By Walter Broeckx
The other day I found this interview that was published in Sports Illustrated. It was an interview and some interesting words that Gazidis has said. The full interview can be found here and there are other interesting things you can get from it. But I want to highlight just one part of the interview.
It is something that we Untolders have seen already and we have put it in other words. But the real message behind it remains and now even more than all those you know how many years.
Gazidis: Think about this club. In 2002 and 2003, it’s really at the top of the world. And Arsène is at the top of the world. We have fantastic players. It’s us and Manchester United battling at the top of the Premier League. It all looks amazing for the Arsenal Football Club. But what does the club do? And what does Arsène do? And what do the board members do? They say we’re more ambitious than this.
Most people would have just sat back and said, ‘this is great. Everybody loves us.’ But what do they do? They throw all of that up in the air, a massive risk. They say, ‘We’re going to commit all the resources of this club to building a stadium that we think we are going to need 15 and 20 years from now if we want to be a really global football club.’
It’s an incredible bold decision. They do it, they see it through, go through all the difficult times. Arsène continued to do an incredible job, threading the eye of the needle on the pitch. The board does an incredible job threading the eye of the needle off the pitch. We are now, just now, all these years later, beginning to come out of that. Arsène navigated us through that.
Yet is seems people just assume, at Arsenal, we’re going to be in the Champions League. They assume we’re going to be near the top of the Premier League. There’s nothing that really distinguishes us from the other clubs in England, other than this man.
This is a great tribute to Arsène Wenger from Ivan Gazidis. And something that for us Untolders is just what we think about the great man. But seeing it being said by Gazidis brings much more weight to it. When we write it we are that bunch of deluded Wenger fans.
Wenger and the board have produced a miracle. I know the coming 4th as a trophy has been ridiculed by outsiders but also by some of our own fans. I have said it a dozen times and more that in the years we had since the building started that getting CL football was an enormous achievement. And we all know that we could and should have won even a few trophies along the way if the referees would have done a fair job.
Check the recent history of all the other clubs that build a complete new stadium. They went bankrupt or they went down to the lower divisions. Arsenal remained as close to the top as possible and that at the same time when the oilers came above water and started spending enormous amounts of money.
Yes it was Wenger who kept us where we have been all these years. And now as Gazidis is saying the next period is starting.
And if you don’t believe me I will point you towards last summer when we managed to bring in Özil. The first sign that things had changed. This summer we have signed Sanchez from Barcelona.
For the first time in 10 years time Wenger has finally got enough money to do serious business without having to sell his best players who want out as they were impatient and couldn’t wait for the change that was going to happen and in which we at Untold always believed it would happen.
We are at the start of a new dawn for Arsenal. We will never be able to compete with the oilers in spending silly money. And thank god for that. Spending money wisely is what Wenger is about most of the time.
I have said it before and will say it again. In some 10 years time we will look back and some will never remember the difficulties of the barren years. They will take it for granted that we will be able to compete with the other big teams. But it wasn’t an easy thing to get to that point. And we all should be thankful for the people on the board who took that brave decision.
But once and for all we should be grateful for that best manager we ever had. Arsène Wenger the miracle man. The man who guided us through the most difficult period of our clubs history. I think that if it had gone wrong we might have lost our dear club by now. We could have gone bankrupt or go down to the lower leagues.
It is only one man who avoided all this. The manager who has no clue of tactics some say. The man who is too stingy to spend the f*cking money some say.
I say the man who kept us at the top and produced a modern miracle. The best manager we have ever had and I fear we will never get another Wenger after he finally leaves us. A day I fear to be honest. I think Manchester United fans can testify how quick things can turn when you get the wrong manager.
Wenger with no money kept us near the top. I am really waiting with high hopes to see Wenger with money doing his job in the next years. Looking forward to the coming season(s). Bring it on I say. And remember: stay behind your team, players and your manager.
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Wenger is respected everywhere except England. The day he leaves arsenal, most of the pundits will be out of work
I am going to print this post for some of our fans here who would never believe my explanations before. I have ever given examples like, “to jump higher and further you have to walk backwards”. We did not even walk further backwards yet maintained our level of competition. May God bless Arsene, Arsenal and all of us.
As usual, a nice read. I remember your site being pretty much the only place where you could find something optimistic about Arsenal, back when Wenger was getting all the hate…
Well said, the real people respect him, the others are not big enough men to give respect to him.
I for one am only coming to grips with what a massive achievement that was, to keep Arsenal in the top 4 for all those tears during the lean times.
Now we start to see why they fear that man.
They are imagining what he is going to do now he has money to spend. I think many of the “top 4” are secretly worried about Arsenal.
This is where Arsenal realise that the power now lies fully in our hands. Come on Arsenal.
p.s.
I “like” the way the papers are twisting the fact that “Manu cannot get the big stars” into “Van will not rush to spend”.
Ah well for every side there is always another one too.
My admiration of Wenger is almost beyond words.
Not only did he achieve all of the above, but he did it in the face of some of the most ferocious, vile and vindictive abuse I have ever heard.
He did it in the face of an agenda hell bent on protecting and maintaining the vested interests of parties leeching off of the ‘oilers’ Billions.
He did it in the face of a PGMOL who where well and truly in the back pockets of the media and there favoured Northern love nest.
He did it in the face of some of the most misguided, misinformed and ill judged criticism you are ever likely to hear, from those he so steadfastly served, our own fans.
When he does go Arsenal will be unrecognisable from the Club he inherited some 20 odd years ago.
The one sad thing for me to come out of all this is the very uncomfortable realisation that far too many of our own fans have revealed themselves to be no better than something I scraped off of my shoe.
Booing our own ?
Driving players out of the Club?
Abusing our own manager?
A glorious era sadly blighted by a mindless, all too large, minority.
What a good article. We as Arsenal fans have so much to be thankful to Wenger for! I too dread the day that he decides to leave Arsenal. He is the most brilliant of Managers.
