By GF60 and Walter Broeckx
This weekend we Gooners have to make a serious decision…Do we support Bayern or Chel$ki?
There are massive advantages both ways.
Bayern win and nothing but Europa for Chel$ki. And that’s worth a laugh even if de Matteo will probably need a bit of sympathy. And of course, the thought of Chel$ki not being the first London club to win that trophy has major appeal.
Another thing is that Chel$ki out of the Champions League will be a major financial blow for them. I know they don’t need the money. We all know the Russian owner can open a new can with lots of cash in it and can go out and buy who ever they want. Okay if they overbid Manchester $ity. But losing the champions league money for next year and the Russian having to put even more money in the team will have as a result that they will be in trouble when the Financial Fair Play rules kick in. So this might be bring even more fun in the next seasons for Chel$ski.
In that case Tottenham will have to play the qualifying round and I really wonder how this will effect their season start. As we have seen it has affected our start a lot and also they could be in the same situation like we last season when some players want to go if they are not guaranteed CL football next season.
And then we also have to take in account that playing the qualifiers is no guarantee for winning it. With some bad luck they could end up playing a top team from Italy or Spain and find themselves out of the CL before the end of August. And then those players will want to get out for sure. So that could be a very disturbing period for the lot down the road.
But…if Chel$ki win (painful though that may be) then our dearly beloved neighbours will have to miss their favorite soap operas on Thursday nights…once again. Now I for one would definitely sniffle on my shirt cuff if that were to happen. After all, some of my best friends are spudlets who have done nothing but take the piss virtually all season…at one time asking if I thought we’d enjoy fizzy pop football.
And also in this scenario there is some attractive things for us. Tottenham out of the Champions League will mean that like I said before a few of their stars wanting out. Bale has openly said it if we can believe the media. Will Tottenham be able to pay the money City wants for Adebayor and will they be able to pay Adebayor the wages he expects without the Champions League revenue?
For Chelsea it will make nu big difference apart that their fans have bragging rights for a short while. But they don’t need the CL money that much but it will help them a bit to try to get in line with the Financial Fair Play rules.
So each scenario has it’s pros and cons.
On the other hand if we should look at the way teams are run we should hope for a Bayern win. They are a team that is under the more strict financial rules that are in place in the Bundesliga and so they are not depending on a rich sugar daddy. And so they represent the hope for the football world that doesn’t like those sheiks or Russian billionaires spending silly money. From that point of view a win for Bayern will show that you can win the Champions League with building a team and staying within your own financial means.
Let’s have your opinions Gooners.
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I will take a Bayern win, Chelsea can only play 1 way against a decent team and it wont be pretty. They will be managed by JT, and from a distance by Jose. There is no way Chelsea are anywhere near the best team in Europe, whilst a neutral could argue that over the season, the Spuds are perhaps more deserving of a CL place next year…assuming they overcome what…as we know… could be a very very tricky qualifier.
Bayern on their game create a serious amount of chances, I take them to win 3-1 although it could at times be a nervy closely fought encounter. Gather the ref is a bit on the fussy side as well, which will only help Bayern in this fixture.
I do not know too much about the way BM are financed, but I can say that if Chelsea win this, that will be the FA Cup, the EPL title and the CL well and truely bought. Not great for football
of course bayern munich , and i hope chelsea will never ever win the champion league they are our rival as well i never forget the ashley cole dirty transfer man $ity = Chel$ki same $hit. besides if they loose they won’t sign big names because of champions league attraction.
The absence of John Terry will make Chelsea win it (tongue not in cheek), coz that means nobody wil take a hilarious tumble and be left for dead (remember that JT fall at Slumford bridge vs Van Persie? Funnier than the best from Chris Rock). It also means that nobody will tumble while taking a decisive penalty, a’la Moscow 2009! (at this rate, i think we should just call him John Tumble). Aaargh, who am i kidding, i am for Bayern Munchén through and through. Go Bayern go!
Ordinarily I would say I don’t want a chelski win, BUT, it would be hilarious if the scum couldn’t even offer potential CL football as an enticer!!!!
To be honest the latter would more than make up for the crowing ability of the chavs.
Obviously i go for munich, coz i want chelsea to be totally out of the champions league and play for qualification….
Bayern Munich for CL, Tottenscum to lose their qualifier and play all their Europa League matches in Siberia.
