That was a 12-month period which saw Arsenal thrashed 10-2 by Bayern Munich, lose 3-1 to Chelsea, 3-1 to Liverpool, 3-0 to Crystal Palace, 1-0 to Stoke, 4-0 to Liverpool and 2-1 to Watford.
Hence why Gazidis was heckled by a crowd which, by the end, had turned this annual general meeting into the stormiest in history.
All these ugly scenes contrasted rather uncomfortably with a backdrop of the dazzling Woolwich Suite, a room shaped by the legacies of the club’s two most successful managers in Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger, and showed the true depth of resentment coursing through Arsenal right now.
Furious fans had been told by chairman Sir Chips Keswick to “read the newspapers” when questioned why Stan Kroenke, who owns 67.05 per cent of Arsenal, chose not to speak to those in attendance.
And frustration grew wild when their attempts to vote down the return of Sir Chips and Josh Kroenke to the board were overturned, apparantely, because the proxy votes of billionaire owners Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov gave Sir Chips 97 per cent. He needed only 50 per cent to continue.
GETTY
Ivan Gazidis claims Arsenal have been “over-performing”
No club has a perfect record but Arsenal has probably been, of the big clubs, the most consistently over-performing team over time
Sir Chips, somewhat conveniently, soon called the meeting to a hasty close, with the board and manager Wenger trooping off the stage to boos, catcalls and slow handclaps.
It had all started when questions were raised about Arsenal’s transfer policy.
“Every football club has successes and failures in the transfer market and we want to do better,” said Gazidis. “The assertion that we tried to “off-load” defender Skhodran Mustafi is simply not the case, otherwise he wouldn’t be in our squad this season.”
Club sources, however, had indicated that the Gunners had indeed tried to sell Mustafi in the summer, with AC Milan interested.
Gazidis said: “There is one very accurate and objective way to assess how well and how consistently clubs perform in transfers over time. It is simply to compare team performance by a series of objective metrics, usually league position or points, against expenditure on transfers.
“No club has a perfect record but Arsenal has probably been, of the big clubs, the most consistently over-performing team over time.”
Cue much scoffing in the crowd.
Arsenal broke their club transfer record in the summer with the £46m signing of France striker Alexandre Lacazette but signed only one other player, in free transfer defender Sead Kolasinac.
Gazidis said: “Despite the criticism, we have performed very well over a long period of time. I agree that we have to find ways to perform better.”
Gazidis insisted that Wenger always has the final say on transfers at Arsenal and was adamant that the club had changed their policy over selling players.
The Gunners held on to contract rebels Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil over the summer, with both having only a year left on their current contracts, whereas in the past players such as Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri were sold under similar circumstances.
Gazidis said: “You don’t always have a choice of where you sell a player and nor do you control whether a player extends with you or what demands their agent makes.
“The most vocal criticism we’ve ever had at an annual general meeting was after we transferred Van Persie in the last year of his contract. That was one of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make.
GETTY
Arsenal broke their club transfer record in the summer with the £46m signing of Alexandre Lacazette
“We were told then that we were financially motivated and not focused on football. This summer we’ve taken a different tack. The decisions on Sanchez and Ozil are not decisions that fit the narrative that we put money first.
“We have taken that approach to give the club the best possible chance to compete for trophies this season.”
The mood of the floor was exacerbated when the return of both Keswick and Josh Kroenke to the board was overwhelmingly defeated on a show of hands by shareholders, with the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust indicating that all its members would vote that way.
But when both resolutions went to a vote, the two bigwigs won the day. It offered a stark indication of the depth of unhappiness at the club.
Indeed, in a a leaflet handed out at the meeting by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, they said: “We feel that the present directors are not acting with sufficient independence, nor representing the interests of the small shareholders or the future custodians of the club.
“Our review identified an ageing board lacking in diversity, without the skills needed to run a modern professional football club. We believe corporate governance change is needed.”
That change was denied and, with it, the claims of those Arsenal fans were simply swept under the carpet.