Arsenal boardroom insider has just shared something big about Man City

A former Arsenal supremo has disclosed something of a sliding doors moment relating to behind-th-scenes developments at Man City.

Arsenal and Man City have contested the last two Premier League title races, with the Gunners falling short on both occasions.

After Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover in 2008, Arsenal have finished above City in the Premier League on only three occasions – and two of those came in the first two years post-takeover.

Many supporters have suggested that several of those season have an asterisk next to them due to Man City’s alleged 115 offences relating to financial disclosure and co-operation with the Premier League.

City have always vehemently denied the charges and are insistent that they will clear their name when the case is heard by an independent panel.

It emerged this week that the trial would be held next month and that the Premier League want a resolution before the end of the 2024-25 season.

Some of those 115 charges date all the way back to 2009, in the near immediate aftermath of the Abu Dhabi-backed takeover.

At the time, Garry Cook was City’s CEO and he remained in situ until 2011.

Cook oversaw the signings of Robinho and later Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and others, as well as appointing Roberto Mancini as manager in a move that yielded City’s first Premier League title.

But, it transpires, things could have been very different – and Arsenal may have indirectly changed the course of history.

Ivan Gazidis reveals he rejected Man City before joining Arsenal

Ivan Gazidis currently serves as the chairman of Ligue 1 side AS Saint-Étienne, where he played a key role in orchestrating the club’s acquisition by Kilmer Sports Ventures.

Prior to that, he had served in a similar position at AC Milan, helping deliver their first Serie A title in almost a decade in 2020-21.

Between 2008 and 2018, Gazidis was Arsenal’s chief exeuctive.

However, in an interview with the Excellent Leadership Podcast, Gazidis revealed that he came close to accepting the the job that Garry Cook took at Man City before joining Arsenal.

He said: “This opportunity with Arsenal came up and I just had to do it. It was something about being involved in football at the highest level.

“Moving also from a league to a team, you know that feeling of electricity and excitement that you have on the weekend when there’s a big game, which I remember from when I was a kid or even playing football. I wanted to have that.

“It was really that elementary in a way. [Running] a league, you’re always extremely balanced, always in between the different owners, the different interests, and so your job is to be a little bit detached from those ups and downs.

“I wanted to live on the edge and I wanted also to be a part of the Premier League, which was the best league in the world in terms of the quality of the competition and players and atmosphere and so on. And so I made that move to Arsenal.

“It’s a little bit of a convoluted story. Manchester City had approached me the year before. Tis was before their new ownership, and I had said I was not interested.

“But I think once your name is kind of contemplated, I suppose it gets out there. Arsenal came to me a few months later and said, ‘Look, we’d like you to, we’d be interested in, you know, putting you into the process.’

“And I said: ‘having been through the Manchester City experience, I don’t really want to go through another process. You’re not going to appoint somebody who you think I’ll be perceived as American, even though I grew up in England and consider myself to be English, and it’s a little bit of a wild card to take somebody from the US league in.

“‘So I don’t think it’s going to happen. I really appreciate your interest, but I’m, you know, I don’t want to go through that emotional journey. I’m really happy where I am.’

“And they went through a process themselves, and at the end of that process, this is six or seven months later, came back to me and said, ‘No, you’re the one that we want.’ And that was, that was too compelling to say no to.”

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What is Arsenal’s view on City’s 115 charges?

Officially, no club has taken an official position on the Premier League’s case against Man City – and that includes Arsenal.

What we do know however is that Arsenal are believed to have sided with the Premier League in Man City City’s reverse case relating to associated party transaction rules.

City argue that the Premier League’s stipulations that sponsorship deals with owner-affiliated entities must be deemed to meet fair market value standards are anti-competitive.