BBC twists Gazidis comments into A Narrative

Kick It Out, a very important organization in England that promotes the inclusion of all types of people within the sport and the self-monitoring of clubs, hosted their annual Raise Your Game conference at Emirates Stadium yesterday. Arsenal's CEO Ivan Gazidis was the first to speak to the conference attendees, and afterwards he spoke to the attending press. His comments following the speech are what made headlines, and that are still being misconstrued a day later:

"When we talk about the destination, it's not winning a Champions League, it's making fans proud," he said.

"It's about making the people at the football club proud of what we do and how we do it."

...

Gazidis, who described current boss Arsene Wenger as a "world-class manager", added: "We get a lot of criticism, but we have people at the club who are very firmly fixed on where we want to get to and won't get knocked off course by the whims that happen day to day.

"We are very much on that journey, and we may never reach the destination."

Seems pretty straightforward, if you take a look at his comments as a whole. However, this is the British press and Arsenal we're talking about, so it has to be much more simplier, yet far more misconstrued, that that:

Let's take a look at the four sentences, individually, and understand them knowing the background and venue in which they were uttered in:

"When we talk about the destination, it's not winning a Champions League, it's making fans proud."

"It's about making the people at the football club proud of what we do and how we do it."

"We get a lot of criticism, but we have people at the club who are very firmly fixed on where we want to get to and won't get knocked off course by the whims that happen day to day."

"We are very much on that journey, and we may never reach the destination."

Gazidis didn't offer these two sentences up following Arsenal's exit from the Champions League. He didn't say this after suffering a heavy defeat. No, he talked about the club being larger, and part of something that means more than any specific competition, at a conference that promotes equality, fairness, tolerance, and inclusion of people from all various walks of life.

However, the BBC and the rest of the media twisted the meaning of his words, which has left a vocal part of our fanbase up in arms.

So, a final reminder, in case you're still high from the balloons the BBC sold you for a few pounds: Stan Kroenke wants to win things, Arsene Wenger wants to win things, and Ivan Gazidis wants to win things. Period. End of discussion.

You can move along now.