By Tony Attwood
I have often wondered whether other clubs in the Premier League have the same level of dedicated “failure” stories aimed at them as Arsenal does.
The problem is that seeking out newspaper stories and trying to follow them through, is time consuming, and although there are six people who regularly contribute stories or background to Untold, that is nowhere near enough if we want to compare Arsenal covering in the media with that of other clubs on a regular basis.
Of course this issue leaves aside the notion that Arsenal deserve to get wallopped, which is what the aaa always say. Arsenal really are useless and laughable. In this “analysis” they are following a tradition that goes back at least to January 1933, when the “boo-boys” really got going at Highbury.
I mention that because it is clear now that the “no trophy since 2005” tale that the media so loved was dropped (obviously) in 2014, but is now replaced with the notion that we are clearly not good enough because we didn’t win the league last season. So I wonder, did Chelsea, Man C, Man U, Tottenham and Liverpool? all get thoroughly questioned and beaten up in the press last season on the grounds that they were so bad they couldn’t even end up above Arsenal?
I really wish I had time to research this fully (which is an invite to anyone who would like to track negative media and blog coverage of other clubs for a few days to get in touch with me – TonyAttwoodofLondon@gmail.com – so we can discuss doing the research).
And I particularly thought on this on reading an article from a bloggetta this morning in which Arsenal were described as in need of total top to bottom reform because we couldn’t even end up above Leicester. The implication of which is that every club needs a total reform (since everyone finished below Leicester, obviously). In short Trotsky comes to the Premier League: Permanent Revolution Comrades!
A very quick snap analysis suggested to me that Arsenal certainly do get many more stories written about them than most other clubs. Looking at NewsNow while I wrote this, Arsenal had 12 stories listed in the last hour, Chelsea 8, Man City 9, Man U 15, Liverpool? 11, Tottenham 5.
With Man U the most written about in that snapshot, I looked quickly at what’s behind their stories in this past hour, and I couldn’t really see any that were doing much other than reporting positive news with a fair amount of suggestion that whatever Mourinho is doing, it is good. There was only one mention in the last eight hours of the Glazers, the previous hate figures, and that wasn’t at all negative. And all this from a club that didn’t qualify for the Champions League. The current story about the awful pitch for the “derby” game, the “lost” flight, the press conference room that was too hot… all these were dealt with fairly moderately. Certainly no question of “Man U trip descends into chaos” or “Man U fiasco”.
So, there are reasons to suggest that maybe, somehow, Arsenal are singled out for special negative treatment both by bloggettas and by the national media. To show what I mean, here’s a few articles from the current crop.
1: Ivan Gazidis worries Arsenal with new quotes.
I wrote about that the other day; I can’t see what any of the fuss is about, but clearly some people can. It does seem to me anyone who can get worried by what is in that interview really is living on a knife edge and can be tipped into misery by anything. Perhaps it is that I am slightly happier person. There was no announcement of a new direction for the club in that, just an expression of where the club is – which we all knew anyway.
2: Arsene Wenger’s decision not to allow Thierry Henry to combine his Sky television commitments with coaching Arsenal’s Under-18s has backfired further.
This notion from the Telegraph requires the backstory to be read in a certain way. “Backfired” suggests that the decision was part of a cunning plot or conspiracy, rather than a straightforward view that it is not appropriate for a person to be employed at under 18 level and be commentating regularly on TV – either because of inside knowledge gained from the job, or because of the time constraints. We might accept that this is a valid reason or not, but either way it is a straight decision of the type that all businesses take every day. “Backfired” suggests a plot.
Now the Telegraph imagines that part of the plot was to get Tony Adams to take over. But the paper says, “he has turned down the same role with the club to take a job in China.” That’s the backfiring bit.
Actually Adams was offered a trial period – obviously important because he has never worked with youngsters before, and as we all know, just being a good footballer does not mean one can be either a good commentator or a good coach. Tony Adams committed to the trial period but then handed in his immediate notice, and has apparently gone to China. No conspiracy, he just took another job. If anything we might think it doesn’t reflect too well on Tony Adams, but for that we need a lot more info about how he was doing in the job.
3. Although ex-midfielder Freddie Ljungberg is back at Arsenal working with the club’s Under-15s and Steve Bould is assistant manager…
I have seen no figures on how many ex-players work for clubs, and suspect no one has compiled them, but we know that success as a player is not an indicator of success in any other job. So it is possible that having two ex-Arsenal men as coaches is actually quite high a number compared with other clubs. Strangely I can’t recall huge levels of fuss about Giggs leaving Man U, no “backfire” headlines. Just thoughts about how it was good for him to expand his career elsewhere.