Gosh I remember back in 2007 as a teenager being abused back in Africa for supporting Arsenal (‘losers’), I would come up here just to hear sensible things from true fans about our club. Oh they so kept me sane… Untold never wavered!! I think the theme of this site then was ”Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does”. I am glad we stuck with us. Wenger has done it again. I am RELIEVED we were right all those years. oh bring on the new dawn of sustained success!! In Arsene we trust!!!
Arsenal wouldn’t go bankrupt unless they were run by complete idiots and they never have been. All those other clubs who struggled never had the support we had so we were always a lot safer bet for investing in a stadium.
And we haven’t exactly been poor the whole time. Wenger himself said he could spend 40 million on one player back in 2011 but he didn’t. Fair enough, he may not have been able to acquire the right player at that point so the money was not spent.
As for trophies we’ve not had a good enough team to win the league since 2005 and we’ve underachieved in cups and the CL, though we’ve never had a team good enough to win the latter for nigh on ten years.
And when you consider how much we have spent on players finishing fourth is about where we belong behind the big three. Any higher placing is over achieving. There are very few clubs beside the big three who have our resources so the least we should expect is CL qualification every year. So no miracle, just a prudently run football club.
It certainly seems that we are now determined to step up our ambitions with talent like Ozil and Sanchez at the club. But I can’t see those two alone making us favourites to win the league. One more quality purchase this summer and we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. We now have the money so there’s no excuses.
As asked Kiwigooner 😉
Thanks wenger for sign three position player chamber,right back,centre back,and midfilder.chamber is a good player,welcome to sign at arsenal.The number shirt is no (21)and new ospina goal keeper number shirt is no (13).Sanchaz (17) shirt,and Debuchy is number (2)shirt.
Rupert Cook
“We now have the money so NO EXCUSES”
-So building a new stadium and thereby being financial committed to such, was an ‘excuse’ was it? And there I was thinking it was a legitimate ‘reason’.
-Yes we may have ‘the money’ but we still don’t have ‘as much money’ as others. So winning things, the PL and CL especially, is still going to be a tough ask, and if we don’t there will be no need for an ‘excuse’. Just because we spend a bit more money doesn’t automatically give us the right, indeed the team, to win everything you might like us to.
What walter points out is that ‘relative’ to the position they where in prior to building a new stadium, almost everyone else has taking a dramatic, in some cases catastrophic, down turn in fortune.
On the other hand Wenger has, more or less, maintained our position. I think there’s a very strong argument to suggest that, had the oil money not turned up at the same time, he would of definitely maintained, and perhaps even surpassed are original position.
Your inference that basically ‘anyone’ could of done what Wenger has done given the same circumstances is highly speculative at best.
I just don’t get you Rupert, despite everything, you STILL have to try and undermine what Wenger has achieved.
And when you consider how much Manure has spent on prayers finishing seventh behind the big sixth.Any high place is overachieving. There are a very few clubs behind the big sixth who have our resoures so the least we should expect is no qualification.So no miracle just a prudently run football club.
As a sewer rat thats what has to come from my sewer mouth,as a moron that should be perfect.
Well said by Rupert Cook. We have not won anything yet Gooners please don’t turn into Liverpool fans making noise for no reason. I feel like even the most ardent Wenger-Out merchant would have taken their hat off to wenger once he retires. I personally did not want wenger to sign a new contract and buying the quality players we are buying this summer is not enough to change that. This is SOLELY because not being able to spend was not the only reason for our dark years post 2005! Tactical rigidity and ineptitude played a big part in our downfall. The mismanagement of finances was also a cause, the socialist wage structure for example, Denilson Diaby Bendtner Song Squillaci were on money that exceeded their ability. To put it into perspective Sergio Ramos was on the same in that period, and Modric’s renewal at spurs was the same (50k). Wenger himself was exempt from this socialist blueprint. So while staying near the top was a tough task wenger and the board made it a tougher road than it needed to be especially with the politics and hypocrisy that saw David Dein get ousted, even though the current major shareholder is someone he introduced to the club!
Despite all this we seem to have initiated a new era and wengers limited celebrations of the FA cup to implies a rejuvenated hunger for that feeling again. He looked pensive and determined and that will hopefully cause problems for the other top prem teams!
BUT EVEN IF WE WIN NOTHING IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS WENGER HAS IMMORTAL STATUS WITH THIS CLUB!!!
P.S. Well said by the person who mentioned the press putting a spin on utd’s inability to attract top players!! Utd and Liverpool are exempt from media criticism and its that ignorant mentality and partiality that will see us continue to do SHIT in major international tournaments!!
Good article indeed. I have on occasions criticised Wenger’s tactical nous and been disappointed available money was not spent on needed players at that time, but I have always appreciated the miracle Wenger has performed at Arsenal and not once, not ever, have I wanted him gone.
I still don’t but this coming season I’ll probably curse him for some reason. Perhaps because of my ignorance or perhaps impatience, but I will not think less of him or appreciate less what he has done.
His age will force him to retire in the next few years and he will show all those doubters what they’re missing. I will not be around to see it but I know those fans will be crying out for his return.
I am one of those who slated him and assumed we should be plucking titles out of trees but now have seen a lot of sense and what a great achiever and miracle worker this man has been for our club! He will forever be a LEGEND at The AFC (North London KINGS)!!!!!!!!! Long may his reign continue well into his 70s if he wishes.
@ AAA Cook at 09:14
More like:
And when you consider how much you have trolled UA, ending up in the sewers is about where you belong behind the big turds. Any higher placing is over achieving. There are very few clubs who have this number of sewer rats, so the least we should expect is their bullshit every other week. So no miracle, just the AAA way.
Very nice article Walter with an excellent perspective of where we have been, where we are now and where we are going.
Some of the tossers who have continually backstabbed Wenger could do with some realism.
@jambug
Great comments.