@ Peter, if the chavs fail to win it would mean the scum would be playing the qualification round – they might just be able to sneak in a few players and keep hold of the few better one they have, if that prospect existed.
……on plastic pitches!
of course Bayern.
The ideal situation is a Bayern win on Saturday followed by the Spuds losing in the Champions league qualifiers. That way they both end up in the Europa cup.
@ Mick
It is also worth looking at the un-ideal situation. The scum are in 4th place, attract new signing, keep hold of their existing ‘star’ players and also qualify for the group stages of the CL.
To me the ideal situation is that they never get the chance of ANY CL football.
I won’t weep if Bayern win, but neither will I sob if the chavs do so.
Boy, everyone goes for Bayern! This is not funny any more 😉
Tell you what, I see no one else from England but Arsenal can challenge for CL trophy next season. And I mean it! Well, maybe $hitty if they can overcome their internal fights but I doubt it.
It’s a close call on who would win, I wont be putting any money down however if I had the choice, I’d take a Bayern win over Chelsea, Sustainability over the Vanity Binge!
Traditional football support is being destroyed by these Money Merchants who are only making the game more expensive for all of us.
Bayern win. Definitely don’t want Chelsea to win it. Anything (almost) to keep the cup out of the hands of Abramovich.
That Spurs will play qualifiers – hopefully losing and ending up in the Europa League after all – will nicely disrupt their start of the season.
Di Matteo’s is a lesson to Mourinho on how to park the bus. The only place on the pitch you’re going to see anything blue is inside the Chelsea box… And i guess the Drog is now putting the final touches on his diving and rolling and meaowing skills (such a shame for such a big man)
Like I support Arsenal by all my heart I support Bayern Munich too. Frankly it was Bayern Munich which took me to football some fifteen years back. Then the Arsenal appeal flowed in because all we got to see was Premier League then.
Bayern it will be for me.
Chelsea has to buy new players for the aging ones. Even if they win the CL. They will get ~55 mln from CL this season, so they will be in stronger financial position till the 2013/14 anyway if tey win or lose.
On the other side are Spuds. If they do not qualify, some players will depart. So their side will be weaker the next season.
I go for Chelsea. Maybe Abramovich will finally take his toys and leave Chelsea after that?
Am definitely for a Beyern win! What a sight it will be to see the Russian fella heartbroken after coming so close yet losing out on his primary target,it will also make the Sheik re-consider buying trophies, as for the totts, let the Champions league distract them next season -that is if they win the qualifier- ,a Bayern win is a win for everything WeBelieve in,everything football should be while a Chelsea win will encourage more sugar daddies.
Chelsea are already out of our league-win or lose it will make no difference-if they want a player-tAbramovich will simply pay enough to get him to sign. Spurs out of the ECL may destabilise them-they can’t push on with salaries, transfers and commercial revenue. Slipping behind Spurs is entirely possible without RVP.
Does anyone knows which possible teams Spurs may encounter in the qualification stage?
There is such an appeal in Chel$ki winning…From biblical sources, The Lord said “Come forth” but if Chel$ki were to win they would come 5th and lose their beer money. (Thanks Mike)
Could I be such a bitch?
Nah, don’t think so…the spudlets need some cash….honestly (I think) earned.
It is a no-brainer: Bayern, of course.
Tthe Sp*ds will never rival us, CL or no CL.
But for Ch*lski, it does matter:
-It has become more and more difficult for them to hire a top coach; last season, they hired a mere child; they let go coach Ancelotti, a man that I fear a lot; with “building a new team” more of a tongue-in-cheek saying than an actual plan for the future, the last thing we need them to get is entry to the CL.
-Financial Fair Play rules are a threat to them, not to the Sp*ds; so the CL money does matter, no matter how much “new valuation” money they put in, and no matter how much they cajole Michel Platini and the UEFA out-of-touch-ocrats.
-The Sp*ds team is unlikely to get a lot of reinforcements, CL or no CL.
-I do not want Ch*lski to be the first London team to win the CL: I say this knowing that Sp*uds will never ever ever be the first London team to win the CL.
So, tomorrow, I will be supporting the team that has a sensible way to finance their endeavors, and also a team that plays more like Arsenal; Ch*lski is still, several years later, playing on schemes brought in by the ultra-defensive special one.
Bayern will win.
It’s a funny one, either way would make us happy but for me i want Bayern to win. Spurs still have to go through a qualifying round and are not guaranteed qualification just yet. They more than likely will qualify into the group stage proper but Young Boys nearly knocked them out at that stage before so who knows?
