Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis believes the club can remain at the top of the game for potentially 20 years, regardless of what financial fair play stipulates.
Financial fair play was introduced by Uefa President Michel Platini to make sure European clubs are handling their finances effectively where teams could potentially be banned from the Champions League or Europa League as a consequence.
The Gunners CEO insists that the club will not be changing what they do, however, and believes that Arsenal's financial model is one that all clubs strive to match.
He told Sky Sports News: "We believe in what we’re doing outside financial fair play so we’re not relying on any kind of rules nor are we really changing what we do.
"We believe that what we do is the right thing to do for our football club. This idea of a sustainable model means that we can look forward with real confidence and say Arsenal will be at the top of the game five years from now, 10 years from now and 20 years from now.
"We don’t rely on anybody but ourselves for our own success and we stand on our own two feet.
"That’s a very powerful position for us and something that we believe in regardless of what Uefa do, regardless of what financial fair play entails.
"I think all clubs want to try to get themselves to that position. Every club I speak to wants to ultimately be in that position even the ones that are spending enormous amounts of money today want to move their clubs to that position."
Gazidis went on to state that the Premier League is proving to be difficult for potential investors to get involved with and suggested that football must come up with a new model to attract a bigger pool of prospective owners.
He added: "What we're seeing increasingly is fewer and fewer potential owners able to own a Premier League team.
"More and more people finding themselves stuck and thinking 'how can I compete in this environment' and we're seeing a potential pool of owners, now, it's so small, that you're looking around the world for a handful of individuals that can be a benefactor for these clubs at these amounts of money.
"The question the game has to ask itself is 'is that healthy?' or would it be more healthy, which I believe, if we could find a model where somebody could invest in football without losing their shirt."
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
Nearly chocked myself reading that. Such flawless perfection.
Thanks for the reminder. Was tempted to deliver another knockout blow, but as you rightly said a pointless waste. And the novelty does wear off quite quickly.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