4: With the Italians reportedly giving Arsenal 48 hours to come to a decision, a deal looks like it has been agreed that will see the Pole return to Rome on loan.
This is typical of so many tales – Arsenal dither in the transfer market, and others have to come in to tell them to sort things out now or not at all. And the evidence for dithering? Actually none. The evidence for the ability to make deals quickly and smoothly despite all the background activity trying to undermine the move: Ozil is the most obvious. Alexis and Granit are two good examples.
5: Dennis Bergkamp turned down an offer to scout for Arsenal and Wenger after retiring from playing, and instead returned to Ajax to start a coaching career that saw him promoted to assistant manager under Frank de Boer.
Yes, Dennis went back to his homeland, which really is not too surprising since he has an absolute aversion to flying. Now you don’t have to fly to be a scout, but it is actually very difficult to do the job without flying. Players are scouted across borders, and to do it all by car is tough.
6: Marc Overmars also went back to Holland and is director of football at Ajax, having started work as a youth coach in 2011.
This really is my point. Every club surely can list loads and loads of ex-players from around the world who return to their homeland. Is it that we really are saying, “anyone with any sense would of course come to England?”
The fact is that Overmars has business interests in the Netherlands. In February 2005 he became a shareholder of Go Ahead Eagles and then joined the board and it wasn’t until 2011 he moved on Ajax and ultimately left Go Ahead. He’s also got a Dutch family and a Dutch family business, Overmars Vastgoed founded in the 1990s which invests in commercial and residential buildings. He also runs Overmars Classic Cars and is on the list of the 500 richest Dutch people. And you think this guy is going to leave his family and home, and come to that wealth, and work as an under 18s coach with Arsenal?
7: Second is a failure
“Even the most ardent of Arsenal fans would have been hard pushed to say that last season’s second place finish was a success. The fact that the side above them in the table were Leicester City, is enough to show they under-achieved.”
Well, what can I say? The definition is one team each year is a success, and everyone else fails. OK, if that’s how you want it.
8. Arsenal Transfer Rumours: Napoli look to scupper Mauro Icardi deal
These quotes all come from today’s press and bloggettas. Always the theme is the same – Arsenal cannot take control. They are incompetent, they let other clubs determine who goes where. Forget Ozil, Alexis, Granit etc etc.
This headline from the Star caught my attention because I wanted to know what the Blow was, but when I read the article, there was no mention of Arsenal in it at all. They had seemingly just added “Arsenal blow” to get more readers to the article! I am beginning to think they are all out to get us!!!
10: Arsenal need ‘wow’ signings because Ozil, Sanchez and Xhaka aren’t good enough – Collymore
Well Tony a very good piece have just sent an e-mail regarding this. I did forget to mention some stuff in the email but I can forward that on if need be . But keep up the good work.
Anyone any idea for which club “Wow” is playing currently?
Probably an unknown French Division 2 player. 😉
Tony,
Specifically about Dennis Bergkamp. I watched a video where he explained that when he retired from football, he wasn’t sure he wanted to remain in the sport, but he did want to live in the Netherlands because he wanted his children to experience life there.
He also turned down Ajax when they first approached him, but later reconsidered and took the job as coach.
He’s also often said how he’d love to come back to Arsenal one day, and how much an influence Arsenal have had on his life AND his coaching.
Partly, Arsenal get more bad press because Arsenal fans are probably the most active online community, and bad news is easier to sell than good news (just look at any newspaper)
But, there is this very real bias against Arsenal in all reporting, It’s so entrenched now, that I would venture even some of the ‘pundits’ don’t see it for what it is, but mistake it for ‘the truth’, since the lies have been so often repeated.
Unfortunately, this translates to the fans, which harms the atmosphere in the stadium, and the referees, which harms the team on the pitch even more tangibly.
Tony,
Reviewing recent articles will not tell you anything. Man U, Man C and Chelsea all have new managers who have a blank slate and a honeymoon period – they are simply not going to get the level of criticism at the moment that a manager with 20 years of history gets. Klopp is in a similar position at Liverpool.
If you go back a few months you’ll find that there were plenty of negative reports about Man Utd and LVG – from Utd bloggers and journalists alike.
