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Ivan Gazidis

Gazidis - We must avoid an over-reaction

Like everyone at Emirates Stadium, Ivan Gazidis is unhappy to finish fourth this season. However the Arsenal CEO is warning against over-reaction and believes this Club is in a “very, very promising situation” over the next few years.

After he took the job in January, the 44-year-old was quoted as saying “fourth place was not good enough”. Therefore, at a meeting of the Arsenal Supporters Trust this week, Mr Gazidis was asked for his view now given that Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea had consigned Arsène Wenger’s side to that very position. His response was robust.

“I am not happy where we ended up but I am pleased we are disappointed by it,” he said. “There are other clubs who would feel this is a good position. Or we could say in December if someone had said we’d have been in this position then we would have bitten their hands off.

“So why aren’t we feeling great about it? The answer is because we have higher expectations.

“But this is not a situation where we should be over-reactive and feel that we are in crisis. We are not. We have a team with an average age of 23 or 24 that went to the Champions League Semi-Finals and is going to get better.

“Does it need to be supplemented? Quite possibly but it is a very, very promising situation for the next four or five years.

“So right now I think it is important to have some perspective and be brutally realistic with ourselves  - but not only on the negative side but the positive side aswell.”

[Wednesday, May 13, 2009]

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