I just couldn’t stand the Chelsea fans for the next 50 years saying they were the first team from London to win the Champions League. Yeeuuuughhhhh!
Off topic, but again, the UN-topic:
This demonstrates the gathering attempt to de-stabilize AFC on the question of RVP’s re-signing. DAVID HYTNER, as before in the Arsene-Out Campaign is a point man for the Manchester Guardian’s Football Department in screwing us. David Hytner acts like a mendacious, lying stenographer as evinced by this entry in today’s Guardian online:
“The Professional Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year would relish an offer from Barcelona.”
How does he know anything – not that sourcing ever bothered his ethics-free football journalism. My guess is that the full-court press to de-stabilize us and the negotiations is ON and Hytner ought to be banned from Arsenal/Arsene’s press conferences for intending damage to the club’s financial well-being. He’s back at it. Vigilance!
Hear, hear, Bob.
@akasuna:
The qualification for non-champions will consist of:
Belgium: Club Brugge
Denmark: Copenhagen/Nordsjaelland
England: Spurs (if Chelsea loses to Bayern)
France: Lille
Germany: Borussia Monchengladbach
Greece: Panathinaikos or AEK Athens
Italy: Udinese
Netherlands: Feyenoord
Portugal: Braga
Romania: Cluj or Vaslui or Steau Bucharest
Russia: Spartak Moscow
Scotland: Motherwell
Spain: Malaga
Turkey: Fenerbahce
Ukraine: Dynamo Kyiv
Note 1: the leagues of Greece and Romania are still in progress, with the final standings undecided.
Note 2: The teams from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will join at the play-off round; all the other teams will play in the third qualification round before the play-offs.
Note 3: The play-offs will be seeded (by club coefficient, NOT league coefficient). Not sure if Spurs would be among the top seeds, but I’m quite sure Malaga is not. That is a team I think the seeded teams would like to avoid.
There are some difficult teams in there, but I expect that if Spurs is seeded (and avoid Malaga) that they will have little problem negotiation the play-offs. But the play-offs will surely hinder their transfer negotiations, the ability to retain players and overall upset their start of the season.
Amendment to note 1: the Danish league has not been decided yet either.
Ideally, Bayern wins it by scoring 2 goals in the last minute John Tumble (thanks Odhis KenyanGunner) is seen with a smug smile on his face having flashed a laser beam directly at Peter Cech…
The tiny spuds, thus qualify of champions league footie, buy adebayor for crazy money from $hity and pay him exorbitantly as is bale. Then go on to buy more players “linked” with Arsenal and proclaim how the beat us to them.
2nd leg of the qualifiers, away, they have a penalty in the dying minutes of the game. They just need one goal to progress. As bale is about to take the kick, adebayor kicks bale on the face, takes the spot kick himself. Hits it so hard it rebounds off the post straight at ‘arry who collapses with a concussion.
Final whistle…
Thus the tinies are knocked out…Fortunately for ‘arry, the concussion cures his twitchy. smile all round as they accompany chelski in the europa league
Who cares? If Chelsea won, they’d have done it against the odds….
On a more serious note.
I noticed RVP stalling on his contract. Presumably he wonders what Arsenal can possibly win if they face a seasonal tsunami of corruption.
Around 4 years back I felt Arsenal would win the league, but I hadn’t factored in the corruption factor, and sure enough we were nobbled.
Looking ahead, even if we secured a couple more great players, Mvila, a proper centre-half, or even another quality striker like Cisse or Giroud, I am afraid I still have almost zero conviction that we would win anything, simply because the deck is stacked.
Having realized this, and realizing that following football is a forlorn endeavour, i genuinely believe, (I’ve said it several times before) that I will become an un-supporter next year.
I think I am calling time on the charade.
the crazy thing is that our midfield is probably the best in the league, our attack is very good, and our defence is not as far from being excellent as some would have you believe..
still, enough is enough
it’s a terrible admission, but this season I was pleasantly relieved when the net effect of one of our players being assaulted in the opposition’s penalty area was
debit: two red cards and 6 games banned
credit: sweet FA
starting so badly ensured no end of season hopes waiting to be crushed by the mysterious hand of the powers what be.
If I start the season in this mindset: “what’s the point?” I ask myself.