I honestly don’t think people single out Arsenal. It’s just that Arsenal’s strength, the stability and long term focus, don’t fit easily with the ‘it’s broke so let’s fix it’ mentality which leads to frequent change in manager and spending on players. For some people 12 years without a title is sufficient evidence that ‘something’ needs to change and with Wenger remaining in charge and Gazidis emphasising that the plan remains broadly the same they don’t see the ‘something’ that other clubs have changed when they have underperformed. I don’t personally subscribe to the ‘let’s fix it’ view but I think it is an understandable response.
You also left out that according to the media “Arsenal lost out to Leicester” failing to point out that 18 other teams also did but making it seem like we were the only team to do so
On my newsnow feed, the first thing I see ‘Arsenal beg Inter to lower demands…’
BEG…
“Wow” is under contract for Macebeleave FC, latest report is that hes at the London Colney undergoing a medical having been seen on Easy jet coming into London Luton yesterday.
The Daily Herald said of this “typical Wenger he couldnt even get him on a BA flight into Heathrow, spend some money Wenger!”The Herald also reported that a WW2 Bomber has been found on the moon.
“Wow” has been linked with Juve,Barca,Leicester and Chelsea said to be the “new Ronaldo” by various sauces.
That Collymore article is such a joke. More like a stand-up routine than anything else.
Alexis just won the golden ball for being the best player at the Copa America, Özil was voted best German player at the Euros, Xhaka and Ramsey were the best players for each of their countries and both Ramsey and Ozil were in the Opta team of the tournament.
But hey, he “still don’t feel Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez or Granit Xhaka are of the highest level” and apparently the combination of a 34 year old Zlatan and Paul Pogba is much better than what we have.
Good one. Take a bow Collymore.
In the heady days of the late 1930s’ when Arsenal were top of the heap, Manager George Allison was occasionally heard to complain “If Arsenal are not in the news, it’s bad news”.
These days, the media thrives on bad rather than good news (true or false) and Arsenal FC is the perfect source. Players do not decline or refuse to join our Club. Each and every one “snubs” Arsenal.
Each Transfer Window allegedly involves players “long admired by Arsene Wenger” or “a long-time target of Wenger”.
When the transfers invariably fail to take place, the opportunity is there to criticise Club and Manager for inaction.
The unfortunate outcome of all this is that a minority of the more fickle of Arsenal supporters, impatient for success but completely unaware of the workings at the Emirates behind the scenes, join in the criticism.
What is needed is continued faith in those who run Arsenal FC, sorely tested I know, at times.
We should be proud that the Club we follow continues to be so newsworthy. 😉
Tony – I do agree about the 2nd place finish last season. How anyone can think 2nd place is a failure is beyond me. The fact that Leicester City finished 1st is irrelevant. More to the point is what does that say about the 18 teams that we finished above?
However this summer where is the intent for us to kick on and maybe I’m for top spot come next May?
Why did Kante go to Chelsea which is not a CL club?
Why did Vardy not come to us when we are?
We are a club that should be holding all the aces but we seem to be acting like a club who is scared to believe we can be successful? The reasons for believing that this should be Wengers last season grow more compelling by the day.
Point 7. Second is a failure.
Per Mertesacker has an opinion on this saying it was “a miracle”
Brian, and knowing that we actually were the only team to win home and away against them shows that it was more down to the failure of the other teams that Leicester was able to win the league.
The vitriolic outbursts towards our club have reached stellar proportions. There’s barely a report these days that doesn’t contain the words ‘snubbed’, ‘dumped’ ‘crisis’ etc. As you so rightly say, the other clubs all failed last year too – but we are the whipping boys of football. Every day, journalists wake up and the first thought is how to twist the knife into Arsenal. Yet again, as the season approaches, all of the so-called ‘experts’ are confidently stating that we will finish outside of the top four and have no chance of the league! However, annual title success stories like the spuds are regularly placed above us.
All in all, when you have an industry hell-bent on ruining one club, and a set of ex-pros who also regularly chip in with poison, what chance do you stand? Obviously, ignore them as it is all more or less bullshit – but spare a thought for younger fans who take everything to heart.
Walter – I think you are a little confused. Surely if we were able to beat Leicester home and away this would imply it is more our failure to beat the teams that Leicester City did?
Iceman – maybe consider why the outbursts have now reached stellar proportions instead of adopting the woe is me stance
Top Guns – chill out man, am only commenting on article and what I see.