Thanks @Wengerson
Amazing article!
something that most of us knew all along but its essential that u point it out for the AOB’s!
thank you for the article 🙂
well said Walter….and Ivan. Get another Wenger….impossible, there isnt one. However when the great man calls it a day, we will be in a position to choose from the very topof the tree for a replacement. But for now, lets enjoy Wenger finally able to compete again
Rupert Cook
July 29, 2014 at 9:14 am
Thanks for your post Rupert.
Now think about the points mentioned in this blog that you have chosen not to include in your contribution.
Now for something completely different.
When Arsene won his first Arsenal double David Dein said this:
‘We believed Arsene would win the league in three years, but never like this.’
Having followed Arsene from the time he took Glen Hoddle from spuds, I have been an admirer of his ability to produce a team that plays great football.
When he arrived at Highbury I didn’t follow the cry ‘Arsene who?’ for I knew a great manager had arrived at the club.
No one I repeat no one expected what was to happen to Arsenal through Arsene in the long term.
There we were with ‘the invincibles’, life could only get better at least on the pitch.
Yes there was praise for the football we played but the vitrol we have become use to over the years was still there and being activated by all and sundry.
Then much to our enemies delight Arsene showed what a useless amanager he is because he could not continue to lead Arsenal to silverware.
He could not produce a winning team strong enough not only to beat teams on the pitch but also to beat the corruption that is every where in football.
What our critics will never acknowledge is the amazing achivement of the new stadium, the amazing achievement of paying for it all within our income, the amazing achievement of being a ‘top club’ despite limited funds.
Arsenal have come through it all still playing attractive football still at the top, still the club the others want to play most and and want to beat most.
The club have never doubted Arsene and Arsene has never doubted the club.
Other managers may have won more silverware than Arsene there is no denying that.
But.
When Arsene became the Arsenal manager the club was in disarray and going nowhere.
How the Arsenal world has changed! Still challenging for silverware, a fantastic 60 000 seater stadium and a world wide fan base.
In the time that Arsene has been at the helm skillful players from around the world have played for Arsenal and from the club itself.
There has been a huge turnover in backroom and admin staff including the directors.
Despite all the changes around him Arsene has brought stability, financial security, success and admiration from all who love football around the world, except that is in England.
Rupert,what other manager could have done all this?
Colario
Well said.
Inzaghi, I stopped reading after this: “We have not won anything yet Gooners please don’t turn into Liverpool fans making noise for no reason.”
So we didn’t win the FA cup then? Well it was a nice dream anyway….
Good article, but the end of the day 1 trophy in 8/9 years, not what I would call sucsessful. Challenging for silverware, I dont think so unless you are content with 4th every year and last 16 of the champions leauge. No doubt Wenger has turned Arsenal around and yes he is one of the best managers we have ever had. But i still think he has’nt delved into the transfer market enough. Results speak for themselves, how many 6 goal thrashings have we had in the last couple of seasons, not good enough
Rupert,
Welcome back. Trust you had a nice holiday and did more in the period than sharpening your knives to puncture any budding Wenger love-in.
I bet that some supporters, had they remained in EPL, would have felt it was, obvious, inevitable and the minimum that could have been expected. That is how it always is with success. Yet, it hasn’t ever stopped once solid companies from crashing out of reckoning or failing completely.
Even Arsenal management that was closer to the challenge expected that Arsenal might lose their top4 position for a little while; and that was without reckoning with the increased challenge of Chelsea and ManCity entering the fray.
But not Rupert! He knew better and, naturally, expected no less. Otherwise, he would have been forced to compliment Wenger and, as we all know by now, that is not in the cards anytime soon.
Walter Broeckx quit the pedantics! I can be as small minded as you and say 1 trophy in 9 years isn’t good enough. If you used your brain and calmed down you would understand I was referring to the comments implying we are at the promise land and Wenger has already written the wrongs of the previous 9 years. I mentioned Liverpool because they spend money, acheive fuck all but act like they have won the world. In the grand scheme of things we have a lot of work to do. Don’t let emotion cloud logic.
On the previous article where Tony admonished the useless BT Sport, Rupert Cook was there to tell us not to “get worked up”.
Now, on a thread praising our manager, here he is telling us to stop it doing his worst to rubbish the praise that the great man is duly getting.
So, when you hear whine about the AAA not existing, people this is your proof.
Rupert Cook is the arch AAA, if he can be call an Arsenal fan at all.
Previous post should have read “…some Leeds supporters, had they remained in the EPL, would have felt it was obvious, inevitable and the minimum that could have been expected..”
I think what a lot of people fail to grasp is the immense juggling act Wenger has had to perform, he didn’t want to sell RVP, however, he knew if he got injured for a lengthy period of time, (unlikely i know !!) we would finish outside the top four. So rather than paying him £300k p/w, he got two players in Giroud & Poldi, each not as good as RVP, sadly, however, they strengthened the squad, sufficiently to ensure we stayed top four.
In an ideal world, those two players would of been added to RVP, but sadly, the finances at the time did not allow this.
Simply put, he has operated within a budget, and unlike 2 other clubs, this had a limit, and was way inferior to Man Utds, simply look at the wage bills to see how hard it is to compete there, but whose squad would you want right now, ours or Man Utds ?
The constant battle of extremists is both childish ignorant and not productive. Iv heard a lot of bollocks from both Brigades. WengerOutBrigade annoy as much as ArseneKnowsBrigade. There is a grey area in our recent history and the sooner both extremists learn to show reasoning and adopt less of a communist approach to supporting our great club the better! Have your opinions yes. But don’t ridicule a differing opinion AS LONG AS it is well presented. Not just “Arsene’s Shit Don’t Stink!!!” Or “Arsene shit stinks forever no matter what”.
