By Tony Attwood
If you keep a regular eye on the blog, TV, radio and newspaper headlines you may have noticed that there is a new game in town – although perhaps game is the wrong word, because the perpetrators of it are hoping that it could tear Arsenal apart in September.
Go back a few years and rumours of transfers started after the season ended, and the wild raving headlines that always preceded the rumour was followed by a question mark, meaning that no one really knew but this was just an idea based on rumour.
Arsenal to buy Greenland youth sensation???
That would be a typical piece. Even if the reader was so dozy as not to realise that finding a brilliant footballer in Greenland was unlikely the three question marks meant a) I made this up b) it got a laugh in the pub and c) the editor said, that is the funniest thing I’ve seen since my last whisky.
Now that position has reversed, and while the blogs continue to reproduce rumours started elsewhere, some are now stating rumour as pure fact (at least in their headlines). And to make sure you believe it they even throw in one or more exclamation marks to replace the question marks.
And so we move into
Elvis found living in London Transport bus on dark side of the Moon
territory, only instead of everyone knowing it is a laugh, people start believing it.
OK – you personally might not believe some of the stories, but that’s still only just the start.
Most of these stories are made up – they are pure fantasy. But then they gather strength by being recycled from one media outlet to another; from blog to paper to blog to the BBC’s rumours column on teletext, to blog…
As the stories take on a life of their own the idea spreads; this really might be true.
Of course it isn’t true, and much of this work is done normally to get more readers in order to impress the advertisers more. In fact in a moment I’ll put down some of the headlines with the opening paragraph of the story so you can see how the blogs themselves are forced to admit this is just a rumour.
But still we haven’t reached the real big point. These headlines make it clear that the transfer in an absolute opportunity for Arsenal. The player wants to move the club is willing to sell, but then come September …. oh my! Arsenal are found not to have bought!
This has to be put down to the gross incompetence of the Arsenal manager, the negotiating team, the board of directors. And if not incompetence then it surely must be the fact that the board are not letting the money go after all, probably because they want it for a dividend or because Mr Wenger believed the player was worth 55p less.
Now the stage is set. Player X wanted to come to Arsenal. Club Y wanted to sell him. It was all set. But Arsenal screwed it up. There’s really not much point reading the AAA blogs from September 1 onwards, you know what they will say.
Here are a few headlines and opening lines of stories. Of course I don’t know what was in the minds of the writers in each individual case, and indeed some of them may have slipped into this line of writing because they actually do believe the stories to be true – although the opening paragraph suggests otherwise. But the overall pattern makes it clear that this will be the Anti-Arsenal campaign of next autumn.
Arsenal line-up £8 million sensation!
There has been some reports emerge which have claimed we are keeping a close eye on talented Guingamp midfielder Gilbert Imbula, ahead of a possible summer move.
Arsenal have door opened in chased for £17 million Dutchman!
Holland and PSV Eindhoven midfielder Kevin Strootman could be on his way out of the club, as boss Dick Advocaat believes he needs to move to further his career.
Arsenal confident of landing £25 million man!
There has been some reports on the Metro website which have revealed Arsenal are confident of landing number one summer target Stevan Jovetic.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is already known to be putting together transfer plans for next season, and Montenegrin Jovetic leads his list.
Arsenal in advanced talks with £12m rated ace
The Gunners are preparing a bid of around £8million for the Welsh international and are said to be confident of landing the defender.
Arsenal on cusp on securing £8m defender, but what does it mean for current crop?
Arsenal are on the brink on completing an £8m transfer for Swansea centre-back Ashley Williams, according to Goal.com. Perhaps when Arsene Wenger labelled his trio of central defenders – Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen -some of the best in Europe, he was just trying to have a laugh.
——————
I particularly like the last one, as it takes a Goal.com rumour and then turns it into fact.
Who knows, one or more of these players might be on the way to Arsenal, but I would add a word of caution. Until a couple of days before Cazorla and Monreal were signed, only a handful of commentators knew that these deals were on. Untold can take a little credit here because we ran several stories about the financial collapse of their club, and how selling players would follow, especially after they got their European ban.
And I do want to make it clear that I am not attacking any individual sites. Maybe someone somewhere has got an insight into the summer’s buys, and they really are giving us some breaking news. But if so (and this is just my view) they do need to find a way to separate the true from the wind-up.