Maybe we have the most youthful ,not too bright , naive and gullible fans ?
The proof you ask ?
That would be the many stupid things they say on this site ! And I can vouch that they ARE real stupid , having read some utter crap here over the years .
But , hey , don’t take my word for it ! Just read the comments that may follow mine.
@Tony
Seemingly Gilles Grimandi responded to the criticism that Arsenal don’t hire former players. He is quoted as stating that 15 are on the staff.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/690860/Arsenal-News-Gossip-Rumours-Gilles-Grimandi-Arsene-Wenger-Support-Thierry-Henry-Sky-Sports
As an Arsenal supporter, i can accept the criticism. I admit that Arsenal has weaknesses, such as weak concentration, lapse in defend, lack sharpness and confidence. If the news reported the truth, i can deal with that. My only concern is the negative perception and misled news.
For example, Arsenal won FA cup two years in a row, they used to call it ‘Arsenal level is FA cup’. At the same time, MUFC failed to qualify for UCL, Chelsea flop to mid-table position, and Liverpool showed stagnant performance.
I used to remember when the Emirates stadium was built. Arsenal has very limited budget for transfers, and has to depend on their youngsters as alternative. Yet, they qualified for UCL and always tried to perform the Arsenal way of playing. Although, they come short most of the time.
My hope is to see that the media to report the truth and minimize the bias against Arsenal.
United spend more than 160 million + 130 million in the past 2-3 years.
Do you see any progress except in Louis van Gaal and Moyes account?
Will we see the progress of Mourinho’s account next?
There was a time when something would have to be deemed newsworthy to make it to the news. Now, we get headlines that proclaim what Brendan Rodgers now of Celtic, thinks Mahrez needs or doesn’t need. (He doesn’t need to move to Arsenal apparently)
Of course, this constant news cycle doesn’t report EVERYTHING. Far more important things are left out unreported because it doesn’t fit the agenda and interests of those who own the news. But stuff like this gets its own article. Welcome to the new world.
Can’t be 100% sure without the sort of research no one can justify unless paid for it, but, damn, it feels like the bias is real and extreme.
An example from the weekend was an article (the Mail) saying Mahrez shows why he is worth more than the 42 million Arsenal are offering.
Ignore the fact the offer itself may be an invention- can anyone recall the media ever doing that with bids from other clubs? Felt like a very clear contrast between that and the way Chelsea’s signing of Kante was covered.
I read a lot of football stories and have done for 20 years or so, but that felt like a new and unusual one.
Anyway, the Mail’s angle on it struck me as : unusual; a continuation of the narrative (stingy, tight); an attempt to do their little bit; and finally as a bit of wish projection (please, don’t let him join them).
I’m open to the possibility that my (obsessive) support of Arsenal leads to false impressions, that I don’t read nearly as much about other clubs and what I do doesn’t register in the same way, etc, but even if all that’s true and it means things are 50% less extreme than they feel to me…shit, it still leaves a lot of negativity. No way are other clubs covered in the same way.
Just one big giveaway is with the trophy count(down). The fact other clubs have regularly dispensed with their managers makes it no more logical or fair to exempt them from that trophy count while they use/d it so extensively with us.
just read this, starting with the headline then the content
http://talksport.com/football/arsene-wenger-was-not-first-choice-be-england-manager-claims-fa-technical-director-dan
I mean…
Just glad they did not come get him away from Arsenal. And If they want to believe Mr Allardyce is so much better then AW and all previous Three Lions managers, I’m happy for them. Just I don’t have to believe it.
The fact that remains is that when they themselves bash AW and through him Arsenal, they are just giving out signals.
Not to talk about the biaised headline and in the end probable cut-and-pasting of a PR document sent out to the press.
Glad I have Untold Arsenal to get facts and information
Reports of Arsenal being snubbed is being snubbed by this Arsenal fan.
The best team always attracts attention of the media,and in that case arsenal being the best team in premier league so far falls a victim .
I think the press is building up Arsenal failure each season to get more Publicity. We humans always Forget the past.3 Years ago they say we have not won anything for 10 years (Look into the table and you will see atleast 15 Teams which have not won anything in past 20 years) and when we won FA Cup they started saying they have not won EPL since 2005 (Lets see Liverpool has not won the league for 25 years, Spurs for past 60+ years and you have other Teams who have and may not win it for years to come). 4th place is not good engouh (this Season we have Chelsea, Manu, Liverpool the soo called sucessfull Teams not playing CL). WE finished below Leciester City so we Need to revamp the whole Team (then how about Spurs, Man City,Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton.. and others they are finished below Us which should be bader than us finishing below Leicster ). They Keep says Oliver is not World Class he had a wonderful Euro so who should we sign Kane did you see how he Played in Euro? How do you really judge a Player?. It’s all media playing with our emotions.
