2013/14: The Season the Media Got Everything Wrong (as Always)
By Bootoomee
That’s right; my summary of the 2013/14 season is that it is the season that the media got it all wrong. There are very few things that I love more than the media being wrong, so I have enjoyed this season very much.
The media’s smarmy “we know what is best” and “we set the agenda” attitude irritates me to no end, so you might understand why I rejoice every time they end up with eggs on their faces. The problem, though, is that they are experts at conveniently forgetting what they said minutes ago, so they seldom, if ever, own up to or account for being wrong. But we know when they are wrong. We always know and we’ll take every opportunity and available avenue to rub their noses in it.
Let’s get started on the themes and memes of the season and how the media flubbed them all.
Spending Equals Glory
My favourite of all the media’s wrong prognostications is their fanatical belief that spending always equals glory. While this is not wrong in professional football, it is not a water tight theory either. In fact, there are other viable theories but none is as exalted by the chattering class. Spending doesn’t always lead to glory which can be equally achieved with great team work, tactical discipline and of course, luck.
The league was predicted to be a 2 horse race between Chelsea and Manchester City because they have spent the most with Chelsea having the added bonus of rehiring Jose Mourhino ‘the tactical genius’.
Some of the pundits had their snouts so up either of these 2 clubs’ rectum they nearly asked that the league trophy be handed over to them before a ball was kicked. To be fair, one of the two anointed teams ultimately won it but it was done in a manner that brought some modicum of humility to all concerned.
Arsenal and (more closely) Liverpool had their say on the title and while Man City eventually won it, it was nothing like the walk in the park that the pundits have predicted based strictly on the amount the duo have spent. Poor Chelsea and Jose Mourhino could only come third.
To maintain the record for the most often predicted outcome of the season for the last six seasons, Arsenal were again predicted to miss out of top four and by consequence, Champions league because they wouldn’t spend.
Tottenham Hotspur, after spending the windfall from the sale of the player who carried them all the way through the previous season and about £20 million more, were definitely going to overtake their tight-fisted rivals at long last. When on the eve of the North London derby Arsene Wenger, in his usual thoughtful manner said that Tottenham would struggle on the account of the number (7?) of new players they’ve just added, he was savagely ridiculed with many of our own fans shamelessly leading the verbal assault.
It is interesting that the same pundits who ridiculed Wenger (who was the first person to mention this drawback to Tottenham’s spending) would then turn around to use the same rationale for Spurs struggles immediately after their defeat at the Emirates and for the rest of the 2013/14 season. But in their true character (or lack of), none of them gave Wenger any credit for being the first to raise the issue and neither did they apologise or show any remorse for ridiculing him when he prophetically raised it.
Jose Mourhino’s return to Chelsea will bring back the good times
Since Mourhino left Chelsea in 2007, Chelsea have been to the Champions’ league final twice winning it once. They’ve won a premier league title, 3 FA cups and a Europa cup. In one of their only two barren seasons (2007/8), they were in two finals while also coming 2nd in the league.
The point being made here is that Chelsea’s performance and results this season are arguably their worst in Abrahamovic’s era. They made no final of any of the 3 cup competitions and came third in the league as they did under the much hated (by Chelsea fans) Rafa Benitez. Looking at the chain of results that Benitez pulled off in the 2nd half of last season, I feel very strongly that he would have achieved much more with Chelsea this season.
As always, the media bought his “I have no striker” line rather than question his tactics. He is described as a ‘tactical genius’ when he beat his rivals with bus parking, a strategy that his ‘ingenuity’ seemed incapable of dealing with when employed against him by smaller teams.
The only thing that Mourhino gave Chelsea this season is boring football and a return to the days of the club being universally despised by neutrals due to his many childish statements and generally uncouth behaviour. As a bonus, he got rid of the club’s best player for the 2 previous seasons and is on the verge of getting rid of the current player of the season.
What we see this season is in clear contrast to the cocky predictions of the yammering class who bought is “Happy One” tag like every other spoilt good that he has always sold them. After his “specialist in failure” jab at Arsene Wenger, Chelsea ending the season empty handed is my most satisfying outcome of the season. Mourhino’s failure becomes more apparent when we remember that 2 less regarded managers have won 3 trophies including 2 European triumphs (one of which is Abrahamovic’s Holy Grail, the Champions league) in 2 previous seasons for the club.
The Signing of Ozil is Lifting Arsenal
This is the one that my friends on Untold might not like but I am saying it as I see it and I intend to use facts to back my points. I already wrote about this issue where I objected to the word “lift”. To my understanding, it connotes “getting out of dire position” or “raising to a higher position that wouldn’t have been achieved otherwise”. And therein lies my problem with this meme.
There are 2 reasons for my objection: 1) Ozil being given unearned credits for Arsenal’s success and 2) the media being wrong about this long used talking point.
Walter wrote some weeks back about how the media didn’t want Ozil to succeed. Now, I rarely disagree with Walter but he is wrong about this particular charge. The media wanted Ozil to succeed and this can be easily verified by Googling stories on Ozil from September 2013 to the end of the year. Actually, during this period, Ozil could do nothing wrong, according to both our fans and the media. Passes that other Arsenal player are clearly capable of and have indeed made in the past are analysed with the common conclusion that ONLY a player of Ozil’s class could have made them. Every Arsenal victory was credited to the club signing Ozil. This from a club that was the best in the last half of the previous season and for which the only blight was the Anthony Taylor inspired debacle on the opening day of the season!
As I have always stated in all my writings on Ozil and, more importantly, based on my conviction: Ozil is a class player and one that I am very happy the club signed (although, the price tag is something that I don’t like for VERY personal ethical reasons). My objection has always been with him being credited with the work of other 12 to 15 players by overzealous fans and agenda driven pundits.
Initially when Ozil’s form dropped (as it happens to all players), Olivier Giroud was getting blamed for not making the right runs that Cristiano Ronaldo or Theo Walcott would have. In other words, when things were going well, it was because of Ozil’s greatness. We were regularly told that the mere act of signing him has lifted the club’s spirits. But when things were going south, it was because his team mates (especially everybody’s favourite scapegoat, Giroud) suck.
Well, this was until our friends in the media couldn’t take it anymore and then the vitriol started and many of our fans who have bought and (or) fed the media narrative were disappointed witch-hunt that Ozil was a victim of. “The media are picking on our dear player in their usual anti-Arsenal manner” they said. But the truth is a little different.
The media have only one constant: they loathe Arsenal and loathe our manager even more. They were happy to praise Ozil earlier as a backhand way of saying: “Told you so, you stingy Frenchman. Spending brings success. You finally spent big and voila, your team is doing well. If you had only spent as we have been telling you for years.” The little fact that the club had been doing well long before Ozil was signed was largely ignored. Now, if we collude with the media to hype our players up, we can’t complain when they maliciously tear them down with a vengeance at their slightest drop in form.
While this may sound bad on my part, I must confess that I was a little relieved when the media’s Ozil witch-hunt began. I knew that whatever the team achieved at the end of the season, it won’t be credited to a single new player. Considering how this team plays and the number of heroes it has, I consider that unjust. I derive a lot of satisfaction from not hearing anyone say that Arsenal’s long trophy drought is about to end because we bought Ozil. I know it is not that big a deal but as a lover of fairness, it is a big deal to me.
Confirmation of the Media’s Arsenal Hatred and Liverpool Love-in
Arsenal led the league for longer than Chelsea and Liverpool combined but throughout these periods, we got told repeatedly that Arsenal would not win it. We were always told that it was strictly between Man City and Chelsea. Well, except for those periods earlier and later in the season when Liverpool were sitting on top. No questions were asked of Liverpool’s ability to win the league. They were cheered on, with their manager being hailed as a ‘genius’ and some including many of our fans asking: “if Rodgers can do it, why can’t Wenger?” Both teams will ultimately fail in the end and Man city would go on to win it.
