More on Gazidis + the forgotten man

Hello there, I have woken up with a rather stiff neck which is most inconvenient. I think this was due to the fact I was drinking beer in my dreams in a rooftop bar somewhere in the far east - and then, as we were sitting there enjoying the heat, they turned it into a car park. I hate when that happens.

Yesterday I gave you some info from the AST organised Q&A session with Ivan Gazidis. The videos are now on the official site, free to all so you don't need an ATVO account, and if you've got the time (there are three videos of about thirty minutes duration each) I'd recommend watching them. Not just because you get a good sense that Ivan Gazidis really is the right man for the job, but obviously you get much more in-depth info than was on yesterday's blog.

The thing that strikes me is how much work he is doing behind the scenes in improving the way the club is run. There were areas of the club which needed vast improvement, from the stadium to the ticketing (heed the Holic's words on this, Ivan), but most of all we needed people in the right places to ensure the club continues to grow and is run properly. He was, naturally enough, asked a lot of questions about transfers and transfer budgets. 

"Where is the budget? When are you going to spend the budget?", and so foyth.

You've seen the responses by now, that the club will spend what it can afford to spend and never any more than that. And I don't have the slightest problem with doing things that way. Everything is being done to ensure the long-term success and financial stability of Arsenal. With the club debt free on the property side it makes more funds available and as time goes by our financial situation will continue to improve. He spoke about the dangers of short-term spending and said (I'm paraphrasing here):

Arsene and I could easily have made ourselves heroes for a season or two. I'm not sure you'd have been thanking us in three or four years though.

Again all good common sense - yet there are some things Gazidis needs to consider. There's the perception that Arsene has had money but has chosen not to spend it. This rankles when we fall short again. Look at the funds brought in by the sales of Adeabayor and Toure last summer. Arsene said all that money was available to him to spend yet none of it was (and I'm not suggesting he had £40m knocking around, remember Vermaelen and Arshavin, bought in January, cost the best part of £25m). 

The other thing I think Ivan needs to do is to look at the empty seats, at the people who aren't renewing season tickets, the gaps in club level, and so on. A statement of intent in the transfer market this summer is crucial to plug those gaps, or at the very least make sure they don't grow. All along the club have said we need a team that will bring 60,000 people to the stadium every week. It's clear now we don't have a team who can do that. Yes, there are lots of people on waiting lists, and on paper all the games might well be sold out, the reality is different. Fans don't necessarily want a team full of stars, they just want a competitive team. 

And before I'm accused of being all miserable, I think we've got that for the most part. We stayed in the title race for longer than I thought we would, made the quarter finals of the Champions League, and we all know the reasons why we fell short so I'm not going to go over them again. It's about adding that bit extra, the bit that will keep us going longer, allow us to cope better with the injuries that are now as much a part of Arsenal as red and white. 

Having watched Gazidis in the Q&A though, I'm confident that the club are aware of all the issues which are causing botheration to the fans, they're hardly blind to the fact that financial stability and success on the field must end up married (or at least living together), one without the other is pointless and ultimately impossible. Let's see what happens next.

With the departure of William Gallas inevitable, and Sylvester sure to follow, central defence is an area we all expect the manager to strengthen this summer. There's talk of signing a couple of players for this position which overlooks one solution is already at the club. Johan Djourou missed the entire season, bar a few minutes at Fulham, with a knee injury. He has always been thought of very highly by Arsene. He was, for some seasons, He Who Must Not Be Named, the boss unwilling to alert anyone to a young player he felt was a bit special.

He's 23 now and hasn't quite made the breakthrough yet - but perhaps that's no bad thing. A central defender rarely shines at such an early age. Can we compare him to an album you listen to but don't particularly like at first, then realise after a few more plays it's pretty good indeed? We haven't had those few extra plays yet but he's not like the catchy album you grow sick of very quickly. Odd comparisons aside, from what he says he was supposed to play a big role last season. He says:

I was really confident about being able to play this season. The boss said to me, 'I let Kolo go for you to play'. It is the thing you don't want to hear when you are injured but it is the truth. It is difficult to take on but I swallowed it and I will fight for my place next season, that is for sure.

And let's face it, he'd have had plenty of playing time. Had he been fit we'd certainly have had a lot less Sylvester than we did. With his knee problems behind him, and a determination to make up for lost time, hopefully we'll see all that potential start to blossom. His recovery has come too late for him to make Switzerland's World Cup squad, although Philippe Senderos is included.

International managers named their provisional World Cup squads yesterday. Abou Diaby, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna and William Gallas are all included for France but Samir Nasri misses out. Theo is in for England, Cesc for Spain, while Robin van Persie, Alex Song, Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner make up the rest of the Arsenal contingent.

There's some silly season stuff about us looking at Mikael Arteta if Cesc goes Barzzzzzzzzz ... and not much else in the way of transfer guff. The idea that we might be interested in Blackburn's Paul Robinson is not so much silly season as ridiculous, absurd, imbecilic season. No, no and thrice no. We don't have enough money to keep him in pies.

Congratulations to the U18s who won the academy final 5-3 against Nottingham Forest yesterday.  Silverware!! Benik Afobe was the hero with a hat-trick and two assists. Well done lads.

Finally for today, a chance for some parents to have a Friday night to themselves and some young Arsenal fans to have an experience they won't forget. The Junior Gunners are having a camp out on the pitch at the Grove this Friday. They'll get to play on the pitch, eat post-match dinner up on Club Level and watch a movie (hopefully not The Exorcist, that scared me half to death when I was 11) before it’s time for lights out. Which is pretty damn cool for the kids, getting to play on the pitch. 

I've got two places up for grabs, for kids aged between 7 and 12. So that can be one kid and his or her friend or sibling.

All you have to do is email competition@arseblog.com and tell me who currently wears the number 12 shirt for Arsenal. Winner announced tomorrow when the lucky parents can get shot of their kids and have a night out kid will find out they're going to camp out at the Arsenal*

Right, busy morning, people to see, talking into a microphone to do. Till tomorrow.

*Eboue not included