A really enjoyable Post, Tony, thank you.
I do not know if other clubs get the same media hammering that Arsenal do — mainly because if they do they deserve it 🙂 and also because i could not be assed to read about them. 🙂
However, the media do like to feed Gorgon, so to speak, and they know that to a proportion of the Arsenal fandom anything critical of the manager and the other club hierarchy is lapped up as if it is football caviar. So they oblige as it sells papers to Gooners and draws audiences.
It is somewhat incomprehensible to me that some fans take such a delight in thinking and saying the worst about almost everything connected with the club.
its become more of theme now, discussing ARSENAL. You have to be negative.
Other day a pundit was saying something like this….”Look I am not an ARSENAL fan, and even I think they are not good enough. They blah blah blah burp”
The thing is, the noise against you is the loudest when you are doing things the right-way and are on to achieve your goals…worry we shouldnt.
Have the perennial “Spurs will finish above Arsenal this year” forecasts, so favoured by journalists and pundits been observed yet?
Have anyone read the comments from BFG ? The headline were “Mertesacker admits concern at Arsenal’s lack of transfer activity” But here is some of what he actually said :
“The way last season went, we were quite lucky to finish second,” said Mertesacker.
“We turned things around at the end but it was kind of a miracle we finished runners-up.
“What really disappointed us was that Leicester were able to take advantage of all the other big teams suffering and we couldn’t do the same.
“That will be a big motivation next season – to keep up with all those good teams who finished behind us.
“Of course, those big clubs will be stronger this time. That’s what I expect as they’ll start the season with a lot of new players.
“A lot of transfer business has already been done and it won’t be easy for us this time, especially with all the signings going to the other clubs.
“So we also need to be stronger and I am looking forward to seeing how well we compete for the title with not a lot of signings and a lot of young players.”
“You cannot predict what will happen with the other teams. Even when you have bought three or four big players, you still need to complement each other,” Mertesacker added.
“So there are still a lot of questions to be answered.”
So actually, he says that buying a lot of players isnt a guarantee for sucess, they have to gel together, and that the togetherness of the squad at Arsenal will motivate them to do better than last year. I cannot belive how clueless these journalists are!!!
AW was (as far as I’m aware) the first French manager in the PL. Certainly the 1st one with any success and being French made him an easy target for the ‘Red Tops’ then.
Add to this the way that AFC has always tried to run it’s business side without media attention (or with very tightly controlled media information) and AFC is even more of a target for the low quality press, as they know we rarely respond to rumours or ‘a club source’ drivel.
Unfortunately all the media has lowered it’s standards to the ‘Red Tops’ level now…
I saw the ArsenalPlayer Interview that Shard refers to. ‘GOD’ was very clear that he’d moved back to the Netherlands and had been there some time before he was convinced by Ajax to join them. He’d got involved with his own sons football club and really enjoyed it but even then he declined their first approach (I think from Cocu).
@ John L
Well I did see an article just last week with headline “Why Pochettino is better than Wenger”!!!
@ Tony
I did read a couple of reports on Man U’s 4-1 defeat to Dortmund a few days ago and there was nothing negative at all in either…..mind you they were from the BBC and SKY both of which think the sun shines out of the backside of anyone connected with Man U.
To reiterate the views of many others though, it is completely sickening to read all the negativity when other teams have spent much, much more and achieved less. The fact that we are always “snubbed” is annoying but my least favourite headline by far is when “Arsenal lose out to…..” because another team buys a player I’ve never heard of and have never even seen us linked with. This is even more annoying when it is supposedly a mid-table club to which we are supposed to have lost out, the implication being a top player would rather go to a club which isn’t even in Europe than join us ffs.