Granted that Liverpool came closer than Arsenal in the end but it is upsetting nonetheless that Arsenal’s ability to succeed was vehemently denied on the account of Man City and Chelsea’s greatness while the same standard was never applied to Liverpool. So much for objectivity!
Remember Gooners, when next you hear the pundits tell you that Arsenal being top doesn’t matter as they will ultimately falter that they only apply that standard to Arsenal. When others top the league, they are credited for doing so while being given the chance to go all the way.
Why Arsenal Lost the League (Part 2)
In an earlier article on why we lost the league, I challenged the emerging talking point that we lost the league because of those infamous away defeats to the top 3. My position is that if you fail to meet a target, you can’t blame the most difficult points for your failure. You should rue most the easier to achieve that were not achieved.
The home loss to Aston Villa (irrespective of how it came about) and home draws to Swansea, Everton, Man United, Chelsea and Man City and the away loss to Stoke should come before away losses to the top 3 teams in my opinion. The media were driving the narrative because of the scandalous nature of those 3 losses and it is one that many Gooners were willing to accept out of the hurt that they feel from the nature of the results rather than look at the entire results from the league for why we lost. The eventual league champions and runners up got only 2 and 1 more points than Arsenal in the top 4 mini league while the all-conquering Chelsea could only come third despite getting 9 more points than Man City in the mini league.
On the human front, the main reason why we lost the league is because of Aaron Ramsey’s injury. I know that we lost quite a few key players to injury and I didn’t hold the position that Ramsey’s absence cost us the league title until after our last game away to Norwich. I look at Ramsey’s form throughout 2013 and Arsenal’s form throughout 2013 and then I look at our form when he was away and finally his form and our form since his return, I have got to conclude that missing Aaron cost us the league.
I am not sure if we would have taken any points from any of the matches away to any of the top three with Ramsey around but I feel very strongly that we would have taken more points from those ultimately costly home draws and that fatal away loss to Stoke. My doubts about this were removed by Rambo returning with his all-action playing style.
An unconventional headed assist to Podolski for our third against West Ham. His initiation of an attack from the midfield while making his usual run into the box to finish it off for our first against Hull City; his beautifully chested assist for Podolski’s first and Arsenal second and his rebounded shot for Podolski’s second Arsenal’s third. And finally, that scorcher against Norwich. These are in quick succession of games and two of which were away from home.
This is what we missed while Rambo was injured: that swashbuckling take no prisoners all action style. He particularly loves running into the box and is never afraid of shooting. Aaron Ramsey ended the season exactly the way he started it and I kick myself for those 3 months that we missed him for. Who knows what might have been?
In summary, we lost the league because of the points that we lost in the previously mentioned games and we lost points in those games because we did not have our most productive player of the season around for over a third of the season. I hope that Ramsey carries his form to next season and that the injury gods spare him this time. Frankly, the young man has suffered enough and so as Arsenal FC.
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- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal
Bootoomee
Very good article my friend. I don’t agree 100% with everything but by and large you are spot on as usual.
You say:
“Told you so, you stingy Frenchman. Spending brings success. You finally spent big and voila, your team is doing well. If you had only spent as we have been telling you for years.” The little fact that the club had been doing well long before Ozil was signed was largely ignored.
Exactly. It was crass and lazy to put our good start down to just one man, as it was to suggest that just spending big ON ONE PLAYER was the piece of magic that made everything fall in to place.
And it’s that ONE PLAYER part that I want to focus on.
I believe money does buy you success. That is why we built the stadium. To EARN more money to enable us to compete. So we can effectively ‘buy’ success ourselves, but, and this is the point, with money we have EARNT.
But even ‘buying’ success takes time, and lots and lots of ‘buying’.
To suggest that splashing out on one £40 million player is enough to overcome 2 Clubs that have been spending, on average, £50 million PER SEASON for 5 and 10 years respectively, is ridiculous.
Even if we had/do spend £100 million, it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what the oilers have been spending.
So actually money does buy success, but not a piddling £40 million, or as Spurs proved, even a slightly less piddling £100 Million, spent in one season. It takes years of £50million plus ‘buying’ which is something only the ‘oilers’ who don’t have a budget, can do.
You said:
“I am not sure if we would have taken any points from any of the matches away to any of the top three with Ramsey around but I feel very strongly that we would have taken more points from those ultimately costly home draws and that fatal away loss to Stoke. My doubts about this were removed by Rambo returning with his all-action playing style.”
I said exactly this on a thread the other day. With either Ramsey or Theo, or better still both fit, we could of gleaned the following extra points from the following games. Swansea(2, draw to win),Stoke(1, loss to draw), Everton at home (2, draw to win)and even City at home(2, draw to win)That’s 7 extra points that would of had us right in the mix on the last day. Considering what Rambo showed both before and after his injuries I don’t think that superstition is at all un realistic. Alas we will never know.
As you say it is much more difficult to make a case for turning round the Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton games. I think the issues with those games are different. Firstly SLOW STARTS. You can give a start to the likes of Hull. Not Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton. Also, as much as I love Wenger, I do believe that tactically we have to be far more cautious in the early parts of those types of games. I know Wenger has the ‘let them worry about us’ attitude and I love it, but sometimes, just sometimes ? I mean we have done it in Europe more than once, so it’s not as if we cant do it.
Anyway for now that’s it, but a great piece Boo.
As you might have noticed, this article was sent to Tony before Saturday’s victory. But the fact that Aaron Ramsey scored our winner shows that his 3 months absence is most probably the reason why we lost the league.
@Bootoomee,
The thread running through your erudite post is the media, right or wrong.
And I am reminded of the heady days in the 1930’s when George Allison took over as manager of Arsenal. A former journalist and broadcaster, it was not surprising that his declared intent was to keep the Club in the forefront of publicity.
“I’m not over-concerned with what is said about Arsenal as long as something IS being said”.
The re-naming of a tube station, a murder mystery in the cinemas, numbered shirts, magazine stories of players’ home lives, midweek and floodlit games….it all added up to keeping Arsenal in the news and in the mind of the public.
That is why we should value, in a slightly peculiar way, all that the media broadcasts via TV,radio, newspapers and the internet, right or wrong. It’s ALL publicity and Arsenal FC should enjoy being in receipt of it.
The main advantage we loyal supporters have got over the media is that we can always separate wheat from chaff.
jambug,
I am not against spending as I have always believed and expressed here that our financial might and stability will enable us to always compete with the big boys. Of course spending helps. It is the obsession with the theory that I despise. For a personal reason, I am also against huge transfer fees and wages. I’d be a hypocritical liberal if I complain about income inequality and then cheer on exorbitant transfers and wages. But I agree with you about it being more tolerable if it is what you have earned.
On the away losses to the top 3, I really don’t think it is as big a deal as the media and our fans are portraying it. Yes, the losses are embarrassing because of the scorelines but point wise, we lost as many points away as Liverpool and only one less than Man City, the eventual winners. If beating your rivals is what wins you the league as we continue to hear, why didn’t the all conquering Chelsea win it?
As you might have noticed, I don’t do match analysis as it is not my forte. I have made no attempt to discuss why we started those big away matches so poorly. What I am pretty confident of is that those whose responsibility it is are going to do something about it. I have faith in them but even if I don’t, there is nothing I can do about it. But I have faith and the FA cup win will give our players more self belief in the tough games.
Thanks for your comment pal.
