renewal in the next couple of years. It is no secret that to maximise the value of those you want to have success on the field and to be winning trophies. To do that you need to invest now in building a winning team"."Clearly an increase in ticket prices of this magnitude is not fair, when combined with the lack of success under current board. While I agree with self-sustaining model, I do not believe it can properly work with the debt the club is carrying, as the interest bill strips funds every year.""That is why I wrote to board and suggested that the rich shareholders should support a rights issue with sole purpose of reducing the debt. The board rejected this idea and it is clear their priority was to take money out through selling their shares, and not to put any in""Clearly the first priority for Arsenal must be to hold on to its star players such as Nasri and Fabregas. Cesc is not only one of the best footballers in the world, he is also the captain and leader of the club. What is not clear is whether the board shares this view. For too long they have seemed happy to sanction second, third and fourth as being acceptable, whilst at the same time they were planning to sell their shares.""I've always been clear about my admiration for Arsene, he has managed to create a team that plays the most exciting football despite limited resources. If I had concerns, it is that, he has not been supported enough and too much has been expected of him on his own. Once Arsenal had Dein out there every day living & breathing Arsenal Football Club and working closely with Wenger to secure the best players. They haven't had that for the last four years."

Did the board not back Wenger and bid for Jones?

[TF S4DK]

Seriously...

[darkman]

Seriously...

what's funny?

[BLACK VICTIM]

can never say tulse dnt back arsenalwatchwe weill make the signgikng n come 2nd or 3rd, win nothingwatch

[MF Cunt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pdi83i_StM&feature=player_embedded#at=343

[8BALL]

Following the AST's meeting with Ivan Gazidis today, these are the updates posted on Tim Paytons twitter.

Ivan is here. He says he has a very busy day. Agents!"A busy close season coming up. Players coming and going" IGGazidis justifies ticket price increase as only the second in six years. Defends as vital for the business model. Utility bills up 100%!Takeover completed on Friday. Stan Kroenke owns 66.6%. Almost two thirds exactly."Stan Kroenke will remain in background. Not looking for profile. Arsene looking at new signings now. Club must stick together". IGFirst question asks who is responsible for Nasri and Clichy to run their contracts down?IG "contracts are about assessing value of player. Our spend is efficient and overall we get value" implies won't be held to ransomNext question. On what basis would you remove the manager?. IG: support Arsene 100%Q.In the last 4 transfer windows we haven't done well. Can we remove aw from transfers & bring back David Dein? Lots of applause from ASTNo plans to invite David Dein back to help Arsene.Ivan worried about disconnect between players and fans. Accepts more needs to be done and club needs to do better.A question asking for safe standing to make the emirates more affordable and improve the atmosphere. Apparently Arsene is supportive.Gazidis is open to safe standing and sees it as an attractive solution. Arsenal plan to explore further.Will Kroenke take money or dividends out of Arsenal to cover his debt?IG cites Kroenke track record to suggest he won't take dividends but doesn't give guarantee.Hurrah. Gazidis agrees with me that FFP needs to also look at how much clubs take from their fans as well as their benefactors. Wake up uefaQ. Having an Arsenal season ticket is more expensive than having children. Tickets are too expensive.Gazidis owns up. Arsenal attendances given on match day aren't attendances but tickets sold. Says it is so people know the match is sold outQ. Arsenal team has a poor work ethic and attitude. They beat barca & chelsea & man utd but can't win enough routine games.Gazidis cites 'experience to close down games as being missing ingredient'. Summer transfer hint?IG: Some transfer funds are held in reserve. club should try not live on the edge.Q. Who is Arsene accountable to. IG: ultimately the fans who can make it unsustainable for him to stay. But doesn't think at that stage yetQ Does arsene need more help especially with defensive coaching? Lots of applause.'Stan Kroenke remains supporter of AST values & ownership models such as Fanshare. He will engage with AST & welcomes ownership scrutiny'Excellent news from Gazidis to back Fanshare and supporters involved in ownership. Arsenal is too important to be owned by just one personIvan ducks questions on Wenger succession plans. I think he thinks lots of media are following me for an easy headline. True!Gazidis says huge costs involved in early repayment of stadium cost. Therefore rejects Usmanov offer.Gazidis says he has spoken to potential new signings already and expects to be busy. He is optimistic for the summer. Stay tuned....Ivan closes by stressing importance of supporters and the value of evening. Very true. Credit to Gazidis for being open and engaged.