We have a proverb that’s says ” always check that spot where a crying child is pointing, cos it’s either his mom or dad is there” our transfer history has been “underwhelming” for a few years now. Now wenger inadvertently makes it worse when he chips in with his ” I nearly signed xyz” especially when such xyz players hit form or get famous. Zlatan,yaya,christiano,payet and so many others.last season topped it all off.wenger didn’t buy an outfield player even though he knew welbeck would be out till February!!!!. Are u telling me u haven’t wondered what another striker addition would have done to our trophy quest last year? Ozil had already clocked up to 15 assists by the 1st part of the season and then giroud went on a long goalless streak!this is not unusual but that’s why u have a 2nd striker and we unfortunately didn’t have any.(Walcott isn’t one please) it follows therefore that we give the impression of weakness in the transfer market.and our fans and media jump on that.
Yes wenger believes things should be done differently and I laud him for it.but he cannot keep bringing a knife to a gun fight.in a 38 game league,u have less room for error.u need a core of battle ready gladiators.do we have that “core”? BFG summs it all up in his most recent interview.”we were lucky to finish 2nd and we are entering the season with 2 many youngsters” note that that is possibly the captain of arsenal talking;not a Nigerian who hasn’t been to London talk less of visiting the emirates (which I hope to do before I leave earth)☺?
this is just one example and proof how football world clearly biased with negativity when its involving Arsenal. remember when Arsenal make Vardy an offer? all the media, bloggettas and fans said other club should leave Leicester alone and not to cherry pick their players. but when Chelsea make a move on Kante, the football world immediately change their tune and gave Chelsea their blessing. people who can think based on their logic will realize that some club especially Arsenal get an unfair and negative treatment from the mainstream media and bloggettas alike. shouldn’t be surprise cos here at UA we constantly voice our concern about this negative and biased treatment toward Arsenal football club.
Negative maybe. But other big clubs do not stand by a manager that hasn’t won the league in 12 years. In fact Arsenal have never done this before. I suppose it depends if you perceive Arsenal as a big club. The press get excited by new managers, new regimes at other clubs. If it goes wrong, like LVG at Manu, they then show their claws. Arsenal happily motor along doing what they do pretty much every year, garner about 71-79 pts a season, qualify for the CL every year and, for the last five years, capitulate as soon as they get out of the group stage. I wonder if this would be acceptable for any other big club. I also wonder that if Wenger didn’t have such an impressive record in the first eight years of his tenure whether he’d still be manager.
We now see that qualifying for the CL every year really makes little difference in attracting players. What seems to attract them is huge wages and/or new managers with supposedly fresh ideas. It appears also that having an astute manager with less money can mean a title, hence Leicester’s success. With Wenger at the helm perhaps we should have won one title since 2005. This year let’s hope Wenger gets it right. He deserves one more title.
The DeathEaters will attempt to suck out your soul. Turn away! Tune out turn off and drop into the habit of reading Adrian Clarke or someone else who doesn’t dribble nonsensical gibberish at every opportunity.
The Trolls (wink wink) are just palpable disingenuous liars and grunting idiots (please refer to their comments)
A few here already
Good article.
Collymore has demonstrated, beyond all reasonable doubt, that he is simply a sneering mercenary professional troll.
Unfortunately, he is just one of many professional trolls who are given a media platform to masquerade as “experts”, but who, in reality, specialise in providing
uninformed, inconseqential toxic opinions about
all things Arsenal.
As Finsbury says, above, they are to be ignored at all costs if you want to keep your sanity.
Never pay any attention to naysayers!
Follow the Yellow Brickfields Road –
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other – body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO-HOO, what a ride!!”
Yellow Canary – ‘ I also wonder that if Wenger didn’t have such an impressive record in the first eight years of his tenure whether he’d still be manager.’
You obviously don’t know the meaning of ‘impressive’ when it comes to finance. You can pick up a trophy for less than £20. You cannot qualify for CL consistently for 20 years for any amount of money!! Go fly a kite.
chibyke
July 25, 2016 at 12:11 pm – We have a proverb that says ……….. ’empty vessels make chibyke’.
Just read this quality piece of journalism: “Watch Andrey Arshavin score wonder goal that will enrage Arsenal fans” on Mirror.co.uk. They are right – I am beyond apoplectic that Arshavin scored a goal. I wish we Arsenal supporters weren’t so volatile. Need to lay down for a bit.
Maybe Untold can interview the press when they come in contact with them on why they don’t like Arsenal. Should make for interesting reading.
What Arshavin scored a goal? Another prove Wenger knows nothing…. LOL…. how on earth can they keep on coming up with such headlines and articles? It sure must take some serious hate or an agenda…
Someone’s been making mischief again.