COYG
Inzaghi & Rupert Cook
Hello my good Arseanal fans, yes an article basically stating how far we’ve progressed since the arrival of Arsene Wenger. But I wonder the expections of Inzaghi&Rubert Cook, I ask how do you gauge success or even progress? is it based on how much you have achieved in life or is it an imposed expectation that you both require from others. My point is when you’re starting out in the world you never contemplate getting old, so saving for retierment seems unthinkable, even though you’ll be advised to. Yes as fans we all have opinions and thats what makes the debate about your team all the more interesting. I for one, think that Arsene Wenger is Different Gravy compared to the other Managers but thats only my opinion. May I suggest to aquire just a litte understanding of managing/running a Football Team, forget Football FIFA 14/15, try setting up and running a Local Football team and see how long it takes to become successful and after that how long you can keep the success going for. If success was that easy why has all those ex-proffessional footballers, turned pundits find it difficult to be successful, but always seem to have the answers for everyone else (Stuart Robson). Success is not a given Right, thats why when it is achieved, we should all enjoy the moment, no matter how little or big it is. Thanks for Listening
Ruppert cool and inzaghi why don’t u p!ss off over to le groan or an ridiculous where you can sprout ur shite to like minded xenophobic pessimists. Only a fool would not want wenger at the healm of the club. Do you not remember back in the early noughties when even though we had an excellent team we could not attract the likes of morientes trezeguet nedved that would take us to the next level, and it was down to commercial income match day income and not affording the wages and transfer fees of those top top players? Well now we can and it’s down to a new stadium controlling spending over that time and selling the odd player for decent money. Vieira left us crying but also said I have done everything I can for this team/club?? Arsene has taken us to that level now and to not want him to sign a new contract when he has worked under massive financial restraint for the last 10 years, and not be allowed to reap the benefits of HIS work would be insanity. Oh and the barren spell – oh yea just as the Russian and Arab mercenaries turned up coupled with the fact that we were under massive financial constraints – FA cup? Just as we come out of that period. Stop trying to redeem yourselves for bashing the club and the manager now you can see things are on the up. This is the first time I have posted on here but rupert cock u make my blood boil.
@Inzaghi
July 29, 2014 at 11:17 am
Please give us the name of one manager who knows better than Arsene?
Walter,
One aspect of the Gazidis quotes is particularly interesting. He talks about the stadium that Arsenal will need “15 and 20 years” after 2002. so that’s 2017 and 2022.
What is so significant about those years?
If my calculations are correct, that is approximately when Arsenal will have completed 100 continuous years (September 2019) and then 100 consecutive seasons (2025/6) in the top flight, and will be the first club in any league to do this (by quite some way).
If this is what he is hinting at, then all your amazing work with the Arsenal History Society (especially the work on the myths surrounding Arsenal’s election to the top flight) will be getting a great deal more attention!
It’s becoming toxic on here again. Debate is one thing and should be encouraged as not everyone can be expected to agree, but slagging other posters off (in the way some have here today) is serious trolling and should be barred.
Thank you Benn E I understand your POV although it differs slightly from mine. DannyWhite you are the epitome of the wankers I explained in my comment about extremists. Le Grove and sometimes Online Gooner is where you belong because you’re extremist views are more suited amongst other wankers. Your name even reminds me of Spurs.
How I am being compared to an AOB is beyond me but says to me none have read/understood what I’m saying. I don’t know who Mr.Cook is but it seems he has previous history with you all. Me agreeing with Mr. Cook’s comment doesn’t make me an AOB just like me aggreeing with the bloke who wrote the article doesn’t make me an AKB. Again if you read my initial comment there is no dominant tone supporting either brigade. I enjoy this blog along with LadyArse, Goonersphere and AshburtonGrove so expect more BALANCED comments from Moi :).
Colario that question is as dumb as DannyWhite.
@Walter
There are some so entrenched in their views and because of what they’ve said earlier about AW that they would not want to seem to lose face now. I dont expect these people to acknowledge the achievement – sadly. I expect them to alter their own argument and deflect.
All the bad behaviour will be back in spades when we lose a game next season.
It is sad really…. We’re all meant to be Arsenal fans.
THANK YOU OLDGROOVER!!
P.S. Stewart Robson…extremist!! Iv not heard him on Talk***** for a while, maybe he’s waiting for Sanchez to hit the post in a match so he can launch another hate campaign.
Steve – you asked how many six goal thrashings have we had in the last couple of seasons. The answer is two. You didn’t ask how many we had handed out… that was also two – although to be fair in one of them we scored seven (against Newcastle).
There was an article praising Arsène Wenger on PA yesterday. The only significant difference between these two articles is that the other site’s ‘mods’ vet and ban the triple A’s, except to maybe post part of the naysayers bitching, and then explaining why they’re not welcome.
Thank you for this article Walter. Thanks to the regulars who write, knowledgeably – showing their appreciation for this site and all things Arsenal.
One of the many things I love about Arsène is my perception of his humanity. This video has been posted before:
AW on languages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSWnNRrtfw0
Thanks for a great article, Walter!
Like other people I looked to Untold when irrational criticism was all over the place. And I was never disappointed.
Not only that, but Untold exposed the unfairness Arsenal had to combat from the referees. A factor that seems to have gone off the agenda. Maybe we won’t have to worry about it this season. We can only hope!
Inzaghi
The self appointed voice of reason, all be it a rather foul mouthed one. 🙂
Pat
My fear is that with a potentially resurgent Arsenal it is only going to get worse.
All this Wilshere nonsense being blown out of all proportion is simply paving the way for him to kicked from pillar to post, yet again, and it will be all his own fault.
Didnt we all see this coming ? I knew it but wouldnt want to believe it. I was so happy last year when Aaron scored at Wembley and won the cup for us. So happy because now people would stop talking about how long its gone since we won a trophy… But we all knew it, the FA cup isnt a trophy for Arsenal, top 4 isnt an achivement for Arsenal. Hell even Liverpool who didnt win squat got more praise than Arsenal, even from “Arsenal fans”, “At least Liverpool challenged for the title” they say???? Its a load of bull!!! Manchester City won the league last season, only them an noone else. Who challenged for the title ? Well i would say Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool challenged for the title. We were the team that were top most days of the season, I would call that a challenge, but not some fans and not the media. Is it really so hard for some people to actually say the truth; Arsenal had a GREAT season !!!