Sorry if that's all a bit muddled - see it all at http://twitter.com/timpayton.

[8BALL]

From Arsenal.com

Gazidis - Mr Kroenke understands the ClubIvan Gazidis believes that Stan Kroenke will be a force for good at Arsenal after increasing his majority shareholding in the past week.The American has been a Director since September 2008 and now owns 66.64 per cent of Arsenal Holdings plc after making an offer for the Club in April.Mr Kroenke has a long history of successful sports club ownership and, according to Arsenal's Chief Executive, he will continue to be a positive influence at Emirates Stadium."With respect to Stan we have someone who understands the Club," said Gazidis, speaking at a Q&A with the Arsenal Supporters Trust on Monday."Danny Fiszman's [illness] precipitated the change in the ownership structure and led to Danny deciding to sell to Stan Kroenke. He knew him and he was comfortable selling his shares to him, he trusted him with the great responsibility of this Club."Mr Kroenke is known to the Directors and they have confidence in him. In his track record in sports, and also very importantly his track record with Arsenal, he has used a self-sustainable model and brought success to his sports teams and he wants success for Arsenal."He has grown to love Arsenal but he will remain in the background. This is not somebody who steps forward and looks for a public profile."Gazidis also reassured AST members who are concerned that Mr Kroenke's offer for the Club will be financed by debt.He said: "The confirmations that Mr Kroenke gave in relation to his offer were, one, that he supports the self-sustainable business model of the Club, and secondly that the offer would not be funded by debt against the Club or dependent on Arsenal's business."Those were two significant commitments and confirmations that he made."

Gazidis - New signings will be coming inIvan Gazidis hopes Arsenal’s fall-away at the end of last season will be addressed by a busy summer in the transfer market. Speaking at a Q&A with the Arsenal Supporters Trust on Monday evening, the Chief Executive said he shared a “profound disappointment” with the fans over the team’s tail-off late last term however he was quick to point out that the campaign should not be labelled as a “disaster”.Mr Gazidis added he was painfully aware of the prevailing mood and hoped that freshening up the squad would bring reward in 2011/12. “Coming off the end of the season, I share with you a sense of profound disappointment,” he said. “We had a season that promised a great deal and looked like it could turn into a very special one but in the end a familiar story began to tell itself. I understand the feelings that we all felt. “It is very clear we had some shortcomings and in this close season we are going to see some turnover of players. Some new signings will be coming in and some of our existing squad will be going out. As Arsène has said, it will be a busy close season for the Club. “But also it is important to recognise that it has not been a disaster. We have a young squad and we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The trick will be identify which parts to keep and which parts to turnover. And we will do that within our financial capabilities.”

[MrJibbles]

