Arsenal chief exec Ivan Gazidis bags £1m bonus despite no trophies and flat commercial revenues

  • Arsenal chief exec Ivan Gazidis picked up a total pay packet of £2.648m
  • He's the second highest paid club executive in the Premier League
  • Wayne Rooney has taken on ex-FA media chief Mark Whittle to do his PR
  • Andrew Johnston was all over the Ryder Cup... on TV advertising Arby's

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis received an extraordinary annual bonus of more than £1million in a year when the club won no silverware and commercial revenues were flat.

In total, Gazidis was paid a whopping package of £2.648m, making him the second highest paid football club executive in the Premier League behind Manchester United's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

The numbers are included in the Arsenal club accounts sent to shareholders. Gazidis's pay rose by nearly £400,000 for the year ending June 2016, despite Arsenal's lack of success. Woodward is understood to earn around £3m a year but United's complex accounting system does not reveal the exact figure.

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Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis received an extraordinary annual bonus of more than £1m

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis received an extraordinary annual bonus of more than £1m

Gazidis (right) was paid £2.648m - he's the second highest paid club executive in the top flight

Gazidis (right) was paid £2.648m - he's the second highest paid club executive in the top flight

England captain Wayne Rooney now has former FA media chief Mark Whittle in his corner. 

Whittle, one of the casualties of the mass FA redundancy programme, has joined the Triple S agency to work with agent Paul Stretford in looking after Rooney. 

Wayne and wife Coleen's PR, including all the crises on and off the field, has been handled for the last 13 years by the formidable Ian Monk. It is not clear what Monk's future role might be with the Rooneys or Stretford.

England captain Wayne Rooney now has former FA media chief Mark Whittle in his corner

England captain Wayne Rooney now has former FA media chief Mark Whittle in his corner

 

Unlike the FA, who had no plan in place following Sam Allardyce's demise, the European Ryder Cup captaincy looks to have a plan of succession for the next three editions. 

So it is expected to be Thomas Bjorn in 2018, Padraig Harrington in 2020 and Lee Westwood in 2022, which also shares the leadership around three countries.

The European captaincy looks to have a plan for succession with Thomas Bjorn (right) up next

The European captaincy looks to have a plan for succession with Thomas Bjorn (right) up next

 

Alex McLeish, a regular home and away Ryder Cup guest of PGA chief executive Sandy Jones, was in Hazeltine hoping that another job in football management is around the corner. 

McLeish has forged a reputation as a 'fire-fighter' boss but is confident he could succeed at a big club if given the opportunity. 

Alex McLeish, a regular Ryder Cup guest of PGA chief executive Sandy Jones, was in Hazeltine

Alex McLeish, a regular Ryder Cup guest of PGA chief executive Sandy Jones, was in Hazeltine

 

Beef is back on the menu 

Dominating the advertising breaks during the Golf Channel's coverage of the Ryder Cup in America was a commercial featuring an English golfer whose career highlight was finishing eighth at this year's Open Championship.

Andrew 'Beef' Johnson was promoting fast food chain Arby's meat in their sandwiches. Beef's link-up with Arby's has been described as 'possibly the most suitable endorsement deal ever'. 

Andrew 'Beef' Johnson was regularly on TV promoting Arby's during the Ryder Cup

Andrew 'Beef' Johnson was regularly on TV promoting Arby's during the Ryder Cup

 

Ryder Cup receives plenty of plaudits for its organisation — but the trophy presentation is still not right. It should take place on the 18th green — as it is at The Open — as soon as possible after the final putt. 

Instead, it happens later at the closing ceremony where the necessary atmosphere has to be manufactured. 

And the time it takes to put everything in place for handing over the trophy, plus the speeches, means by the time the teams eventually arrive at their final media conferences, they are too tired or worse for wear or both to properly reply to questions. 

So the point-less Danny Willett, asked to describe his first Ryder Cup experience, said 'S***'. Then, when prompted to elaborate, he said: 'Really s***.' 

Danny Willett endured a torrid weekend as Europe lost the Ryder Cup to hosts USA 

Danny Willett endured a torrid weekend as Europe lost the Ryder Cup to hosts USA 

 

Sports book publishers have been chasing Sam Allardyce's side of his doomed 67-day England reign. 

But Allardyce's camp have given them no encouragement, with Big Sam not in a good place to discuss future projects following his unseemly departure from the job he had coveted for so long. 

Allardyce's autobiography came out a year ago and the paperback edition, the only sequel contracted, covered his time at Sunderland.

Sports book publishers have been chasing Sam Allardyce's side of his 67-day England reign

Sports book publishers have been chasing Sam Allardyce's side of his 67-day England reign

 

Test Match Special has failed to reach agreement with the Bangladesh Cricket Board, who were chasing quadruple the normal fee, over ball-by-ball coverage of the one-day internationals — meaning this will be the first time there will be no radio reporting of an international match on an England tour since 2003. 

The consolation for the TMS team is that they get to go to West Indies instead for the England women’s tour.

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