I completely agree with the comments made by Jambug at 9.08am & 9.50am, amongst others.
We should also remember that Arsene has stayed very strong and navigated us through the so called “barren years” despite the long running & hostile media campaign to get him sacked, so that they could parade his head on a plate.
Because, make no mistake, that is what the “X number of years without a trophy” narrative was all about, to build a climate of opinion & pressure that would result in Arsene receiving his P45, and Arsenal being destabilised.
Thank goodness that did not work, and that the Arsenal Board showed leadership and loyalty by remaining rock solid behind Arsene.
I suspect that, when Arsene retires from the game and looks back over his managerial career, he will view the so called “barren years” period as one in which he really grew and developed even further as a manager, one in which he did some of his very best work within the game.
And given what Arsene had achieved up until that point, that is saying something.
Jambug
I almost turned the site Blue at the site of Stewart Robson’s name…
*covers mouth to prevent vomit*
Say what you want about Wenger, and most do. You can say he is tactically inept, over cautious when spending, dogmatic, or that he is a genius that has led a top club through a most difficult time, most clubs that have attempted completely new stadia here have ended up relegated. But the fact is, Wenger has managed a team that has done what nobody else has done in the top tier of UK football in the modern era. Yes, one day some money laundering/ soverign wealth subsidised / PGMOL handling outfit bigged up by the media at every opportunity may equal this achievement….but until that day, Arsene, you are truly unique. And perhaps thats one of the things that upset them so much
@Edda thanks and the champions are going to play the champs ask the sewer rats who those two might be you will get no reply.
I hate magwampiki characters.
Inzaghi shame I don’t read either of them then – I just look at the headlines and think I can do without, and that’s a great comeback to tell me to go off to Le groan like I told you to do, first. Are you an 8 year old child? And to come onto an optimistic Arsenal blog, claim you didn’t want Wenger to sign a contract extension, and that signing world class players over the last two summers is not enough to change your mind… who cares about your opinion?? You deserve some abuse, oh yes and then attack the author for having the audacity not to read your comments all the way through, and call him small-minded… Hmmmmm.. also your arguments about Ramos and Modric – have you forgotten the wages that Lampard, Terry, Gerrard, Rooney, Torres and other top PL performers were on? what about the Downing’s, Riera’s etc that were on the same wages as Diaby and Squillaci? Or have you conveniently forgot? Although Ramos is being re-numerated at the market value now, this was a time when Madrid were still in the ‘Zidanes and Pavones’ pay structure, and when Beckham, Robben, Sneijder, van nistlerooy were earning the top wages at Real Madrid. So your argument makes no sense. And on top of that u sir are a cnut, so fcuk off and go start an argument in the playground where u belong
I have now started reading some people saying Arsene is wasting money by buying all these players! Now, seriously, what do people want? This season it will be a huge tast finishing in the top 4, we need another signing in holding midfield. All these years it has been painful, now I have a feeling we’re about to properly compete. Personally, I can’t wait enough for the new season to begin.
Best article ever.
If I may add, I think its not just the lack of money that stopped Mr Wenger from spending big.
If we look back at the previous years, we never had a trophy winning core. Even the failed season of 2008, we just did not have it. May be Mr Wenger was waiting for the core of the team to develop into a hungry monster. We could have had it a few seasons back had, Cesc and Nasri stayed. But, as we say in my mother tongue “everything happens for the good”, now we do have it a core that looks so strong we can go for a multiple trophies. And now that we have a strong core, hez finishing it off with quality peripherals.
Cant wait for the season to start. GO GUNNERS
Lool @ DannyWhite.
Edda
What is it that you’ve seen coming?
New signings? Yes, four so far & more to come.
Positivity by Arsène and the squad? Yes, loads of that.
New sponsorship deals? Puma are paying us millions.
Liverpool & United becoming a laughing stock? If you read the right newspapers & blogs.
A challenge on four fronts? Hopefully, but don’t tell anyone or they’ll accuse you of positivity.
Don’t get sucked in by some of the commenters here.
Why Arsène Wenger is your Mother:
http://goonerslounge.com/arsene-wenger-mother/
Rupert Cook – you are truly a smart anti Wenger commentator. You don’t know how to praise a man that has no peer. Prudent is a term that covers a wide scope. You avoid comment on PGMOL. Arsenal & Wenger have been smart in attaining a position of competitiveness despite the volumes of financial imbalance that top teams in Europe have. The more serious imbalance has been the officiating and penalties imposed on the ‘truths’ exposed by Wenger comments. There has also been an exodus of players working with anti Wenger agents leading to Cesc moving to Chelsea from Barca.
Jambug – you sum up Cook well. You are right about Wenger and PGMOL.
After the joy of reading the article and some of the painsaking comments, I now know the full extent the difference between humans and animals.
Inz
First it’s we haven’t won anything yet when the FA cup win was pointed out it went to one thropy in 9 years how about 3 thropies in a 11 years.
You didn’t even know we had won the FA cup and you come on this site pretending to be an Arsenal fan.
This is a site who supports Arsene Wenger as the manager of Arsenal football and most Arsenal fans do the same.
The only reason to anti-Wenger is your a supporter of a different club to Arsenal or your spoilt brat.
To be
Different training top same bike?
http://i.imgur.com/7gh8tLT.jpg
The PGMOL, I’m not interested in conspiracy stories. As I’ve shown on numerous occasions a ref can only influence a game so far and I’m not going over that old argument again.
As Old Groover says debate is one thing, poisonous insults are another. I thought Arsenal supporters were better than that.