Bootoomee,
Thanks for the analysis, agree with you most of the way. We would have won the double this season, but now the media has started saying that, based on how we earned our FA cup triump that we cannot add any trophies in the next few seasons! Absolutely ridiculous! Disagree with you though on Ozil.Although we were doing much better before his signing,the lift was to Arsenal players. Players want to compare themselves to those who are considered as better. Such a signing lifts those found at the club, and that’s true with Ozil. Ramsey, Wilshire, etc would want to show Ozil and others that they are also world class. Ozil’s worth however will be more quantifiable next season.
I don’t think that the media hates Arsenal – it’s just that they love the spending of money and Arsenal just won’t fall into line on that one.
Why they should want clubs to go into debt and risk their very existance in order to fill the column inches that the journalists are too lazy to fill with real insight remains a mystery. Or have I just answered it?
nicky,
Thanks for that historical perspective and I agree that us loyal supporters are unmoved by the media’s busllshit. Sadly, too many of our lily-livered and glory seeking fans not only lap it all up, they then proceed to spread to others.
Anyway, I just love calling out the media 🙂
JohnW,
When it comes to the topic of “Ozil lifts Arsenal”, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree 🙂
Boo,
Very good piece. Very good summary of the EPL season from Arsenal’s perspective. It will be interesting though, to see what new ways they find to put Arsenal down in the coming seasons. My point for saying that is “success breeds respect” even if a grudging one. Our success this season and systematic/prudent of the squad in the transfer period should elicit a situation in 2014/15 season, that Arsenal is cavalierly written off by such blinkered pundits as Michael Owen before the ball is kicked by any team.
Two or three more seasons like this, who knows, Arsenal may even have a distinct section of the press that consistently say respectful things about us.
Nonetheless, it is the nature of life and predictions that those who engage in it will be proved more wrong that right – a cautionary thought for when they start praising us more than they slag us
Sorry.
I just said:
Our success this season and systematic/prudent of the squad in the transfer period should elicit a situation in 2014/15 season, that Arsenal is cavalierly written off by such blinkered pundits as Michael Owen before the ball is kicked by any team.
But I meant to say:
Our success this season and systematic/prudent of the squad in the transfer period should elicit a situation in 2014/15 season, that Arsenal is NOT cavalierly written off by such blinkered pundits as Michael Owen before the ball is kicked by any team IN THE NEW SEASON.
Just read the article and comments.
Firstly, very well written article Bootoomee, and anything which calls the media out on their bullshit is great anyway. But you do it better than most I think.
The point of disagreement about Ozil, which you were very prescient in recognising as a contentious one. In my view, Ozil’s signings did lift the players as John W says. But not quite in the way of training with him or playing with him.
I just think that the players themselves are not exactly immune to the media agenda. I mean, sure, they have a little more insight into the life of an Arsenal player so are unlikely to listen to crap about how the manager doesn’t know tactics or only wants 4th place etc.
But I think they felt the need to make an impact in the market too. Ozil’s signing signalled to them (and to me) that the club wasn’t just talking about entering the next phase following the building of the stadium, but were actually looking to do it. There were a number of players talking about making signings, and while I know that the media has a way of putting words into the mouths of those they interview, I still think those quotes were genuinely meant.
They believed in Wenger and the club, they just needed some more tangible proof. Like a trophy which should give them that, I think the signing of Ozil (and not seeing any major departures) gave them the confidence that Arsenal were on the up.
As for the media, I think you have their malicious designs correct, but are incorrect about how we shouldn’t celebrate a great player because of them doing the same thing only to tear him down. Ozil is NOT the reason Arsenal did so well. He is a part of the team though. I treat him no different. All the same, I recognise his talents, appreciate them, and I recognise the significance of his purchase.
Shard,
Thanks for your erudite comment.
I agree with you totally. My near obsession with Ozil is complicated and I know that a neutral who hasn’t read anything from me or know my kind of support would think that I hate the guy. Nothing can be further from the truth. I love Ozil and as I have said every time I comment on the guy, I am very happy that we bought him.
You made many NUANCED points about Ozil that you know are often missing when the media are writing about the guy and many of our fans are singing his praises. In my opinion, the guy was set up to fail as the pedestal on which he was put was too high to begin with.
Ironically, Ozil as a person doesn’t do hype. The guy is very easy going and only wants to get on with the job. I do pity him now with the amount of vitriolic criticism that he has to endure. The bastards at The Sun on Sunday gave him 4 in their player rating – 2 points lower than the next lowest ranked player. I know he didn’t light Wembley on fire but 4? These were the same people who told us back in September and October that all our achievements were down to his signing!
Had we won the FA in November 2013, the unanimous media verdict would have been that we did it because of Ozil. I am extremely pleased that that is not the case for the sake of the other guys who make the team what it is.
Bootoomee
Excellent point about Ozil being the kind of guy who is uncomfortable being put on a pedestal. When people spoke about his signing being like that of Bergkamp, this is another aspect to it which seems true. Not just his playing style, he seems the kind of guy who seems uncomfortable in the spotlight away from the field of play.
Think of the abuse Ozil got this year in the media (and among some ‘fans’) and compare with how Bergkamp is held in such universal esteem. But if Bergkamp played in this day and age, what would the media and the Le Grove brigade have said about him not flying to European games, about missing the penalty in the 99 semi final of the FA cup (my most painful Arsenal memory) and never taking penalties again, about the fact that he didn’t score ‘enough’ goals, or that he got himself sent off at times, how he’s not fast enough etc. About any deficiencies in his game in fact. Unprofessional, lazy, doesn’t care (laid back attitude, avoiding the media limelight) not good enough, should have bought xyz instead.
In that sense, I actually disagree with nicky and his example of how no press is bad press. Times have change. Press coverage wasn’t as invasive nor perpetual earlier, which is when being in the news for whatever reason, might have been beneficial. In these days of wall-to-wall coverage, while exposure remains important, what they say about you makes a lot of difference, because so many people seem to substitute information (regardless of quality) for thought, And then these people, like never before, can further propagate what they receive. GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out.
Agree with every word of yours Bootoomee!!! And Nicky has a nice anecdote filled comment to say that why having all this media is not all that bad at all. But having said that…how many readers come to Untold and get an education (in a very nice way) in ‘supporting Arsenal’ and everything that comes with it – I was myself guilty of not being able to overcome the pain of some of the losses in the past seasons and was more likely to agree to whatever was being written or said in the media – and then Untold happened and the rest is history.
So, yes agree not only with every word of the write up and more with the sentiment with which this has been written. Case in point being the ugly season has already started where almost every player is now being linked to Arsenal and we have a 100 million transfer budget…
Bootoome,
Thanks a lot for a very, very good post – one that mirrors a lot of what I think.
Keep it up mate.
Thanks for the article Bootoomee.
Not a comment on your article, but it seems that UntoldAccess has been down again, and consequently there is the following Untold Arsenal article at Making The Arsenal:
Milner to Arsenal? Thanks to FFP it is possible
http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/archives/10298
Tony also posted this history content about the same time:
Who has been the most successful Arsenal manager ever?
http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/archives/10288
Apologies for plugging but in light of Tim Sherwood’s Sunday interview revelations, I have to repost the link to my article from early August.
“Should Fans Be Making Decisions for Football Clubs – http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/30206 ”
Those calling Levy a genius and hailing him then are now collective criticising his business acumen where transfers are concerned. In short, he basically blew the Bale windfall. Imagine if they had used the money to get something started on their stadium project? The spending that we are always told is the all in all have proven to be nothing but a gamble. And one that has not paid off in this case.
Good article Bootoome, This is what Stewart Robson had to say about SAW. Whats interesting is that he does not mention any names of the “players” he is talking about. He wants Conte to be appointed.