Some may be genuinely unaware that they are doing the AAA’s dirty work for them in setting these stories up. And dirty work they are doing because in September the AAA will be able to say, “as over 20 Arsenal blogs reported…”
We await the articles with interest.
Recent posts
- What is wrong with PL refs : a case study. Probert
- Why is there collusion between the media and the clubs over the way the Premier League is reported?
- Arsenal have the money, but who is to be purchased?
- Match Review: Phil Dowd – Arsenal Vs Manchester United (1 – 1) [28/04/2013]
- PGMOL is breaking its own rules by appointing Dean. Do we smell the stench of calciopoli?
The most detailed study of Premier League Refs ever:The referees 2013.
The books…
- 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 FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
- Royal Arsenal: from the Common to the Manor. Coming next.
The sites from the same team…
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
What you mean we are not getting messi ronaldo falcao cavani Rooney how disappointing
Much the same as other seasons I don’t believe much of these sites mean to be AAA as most don’t understand what they are writing about seem to be people practicing for a job some where the blogs that I hate are the ones put out by so called fans who hate arsenal but rather than move on will buy another season ticket just to carry on the hate how stupid is that
This AAA nonesense is as silly as labelling somebody an AKB. It really is a blot on the blogs otherwise excellent content. Rise above it, don’t stoke it or you are no different to the people you are criticising.
All sites, newspapers, magazines and radio shows want one thing; people reading or listening to their content. That’s it. If you understand that you can play along. But some take things to literally or believe everything they read. Hence a lot of the traffic to some blogs/radio shows bemoaning our lack of transfer activity.
As it happens we should be busy in the transfer market this summer; not buying for the sake of it but buying the right caliber of players. Just my view. We need at least one if not two centre-forwards. I would also like to see a DM player coming in, a goal keeper and a centre back. That’s what I would like. Will it happen? who knows! We should be striving to be better that 20 odd points behind the title winners.
Let’s get this season out the way first because none of us knows who is coming in. Falling out the top 4 will almost certainly have a bearing if the club are serious about changing their policy & attracting ready made top signings.
I’m really not convinced that there is any deeper motivation to this than the ‘look at me. look at me’ clamouring of the media just to get the clicks and the money that goes with them.
Most media outlets will publish any rumour for that reason, and of course for the chance of a celebratory Back-slapping article on the off-chance they are actually right. The fact that they cross-pollinate stories is just an extension of the same idea — ‘if they got clicks for running that shit; so can we’. — Didn’t someone a while back plant a transfer rumour about a player that didn’t exist to see what would happen?
The media are not going to change, after all nowadays, the only value it sees in ethics is its worth 11 points in scrabble. Worse still, the nature of transfers muddies the waters in any event: secretive, manipulative agents, anonymous sources, multiple targets for clubs, deals suddenly collapsing, all mean that an outlet can publish a lie that they honestly believe to be true, or something that actually WAS true when they published it.
In an ideal world, they would wait until the transfer is confirmed before publishing, but people are addicted to the rumours in the same way people read the showbiz gossip mags, so the media give them what they want. (I just cannot see them waiting anyway, first to the story wins, which leads back to where we are now).
This might give ammunition for those hating Arsenal, but you cannot stop that. If there were no rumours published between now and September, you know there would still be articles published ranting about who we should have bought. I guess I am suggesting that this is less about the media being, well, the media, and the fact that people are idiotic enough to assign value to their crap. (or want badly to believe it). You just cannot legislate against greed and stupidity.
By the way Tony, I assume the title is ironic.
The ‘AAA’. Seriously? WOW…
Your support of AW is not in doubt. However, what I do doubt is both your rationality and ability to decipher Anti-Arsenal trolling from justifiable criticism- even if it is polar to your own beliefs. Just because someone doesn’t think AW is the man to lead us makes them no more Anti-Arsenal than you: it makes them anti-Wenger. Equally, a fan who doesn’t believe that the club should be following the self-sustaining model doesn’t make them Anti-Arsenal either.
I think your desire to defend anything ‘the Good Lord Wenger’ does (not using that anymore I see?) has left you in the position where you seek to label and blame the critics rather than dealing with the criticism itself (either just or unjust). Impartiality has been lost.
