Arsenal chief warns rivals that revolution will raise their game
ARSENAL chief executive Ivan Gazidis last night sent out a warning shot to big spending rivals Chelsea and Manchester City, insisting that new regulations will crack down on football’s “insane business model” of rising wages and transfer fees.
Gazidis faced a grilling by 300 fans at the Emirates Stadium and told the Arsenal faithful that UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules would turn the tide in the club’s favour.
“Football is moving towards Arsenal,” Gazidis said. “Those financial fair play regulations will be enforced. They are not the wild and wacky brainchild of Michel Platini, they come from the clubs.
“Football has cried out. These [FFP rules] are not the dreamings of somebody sitting in UEFA’s office – this is coming from football clubs that are going bankrupt and they are saying ‘we have to do something’.”
Gazidis also revealed that he had sat on the working group that developed the FFP proposals, which aim to stop clubs running up huge losses that are often paid off by their billionaire owners.