@Colario, I beg to differ, the club was not in disarray and going nowhere before Wenger arrived. It may have gone in a better or worse direction, we can never know, but Wenger arrived and he was brilliant for the majority of his first eight years. Yes we’ve had to be careful with money but as I said before the club has never been poverty stricken as Wenger’s declaration in 2011 will attest. Yes Wenger’s done well considering the players he’s bought but as he’s a manger who is one of the best, yes you heard right, I still don’t think it’s too much to expect to qualify for the CL with the resources he’s had to hand. He appears to be the one that has been reluctant to use them, now the club is swimming in money he seems to be much more ambitious in the market.
@Benn E, I don’t play computer games, they’re boring, so I don’t know what FIFA 14/15 is.
I find it really bizarre that the minute you dare to question, or even to balance an argument on here, you get loads of fanatics ridiculing what is basically nothing more than an opinion.
@Inzaghi
” the sooner both extremists learn to show reasoning and adopt less of a communist approach to supporting our great club the better!”
Finally, we have why the AAA and the media hate Wenger as much as they do! When they spout ‘reason’, ‘logic’, ‘critical’, etc. what they really mean is contemporary Capitalist logic. They remain blind to the reason, logic, and practice of Wenger in the conditions he faces. The culture they are wedded to is the culture of the marketplace that is all about today’s bottom line and not about tomorrow, about products and not about people. The dominant images in sport today flows seamlessly between the corporate boardroom and the sports arena. The media hate Arsene because he seems to have refused to let the market and the dictates of a corporate capitalist cultural logic determine his choices. He chooses to care about people; he believes he can equally tend the club, the institution and the individual. There is much to be said about sport and especially football being, at a crucial level the cultural tool of producing and reproducing a capitalist culture and sensibility. As religion wanes it is sport that becomes the instrument to manage the capitalist ethos and the ‘opium of the people’. Thank you Rupert and Inzaghi for making this clear. A lot, if not most of us, beg to differ with you; for us people matter; look around and see the mess and cost of human life and humanity that the corporate Capitalist greed has unleashed before you spout your vile anti-communist slogans and anti-arsenal rhetoric!
Rupert. ‘Limited funds.’ In Arsenal’s situation turned out to mean £10 million players not £30 players. To another club this would mean £1- 5 million players.
‘Poverty stricken’ means ‘freebies’ or at best ‘loanies’.
No one is saying that Arsene is perfect. We are saying he has done a fantastic job for Arsenal and we give him credit for it.
Anyone can say ‘Oh he made this mistake or that mistake.’ May be he did or may be he didn’t the facts are there for all see whether they like it or not.
While building the stadium out of the club’s own purse, the club didn’t go under as other clubs have.
The club continued to play great football and make a strong challenge for silverware.
In your last but one line you make use of the word ‘now’.
You say he ‘now’ seems to be a bit more ambitious. ‘seems to be’ you write. The evidence is that he ‘is ambitious’ Well of course he is the money is now there to spend.
Its like this a kid in a family where both parents are unemployed has little pocket money to spend but he spends it but he is limited in what he can buy.
A rich kid has money to spend so he is more ambitious in his spending and buys a lot more.
However in Arsenal’s case being limited in spending on players meant that the club didn’t go under while building the stadium and we continued challenging at the top.
Rupert,
You, my son, are not an Arsenal fan. I think the modern term for you is a troll. Casting veiled insults, hiding behind a keyboard, is, I suppose fun for you. It would be wrong of me to question your education, but your intelligence, not so. You seem to find satisfaction in disrupting conversations on this wonderful site, instead of contributing to a reasoned debate. Half of what you have written over the last couple of years has been taken from the redtops, which you seem to take as fact, the other half, to me seems like the ramblings of a spoilt, frustrated teenager.
So do us all a favour, next time you feel like posting a comment, take yourself to a mirror and knock one out, you’ll be satisfied and won’t have to annoy us here.
Thanx
Intentionally I didn’t finish my last post, which ends with just three words.
Thanks to Arsene.
I see the AKBs have made a giant omelette here by bashing in the usual idiotic eggheads on here ! Very impressive batting !
What’s that Humpty ? You want in, too ? Mais oui ! Welcome !
Is somebody checking if there are clowns on here with the same IP address ?
The is a familiar stink here !
Accusations of trolling abound (including my own earlier), but what is interesting is that as soon as Untolds favourite hate object makes a post his detractors who rarely (if ever) can be bothered to make an interesting or constructive comment about any subject crawl out from under their rocks and troll him. Such hypocrisy.
@oldgroover
I think you need to revise your perspective – your comment about trolling is not accurate.
Yes there is a troll – you know who it is & that he persists in writing negative half truths on a pro Arsenal pro Wenger site.
His detractors (to use your term) respond to to his comments, each in his/her own way – some will offer counter arguments, others will tell the troll what they feel about him – which after about 2 years of being trolled is understandable. But those who respond are not the trolls. Shame on you for suggesting that they are and shame on you for your “crawl out from under their rocks” comment.
You mention hypocrisy, just note that you seem to accept the troll but make sarky comments about his “detractors”.
Further, when you state that his “detractors” rarely if ever make a constructive comment – nonsense. Oh – when you go down the “constructive comment” route why not first condemn the troll for commenting negatively and inaccurately for the last two years?
So, sort out your perspective before contemplating another ill judged sarky comment.
bjtgooner,
Thanks for sparing me a response to oldgroover. His fake only adult in the room shtick is one that we are quite familiar with. He is not the first and he won’t be the last to whine about us meanies for calling out agents provocateur like Rupert Cook, self confessed attention seeker.
I enjoy the occasional comments from oldgroover but he just looks silly when he takes on the cause of the likes of Rupert Cook. For a relatively new comer to Untold, he needs to chill about the admonitions lest he comes as he does on this thread.
@ bjtgooner at 06:09 and Bootoomee at 06:57
Spot on!
@ oldgroover
Im not certain how long you’ve been following UA, but there is absolutely no way rupert is an Arsenal supporter! We tend to be very suspicious of anyone who defends him, and there aren’t many, as you can see
Thanks Bootoomee.