The short answer, which I strongly recommend, is to avoid reading any transfer rumours about Arsenal FC until the Summer Window opens (or Winter one as the case may be).
And even then await the real news from Arsene’s bunker.
I think some didn’t read the article that well???? !!!! (to stay in line with the article) 😉
Just give it another go I would say.
In short: all the wild and untrue rumours spouted out by everyone out there will be used as ammunition by those who want to slate the club in September to slate the club when the rumour is what it always has been: false and a made up story.
While there are many things I don’t agree with on this site, I won’t argue with this one – the media definitely do a service to what you choose to call “the AAA.”
There are a number of blogs (practically the majority) which spend most of the readers’ time debating the club’s demerits. true, in 1 out of 10 cases, they somehow manage to get a serious point through. It’s really the same as with these rumours: if you link every player with a transfer to Arsenal, some will actually get there, therefore, you are essentially proven right. So what you were actually wrong 99% of the time, you got those 3 names spot on!
And so on, and so forth… The rumours themselves would be quite innocuous if they were in any way connected to reality. But most of them are of a very questionable nature. For example, the Rooney rumour makes no sense either from Arsenal’s or Rooney’s point of view. So what’s the point of dissminating it? The point is, it can later serve as proof of Wenger’s frugality, of the club’s weakness, of its inability to secure world-class transfers… It’ll be so easy to twist it into yet another tale of Arsenal’s woe.
I’m not arguing against our presence on the market; I’ll be mighty glad to see a number of quality players arrive this summer. I think I can see where we need to go to get anywhere – e.g., we need a versatile, pacy striker, someone to replace Diaby… – and the names of Jovetić or Strootman fit the bill almost to perfection. But I know nothing of the club’s actual dealings, so I don’t go talking about “done deals” and such.
But that’s exactly what “the AAA” and the media are doing all the time.
And somehow these “news” hurt Arsenal more than any other English club.
Walter,
I don’t think there are that many fans who will mind if we don’t spend a lot of cash if the squad is made adequate and competitive…
currently, it is not and don’t give me all this ‘we have no money’ nonsense, with our wage bill, assuming that ‘Lord Wenger’ is as special as you lot claim he is, we should be competing with the clubs that are above us, not fight tooth and nail for 4th place with clubs who spend about two thirds (if that) on wages!
we’re competing @ the moment with Chelsea and spurs for 4th, hardly poor relations Suga3. And I can’t say man city have blown us away either.
Nice to see a blog speaking the truth!
I hate all that bs media whirlwind!
this squad also competed better against bayern Munich than several teams around Europe – just saying credit where credit is due.
Zdzis,
Excellently put.
I think there are a number of Arsenal blogs run by people with very poorly developed critical faculties who simply lap this rubbish up with no thought to what they are consuming.
Then there are the well known AAA sites who are run by some people with at least some critical faculties and a passing acquaintance with finance who use the transfer rubbish to twist the knife into Wenger, the owner, the directors and the club in genera,l knowing that its readership is unable to distinguish wood from trees, fact from fiction and don’t understand how they are being manipulated. A sorry tale indeed but then over time they will simply fall away as the wisdom of the long term approach being taken by the club becomes apparent to everyone.
Wenger Out!
So far this end of term I have counted 141 players ‘linked’ to Arsenal and the window has not yet opened.This is a record-even for us. Look for the Chelsea, Manc equivalents and there is enough rubbish but nowhere near 141. If this claptrap is not of malicious intent can SUGA and Surfer please tell me why this anomaly surfaces week-in week-out, year-in year-out. A plausible explanation would be much appreciated.
Why are we linked with so many people DAFTM? I don’t know for sure, but I guess there are two broad explanations.
Maybe because we are one of the largest supported clubs- especially so when it comes to online content, and Arsenal stories drive both copy sales and ad-link revenue? Because we have endured a long period of failure (relative to the other clubs you mention), meaning player purchases are likely? Because the surplus cash we have plus the new long term commercial agreements mean we are more likely to be spending giving the stories credibility? Because we have a large number of long-term loanees and quite a large number of these are contract expiring within the next year? Because players agents understand this too any know they can quite interest from Arsenal as a way of pushing up the interest in their player / obtaining a favourable contract extension?