“A lot of players have gone backwards since they’ve been at Arsenal,” he added. “One of the reasons why players have left in recent years, it’s not for more money or titles, it’s because they have felt their football development has been stunted by Arsene Wenger.”
LeGrove are up in arms as rumour has it SAW will sign a 3 year contract. I say we offer a life long contract…
I for one have visited Legrove and anr after years just to see what bile they can spin. was not dissapointed. SAD MF’s the lot of them.
We do seem to have a problem once again. Under attack once again?
Sigh, they don’t like us I think. Or don’t like our point of view 🙂
Problem is that we cannot publish articles for the moment it seems. rest is slowing down once again….
Boo: Spot on. The Boss believes that Ozil will be far better next season, with a first season spent understanding how tackling and refereeing is all about in the Premiership, but Ramsey was such a key player for us. AW is smarter than the smartest of mortals, with the equation being:
AW’s IQ = (Average of other Top Managers’ IQs) squared.
In other terms, if their average IQ is 1.3, his is about 1.69.
And now the media pundits; after excluding the good guys and gals, the equation is:
AW’s Prophetic Ability = 1 – Total media pundit Prophetic Ability.
Looking at it from another angle, AW is now about to benefit from a perfect storm:
FFP + Shrewdness + Ability to develop players + Class + Golden Cannon with Red background = Upcoming golden era for The Arsenal.
COYG!
milner is british but having said that he trains/plays with man city so should be used to some nice crisp and quick passing ooh and maybe just maybe some protection from the refs dare we dream:)
ps: yippee we won the fa cup
@Walter
I have only recently been able to access the site since probably mid morning, when I could access one page but not skip from page to page, then I was locked out before I could post.
If the site is under attack again, as seems likely I do hope the guilty parties are caught.
@Bootoomee
An excellent article and a very thorough analysis on the antics and contradictions of the media. I note you wrote this article before Saturday – the antics of the media since Saturday have provided a postscript confirming everything you have written about them. We had SKY trying to pretend the FA Cup final didn’t really happen, until they could decide on how to (mis)present the drama, a very biased match commentary on BT which made the less biased commentary on ITV almost appear acceptable. Then, following the confirmation of an Arsenal victory we have the new story – “winning a cup is not really enough, they will have to win the league or AW will have to go”.
It could just be that all the media have an ingrained hatred of Arsenal, but I think it is more involved than that.
Anyway, great work my good friend.
This was posted on another site by someone else;
“Eight Years of Memories”
http://vimeo.com/69360936
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, until Arsenal FC do something about this media bullshit themselves, nothing will change.
Of course, even if they do there is no guarantee that anything will change, but surely they can see what’s going on, and realise they owe it to the fans to address the problem in some way.
And what I mean by doing something is just giving them NOTHING.
No interviews. No exclusives. NOTHING.
I know it might not do any good but it’ll at least make me feel a bit better because at the moment I feel like the media are taking the piss out of us all and the Club just don’t give a shit.
Might be a bit harsh but that’s what I feel.
I HATE THE FUCKING MEDIA
Good polemics Boo, you put a lot of thought and effort into it,especially found the angle on Özil interesting- much appreciated!
Is it true that its Stewart Robson who keeps putting the Untold site under cyber attack ?
COYG! Aha and Amen!
ps Does anyone know the result from the weekend game, I missed it….?
Tasos.
Thank you so much for posting that.
Brought a tear to my eye, especially listening to Wenger at the end.
And as for Neville, I wish I had that transcript so I could throw it in the faces of certain, so called Arsenal fans that I know, that are, in my opinion, a disgrace to our great football Club.
Wonderful memories.
I agree with your findings as to why we lost our lead in the league but I do not accept the primary cause.
The primary cause is PGMOL cheating. If they protected our players from the knees in the back of the thigh and the kicks on the back of the calves & ankles our injuries would be a lot less. That together with the games that blatant fouls allowed opponents transition into offence against us account for the large defeats.
I have no doubt that Arsenal would have won many trophies if fair officiating were prevalent in football.
To have won the FA cup in spite of the pathetic attempt of PGMOL’s officials truth avoidance, is magnificent. Most of Arsenal fans don’t really care about the officiating because they are unaware of stats. The beauty of the stats is that we have a record of what happened in TV footage (good visible evidence) that can be shown to make a good case.
Has any1 read the DM today? They have actually called Wenger a tactical genius when he brought on Thomas & jack the lad. What is this world coming to? On a personal note, i wished he had got those 2 a lot earlier.
menace,
As you might know, I am not one of the people seeking investigation into why we have so many injuries. I have always known why: it is because we get kicked like hell with the refs’ consent. Just re-watch Saturday’s final and see how much kicking our players were getting with the PGMOL rat, Probert allowing it.
I agree with you that refs regularly screw us over. Many football fans only complain about the refs for giving undeserved penalties or denying legitimate ones. But the damage done by savvy refs is greater and they do this by letting the opposition kick you to bits. This is where Arsenal suffer the most and you are spot on mate.
However, in the article, my grouse is with the media’s obsession with those away losses to the top 3 which they are trying to make the reason why we lost the league. This is wrong on so many levels. Liverpool lost their 3 away games to other top 4 teams while Man City got only one point. Both of these teams till finished above Chelsea that beat them both home and away.
So, what I wanted to do was counter that talking point before it becomes entrenched in history. Well, at least I try to 🙂
I agree totally with Jambug.The media need sorting out.I just cannot understand that 2 days after winning the cup all I am hearing is negativity.I think we should name and shame all the pundits and other media, so we can email or use twitter.Equally, the club need to do something about it.
Paul “The Gooner”
Thanks pal. To be fair I think a couple of the regulars on here (sorry I cant recall who) have emailed Arsenal regarding this and have had no joy what so ever in stirring them into action.
Maybe they think they could make it worse, who knows.
But as I said once before, it could hardly get any worse. Could it ?
jambug,
I share your sentiment on Arsenal blacking out the media. I really do and every time you give the clarion call, my heart ache because I know how much it hurts. Unfortunately, only a media beloved figure like Alex Ferguson could get away with it. I think (as you suggested) that the club is afraid that it could get even worse and I think so too. The bastard are like a dog with a bone, I think that we the fans should be doing the calling out but unfortunately, too many of us are either enablers or dumb lemming lapping up the filth that the media and the traitorous enablers are peddling.
@jambug
Any idea what insulting nonsense Durham has been spouting on Talkshit today?
Great stuff Bootoomee and while there are some issues we may disagree on, in general I felt myself nodding my head and pushing the save button to add this article as a keeper to my hidden repertoire! One thing that hurt us almost as much as Ramsey’s absence was Theo’s loss and the absence of Ozil, Poldi and Wilshere at the same moment. But what a great end to the season and IF we can learn to take the key points off the lesser teams next season, we can expect a real title race. Another big IF is whether Arsene will bring in another few golden boot candidates like Ozil next season. I say Golden Boot because if they are strikers, they’ll find fertile fields at AFC.If Giroud, who to my mind is an industrious,unspectacular but workmanlike and solid striker, can score 22 goals in all competitions, imagine what an internationally renown goalscorer could do!
The media certainly are getting things wrong with wenger, as they did from day 1. Does make you wonder who is calling their tune, they seem so unified on our club.
Now we have won a trophy, who will they go for next, now they don’t have their boring none years angle. North west clubs are untouchable with the media….Chelsea, maybe but they can and will spend their way out of anything, risking making fools of those who criticise them….that and the fact uk journalists are up Jose’s arse. The spuds….now there is some underachievement over the years there, but the fact is , the media love them nearly as much as the mickey mousers.
