No trophies and stars leaving... but Arsenal chief Gazidis bags 24% pay rise to £2m



Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger may be struggling to compete with their big-spending rivals in the transfer market - but the Gunners are still showing their financial clout in the boardroom.



Chief executive Ivan Gazidis saw his pay packet rise by 24 per cent rise to £2million last season - one of the highest sums ever paid to an English football executive.

Money matters: Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis (left) and manager Arsene Wenger

While the Arsenal failed to win a trophy for the seventh successive season, Gazidis raked in £1.366m basic salary, a bonus of £675,000 and pension contributions of £100,000, reports The Sun.

Their Premier League rivals have yet to file accounts for the last 12 months but London rivals Chelsea paid £2.155m to ALL their directors during the 2010/11 season. The highest paid – believed to be chief executive Ron Gourlay – received £917,000.



Money talks: Arsenal were unable to stop Samir Nasri joining big-spending Manchester City

The only Premier League executive who earned more in 2010-11 than Gazidis did last season was Manchester City's Garry Cook, who pocketed £2.204m.

Arsenal announced last week that they had made a pre-tax profit of £36.6m in 2011-12 – thanks to a £26.1m transfer surplus when they sold Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona and Samir Nasri to Manchester City.