This evening before over 200 members of the Arsenal Supporter’s Trust, Ivan Gazidis the CEO of Arsenal Football Club flanked by senior directors of the Trust replied to questions from his audience.Before doing so he made a 15 minute statement., he prefaced these comments by reminding the audience that the meeting was being televised and that this would be going out on the official website of the Club. As such he indicated that he would not be giving ammunition to the circling media vultures who presentation of the meeting would probably not be as accurate as the meeting itself. Indeed, some of you may already had early news of what was discussed, via the various social media networks like Twitter. So given that the meeting is going out on Arsenal Player at 10pm tonight, this blog will short and hopefully to the point.He started by reminding everyone of how proud he was of the values that underpinned Arsenal Football Club, throughout what struck me was that Ivan Gazidis is a slick and very eloquent communicator. He never allowed his face to reveal any emotion in response to some of the difficult questions. Given his undoubted eloquence, I have to say that I came away frustrated because of his reliance upon the usual formal Arsenal rhetoric. I am not suggesting that Mr Gazidis was unhelpful or insincere, however I do believe that as CEO he acted in accordance with the word that we heard repeatedly throughout. “Balance”Key points:This was a profoundly disappointing end to the season which ended in a familiar way, with expectations dashed in the final stages of the season.Arsenal FC’s primary function was to be a social institution, yet it was also a business and there had to be a balance struck between the competing interests in the short and long term. These being the self sustaining model of the Club’s revenues and the need to remain at the top of the game. Arsenal had laid down examples of what it stood for. It had obligations to the fans, the local community and of course the wider game in general.He addressed the issue of ticket price rises head and said thatArsenal FC had been mindful of the likely discomfort of fans in taking the decision to increase ticket prices. He went onto counter criticism very oddly by saying seeing as there had only been two price rises in 6 seasons, the club could have increased the ticket prices by a greater amount given that running costs of the stadium had doubled in some areas.>He was tasked with increasing the commercial revenue streams of the club, and in order to do this AFC had invested in a world class Commercial team. They has been working well and he now saw the green shoots of recovery.He detailed the ownership status of the club, with SK owning 66.6% and AU owning just under 30%. He said that SK had grown to love AFC following his involvement and understood what the club stood for and was 100% behind the self sustainability model of the financial model.Questions ranged from the predictable to the unexpected and IG adhered firmly to his briefHe was not going to discuss specifics such as individual players, neither was he going to give away commercially sensitive information.He played a straight bat throughout and my impression was that he only answered questions directly where there was not likely to be any media controversy arising from his responses.He acknowledge the failings, and expressed that changes would take place, but he was not at liberty what changes and when.He gave AW his 100% backing and refused to acknowledge that AW was either stubborn or error prone. He acknowledged that player wage inflation was making the business model difficult, and the challenge was to increase revenues by activities such as the pre-season tour to Asia.In response to a question which suggested that AFC needed a David Dein, he said that there were no plans to bring him back.Several questions were highly critical of Arsene Wenger and his seemingly unaccountable control of the club, the wage budget was there and IG refused to say if AW had spent all of it last season. He mention balance repeatedly, and referred to having to balance the need to spend at the right time compared to the final benefits of those decisions. He refused to explain how it was that we had two players who were close to doing a Matt Flamini and being able to walk away from the club on a Bosman, or being sold at far below the real market value.AW was in charge essentially as he knew the real values of the players. He appealed for unity, and in response to a question highlighting some disrespectful comments about the attitudes of fans made by our Chairman and AW himself. He conceded that we could all do better.He refused to state whether SK had taken out loans to pay for his purchase, and certainly on the subject of the introduction of share dividends, SK was committed to what had gone on before at the club, and had taken pains to reassure fans.He said that he would look at the possibility of safe standing areas in the stadium, but his intial thoughts was that any rearrangement might be too expensive.The rest of the questions failed to prise anything of note bar the followingThere were gasps of astonishment as he replied to a question from the Le Grove Blog about who was AW accountable.He said Arsene Wenger was accountable to the fans, and it was the fans who could in theory make it unsustainable for AW to remain at the club. Happily later on he conceded that AW was also accountable to the Board, and the vision of widespread fan protests and adverse chanting faded from my mind.I asked a question about reducing the debt on the club by asking the two Billionaires to buy out the existing loans on the stadium in strict proportion of their current share holdings. This was considered by IG as being too expensive in business terms, and there were doubts if the proposal would meet the UEFA fair play rules. I had the opportunity to get him to clarify how much this would cost, after the end of the meeting and he indicated a figure of around 50 million pounds. So if the debts are 230 million, it would cost under 300 million to release 20 million pounds a season. I still think that whilst we are waiting for commercial revenue streams to come on tap. Some alternative must be found rather than expecting the loyal fans to pay for the inflationary costs.The meeting ended as it had begun, with rounds of applause for passionate questions from longstanding fans of the club. IG would not indicate if changes might take place to the coaching staff, or which players would be brought in. It was all a question of balance.He received a polite round of applause, but I left there thinking that I had been witness to a very diplomatic and professional defence of the Club’s reputation and this was balanced by acknowledging the failures of last season and the disappointment of fans who had been effectively priced out of the club.Check out the actual content on Arsenal player later, because sadly after the first ten or so questions, I could have given the same answers myself. i.e I am not going to reveal any sensitive information, we are all in this together, and we can do better. Remember, it is all a question of BALANCE.FTK .http://www.arsenalinsider.com/arsenal-news/2567-ftk-blogivan-gazidis-qaa-with-ast