Or, it could be that there is a malicious and organised campaign by the AAA to make us look foolish if we don’t sign all 141.
You tell me which one sounds more plausible.
it’s simple: our squad is inadequate, the fans are getting restless, there are more and more empty seats in the stadium, hacks smell blood and these news sell, it’s akin to internet trolling, it generates clicks and paper sales, any ‘after-publicity’ is good for that purpose, I bet many of you actually went to read the articles referred to AFTER reading this post 😉
and oh, we are not competing with Chelsea for a CL berth, make no mistake, we are slugging it out with Sp*rs who have considerably lower budget, as it will be purely touch and go, we need to spend and we need to spend a lot of money to make up for years of laughable negligence, we need at least four players to make this squad competitive and capable of lasting the distance in all competition, shedding some dead weight would not go amiss either!
SUGA3:
The followers on here don’t realise you’re actually talking about The Arsenal !
I scarcely touch rumours with a foot long pole, especially from these bloggers because I know who Wenger is. Just as the case with Economists, he is shrewed and close fisted in business, who takes delight in throwing a dime into business and reaping bountifully. Remember football is business. The sale of the likes of Van Persie, Cesc Fabrigas and Alex Song are a few examples that point to my vindication to the fact. I like Wenger so much. He is a big successful manager in the football World. He turns an average player into a star who is later sold for a handsome profit for the club. Since it has been long he brought a silver ware for the fans at the club, he should consider buying one or two quality players against next season despite the lies thatare flooded all over the place. Meanwhile I will like to commend you for the great write ups you present in Untold Arsenal. Just like the Bleacher’s report, they are fantastic. Keep it up.
To all you Wenger devotees. I’m sure you’ll agree the next two games must achieve 6 points.
It’s going to be a stomach wrenching 7 days.Anything less will be horrendous for the club. We need better performances than we’ve seen in the last 4 games.
“In short: all the wild and untrue rumours spouted out by everyone out there will be used as ammunition by those who want to slate the club in September to slate the club when the rumour is what it always has been: false and a made up story.”
Ahm, media reports/forms rumours for practically EVERY club (agents etc also fuel them for their clients/self), and having multiple rumours is nothing unique to Arsenal or any other big club…sheesh.
Most fans of ANY/EVERY club understand how the game works, some fans are more gullable, and get disapointed if a rumour they like doesn’t come through. Nothing unique here, nothing unprecidented here, this has been going on for ages,…
Not sure what any of this pretty run of the mill summer time stuff has to do with any coordinated “assault on the club” either from the inside or the outside.
Moreover, even if some fans (imo a minority) are more gullible about rumours and then are upset if they don’t come through…it still doesn’t make them Anti-Arsenal, nor assaulting the club.
Sheesh.
two quality players?
we need a GK, a RB, a quality striker and possibly just to be greedy a properly defensively minded midfielder to improve our record against top teams a bit…
and one more thing:
unless the club makes the statement in this transfer window, I am not going to bother renewing club membership (a mere Red), can get tickets without it, why bother?
was going to buy my Gooner mate’s daughter a JG membership for her birthday yesterday, but bought her a garden swing instead 😉
these two cost about £50, but that’s not the point:
that’s money the club is not going to get unless they share the riches with the crowd, Dein was right all along that building a shiny fucking stadium is pointless if one has no great team to play in it, back up to two seasons ago the club would effectively earn up to a grand of my money over the season, with the games I attended coupled with the shirts and other merch I bought or got as a gift until I called a ban on AFC stuff…
and I can tell you I am not the only one, how’s that for business performance?
EIE = I do like it when a detailed and clearly argued piece appears
We need to beat Wigan, or lose to them. A draw is the worst option.
@ marcus,I would have thought losing to Wigan is the worst option.
@A.Stewart, you talk a lot of sense.
I have a terrible sneaking suspicion that Spuds will get fourth. I thought they’d draw at Stoke but an ex Arsenal player may undo us. In fact if you consider that RVP got the Manu equalizer it looks like we could be undone by two ex players.
What Marcus means is should we lose then Sunderland would need to get something out of their game with spuds to be safe. Oh crap, hadn’t looked at who was asking, or I wouldn’t have bothered.
Apologies to the AAA for digressing from the Wenger-bashing, but just curious if Charlie Adam would’ve seen red had stoke been fighting for survival. I think not.