No, the media will carry on going for us. They have already started, hundred million cash available….where that figure comes from, would love to know…., fancy names to be signed….yet when we lose a game, it is down to tight wad wenger. The narrative has already been set.
And some of our fans are already buying into this narrative. Although, some of the abuse I have taken in the days when I wasted my time visiting certain sites, most notably when I after Arry left the spuds, I congratulated wenger on seeing off yet another spud, it does make me wonder what kind of “arsenal fans” some of these people really are.
This club do not need the UK media, they should have as little to do with them as they possibly can
Bootoomee
I must admit I had to read your article twice because I wasn’t sure at the first reading if I missed something on account of being jet legged and or hung over from excessive celebrations but I don’t think I did.
You seem to suggest in the title that media got it all wrong this season when in fact they did predict Arsenal would fail and City would win it in the end , so as far as the two most important predictions where Arsenal are concerned , they got it right didn’t they? In fact it wasn’t only the media but also managers of Chelsea, Liverpool ,Tottenham , Man United and if I’m not mistaken even Arsen Wenger saying that City were the ones to beat.
Not to mention the bookies who had Man City from start to finish.
Then you go on saying that spending doesn’t equal success after everybody on UA and yourself included have said over and over that it’s impossible for Arsenal to compete because we get out spent .
Then you dedicate a huge chunk to Chelsea with which I agree to a tee but You lose me again with Ozill analysis where you conveniently forget all the tweets and interviews by Arsenal players conforming in fact what a great lift everybody at the club felt with his signing or are you suggesting again that the players just “threw us a bone 🙂 ”
Then you say ” I must confess that I was a little relieved when the media’s Ozil witch-hunt began” which I find rather disturbing no matter what context you use it in.
The entire Ozill episode is bizarre to say the least and while I don’t have a problem wether you rate him or not but the simple fact is his game suffers without pacey outlets up front. If you need a proof , view Sunderland /Arsenal game again where Walcott could’ve scored three goals in the first half alone from Ozill’s through balls. If other Arsenal players are capable of the same passes why didn’t they lead the league in assists like Ozill did in Spain or entire Europe if I’m not mistaken .
In your “why we lost the league “segment you recite much of your original article and again oversimplify the subject. There’s no point arguing about it but I will say this much again ; if you are incapable of asking hard questions then the entire analysis is superficial .
In my view it was injuries , short bench or players Arsen didn’t trust enough, tactical mistakes and players slow starting or not showing up in
certain games and biased or poor refereeing.
You don’t have to look any further than the FA cup final to see what I’m talking about. Before I left for London I posted a short comment on Hull’s chances against Arsenal and I said that set pieces and Huddlestone from outside the area would be their best chances to score.
Now if an “intellectual midget” like myself , I believe that’s what you called me among other things, can make this not very insightful observation it must be said, then why not the brilliant Arsen Wenger ( and I don’t mean it in a jest). Huddleston is one of the cleaner strikers of the ball and it’s in his repertoire to sit just outside of the penalty box to receive the corner kick.
But as luck would have it he scuffed his shot to a teammate who then scored.
I don’t want to go into detail and analyze the game too much because like I said on another thread it was a fantastic experience and I don’t want to take away from that but we did start slowly again didn’t we?
I’m going to finish with a small anecdote if you don’t mind . Next to me in the stands there was a dude from Sydney , a guy from Stockholm , a lawyer from Baltimore and another guy from Dublin . Five guys from five different cities on three continents and one thing in common . We all became Arsenal fans because of one Arsen Wenger and needles to say were elated to see him being chased around the Wembley pitch by his players trying to pour Champagne over his head like little kids playing with squirt guns. That’s what football is all about.
Now that I think about it we had two more things in common . We all paid too much for our tickets and drank way too much beer. What I’m trying to say is that Arsenal are truly a global footballing superpower with a huge fan base the World over and maybe that’s why more is expected of the club by media , pundits and fans alike.
Now got to get some sleep.
Its not healthy to listen to anything the media says. At best take it with a pinch of salt and do not take the crap to heart. In football matters let your eyes and wisdom be your guide. Why listen to rubbish made up purely intended to incite some form of interest. Unless of course you are a frustrated under achieving journalist.
Tom,
A bit late to the party but welcome all the same.
You could just have sent your numerous objections to my article as a rebuttal to Tony. He would have published it. By not doing that, you are depriving the general Untold readership of your erudition and I don’t think that is fair. The world needs to know what you think and how smart you are.
It’s not too late though. You can email Tony via: tony.attwood@aisa.org
Talking about crap… just seen on twitter what that twat Adrian Durham has written about Ramsey. I will not link to it as I don’t want to give him any hits but this guy is really crap.
Walter,
I don’t listen to radio AT ALL. I listen to music through my own downloaded playlist and I get everything else I need in terms of information mainly from the Internet and a little TV. So I have been spared of the Adrian Durham crap. I don’t even know what he sounds like.
Thanks for not linking to his latest garbage.
I don’t listen to him either Bootoomee but it was on twitter the header of an article on their website.
About how Ramsey should leave Arsenal and how he is too good for us and should join Bale at Real Madrid. He even tells that Ramsey has shown Wenger how wrong Wenger was about him! Honestly… if there has been one man who kept believing in Ramsey it was Wenger.
I wonder if let us say one year ago that idiot will have been writing about what a fool Wenger was for wanting to keep Ramsey at Arsenal.
Mick
I do not listen to Durham.
Alas at work some do, so on occasion it is unavoidable.
I do not listen to Talkshite in general, except the occasional commentary, results maybe.
By and large H and J are quit irreverent and apart from the Chelsea one being a bit of a nob at times their show is okay.
I can only imagine the shit that Durham wanker is coming out with.
When you read the garbage he spouts in the Mail the comments are on average 90% in disagreement with him. He is treated with contempt and derision. He is basically a professional Troll solely there for ‘hits’.
To me this proves beyond doubt how ‘fixed’ Talkshite really is because by the calls taken, the emails read out, you are left with the impression that every man and his dig is behind his every word when quite clearly they are not.
Again this is something else I have questioned on here.
Is it even legal to manipulate, and give a false perception of public opinion, on a supposedly neutral and un biased National Radio station?
I can only assume it is because nobody has ever told me any different.
I have asked on here again how far he would get if he took the same bias agenda on air regarding say ‘Virgin’ !
I bet his feet wouldn’t touch the ground.
TommieGunner. Thoughts ???????????????????
Can’t think why all those pundits would be so pro-Liverpool and anti-Arsenal … Hansen, Lawrenson, James, McManaman, Owen, Rednapp, Souness, Neal, Carrager … who’d have thought !!!
Great to see Wrighty restoring the balance though 🙂
(And yes I know we have Smith. Keown, Dixon, Merse and Nicholas … but that would be me being balanced wouldn’t it …. and THIS IS FOOTBALL !!!)
As for Mr Durham, based on his past outbursts, he’s probably petitioning FIFA as we speak to get the game replayed cos the corner came off Sanogo …
Walter.
I believe from something posted here before the final Durham read out a long list of reasons why Arsenal would ‘bottle it’ and lose the final.
Whatever else you want to throw at us for Saturday, lack of ‘bottle’ is the last thing.
So you got that wrong you wanker Durham.
And Arsenal won of course.
So you got that wrong as well you wanker Durham.
He also said at the begging of the season “if Arsenal win anything this year it will be down to Ozil and Arsenal will be the biggest ‘one man team’ ever”
So you got that wrong as well you wanker Durham.
Surely the best thing Durham could of done was said sorry, I got it wrong and realise I’ve made myself look like a complete wanker.
Well that or jump under a train.