Differing views !
https://cdn.alphacomedy.com/1/2016/07_04_16_ad5ce88f66b4d5566cc1a282af09e547.jpg
‘There are two ways to be fooled . One is to believe what isn’t true . The other is to refuse to accept what is true.’
Soren Kierkegaard.
Interesting that to add to the earlier confusion surrounding Man Utd visit to China, its match with Man City has had to be cancelled.
I understand that there are good health and safety reasons linked to the condition of the pitch after severe bad weather, but just imagine the press outcry if it had happened to Arsenal. – Arsene Wenger would have been held responsible and blamed for being stupid and not being able to foresee the event.
John L, one of my fellow directors at work (a Man U supporter) and I were discussing this very thing at lunch today. How odd no one made a fuss about the plane getting lost, the media interviews in a room where the temperature was too high, and the abandoned game.
But really, don’t the Manchester clubs have their agents out there looking at the pitch?
Can someone explain this?
Arsenal.com has a note saying that Mertesacker slightly hurt his knee in the game against Lens, and will miss the USA tour. Daily Mail reports that Mertesacker could be out for 5 months.
Sorry, Daily Star, not Daily Mail.
>Tony — a good research idea! In my own haphazard readings, I do discern a lot of anti-Arsenal sentiment. But in fact, this goes for Chelsea (Mourinho last season!), City (Pellegrini’s “lethargy” and all the money spent), United (van Gaal!), Pool (constant failure over the past 20 years)… But I have no sense of the proportions. It would indeed be interesting to systematize this.
>Walter– “and knowing that we actually were the only team to win home and away against them shows that it was more down to the failure of the other teams that Leicester was able to win the league.”
—No, that logic does not work. It can equally well be said that it was down to Arsenal not performing better against a host of other teams, including dropping 6 points against a Chelsea side that hasn’t been that bad for more than a decade. And that Leicester were generally so good last season. And so on and so forth. Only Arsenal can take the blame for not winning the league last year (of course).
*
Also, with respect to transfer dealings and rumors, Mertesacker’s recent remarks were certainly interesting. If this is
what he thinks about the squad, one would have to wonder what Ozil and Sanchez think…
Humour (maybe).
On the Arsenal.com website is an article, “Villa has an Amazing Ability to Score”. Every time I see that, I think to myself “Aston Villa? Score? Is this person on drugs?”.
🙂
Clearly there is extreme hostility and negativity directed towards Arsenal football club and Arsene Wenger. What I am unable to fathom is why there is such orchestrated campaign against Arsenal. The hostility is so pervasive that our ex-players end up succumbing to the inevitable and become arch-critics of the club.For many years,they’ve fed the trolls that unless we spend unsustainable amount on player recruitment and sack our manager, we will never win the premiership again. And some of our petulant and imbecilic supporters eat it up. Of course, they ignored the fact that all the money Man Utd, City and Chelsea spent,failed to win the Premiership. I suspect their real agenda is for us to kick out our greatest asset – Arsene Wenger! The sad part is that many of our supporters are too stupid to see through the fog of contrived negativity!
Am forwarding an e-mail that I received which I found quite interesting . Was not sent the address of the web-page it was from , but you can Google his many article on the subject of luck.
Why do some people have all the Luck ?
By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire.
Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.
Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.
Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.
The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune.
Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.
I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying : “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50.”
This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties’; intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends.
They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles.
They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.
Dramatic results ! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic : 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and perhaps most important of all, luckier.
The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.
Finally, I had found the elusive “luck factor”.
Here are Professor Wiseman’s four top tips for becoming lucky:
1) Listen to your gut instincts – they are normally right
2) Be open to new experiences and breaking Ur normal routine
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.
Have a Lucky day and work for it…
“The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect.”
” There is a great difference between “worry” and “concern”,
A worried person only sees the problem and a concerned person solves the problem..!
And it works ! After posting this article , I received the good news that I’ve won the Australian Lotto ! And guess what ? Not only have I never set foot there, I never even entered their competition !
BUT I BELIEVE IT !
AUSTRALIA
LOTTO LOTTERY INC.
ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING
NOTIFICATION AWARD PRESENTATION CENTER : AUSTRALIA
DATE:25/07/2016
Ref: 575061725
Batch: 8056490902/188
Winning no: KB8701/LPRC
CONGRATULATIONS………………………….
We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on the 25th July, 2016 from the Australian International Lottery programmer.
Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses , your name was attached to ticket number 575061725 8056490902 serial number 6741137002 batch number 8056490902/188.
