There are clubs that owe an uncontrolled unmaintainable fortune, and those that don’t. Arsenal have a debt that declines year by year with the mortgage, the rest have debts so huge they can’t be refinanced and interest can’t be repaid.
And there are Arsenal supporters who think Arsenal should join these manic clubs, should buy and buy again, should play the best team every time, should never bring through youngsters and should not care a toss about preserving our team for the future.
The Lord Wenger does care about the team, but even he, with all his protection is faced with putting another reserve team out against Liverpool tomorrow. Keeper, two defenders and two centre forwards all out.
Next time the maniacs at the FA / EPL / FIFA et al start asking why we have a large squad we’ll just tell them: blame the internationals, blame the Wembley pitch.
As to the finance, the normally Neanderthal sports MPs accused three of the top four of “financial doping”.
They came up with 27 recommendations after a year long booze up which demand the end of the “ludicrous levels of borrowing”.
And the means by which they will enforce this perfectly reasonable measure? None. Nothing. Zero.
Instead they joined with that most corrupt organisation Fifa (corrupt as in “if you ask a question about my salary you will lose your press pass” (said by Blatter) and corrupt as in “FIFA lie and lie and lie” (said by a senior judge in the US)) by asking for scrutiny of business plans ahead of any club takeovers.
My goodness, they’ll be quaking in their boots at Very Old Trafford (build 1910).
And then just to show how utterly insane they are they go all racist and demand that “six-plus-five” is introduced in order to destroy Arsenal – the only top club that is not ruining itself with debt.
“The financial world has learnt a serious lesson in the last year that living by the old adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ can lead to catastrophic results.” (Labour MP Alan Keen).
Gibberish, sunshine. The financial world has learned nothing. While my company that has made a profit for 26 out of the last 30 years is asking for a very small overdraft facility from its bank, they are making a fuss about what we plan to do about the debts. As I said to them, “the question is, what you plan to do – you are the stupid fuckers who caused the problem.” (They told me it was improper language to use in a meeting between the board of a plc and its bank. I said that when talking to a bank it was the only language that might make them realise they were in the wrong.)
I thought Wenger called the game on saturday excellently, and I have to admit, hard though it is to say, Sir Alex F Word did too. Protect as many players as possible. The pitch was impossible, and as Talk Sport admitted today, had the pitch run true, Arsenal would have strolled out easy winners.
We should be grateful to Wenger that we have even half a team for tomorrow night, and we should be grateful to him that we have any sort of financial stability.
Liverpool don’t know where the next £350m will come from and one owner is bankrupt. Manchester B can’t repay the interest on their debts once again. KGB Fulham are dependent on the whim of a Russian whose fortune has just collapsed. West Iceland United were about to be given to the banks, and now the banks have said they don’t want a second rate football club, but they would like their money.
The great thing about tomorrow is that we have six players who can play forward (Eduardo, Theo, Vela, Bentdner, Arshavin, Nasri – seven if you include our number 2) and a similar choice in midfield. We are short at the back, true, but Gibbs is looking good, Sagna is available, Kolo is there, and Silvestre although not with much pace is solid. Not our first choice, but it can happen.
As for Fabianski, his performance before playing on a bumpy playground was fine – one bad game does not define a club, even though some newspapers on Sunday suggested it does.
If Arsenal are allowed to do it, I would like to see us pull out of any competition that ends with matches at Wembley. I don’t care how often they relay the pitch – the FA has shown again that it holds football in contempt. We, as supporters should do the same with any competition that they have anything to do with.
(c) Mr Angry 2009
“If Arsenal are allowed to do it, I would like to see us pull out of any competition that ends with matches at Wembley.”
Like the Champions League in 2011, Tony? 😉
Ah you got me there John.
Tony
Let’s hope the FA put their money where their mouth is and actually sort out that crap pitch first!
Most likely the FA will continue to put their money where their pocket and expense accounts are and continue to whore out England’s historic national Football pitch to whoever will pay for it regardless of the damage caused.
They don’t care about the state of the pitch and they don’t care about the players of the clubs that may get injured. They have a captive audience and they no that the football clubs have no choice but to play there. I’m surprised that Arsene hasn’t been charged for bringing the game into disrepute for criticising the pitch.
£870,000,000 and The Emirates stadium is still the best football ground in London and arguably the country although we must give Old Trafford its due as a close runner.
To get a proper view of how little regard the FA has for their own clubs you will only have to see them sell out English club football to the 6+5 rule in exchange for hosting a worldcup in the next decade and a half.
It is the FA that bring football into disrepute.