[MrJibbles]

Links to watch the AST meetinghttp://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/free-video-gazidis-qanda-session-part-onehttp://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/free-video-gazidis-qanda-session-part-two

[JGGB]

Is there anything I can even do with 1 away credit?

[TF S4DK]

Barratt London today said that it had agreed to build a new 375-home residential project next to the Emirates stadium, home of Arsenal Football Club.Barratt said it will start on site at the site on Queenstown Road in N7 in January next year, in tandem with 50:50 joint venture partner L&Q. It will complete the regeneration project that has accompanied Arsenal’s move from Highbury to the Emirates stadium in Ashburton Grove.The development, which could have an end value of £128m, will comprise three residential towers with units ranging from studios to 1,000 sq ft penthouses priced at more than £500,000.Although there is no social component, registered social landlord L&Q will be acting as a development partner on the scheme and will take an equal share of the profits.Alastair Baird, Regional Managing Director of Barratt London, said: “The homes will be situated literally yards from the stadium and we expect them to become as sought after by Gunners fans as the properties at Chelsea Village are by Chelsea supporters.”Arsenal FC director Ken Friar said: “This is the last piece of the jigsaw in our new stadium project which has delivered huge regeneration to the Borough of Islington. 2,500 new homes and 2,500 new jobs have been created over the past six years. I am proud that we stayed in Islington and proud that Arsenal has helped contribute to the local community in this way.”

We are property developers now.

[MrJibbles]

Alisher Usmanovs’s Red & White holdings has increased its stake in Arsenal from 28% to 29% it was announced today.Last week speculation mounted that Usmanov wanted to the cross the 30% threshold to allow him access to company accounts. Although his stake would not allow him any control, nor veto any decisions made by owner Stan Kroenke, it would permit him to publicly scrutinise decisions made by the current board.At a time when fan dissatisfaction is high, due to on-pitch failure and increased ticket and membership prices, Usmanov is likely to make further statements to win favour with fans. However, like an opposition politician, it’s easy to say the right things when you don’t have to follow up on them.However, the Arsenal board have made unpopular decisions in recent months and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis strongly defended price rises at a meeting held by the Arsenal Supporter’s Trust earlier this month. Fans are anxious to see investment in the team and this could go some way to easing frustration ahead of the new season.Arsenal’s ownership is essentially a dupoly, the much vaunted pluraility of ownership gone by the wayside since Kroenke outmaneuvered the Uzbeki to seal his takeover in April, and while many smaller shareholders remain, the two largest now own 96% of the club.http://news.arseblog.com/index.php/2011/06/usmanov-increases-his-arsenal-shareholding/

[MF Cunt]

MEXICAN STAND OFF TENGif Usmanov gets a place on the board, its time to put his money where his mouth is

[TF S4DK]