There is nothing terrible and no sneaky feeling about anything, we get the message loud and clear; I’m praying spuds gets fourth so that it becomes apparent we shouldn’t have sold players like adebayor & van persie. Is it really that to just speak one’s mind without being cryptic or going about it in a roundabout-sort-of way. People wired that way make me sick.
Is it really that difficult**
Marcus
Re losing to Wigan, at the risk of sounding unpatriotic, I was thinking the same thing too. Not only just lose, but lose by about 11 goals so that certain teams that didn’t bother turn up today thinking they were safe find themselves in trouble. Of course we all know this would never happen, but would be nice just to teach a few people a thing or two about always being honest with their performances.
We’ve ridden our luck for a few seasons now. Could be running out.
Finish out the top 4 then Wenger should offer his resignation.If we scrape in then let him see out his contract and sees out his contract and then calls it a day.
The club needs new direction. The players need it too.
well written article. i also have been realizing the same thing over the past few seasons – more so this past winter transfer season. the media, and some blogs – who think themselves as having insider info – go on writing about the umpteenth player we are linked to. whenever the linked player is bought by a PL side inferior to ours, the situation is exploited to call AW useless because he could not snatch the player. this situation was rampant during this winter transfer when QPR and Newcastle snatched several “talent” from Europe, esp. France. This was used as a excuse to call AW and Arsenal “uncompetetive” or “passive” in transfer dealings, when the real fact was we did not need any player or the right player in AW’s view was not available. If it was not for gibbs injury we would not have bought monreal, who was actually supposed to arrive in summer, i can only surmise the backlash from so-called Arsenal Fan.
@Doublegooner- correction: ridden bad luck
The funniest was that we are in the race for one of the looney toons.
@Al, as far as I’m concerned the worst option is a loss to Wigan. I certainly wouldn’t rely on Sunderland to get anything at Spuds.
And no there’s no cryptic meaning behind my comment. Only an observation. I’m glad we got rid of Adebayor but certainly not RVP. Dumb. And we may well pay the price and that’ll be more than 24 million.
What? More conspiracies. All to stop Arsenal. Excuse me from saying this but I think you’re a tad deluded.
Nicky at 12.14.
You are right.
I’ve told you. Wenger gambling on other teams to drop points may finally backfire this season.
Someone here commented on Wenger’s shrewdness in business…I must agree. For a manager to be the top earner at the club, the highest paid manager(with Ferguson)for winning sod all for eight years is certainly something impressive.
Yes, football club has a business side but it’s more about football than business. What’s the point of praising the Arsenal financial results if the team is not delivering on the pitch? Why don’t we support Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Walmart then?
It’s very sad to see Wenger succeeded on turning some fans into accountants. So, I hope you guys are looking for the best accountants out there to replace Wenger…
Bayern have football people running the club and that’s the way to follow. We have businessmen completely out of touch with the fans.
@ spurez
Without doubt you’re consistently out of touch with reality regarding Arsenal football club.
Give us all a break and clear off to a spuds web site
Sprees,
I actually agree with you for once in as much that we need football people in charge. I believe Wenger is a football person but the rest are not and it’s these people who set the agenda and direction of the club which Wenger has to largely follow.
Do you also endorse the Bayern (and German) ownership model? I’d prefer this over 1 majority or sole owner any day.
Yes, I believe the German model is the best. A sole owner may be risky. I wouldn’t want an Abramovich type owner at all. Now we have two billionaires. We all know Kroenke does not like to interfere and while this is somewhat positive he seems to be too passive for my liking. He should not treat Arsenal like his American sport teams otherwise he’ll fail. Usmanov…I don’t know much about him and this is one of the reasons people are not comfortable with him. They’re afraid of the unknown. However, I can’t see Usmanov acting like Abramovich. He seems to be too shrewd for that. I can see improvements on comercial deals under him. Arsenal brand would grow.
I know the Puma deal is quite good and I hope Arsenal take advantage of this in a sensible manner. Sometimes is better to spend than keep the money in the bank. Anyway, if Kroenke does not act the fans may turn against him. Many fans don’t like him and this will only get worse if the American billionaire refuses to change. Usmanov is gaining more popularity among Arsenal fans each passing day.
