Arsenal chief Ivan Gazidis mocked by supporters after calling the Gunners ‘the most consistently over-performing team’ as AGM descents into chaos again
Gazidis tells an ugly AGM Arsenal's results are good compared to bigger spenders - and says keeping Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil proves football comes before finances
GUNNERS chief Ivan Gazidis was mocked by angry fans after hailing Arsenal as “the most consistently over-performing team”.
An ugly club AGM descended into “a shambles” as shareholders voted out chairman Sir Chips Keswick and director Josh Kroenke — only for owner Stan Kroenke to reinstate them.
Keswick was booed and accused of trying to cut the meeting short for LUNCH while Kroenke was blasted for refusing to speak at all.
But chief exec Gazidis said Arsenal were the game’s great over-achievers, despite last winning the title in 2004.
He claimed: “We have been the most over-performing team over time.
“That is despite the criticism we get and the emotion here in the room. And despite some very loud subjective narratives and a great deal of inaccurate information.”
Gazidis, who earns more than £2.6million a year, added: “In fact, on an objective basis, we perform very well and have over a long period of time.
“There’s one accurate way to assess how well clubs perform. To compare team performance by a series of objective metrics, usually league position or points, against expenditure on transfers.
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“However, I agree completely that we have to find ways to perform better.
“We want to compete at the top of the most competitive league in the world.
“And that’s why, as a club, we are making investments and giving deep thought to how we can and will improve further.”
Yet Arsenal Supporters’ Trust spokesman Tim Payton blasted the board’s performance as “pitiful” and “a shambles.”
He stormed: “I’m still staggered at the rudeness and incompetence from the Arsenal board and Kroenke’s refusal to speak — demonstrating his total contempt.
“No wonder Arsenal can’t deliver on the pitch when they are such a shambles in their governance and ownership. It’s broken to the core.”
The entire board were heckled during the stormy meeting as Keswick snubbed shareholder’s question.
And Gazidis defended the controversial decision to allow contract rebels Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to remain at the club for the final year of their contracts.
It came amid suggestions their commitment to the club would inevitably dip.
Gazidis insisted the critics could not have it both ways, having panned the Gunners for selling Robin van Persie to Manchester United in 2012 to stop him going into the last year of his contract.
He said: “Probably, the most vocal criticism we’ve ever had at an Arsenal annual general meeting was after we had transferred Van Persie.
“We were told then that we were only financially motivated — and not focused on football.
“This summer we’ve taken a different tack.
“The decisions on Alexis and Mesut Ozil are certainly not decisions that fit the narrative that we put money first.
“But we have taken that approach to give the club the best possible chance to compete for trophies this season.”
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