Minesy
Are you really, honestly, trying to say the media is balanced towards us?
jambug,
Minesy’s comment is clearly tongue in cheek. I think. The comment at Wright bringing in balance followed by a smiley is the clue you need 🙂
I hope I’m not mistaken though. Wanna clear things up Minesy?
@ Jambug as I said, radio commentators are being sued for libel (fuck, just ask Howard Stern hahaha), journalists are being sued for libel, it’s possible.
SHOULD AFC sue that little bitch ? No, sadly. And this is not legal opinion, it’s just my opinion.
It will be used to show Arsenal as a bully, going after a private individual who “just expressed his opinon”. It will be a very bad move, PR wise.
I think that the relationship between media-refs-general public should start with the old Arsenal faithful. The problem is that none of Wenger’s old players, let’s say Dennis or Freddie or even Patrick, go out and write a column in Eurosport explaining how badly Arsenal treated with the sheer violence dealt by opposition teams with no protection from the refs. I would want this subject to be resonated not in this blog written by fans, but in the general sections of the media. There is a problem that this stance has no voice.
TommieGun,
You bring it home again my learned friend!
If Arsenal sue or black out the media, it will be a PR disaster which would only make things worse.
I agree about our ex-players stepping up in defence of the club but unfortunately, only or foreign legion are loyal apart from Ray Parlour and Martin Keown. The other British ex-players are back-biters and enablers.
I do hope that Arsene Wenger would channel more Louis van Gaal in his press interviews though. The response to a moronic journalist’s question about what LvG knows about Man United was delicious. Wenger needs to do this too. With his razor sharp wit, they would not know what has hit them.
I am not asking the club to sue, all I am asking is any kind of pushback or payback, no matter how little. The media are like bullies (and they love bullies e.g. Mourhino & Ferguson), when you hit them back, they let you off.
I’m with Jambug & Paul “The Gooner”
I can’t believe the club just sit by and do nothing about the media. I actually think we are in a very powerful position to do something about it.
If we denied them access to Wenger’s press meetings and also access to the players that would seriously damage their source of information about the club, which I think they rely on enormously.
Cut off that supply and give them a short sharp shock. They act like kids so treat them like kids and punish them when they do wrong.
The trouble is Wenger is too much of a gentleman and I believe, even though he is being taken advantage of, he would never agree to press censure.
Unfortunately I don’t think Gazidis is a strong enough leader to do anything about it either.
There’s a song for the community shield – ‘you got it all wrong, you got it all wroooong, durham from talkshite, you got it all wrong’.
Guys, did you see Durham’s picture? I think when he was born, the doctor didn’t slap him to start crying, but instead slapped his mum for delivering such an ugly baby.
He looks like a cross between a turd and a carrot.
He looks like someone shat on his head through a sieve.
And if I had the energy to do it, I am certain that if we google like 4 years ago he would be one of the loudest anti Ramsey voices.
Morning all, isn’t it great having that monkey off our backs.
Right. I hate the media I have said for a number of years that Arsenal Football club let themselves down badly in the PR department. When things are said that are incorrect and repeated endlessly, somebody should stand up and say something. I am sick to my back teeth of our club being ridiculed.
There is an anti-agenda Arsenal agenda in the media. We have a French manager they dislike, probably because he took on the old school and changed the backwards culture of our sport. he is far more intelligent than the reporters and pundits, so again they dislike him. But Arsenal has always been disliked.
My controversial view
Now the media get away with this for a lot of reasons and I am now going to be controversial. Lets take Peter Wood and his blog because this is a very relevant point. This is a blog that claims to be an Arsenal blog but is nothing of the sort. You do not need any special talent to know this, you simply visit and read the comments. Not just those from Wood aka pedro but those from the comments. It really is pretty disgusting content at times. The bloke who runs it has an anti-Wenger agenda but actually it goes a lot deeper than that. Because it isn’t just wenger that gets abused, it is players, the medical team, fitness staff, the scouts etc. It is definitely anti-Arsenal. In fact prior to the cup final saturday, so called Arsenal fans were hoping Hull would win. After the victory, some were very disappointed. Those celebrating were told to calm down. Almost immediately they were back on the subject of everything that is wrong with this club in their eyes. And I mean everything. Peter Wood went straight on the Wenger attack based on the new contract he knew he was signing months ago. No Cup celebration just back on the attack.
But here’s the thing. The bloke that writes it is a member of the AST. He often talks about how he gets invited to the club. How he is in the know and such a great fan. He gets invited to watch fitness sessions, meets the medical team and basically gets the kind of treatment I would pay for! And then goes back and slags off the club!! He goes to the Football writers function. He writes for the Metro, in fact who can forget his hilarious piece about Spurs showing us how to do transfers when they wasted that £100 million quid. However Arsenal are giving him credibility. This credibility he uses to get seen as some genuine Arsenal fan that is upset with the manager. This means for news outlets he is a Golden Goose. The last thing they want is blokes like me giving my pro wenger and pro-arsenal views or celebrating the FA Cup Win. They want negativity. They want to ridicule us its part of the agenda. So they read LeGrove and they adore Peter Wood. He’s everything they need to present a ‘fake’ Arsenal view. He is an insider, he represents the fans (albeit 100 of them) and he is everything blokes like Durham could dream of.
Now I have no problem with people giving opinions. Where I have a serious problem is when lies and untruths are peddled as facts. Where I have a problem is when our players are routinely slated and abused. Where I have a problem is when Arsenal Football Club seem oblivious to a rogue element that slags off the club at every single opportunity and yet invite him to the ground. Where I have a problem is when a football club heaped in tradition and enviable class, that goes about its business professionally and with honour, is ridiculed. A club with a Manager that has shown incredible loyalty in an amoral world and has battled against a tide of the ‘evil forces’ of financial doping – aka cheating. Where is this support for a club that demonstrates everything that is good in football? The good guys.
Well Arsenal Football Club needs to start standing up for itself. And someone needs to take on that arrogant, egotistical anti-arsenal preacher of doom that is causing damage to our club and misrepresenting over 99% of Gooners. Ignoring the danger within is the wrong tactic.
So yes we should stand up to the media. It didn’t do Alex Ferguson any harm when he started banning those that had written lies. Enough is enough!
Proudkev,
agree with what you say.
As Untold was down I went to LE**** to read and thought to myself: well maybe they would be happy now?
But it was the same shit all over again. Player X is useless (be it said more colourful), Wenger is….. oh well…, I noticed one or two trying to say: hey guys we won you know but they were told to shut up and go to Untold. Thank you by the way. 😉
Come on they have been slagging off Arsenal all those years and hell if you are in a strange way addicted to silverware I could even accept it but would suggest to see a psychiatric treatment to sort it out. But now when we did win some silverware (their stick to measure things) the stick is thrown away and they keep on spreading negativity.
Makes you wonder what their agenda really is….
I’ve been reading Le Grove quite frequently to see what spin is being put on things there. It’s actually funny how Pedro seems to know the solution to everything ‘wrong’ at the club. Just do this, that, and some of that other thing, and we’d be just so so much better than every other club, and Wenger is too stupid to see it.
The narrative change from only a trophy marks a successful season, to, it has only been an average season from Wenger and still he gets a 3 year contract!!? (Rabble rabble..uproar..outrage..)
So next season, if Wenger buys players, and wins the league, they’ll say they were right all along and it was only their pressure which forced Wenger to buy, and he should still go because it doesn’t excuse the ‘near decade of failure’.
If we don’t win the league, it’ll be either because Wenger didn’t buy the right players, probably not for enough money, Or it’ll be because despite spending money, he has no clue about tactics. Most likely both though.
It’s a perfect logic loophole they’ve found and like frogs in a well, that is their world. Nothing beyond it exists.