This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 4-13-33-37-42bonus number 17, which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You hereby have been approved a lump sum of US$6,000,000.00 in cash credit file ref ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize of US$48,000,000.00( FORTY EIGHT MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY), shared among eight lucky winners in this category.
All participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada , Australia , America , Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually.
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base. We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE, Simply contact our fiducially agent,
NAME: XXXXXXXX XXXX
Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and telephone number as to help us locate your file easily.
For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming
and unwarranted taking advantage of this of this programmer by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Note, all winnings MUST be claimed on or before 30 DAYS AFTER YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR WINNING INFORMATION. Otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually donate to charity.
Congratulations, once more from the entire Management and Staff of AUSTRALIA .LOTTERY Cooperation to all our lucky winners this year.
Thank you for being part of this promotional lottery program.
Yours Sincerely,
DR. Mrs. XXXXXX XXX
(Co-coordinator).
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.
CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT: BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.
THANKS:
MANAGEMENT, AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC.
( In accordance with their breach of confidentiality rules, I’ve left out all the pertinent names and addresses and other information .)
Menace, I don’t really care about qualifying for the CL for the last twenty years. Let me put it this way I’d rather we’d have won the CL once and not qualified for the next dozen seasons.
Obviously financially it helps to be in the CL every year but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference about attracting players. One of course contributes to another re finance, but I’d still rather have one great memory of seeing Arsenal lift the trophy than have numerous defeats imprinted on my mind.
To each his own.
@ Yellow Canary
So this is all about your own self-gratification rather than the long-term well-being of Arsenal FC.
Well as long as you get some bragging rights, sod those of us that have supported the club for 50+ years and want the best possible future for AFC rather than a bit of glory for ourselves……
YC
Your argument is flawed.
Arsenal did win the Premiership awhile ago.
By your argument, surely then that is enough?
Gunner6
Being positive is so rewarding . Again I thank my lucky stars ! May be we could built a shrine or grotto for faithful Arsenal ex-players outside the stadium for loyal fans to give thanks to ?
From Mrs Mxxxxxx
I am the above named person,Undergoing medical treatment. Married to
late Engr M.N Mxxxxx ,The former CEO of G@@@@@ P****** .
We were married for twenty years without a child. My late husband
died on the 24th of April 2006 after a brief illness that lasted only
four Days. I decided not to re-marry or get a Child outside my
matrimonial home, because as a good Christian my religion is against
it.
When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $22,Million
(Twenty Two Million US Dollars) with a bank in the United Kingdom.
I have been in the hospital for eight months suffering from cancer.
The 1st surgery operation was conducted , I still have the pains in
me,Recently my Doctor told me that i have less than a month to live
the cancer is rapidly spreading.
Because of this condition, i have decided to donate the $22,Million
(Twenty Two Million US Dollars) to you , because i want you to use it
to build church or mosque for the worship of God
Also i want you to utilize this fund very well by helping the less
privilege. Like the orphanages, Old people, homeless people . I took
this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit my
estate.
I will direct you to my late husband’s attorney,He will help you to
secure this $22,Million without any problem .
Assure me that you will use the fund for all i have stated.
I will wait for your response if this does make any sense to you,
Please ignore this message if you cannot use this money according to
my wish.
PLEASE RESPOND HERE (mxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com )
Mrs Mxxxxxx
@ YC
If Liverpool winning the CL once in the past 20 years and pretty much nothing else, is sufficient to make this club great, then please explain how that compares to Arsenal who in the past 20 years have won the PL a few times, made in Invincibles season (which no one save Arsenal fans) will EVER forgive them, won the FA cup 6 times. And considering this criteria, City are just a useless club. never even qualified for a CL final, which Arsenal did in 2006.
Maybe someone has a statistic that can tell us how many games in 20 years each team won, tied and lost and thus we can see how many times each team’s fans went hom in agony or with a smile on their face.
But then again, opinions are so much more important than facts. You are entitled to yours, just don’t pretend to be an Arsenal fan.
Chris – Arsene Wenger indeed achieved great success in his early days at the club but that was a long time ago now. Does he continue to be the best man for the job? Possibly because we did finish 2nd after all last season, but it is a shame that we are not looking to build upon that success in the transfer market this summer.
Since you like statistics here is one for you – Arsenal won 10 league titles between 1931 and 1991 and have won just 3 since then. Don’t you think a club with our great history should be looking to compete more for the top honours once again?