Stuart, though Wenger has to follow the agenda set by the board, one cannot deny the socialist wage model is the biggest problem we have at Arsenal and this was Wenger’s idea.
If Arsenal are to compete for major honours the club needs to change how to pay the players. We have a huge wage bill but the resources are not being spent wisely.
We always label players like Nasri and RVP as mercenaries but many players at Arsenal are happy to collect their paycheck offering nothing or very little in return. We should not overpay fringe players. The socialist wage structure does not belongs to top clubs. This stupid idea has to be killed, buried and forgotten.
And with regards to Usmanov, I don’t believe he is an Arsenal fan, where is the history of this? Usually a photo pops up of someone in their Arsenal top as a child, nothing of the sort on this occasion.
My gut feeling he is only interested in Arsenal for the investment benefit it will bring him and his other companies, there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just a side effect of the way clubs have made themselves into worldwide marketing machines with a loyal customer base and his other options are saddled with debt whilst still needing to build the new stadium.
For the German model to work in the EPL the whole system has to change and no matter how many times you say Arsenal should adopt this system it is not going to change City, Chelsea, United, Newcastle, spurs and the other clubs.
Can somebody tell me why fans do not like Stan, what exactly is it?
My thoughts on SK can be found here
http://positivelyarsenal.com/2013/05/13/silent-stan/
Wenger earns £115k per week why should the boss not earn more than his workers, how many other industries would that happen? You also have to look at why Arsenal were in the position with wages & finances. Once the new sponsorship deals and the change to a more Manchester United way of paying wages kick in I e
Stupid I pad!!!!!
Kick in then you will see an improvement to the wages paid
This thing of football people running the club rather than businessmen sounds good in theory, but the reason Arsenal are where they are is because we didn’t pay enough attention to the business side of things earlier. The old board were all more football people than business people. They did not have the know how to take us to the next level. That includes David Dein. If Arsenal had marketed Arsenal’s teams in the Graham years, and then especially the early Wenger years, we probably could have had more money to spend on the footballing side. Manchester United were marketing themselves as a brand in India, albeit indirectly, as far back as 1996. They were the first team that I heard of (Blackburn were champions then but no one had heard of them) Their financial might, their success, and even their hold over the referees/authorities in the league all stems from that marketing.
The German model seems to be the flavour of the month because of Bayern and Dortmund. And it makes more sense than the Spanish model, and the English model. But it isn’t perfect.
Bayern munich have a mix of businessmen (co-owners), football people, politicians, and journalists/businesmen on their board. They’ve had that for years. I wonder why no one was holding it up as an example to all when they were, despite having the highest revenues, finishing outside CL spots, and losing the league to the likes of Wolfsburg and Bremen?
The board is only one aspect of it all. The sporting aspect is different. And the overall environment(both financial and sporting) that the club exists in is also another factor.
@Steve, I’ve seen your latest blog post about someone convincing Arsenal fans they were ignorant. The arrogance of it was astounding, basically claiming you know everything and those that disagree are idiots. Reeks of self-importance. I note how there seems to be no debate, just a few Arsenal fans agreeing and seemingly very smug too. Do you actually allow people with different opinions to post on your site?
As for Kronke, who knows? Is he hands off or did he tell AW to sell RVP? What does he do? Does he have the slightest bit of interest on our success on the field? I’d love to be enlightened.
Rupert
In my view, whether he’s in it for the sport, or for the business , or both, he’d want us to win. The only question is, what is he going to do to seek a trophy.
He’s not going to put his own money in. So what else can he do to help his investment, and us to win? He can provide the structure to help grow the commercial income, and use those funds to let the football people do their job. The major commercial tie ups were long term, so he couldn’t do much about it except wait (I know renegotiation is an option but that depends on the contract we had before)The new deals, including the one not announced yet, are among the best deals in global football. He doesn’t interfere/decree on the football side of things. Wenger has said this, and Kroenke doesn’t do that with his other teams either, by all accounts.
I’m not sure what more you can ask from an owner.
If we are to have one person in charge, I’d want him to be largely hands off the sporting side, to help us on the business side to grow our income, and not take money out of the club in dividends/interest payments/loan servicing fees. Kroenke is doing all of that. That’s not to say we should just close our eyes. The risk is always there of any owner destroying our club and we should be watchful. But why the dislike for him? I don’t get it.