TommieGun & Bootoomee
What I expecting was people to point out that there are a few ex-Arsenal players in the media … and that it made MY comments balanced to point this out before they did … to clarify, Daniel Levy is probably more balanced in his approach to Arsenal than the media !!!
Proudkev.
If what you say is true, there is enough in there to suggest that Arsenal are either just plain stupid, or worse, complicit.
Sorry, but it is just not good enough to sit by and allow your business model, your manager, your players and fans, to be systematically insulted and lied about on any number of media platforms.
Although I think there must be legal grounds to do something on the basis that we are at least being Libelled, I agree it would probably back fire.
But denying media outlets such as Talkshite, 5Live, the Sun, amongst many others, access to the Club, it’s players and manager would at least be a start.
No great fuss. Just say NO when asked.
Nothing makes my blood boil like hearing Durham accuse Theo and Wilshere of faking injuries to avoid England duty, only to hear them giving said station an interview a Month later. Sick joke.
They may not mind that Arsenal are being accused of cheating but I fucking do !
@jambug
Durham claimed one of the reasons Arsenal would bottle it was because they were frightened of what he would say on the Monday if they were to lose. Unfortunately I catch odd bits of this arrogant twat because my daughter (who is unfortunately a Liverpool supporter) listens to this excuse of a radio station.
Walter and Shard.
The whole thing about LeGrove is odd. It is clear that not all commentators are what they claim to be. Lots of Spurs, Chelsea and man utd fans on there posting.
Why would a fan celebrating the FA Cup win be told to stop celebrating? Why would the club then be attacked and ridiculed straight after our first trophy for a while? Why would you spend almost every day complaining about trophys and then when one arrives, try to discredit it? Why?
The answer is simple.
Peter Wood is so obsessed with himself and his opinions he genuinely believes he is always right. Due to this ego of his and the reputation he enjoys in front of his adoring followers, being wrong hurts. He and his followers see the FA Cup Win as evidence that they are wrong, so they discredit it. It becomes, we were lucky, Hull are useless etc. When we were top of the league no credit went to Wenger. It was because we had only played easy teams and Bould was doing the tactics. When we lost, it was Wenger doing the tactics.
Injuries are always blamed on Wenger. According to Wood and his weird followers, we injure our own players due to incompetance. We don’t have unlucky injuries. We are one of the top professional football clubs, yet the way they talk we are some amateur, backwards
It is absolutely incessant nonsense and dicreditation.
If you want further proof about the discreditation tactic, check out the AKB description they created. s soon as someone says something they don’t like, they instantly reach for the AKB insult. So discredit. That is what he does, its very clever.
I hate that blog. I despise Peter Wood. I accept that sort of garbage from a rival blog. Not an Arsenal one. They are dangerous because they are are pissing from within and don’t seem to care that they have spuds and Chelsea fans on there. As long as its negative comments they are happy. The media use his blog and him as some kind of barometer for how Arsenal feel, which is totally wrong. And thats where I take real issue. And as for Arsenal Football Club inviting him to the club, if that is true of course, they are mad.
We have to start standing up to all this anti-Arsenal crap that is out there, because it wont go away on its own. We fans have some responsibility but so do the club. Put out a statement that corrects a lie that is circulated, hand it to the journos. Don’t let them keep doing this.
PS: last week I heard that awful Georgie Bingham on Talksport saying we insulted Liverpool with that £40m plus £1 bid, she believes it and nobody has corrected her. JW Henry himself admitted the truth, yet its ignored. In fact LeGrove all said he was lying and that he was just saying it to show the fans how much he cares. Unbeleivable ignorance. The media still say the same thing.
Jambug. I am in my fifties and Arsenal have always been disliked. But I have never seen anything on this level before. It is a sustained attack and I am sorry but the club could do something about it. When something is said that is clearly not true, point it out. Perhaps do a press release. Improve our PR, lets have more positivity from the club. You never see our guys giving opinions. Get Charlie George out there. Not Paul Merson who is a lifelong Chelsea fan. Or Stewart Robson the West ham fan sacked by us. You fight fire with fire.
@proudkev
Good point about Peter Wood. I agree with the thought that there is something illogical the way Le Groan continuously denigrates AW; one explanation for their obsessive negativism would suggest support for a hostile takeover.
Perhaps a first change would be for the club to remove the privileges that Mr Wood presently enjoys.
@proudkev
I agree that the club should be doing more to counteract the negativity and rubbish put out by the media, however I have sent three emails to the club asking what their stance on this is, they have not bothered to even reply apart from an acknowledgement of receipt of said emails. Should I conclude from the apparent lack of interest from them that they are not concerned?
Mick
They may not be but it’s clear many are.
It’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for us loyal Untolders don’t you think?
We believe in Arsenals vision, Arsenes philosophies, and stand by them fervently no matter how tough the going gets, yet they don’t even acknowledge your emails.
On the other hand they seemingly invite the vitriolic peter Cook, who seems to vehemently oppose all that Arsenal and Arsene stand for, into their arms.
Seems like they’re taking the piss to me.
proudkev and bjtgooner
Pedro was certainly invited to the opening of the new medical centre to check it out (as were some other bloggers) I think the idea was to reach out to all sections of the Arsenal blogosphere and show them what progress the club was making.
Many of them wrote positive reviews and were quite satisfied that the club was making all efforts to improve the injury prevention and recovery systems. They were also advised that it is something which will take time because it is a matter of acquiring some raw data about each individual player and then tailoring the response. Le grove did not say anything negative about that.
Before the start of this season, Ivan Gazidis had meetings with many bloggers, again including Le Grove. Pedro actually wrote positive things about the club then for a change. He basically absorbed the message that the club is looking to reach the same level as Bayer Munich, are looking to sign some exciting players, and that they fully believe that trophies would follow soon. So, there’s something to be said for reaching out as well. It does make a difference.
However, Pedro is a master of spin and half truths, distorting context etc. When he says something good about the club, something negative about Wenger has to inevitably follow. His message at the end of it all, that what he gathered from Gazidis’ statements and BODY LANGUAGE, was that Wenger doesn’t spend the money that Gazidis wants him to, that Wenger is like a dictator who just happens to be in Kroenke’s good books because he makes him money, and Gazidis is stuck in the middle with nothing he can do. And all his readers lapped that shit up.
What can you do? Stupidity and dumbed down arguments are easiest to sell. Especially when all you are trying to achieve is knock down someone or something. Good way to carve out a niche for yourself and ‘market’ yourself, especially because the papers also reach out to you for a quote or to write. His profession is marketing I think. That would make sense because that’s all he’s doing basically, at cost to the club of course.
So what should ARsenal do? Ban him? From what? As far as the blogs go, I don’t think they can do much. But newspaper writers. Yeah, I think some more regular tough action should be taken. Maybe get Wenger to give exclusives to some writers and papers that represent Arsenal fairly, while blacking out the rest from time to time? It won’t stop them, but it certainly will show us that the club aren’t just going to sit back and take it all the time. Perhaps they were waiting for a trophy so that they expose the lack of fairness in the attitude of the media? That’s certainly possible. I’ve never seen Wenger mention the ‘creativity’ of the media before. Hopefully he and the club will be more forceful in getting their message across.
jambug
It is strange, the lack off response, and yes I was a bit offended that my concern for the club appeared to fall on stony ground. Maybe they feel that complaining will only make matters worse, but if that is their stance why not confirm it. On the other hand I have sent emails to Arsene himself to offer my support on a couple of occasions when he has been well and truly under the cosh media wise and each time have I received nice replies from his secretary saying that Arsene has read your comments and appreciates them.
