It is perhaps no surprise that a man who spent 14 years within the heavily regulated structure that is the American MLS is calling for a salary cap in the Premier League.
It is also not a surprise that he is now at a club in the Premier League most at threat from the spiralling cost of wages.
Ivan Gazidis’ comments in the Guardian this week certainly made interesting reading and contained valid points, but it is flying in the face of what is happening in football at the moment.
As Man City pick off their rival’s best players, offering wages of up to £250,000 a week, they are rapidly joining Chelsea in every fan’s least favourite teams list. However immoral that level of spending is and no matter how much we bitch and moan the reality is that City will be challenging us for a top four position next season.
Gazidis can talk up our ‘self sustaining finances’ all he wants but if it means we miss out on trophies and Champions League football I doubt it will go down well with the fans.
I personally hope the now infamous ‘bubble’ will burst and the Chelseas, Liverpools and Uniteds of this world will finally pay for their greed, allowing well run clubs like us to finally prosper and gain reward for running a football club responsibly and based on the realities of basic economics.
But will that bubble burst? There is no sign of it at the moment. Are we going to sit there and moan for years, waiting for that ‘I told you so moment’ only to see our rivals clean up?
Or is it a case of if you can’t beat em, join em? The political manoeuvring of Alisher Usmanov suggests he is stepping up his attempt to gain a seat on the board. A share issue would provide us with more cash, but does he have ulterior motives in underwriting it? I am no expert in boardroom politics but I’m sure he isn’t doing it to give Wenger some cash.
Should we stop fighting against the tide, forget our morals and accept a billionaire owner into the Arsenal family? It would certainly be my second choice, but with the Premier League money train showing no sign of stopping, unless we want to slide into mediocrity, I think it is the only choice we have.
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