Ivan Gazidis wants to lure Mauricio Pochettino away from Tottenham as it finally becomes clear why he left Arsenal in the first place.
We all know it didn’t make sense. Here was Ivan Gazidis, a man who had jostled for power at Arsenal with Arsene Wenger for years, finally winning that battle only to turn around and run off to AC Milan.
While it seemed to be about money, with his old buddy offering him a whopper of a salary, recent reports claim that he wants Mauricio Pochettino to take over at Milan revealing the real reason he left Arsenal – to ruin Tottenham.
Finally, Ivan Gazidis leaving Arsenal makes sense pic.twitter.com/eeDvRd8lwd
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) April 8, 2019
Of course, he is doomed to fail as that’s what our Ivan does best.
Speaking recently, Andrea Sartori of professional service company KPMG explained the financial impact Gazidis had at Arsenal, but all is not as he tried to make it seem.
“The new CEO was able to increase revenues by 95% in nine years, he will try to replicate these results in the Rossoneri,” Sartori said. “Commercial revenues, under the guidance of Gazidis, also reached peaks of 143 million per season compared to 62 of his first experiences in London.
“A method that could work in Milan is that of stadium revenues: Emirates Stadium earns safely over 100 million per season, even with a peak of 133 million, but San Siro currently earns about 35 euros per person at the stadium, with a 66% utilization rate and revenues for a seat of 15 euros compared to Arsenal’s 62,” Sartori continued.
“It is fundamental, as the data shows, to have a new and proprietary stadium.”
A lot of Arsenal’s increase was indeed down to the new stadium but that opened a full two years before Gazidis arrived at Arsenal. Quite how much credit he can take for the increase in revenues from that avenue is very clearly up for debate.
Of course, Gazidis did have to contend with Arsenal’s debt when he took up his role as Chief Executive but it’s hard to shake the feeling that he could have done more while at the club, especially when you factor in the TV revenue rise that, again, had little to do with him.
Given the increased exposure of the league, commercial revenues were bound to improve and every side in the Premier League saw their income climb significantly while Gazidis was in England. That hardly makes him the reason and Arsenal have actually fallen behind a number of clubs in terms of their finances.
If any Arsenal or AC Milan fan is hoping to see Gazidis pull off an ‘audacious stunt’ in snatching Pochettino from Spurs, then they’re going to be left sorely disappointed once again.