Mick
Which email address do you send your mails of support to Arsene? I would like to do the same as well. (I do remember doing it once before but didn’t get a reply. Maybe it was not the right address to send it on)
Mick
I wouldn’t expect a confirmation of anything from them or even any sort of mention of their stance on the issue, nor even that the issue exists. But they should certainly send you an acknowledgment.
Shard
I did get an acknowledgement of receipt and to say my email had been forwarded to the appropriate department. Maybe you are correct and I shouldn’t have expected anything more than that.
Shard
I think I sent them to …
ask@arsenal.co.uk and marked it ‘For the attention of Arsene Wenger’
I got an acknowledgment saying the emails had been passed on to Arsene’s office followed by the thanks from his secretary.
Thank you for the response Mick. I shall do the same next time.
The reason why they can’t outline their stance is that if they even acknowledge that such an issue exists to you, and you happen to leak it out, they would face a media storm, which they would have struggle to combat, since they will not be on the offensive.
Like you, I hope the club are not just sitting back and allowing the media to define the narrative. They will definitely not do that if it is seen to affect ‘sales’. I am hopeful that now that the club is ready to enter the transfer market with more confidence, they will also approach the media from a position of greater strength.
As an aside, a positive for the club in the US especially has been a)Thierry Henry (much like Bergkamp was for me I guess) and b) Fox losing the rights to the PL. The coverage of NBC is much better than Murdoch’s propaganda machine who even in the off season showed replays of matches only which Arsenal lost or drew.
Sky is also the reason ManU has such a large brand in Asia, since even without cause and the titles then, they were hyped as THE team to follow. So hopefully now that Murdoch is not the one showing the games in the US anymore, it will allow the Arsenal brand to grow.
@Shard
I also have sent messages of support to Arsenal (at times when AW was under unfair attack from the media) and I received an acknowledgement initially followed by a nice reply from Mr Wenger’s secretary. Like Mick I used the Ask Arsenal email address.
I take your point about the advantages of reaching out to all sections of the fan base and I agree with that. But, based on the comments of proudkev – if Peter Wood has been awarded privileges in the past and still writes anti Wenger propaganda I see no good reason to maintain that privileged position. The club should ignore him – he won’t like it – but why aid an enemy?
Good points about the bias of Sky & Fox – the difficulty in the UK is that the other stations seem just as anti Arsenal as Sky.
bjt
That is either explained by something deeper, or just by the fact that large corporations by and large don’t like to stand out too much. If Sky have been successful doing something, it is unlikely that a rival company having got its foot in, will like to change a ‘winning formula’.
Of course it might have something to do with Arsenal standing out from the buy buy buy philosophy, which reduces their set avenues for marketing the superstar league.
Doesn’t really matter I suppose.
Yes it seems as though we all feel the same on here. Certainly untold is seen as some kind of enemy, it really is very odd to understand. I suspect Wood is on an ego trip and it is all about driving traffic to his site. He knows bad news sells and perhaps he is purely motivated by that. I cannot believe anyone as clever as he is could ever be that stupid as to beleive what he writes. However, why would you write so much drivel about a club you claim to support? I also cannot for the life of me understand excuse the abusive language and vitriol he allows and positively supports. The names Arsene gets called sometimes is utterly disgusting. I know this is the modern world but he cannot claim to anonymity, he is so brash and self aware he wants everybody to know who he is. Honestly, the stuff that he allows to go unchecked and even says himself is inexcusable. he has admitted to getting dogs abuse on twitter but laughs it off, he has no shame. I really cannot stand the bloke and what he stands for. I love this club, its completely alien to me.
And the club has to address it. I may even capture some of the disgustuing comment from that site and send it to the club. Surely they are aware of his blog and how anti-wenger and anti-arsenal it is. If they are, they should cut off his oxygen.
Shard,
I watched the FA Cup on NBC. The in-game color commentator was vicious. All about Hull’s heroism and Arsene’s cravenism – until we went ahead 3-2. Then, on cue, he smoothly shifted (with no mea culpa or any memory of what he’d been doing for most of the match) to the 9 fallow trophy years may be coming to end.
During the interval, there was a 6 person gang bang of commentary, largely (but not vitriolic) vs Arsenal; albeit with one notable exception – a former player who accurately predicted that Wembley’s deep grass would take its toll on Hull’s more active defensive game and that Arsenal’s superiority would win the day. He was right, but they never went back to him, nor to the fact that he predicted this — nor was his experience-based point brought up during the resumed second half nor after the match.
Also, during the match, the main play by play man did obliquely mention (about 3 times) that Arsenal could have had (2, 3, 4) penalties called by now; but his anti-AFC partner did not follow up on any of that.
Anyway, the station did cover the live post-game ceremony without negativity toward AFC – so victory does shut down that toxic swill-stream.
So, all told, from viewing the FA and a few other games, I’d agree that NBC coverage seems better than anything Foxy; but just judging on this match, I’d say it seems 40/45-55/60 against us; but as opposed to say, 0-99 against us from Fox.
Proud Kev, very astute on a number of points. You mentioned other teams fans hiding on certain forums without scrutiny, as they suit the sites agenda. can only agree.
The worst abuse I have ever been on the end of with an Internet forum is a well known arsenal site, not LG as it happens ….Arry had just been sacked, and I innocently mentioned that’s another spud manager wenger had seen off…..You should have seen what came my way! Know Arry is rumoured to be a Gooner, but our supposed fans backing,of him was a little suspicious to say the least.
People talk about Chelsea’s “success model” by sacking the coach.
One thing they miss is that, while they have very low stability at the coaching front, they have relative stability with the core players to the extend that people say they took over the dressing room.
Any coach who comes in and can make use of those players can deliver a certain level of result.
The problem is, its so many years. These people are getting old and teams know how to play them. All their potentials are used up. They need to rebuild. Since any coach who can’t deliver would be kicked out, they prefer keep players stable and signing “big” players while putting minium of time and chances to future team building.
It has come to a point where the team can deliver no more and is now suffering from past lack of plans for the future.
They bring Jose Mourhino back for that because many believe he build the success for the team although people should have given that credit to Claudio Ranieri.
Have they pick the right man? I don’t think so. Jose Mourhino is quite good doing all the tactical stuff but not a person for long term job. He is an opportunists. He is good at going in and making use of the situation. Not a very good idea to rebuild Chelsea.
As for Mourhino failing to deliver in recent years. Well, as I said he is good at giving the best for the situation but after over ten years in the theater, everyone knows what he does and how he do things. His tactics and all. He hasn’t changed much so people are catching up to him.
See the media now laying into Yaya toure, who if reports are true is behaving like a grade A tool. Good player, but glad wenger steered clear if this behaviour is representative….upset because his club did not buy him a super car for his birthday!
Ha ha You are SO jealous of Pete Wood its hilarious! As for denying the media access to AFC yeah genius PR move well done.
Nw,well he managed to beat Arsenal 6.0 so I would suggest that Wenger had better get a move on in catching up with Mourinho if everyone else is, as he has yet to beat him. The relegated sides did better at Stamford Bridge than Arsenal.Still a new era eh?
off topic , but does anyone know when they are painting 2014 on the stadium , next to the previous yrs we won a trophy, I want the club to force every media outlet, print,digital, tv to show that as the first scene when they show the stadium at start of next season.
I had enough of them showing 2005 , whenever we had a bad game at home, now force them to show 2014 painted there as opening shot to our stadium.
r.iris,
I bet they will not do that round of the stadium any more from next season 😉 I think they showed it during each game on TV.
Yeah Linz we are… LOL
Enjoyed the cup win? Nah not that much I guess… Well we did.
r.iris,
Don’t hold your breath. But at least we can take some solace in the fact that they will not be so gleefully moving their camera slowly around the stadium to pause at 2005 from next season.