Angry Arsenal fans were in open rebellion last night after accusing the club of trying to gag them.Arsenal have announced plans to close down the chat room on their official website.And hundreds of Gooners responded in fury to the decision to dump the “Your Arsenal” site from July 18.Explaining the decision, the site moderator cited the evolution of Facebook and Twitter.But a week after open dissent directed at chief executive Ivan Gazidis at a fans’ forum, furious supporters accused the club of attempting to gag critics after the forum became a focus for dissent at the lack of success.One fan slated: “The forum will probably reappear when we eventually win a title. I reckon it’s now run by rose-tinters who can’t and won’t accept any dissent.”Another added: “There has been ever-growing criticism towards the club and Wenger on here these last 12 months. The ‘Wenger out’ moans have also increased considerably.“To criticise the club and especially Wenger on here a while ago was worth a death sentence but not at all nowadays. Quite the opposite in all honesty. Now the official board is slowly turning on the club and management. Maybe it’s their ‘get out’?”And a third summed up the “short-sighted” mood as he said: “To expect debate on Facebook or Twitter is unrealistic , it just will not happen.“If the club don’t like what is being said then they should address the problem rather than just sweeping it away. All that will happen is people will find other ways to make their points felt and they might be worse for the club in the long run.”

[TF S4DK]

Mr Peter Hill-WoodThe Arsenal Football ClubHighbury House75 Drayton ParkLondonN5 1BU22 June 2011Dear Mr Hill-WoodI feel it is now time to write a damning letter expressing my views both on the club and the so called people who run the club.Like many Arsenal supporters I have lost faith in the club and the management. My wife and I are season ticket holders and travel from Bristol for all home games and I travel to away games. We spend thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours going to games, that is our commitment. What is your commitment apart from robbing the supporters of their hard earned money and offering a third rate service?.This club is on the decline since it moved to the Emirates, it became a business for only shareholders and the supporters became a means to an end to line shareholders pockets. You raise the price of season tickets yet you offer nothing in return, even when we have won no trophies where you can produce a new strip for the coming season you come up with the 125 year strip to make more money. Will next year be the 126 year strip?The administration and the service level at the club is very poor because it is farmed out and the companies you use are useless, no care for the supporters and they treat them with no respect. They do not respond to letters and their administration is diabolical. The information on my renewal for season ticket and my wife’s were wrong, how? It is all on computer, I suppose it is because you use cheap labour to do these jobs, thus saving you money and making you shareholders richer.The food on offer at the stadium is very poor and it is what you would feed your chickens and pigs with inflated prices. This topic has been raised before. The club asks supporters for their opinion and when they get feedback, the club ignores it. By doing this they can actually say that we ask supporters…but they ignore their views.The team is shot to pieces; players do not want to play for Arsenal because they are ambitious and want to win accolades. They know Arsenal is not the place to come. Even the players who are at Arsenal are desperate to leave and are waiting for offers to come through from other clubs.Fiszman has been hailed as an Arsenal legend and we are all reminded what he has done for the club. Let me remind you what this man did to this club, 1. Got rid of David Dein and the club started to decline…… 2. Became “greedy” and wanted more profits for him and his cronies…… 3. Sold his shares at the “right time” to start a tug of war between the two biggest shareholders… and finally made sure that not a penny of all the profits were paid in this country when he passed away.Since the departure of David Dein this club has gone into freefall, from bad to worse. The man was true Arsenal through and through. Now we have a bunch of useless nobodies who have titles and have inherited their positions. Let me remind you that the club was founded as a working mans club catering for the working class people. Now it has become a plaything for wealthy Americans, Russians and a mixture of self inflated titled waste of space money spongers who want to milk the club through its supporters.I have vowed never to spend a penny on food or beverages and will never buy any products from the shop. I will pay for my season ticket and that’s all.It brings tears to my eyes to see my beloved club run by greedy businessmen who have no respect for football and treat supporters with contempt.The club has a wage policy for the players but I am sure that the shareholders rob the club of millions of pounds to line their own pockets. The board are very proud to inform the world how the club is in profit and one of very few that are. At the end of the season nobody will care about the millions you have made for your own gains, they will remember Arsenal for being a “has been”.The board is a disgrace and will go down in history as the money grabbing thieves who destroyed 125 year history.I do not expect a letter from you because you are obviously a busy man….not running the club, but spending your ill gained profits. The reason I say this is because when I have written to you before I have never received a reply or an acknowledgement which proves that you are a man of no character running a company who treats it’s customers with no respect.I do not wish you well and I hope that you suffer the same financial hardship, the hurt and humiliation that millions of true Arsenal supporters have had to endure since the clubs priority became money rather than football and that became evident when the club moved to the Emirates.My finishing note is that Herbert Chapman would be ashamed to be associated with this club today. He was a great man and a TRUE football fan, unlike the den of thieves who proclaim themselves as Arsenal supporters sitting in that boardroom with you.Yours with contempt,William Patey