Maybe if “oldgroover” had been with us long enough to endure all of Rupert’s comments he might have a different viewpoint, but then again perhaps not!
Walter, a somewhat abbreviated article, to the one that I have on file!
As for Rupert Cook, pray tell us, where and when Mr Wenger mentioned a £40 millions spend on a transfer in 2011?
My archives, point to Mr Wenger referring to the bond reserve, requiring £30 plus millions to cover the capital and interest annual payments for The Emirates.
Please, please enlighten Walter and myself, Mr Rupert Cook.
Well aren’t we a merry little family of AKB’s and AAA’s having it out….purses at 5 paces it seems!!! Anyway, provided their opinions are expressed with respect for their listeners or readers as the case may be and scurrilous rumours, half spun fairytales and regurgitated hack journalistic myths aren’t used as a defense for an indefensible position, then lets have at it.
Rupert’s glass MUST be perennially empty because he seems to revel in bringing us all back to the pit of despair. However we have the reverse as well, the blissfull, ever cheerful eternal optimists for whom Arsene is a god. I fall in between the cracks as it were. I acknowledge his errors and faults (as he does) and his occasional opaqueness but in general also support him 100%….relieved in the knowledge that he knows more than the entire UA community combined.
Far out Rupert… You just love to swim against the tide.
I graduated from high school but didn’t do too well in some subjects, does that mean I didn’t work hard and don’t deserve to be praised by my family?
Families love one another unconditionally and that’s how I feel about Arsenal, Untold and my own young family. I read a lot of untold but don’t post much as my new baby leaves be tired, oh so tired.
The people that make fun of AW and do not give him the recognition he deserves for making our club so much bigger and so much better, are not part of the family or they don’t feel feel part of it, so they choose to knock it.
If they did feel apart of the family they would not repeat the crap they do. Rupert is really good at detracting without swearing, abusing so comes across as reasoned, but we know for a long time his real opinion.
Gunners forever!!!
When van Pursie started planning to go AWOL, the Boss bought the best talent available at bargain prices, in a very secretive manner. Podolshi, Giroud, and Cazorla were bought for about the price that was paid for Alexis Sanchez.
Arsene Wenger, masterful when thrifty, and masterful when spendy.
One Arsene Wenger!
Podolski. Sorry for the typo.
Arse knows best, as usual.
This summer, he is announcing the arrivals ahead of the club’s website.
I wonder if the people at the website only put pertinent stories after his interviews.
This was an excellent article and I loved what they said about AW. One day, when we are 50 years forward in history – one day when a lot of us are dead – there will be books written about AW and statues erected in honour of him.
If Billy Beane invented MoneyBall in baseball – surely, surely AW did it with football – at the top end of the table.
History will judge AW much much more kindly than the present, where ego, chest thumping, boastfulness and boorish behavior somehow trump.
Its sad – but it’s true. AW isn’t perfect but ffs – he’s pretty damn close. Much more than a massive number of people on this earth. Enjoy him while he is there. Seriously. Enjoy him.
@Colaria, I will say it again, Wenger himself said he could spend 40 million on one player back in 2011. That’s not chicken feed. That he chose to get loanees and spend more frugally is his choice, not necessarily one borne out of limited options financially.
And I’m not saying Wenger isn’t a very good manager. If you consider some of the players he’s bought since 2006 quite a few wouldn’t get within a bootlace of the 98 or 04 sides. Fortunately he’s bought several excellent players to balance that out.
But working miracles? Really, when virtually everyone on here thinks he’s the best manager in the world then exactly where do you think the team should finish? What better managers are there in the EPL? At the moment I’d say only Mourinho and maybe LVG but he hasn’t had one season in the EPL yet. So finishing fourth is the least you’d expect from one of the best managers in our league. In the last few years the only manager in the EPL who has been better is Ferguson.
No, the miracle would have been if we’d won the league in the last eight years. Or the CL.
And as for your comment about Arsenal being in disarray and going nowhere I think it was quite the opposite back in 97. We’d just bought one of the best players in the world to our club, Bergkamp. And we’d signed Platt not long before. So your statement is a little bit crazy. Yes Rioch didn’t work out but we then bought in Wenger, who actually wasn’t that unknown, only to those in live in England.
@Elkieno, it’s called debate. And Arsenal football club is not my family, it’s a business and it only loves you unconditionally when you spend money on tickets and assorted paraphernalia. As for UA, it’s a blog and I’d seriously take a minute to contemplate what you’ve written, it comes to something when you love a blog unconditionally.
Good luck with your new child, I don’t envy you.
Somehow I think that this clip is very apt on this thread . Its about a two faced individual who’s apparently two timing ….himself ! The jerk !
Confused ? Good !
Enjoy !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxRIvvQfdQs
Yet more propaganda from the BBCC (Boring Boring Corrosive Cook).
It is interesting to note his defense of Rioch compared to his continued backstabbing of Wenger, I would suspect he is grasping at straws with that one.
(Two faced indeed!!)
It is also interesting that an article titled “Wenger getting some deserved praise” has energized a plethora of negativism from the BBCC.
Does he do this for his own amusement – or has he been sent?
I notice Oldgroover likes to stick up for the AAA’s right to hijack comments sections.
I think from the nature of the posts, maybe there is a bit of a closet AAA about.
Sav from Australia
AAA? petit moi? I’ll leave it to better people than you to judge me on that.
If you look carefully you’ll see that the comments section has been hijacked by people (like you) who object to me complaining of bullying & trolling, I’m not supporting anyone. I’d even do it for you believe it or not.
I’ve mentioned no names in either of my posts, so who do you know who I’m “sticking up for”. It’s all assumptions.
Also there’s nothing anti Arsenal in any of my posts at any time since I’ve been on this site, so try something else.
Today’s word for all ye younglings is – gobbledygook
gob·ble·de·gook
noun
language characterized by circumlocution and jargon, usually hard to understand: the gobbledegook of government reports.
