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Arsenal supporters are questioning why club chief executive officer Ivan Gazidis was given a £1 million bonus last season despite a lack of trophies, and will also use next week's annual general meeting to press for assurances that Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez will be tied down to new contracts. The Arsenal Supporters Trust, which is a shareholder and serves as a bridge between fans and the club hierarchy, told ESPN FC it wants an explanation during Monday's AGM for why Gazidis was paid a total of £2.6m during the 2015-16 financial year despite "last year being one in which Arsenal won no trophies and commercial revenue was flat." The club's financial results released last month showed Gazidis was paid a bonus of nearly £1.1m, a 40 percent increase from the previous year. The AST wants the club board to "provide explanation as to what specific performance targets the CEO achieved to warrant" that increase. The Arsenal AGMs have sometimes been heated affairs in recent years, with the club's transfer policy often a source of discontent among supporters. This time the AST wants to make sure the club is doing everything they can to convince star players Ozil, Sanchez and Hector Bellerin to agree new contracts. The club spent several years struggling to keep hold of top players like Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri when it was burdened by paying off the heavy debts on Emirates Stadium. The AST said "we can't be back to the scenario we faced with Nasri and RVP and Cesc," and will ask the board to confirm that "they are doing all in their power to get these three talismanic players re-signed." The AST is also concerned that Arsenal are "losing significant ground" to their rivals when it comes to commercial deals after Chelsea signed new shirt sponsorship and kit deals with Nike.
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