@Rupert Cook
I do not claim to know everything, what i do try to do is look at the more positive side of Arsenal football club. people are allowed to reply to anything I have written at any point on whichever blog or forum I write on. My view is my view and if somebody does not like it they can question me on it and as long as it is not abusive i will reply.
The blogs I write on are not mine I have been asked to write on them by the owners of the sites so if you have a problem with the blog sites I suggest you ask the people who own them.
My view on some Arsenal fans is that they just look at the not winning trophies as the be all and end all, I take the stance that Arsenal have taken a long term view to secure the future of the club without the need of a rich all giving millionaire using the club as a either play thing or a marketing vehicle. If fans see this as me being arrogant then perhaps my writing style is at fault as I do not wish this to be the case. When I defend Arsenal I get accused almost immediately of being some kind of AKB and get called names so perhaps I have become more defensive in my postings and writings.
Arsenal fans moan that Stan is too silent but how much have you heard from Abramovich in the media but fans seem ok with him because he pumps millions into his club, how much have we heard from the owners of Manchester City but again that’s ok because they pump millions in there as well. Stan K has been in control at Arsenal for how long now and is turning the commercial department around after having his hands tied by long term deals that were needed to get Arsenal out of the hole the move put them in, which was not helped by the cash injections at Chelsea & City and the world financial crash which affected the property market.
Fans who disagree with me are entitled to their opinion and the problem is that nobody knows who is right or wrong all I can do is defend my opinion like those who are less positive than me. I do see some of the problems Arsenal have and Wenger has but I do not see them a reason to constantly criticise the club.
@Shard, don’t dislike him as I’ve never met him. Maybe distrust him but then I have an inherent distrust of exceedingly rich people, never mind how unreasonable that sounds. That’s mainly due to the prevalent corruption in the business world which will never change.
Personally I’d love an owner who really was an Arsenal fan. Don’t think that would ensure success but at least then we’d not doubt that person’s motives.
@Steve, the tone of that latest piece on PA was smugness personified.
Anyway I have no problem with your viewpoint. It has as much legitimacy as those who hold an opposite one. Things look promising now with good deals being secured. It’s now when we’ll see the intent of the club with regards the playing side of things. Will missing out on CL football have a big impact? Maybe. But Pool have Suarez and Coutinho looks good so it seems a club can have great players without CL football.
My personal view is that Wenger is a busted flush. This summer he should have a decent pot of money but I have to say I’ve been underwhelmed by his decisions regarding players. I think you know what I mean.At least Cazorla looks like the right kind of signing. Maybe Monreal too but a bit early to tell. We need more players of that quality, not Gervinhos.
Anyway that’s my opinion. I hope I’m wrong about Wenger. I’d love to see him propel the team forwards.
Rupert
I’m not sure having a fan as an owner is a good thing. Unless he just puts up the money and doesn’t interfere. An owner needs to look at things in a ore detached, dispassionate manner. That’s not to say the owner shouldn’t have some level of affinity with the club. But being a fan is a different thing.
Steve
Yeah, Kroenke has given more interviews than Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour. Mansour also hasn’t been seen at a single ManCity match this year. Not even the FA Cup final. I think he’s only been to one game ever. The FA Cup final 2 years ago. But no one cares because he pumps in his (country’s) money into the club. This Kroenke doesn’t see Arsenal matches business is just a cover for criticising him for not throwing about his money.
@Shard, I agree with your summation of an owner who’s a fan. That would be a very legitimate worry.
Rupert @9:50pm
No offence taken rupert, maybe if this was coming from someone else it would be different, but not from you.
@AL,I’m not offended, we all have our prejudices. I do the best I can to battle mine.
to all you saying that we need to buy a gk, dm or cf….
the fa cup final was such a nice reminder of the value of collective spirit. i think just about every player for city is ‘better’ on paper in most peoples minds than their wigan counterparts.
however, on the day, wigan were playing for each other, working within a system where they understood each others roles. they had more collective spirit and team cohesion than city did. and against the odds they triumphed.
i think we all get a bit over eager about transfers, my self included. but i think the more important thing for us to focus on and understand is the teams cohesion. dont let the media fool you, its far more important for wilshere, ramsey, aoc, walcott, carzola, podolski and giroud to have more understanding and better collective pressing or offensive movement, than to sign a big name and hope he can pull it off.
i think the same can be said for our back line. rather than signing someone new i think its more important we improve our collective strength and trust within the existing unit.
if we make any signings great! and i personally trust wenger to make the right ones. but i think for arsenal, and us fans, we need to focus more on the existing core, and the connections within that rather than blasting wenger for not making the ‘shrewd’ signings we all love to make in fifa and FM or read about in the media.