Also, gob·ble·dy·gook.
Origin:
1940–45; fanciful formation from gobble2
Synonyms
gibberish, doubletalk, bosh, mumbo jumbo.
SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND – the truth is out there .
Socratic Ignorance: It is important to note that Socrates himself did not claim to know better than others.
In ….. dialogues he frequently emphases that he is ignorant of the answer.
The importance of this helps to draw the line between dogma and genuine philosophy.
It is one thing to state one’s opinion of how things are and should be.
Powerful institutions such as religions and political systems are built upon such dogmas and the demands that others abide by them.
Socrates, on the other hand, started from a position of ignorance and sought the truth.
In the end, he has no dogmatic program for us to follow, just a method for seeking the truth for ourselves, without any guarantee that we will find it.
Philosophy as practiced by Socrates is an open system.
From..
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Socrates/socrates02.html
And speaking Socrates and the greats , it reminded me of an old joke of the gulf between the learned and and the greater number of the …. err ..opposite ( I ‘m being kind as wine often devenoms me!).
Two mothers are talking while looking on dotingly at their sons who are playing with paints .
1st mother ,” You know my son is very much into ‘The Renaissance’ and is a lover of the works of Leonardo , Michelangelo , Raphael,Donatello and the rest.”
2nd mother , “What a coincidence ! My son also loves The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles !”
If you didn’t get it , sigh , just read it at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles
and get up speed.
In truth I did like those arse-kicking dudes but could never understand why they had a mutant rat as a leader or Sensei .
Very much like why sewer rats are worshiped elsewhere !
I did very much tried to be hip by using their phraseology
but trying to impress the birds by saying
…damn … by saying , ‘Cawabunga dudes !’ didn’t get me too far !
Neither did ,” Eat my shorts !” , later on.
Arsene Wenger…………… WOW
@bjtgooner, I’m not defending Rioch at all. Do you understand the written word? I said he didn’t work out and seeing as he made no impact anywhere else it seems it was a good idea to jettison him. The one positive thing he did was bring Bergkamp to Arsenal. Stop trying to make arguments where there are none.
@Rupert
re a line of your comment to colario: –
“And as for your comment about Arsenal being in disarray and going nowhere I think it was quite the opposite back in 97.”
and: –
“Yes Rioch didn’t work out”.
Rioch was sacked just before the start of the 96/97 season. The first line quoted above implies that Arsenal were going places and were not in disarray. That is not correct, the further implication is that by distorting history you are in fact defending Rioch’s poor managerial record.
Again “Yes Rioch didn’t work out” is a massive understatement, it also contradicts the line above.
So – do you not understand what you write?
In addition – the point I was making – which you seem to have missed, was the comparison in the way you defended Rioch, by rewriting history – and your continued disrespectful backstabbing of AW.
@bjtgooner, how do you know where Arsenal where going in 97? How utterly ridiculous to claim the club was in disarray when those in charge at the time said they intended to push the club forward hence the signing of Bergkamp. I’m not distorting history, you are. I have no wish to defend Rioch sunshine.
Backstabbing, don’t be so dumb. Do you know what the word means? What a clown.
@Rupert the troll
As is often the case you are immune to facts or logic, especially when your point of view is shown to be flawed and clearly shown up as such.
And yes I do know what backstabbing is – you very frequently show that you are capable of just that – but are you so stupid that you don’t understand what you are doing?
I don’t think anyone, even you, could be that stupid – so huff and puff all you want – you have shown yourself up, not just today, to be a real plonker.
As usual the minute I undo your logic you despair and start shouting abuse. What a speck you are.
Backstabbing is when you say things behind someone’s back. You may not realize that this a blog that is for all to see on the worldwide web. So even Wenger can read it. If I met Wenger I’d say exactly the same thing to his face. So backstabbing it ain’t. Glad to have cleared that up for you. Now troll off.
@Rupert the troll
Backstabbing: – “the action of criticizing someone in a treacherous manner despite pretending friendship with them.”
So if you pretend to be an Arsenal fan (which is doubtful) and continually criticize (in a treacherous manner), the manager, the team the board – you are backstabbing.
So – once again Rupert – you are showing yourself up as a plonker.
Oh – you would say the same thing to Wenger’s face – I doubt that – it takes more courage for that sort of thing compared to being a troll, and do realize, Wenger, gentleman as he is, would still have you for breakfast!
One additional point Rupert – you used the word “despair” – again you are being a plonker – despair is something associated with those unfortunates with a negative outlook – I am happy to leave that to the creeps in the AAAA.
In the last 3years, i have not missed a single untold article. Started supporting arsenal in 98, therefore, i’ve never watched any manager in charge. In my personal life, i have somewhat benefit from the ‘arsenal way or quality’ and learned a great deal about some important stuffs in life especially in difficult times. For instance, seen some of our players jump ship thought me all relationships will not work out and i can still be hurt by those i spent considerable amount of time, money and energy on at the long run. I also learned that forgiveness is a very important way of living a happy life (as AW has shown that he has nothing against the ‘kids’ he brought up but they’ll leave him later when they’re grown). And then i now learned to do things and never look even when they look impossible with class and intergrity. I fear the day that man will call it a day but hey, i’m truly grateful to have witness him perform his magics. I’m not the weeping type but i think some articles about how unbelievably great this man is has actually made me drop some teara. 1)The daily mail interview. 2) There was an article on here sometimes ago using an analogy of a couple and their neighbor or so to illustrate us and the chavs, city n co. 3) There was a by the numbers article on arseblog after the FA cup win that shows what AW did was almost in possible. In those barren years, for every million quid AW spent, Looserspool, Spuds, chelsea and Manutd spent around 7,4, 8 and 8 million quids. I love Arsenal Football Club completely and love Arsene Wenger as well (my Nigerian friends call me akobi Wenger, which means Wenger’s first born in my dialect). Thanks to all the UA family members.