[MrJibbles]

f*ck*ng pathetic shutting down the forum, I may not have used it in years but whats the point! Allow people to have their say no matter what.

[Heero Yuy]

That letter just kept going in and IN

[TF S4DK]

http://twitter.com/#!/NinaBracewellNo Dein. Root cause of all the troubles at AFC. Unable to work with other board members. RT @timpayton: much more important is how to construct a new Board. Mine would include Wilson/Miles/Dein/Deighton No, but everything points of DD who is connected to Usmanov. RT @ashburton_grove: Would you care to enlighten us as to why you were asked to leave the board? Nothing to do with Usmanov was it? Nothing to do with his dep. It was war at AFC between Dein and Fiszman. I just happened to caught in the cross fire. @timfiveeights: Always seemed to me that Dein wanted best for the club. Dip in form coincided with him leaving the club. I do not know him. RT @ashburton_grove: So you're completely denying your removal from the board had anything to do with Usmanov?I hope not. RT @Howley_1: do you ever invisage a time when Dein will return to Arsenal and more importantly, do you think they need him back? sadly it is an end of an era.RT @arserebel: but you didnt follow DD and sell to Usmanov, so are we to assume you agree with the KSE direction ? No not all. I am sad for the end of an era. RT @Howley_1: why not? Do you have a personal vendetta? Because its clear Dein did great things for Arsenal, Nina. Red &White;are major shareholders. Of course I have met them. Intro by the way by Dein.RT@ashburton_grove: To clear up confusion I'm correct in assuming you've never had any contact with anyone associated in any way with Red&White;? Tim, Dein and Arsene always had a good rapport. But the fallout between Dein and Fiszman has been detrimental to the club. RT @timpayton: Hi Nina, last week you said Dein was only person with genuine 'rapport' with Wenger. How would u address this for afc good? V nice Tim. Were you a fly on the wall at board meetings. I supported the bldg of emirates stadium as Dein was so opposed to it. I wasn't put on the board just to look pretty. RT @timpayton: @JamesOlley @NinaBracewell James, Nina sacked by PHW, Fiszman & Stan. Caught in cross fire of Dein v Fiszman battle. Did nothing for afc. @petersercel we will. In time we will need a more dynamic pro active younger board, and a good directional leadership.Absolutely. RT @BlackScarfAFC: And a Board that knows the game inside out. Not people coming in from abroad who have to take time to learnHer tweets in the bold.

[Heero Yuy]

Don't know if shes lying or not but I rate her for responding to the questions either way.unlike that de-generate c*nt PHW

[TF S4DK]

TBH I love the fact NONE of the board memebers like Dein. Makes me want him back more and more.

[MetaFives]

I used to get banned on the official forum all the time

[darkman]

TBH I love the fact NONE of the board memebers like Dein. Makes me want him back more and more.

Why you so eager for Dein to come back?

[Student of Accounting]

TBH I love the fact NONE of the board memebers like Dein. Makes me want him back more and more.

Why you so eager for Dein to come back?

Trust.

[TF S4DK]

Why wouldn't you be?!

[Drift]

TBH I love the fact NONE of the board memebers like Dein. Makes me want him back more and more.

Why you so eager for Dein to come back?

Trust.