‘why should the boss not earn more than his workers, how many other industries would that happen?’
Sorry, Steve but I disagree. It makes sense what you say and I know it’s not common practice a worker to get paid more than his boss. But in football it’s different. I believe none of the top clubs reward their managers with higher salaries than their top players. If this was the case I wouldn’t disagree with your opinion.
I also know wage parity does not belong to the real world out there. And in this case it’s not different in football. If you reward player x (top player) the same as player z, though the latter doesn’t even make the bench, you’ll have a detrimental effect. Arsenal needs to be a meritocracy and not a socialist experiment.
And Wenger is getting paid more than £115k/week.
And regarding the German model, I believe your observations are correct. It would be difficult to force the likes of Chelsea and City to change their ways. That’s why we need to adapt.
Shard, one of the thingS I always have liked about the German League is the competitive aspect of the Bundesliga. Money is important but it’s not everything. It seems Bundesliga is more about footbal than money. That’s why teams like Wolfsburg and Dortmund had their chance to win.
Bayern is head and shoulders above the rest financially but this doesn’t stop other teams from competing. Spend your resources wisely. This is what I’ve been asking Arsenal/Wenger to do. Unfortunately, Wenger really made a mess with the club’s wage structure.
I always had admired Bayern. 3 UCL finals in few years shows how they’re trying to improve. Now we have Dortmund, the German teams are dominating the scene.
I feel sorry for Klopp, losing his best players. Dortmund almost bankrupted but they came back stronger and they’re trying to improve their financial situation. I hope the club finds a way to keep their best player. Certainly, Dortmund players cannot complain about lack of success on the pitch, so it’s about money…
Anyway, I’ll be rooting for the underdog. Dortmund to win the UCL.
Sperez,
I disagree a little with you about the boss getting paid more. From my experience, a manager gets a fairly decent wage but would be better off financially staying as they were before becoming a manager, to earn more, the manager has to get everyone working at their full potential and there are so many variables.
I can say this first hand as I am now in my third profession having been a worker and a manager in the previous two, I always earned more as a worker even when during my first stint as manager, my branch was the top performing in the UK nearly every month for about 2 years, I seemed to earn somewhere in between my top earner and bottom earner. I wouldn’t dream of getting promoted where I am now.
Just hope if cesc does leave barca, he does not go to another EPL club , as arsenal really will be put through the mincer in that event!
sperez
I agree with you about the competitiveness of the Bundesliga. Although Bayern Munich seriously threaten that with their financial might. But at least other clubs have a fair shot at competing some years.
I still think you’re being a little unkind with the talk of the socialist model. I don’t think we could have afforded to have kept our top stars even if we created more of a meritocracy. They’d still be offered more money elsewhere and might leave. On top of that, the squad players who performed well, would also be tempted by more money elsewhere, and we’d not only lose our stars but also our better squad players (or at last find them unmotivated)
It was a conscious decision to pay on potential rather than actual output. I think this was based on the need to ensure we could keep a stable squad together (maybe after losing Flamini)
The socialist wage is less of a problem than the size of the wage bill (our 143.4m includes salaries of ALL the employees. Not just the playing staff) Once our revenues grow, we’ll be able to have better retention, as well as more flexibility in pay packets, and can also give contracts based less on potential, but on actual worth.
If you don’t believe me, do your own calculation of how much it would have cost to keep certain star players, to buy certain other star players if you feel we needed them, and then for how much the squad players can be expected to stay. I tried. It’s quite a tiring, time consuming calculation to do or I’d replicate it. Believe me, it doesn’t fit otherwise. We couldn’t have paid all those who left what we might have needed to while also retaining a decent squad.
The wage structure served us decently well. We’ll see a change in it over the years. But it’ll be a slow process.