The problem for any Arsenal supporter will be the terrible sense of foreboding and deja vu…at what point will the next leg be broken? at what point will the next 4-0 advantage be manipulated into oblivion? at what point will the next 5 point lead be smashed in a torrent of non penalties and offsiesd not called?
As much as I would love to see Spuds’ fans suffer, I want us to be the first London team to lift the CL trophy. Therefore, vote goes to Bayern.
@Bob, what a clown Hytner is – methinks he’s working on behalf of Sh*tty. I have read on various sites it appears Farca and Juve are not in the bidding for RVP (of course these could be smokescreens although in the case of Farca, one does have to wonder how long they can continue to manage that big debt of theirs). Funny enough then, that today there are articles quoting Viera as saying Arsenal “should have signed” RVP to a new contract by now. It’s shaping up to be Na$ri part deux – except Sh*tty is stealing a page from Farca. Watch for stories like “de Jong tells RVP he belongs in blue” to come out during the Euros. What a crock of sh**.
I want Chel$ki out from CL next season. Maybe Roman will understand, sacking manager every year is not enough, than he will start to sack manager every 6 month.
If Chelski not win CL, I want Spud qualify, so Terry, Cashley, Lampard, Drogba will go onloan to Spud to play in CL. But, after that, Spud dumped from group stages, so they meet Chel$ki on European League.
Oh yeah, maybe they meet MU too in European League.
I think the 4th place in EPL will meet club from Spain, Italy, Germany or France.
Was just wondering, what would happen to Arsenal if Chelsea wins? Do we get moved down to play in the qualifiers (with Spuds getting dropped or do we get 4 PL teams straight into the group stages?
If 4 teams go straight to the group stages, I want Chel$i because there’s nothing sweeter than seeing the Spuds get dropped when they finish 4th!
IF we have to play qualifiers, Bayern it is!
2-1 to munich 🙂
@Ong Bing:
You may actually be right. I have dug up the UEFA club rankings for all the clubs that may be involved in the play-offs:
Tottenham (ENG) 66.857
Braga (POR) 63.069
Dynamo Kyiv (UKR) 62.026
Panathinaikos (GRE) 50.920
Copenhagen (DEN) 46.505
Spartak Moscow (RUS) 46.066
Fenerbahce (TUR) 41.615
Udinese (ITA) 38.996
Lille (FRA) 38.835
Club Brugge (BEL) 35.480
Steaua Bucharest (ROM) 26.764
AEK Athens (GRE) 24.420
Cluj (ROM) 18.764
Vaslui (ROM) 13.764
Feyenoord (NET) 12.603
Nordsjaelland (DEN) 8.005
Motherwell (SCO) 6.728
Borussia Monchengladbach (GER) —
Malaga (SPA) —
While Spurs are at the top, Udinese (ITA) and Lille (FRA) are eigth and ninth respectively, with Bor. Monchengladbach (GER) and Malaga (SPA) making out the bottom. Those two are at the bottom because they have not participated in a European competition in the past five years. Still, I would consider them among the stronger teams in the table.
@Jerry:
Arsenal is in the group stage regardless of the outcome tomorrow.
Before I read it I was thinking of my Chelsea friends and Spud family & friends and wanting Chelsea to win…
…but,
…that first London club thingy is the decider.
Thanks Walter – Bayern it is.
@Kentetsu, I am not sure about the rules, but UEFA changed the rules a few years ago, so small club have chance to play in group stages.
Club from EPL, La Liga, Seria A, Bundesliga can not meet small club like Cluj, Club Brugge, etc.
It is not about club ranking, but league ranking I think.
CMIIW
Thats why Arsene dont want to play qualification, because there is no chance for easy game like a few years ago.
Bayern. I can’t root for Chelsea unless they’re playing Tottenham or Man United. And even then, it’s with holding my nose for 90+ minutes.
Thanks Kentetsu!! I have no idea that there are some leagues that are not finished yet. Let’s see how the qualification affects Spurs season..
chelsea to win and more tears from the spurs fans
Wooby,Rantetta,
Yes, and thank you both so much for jumping in on this. (Are people holding back as in let’s see what’s the party line on RvP first?, Or is this somehow not The Burning Issue of this un-told moment? Jeesshh!)
Yes, I do think that “RVP-Out” is big media’s x-Cesc-II (Also, RVP and Cesc have the same worrisome uber-agent in the background (that would be Dein the Lesser); the unspeakable Mr. Hytner and other stenographers to Spurned Nose and the Petro-Ballers will be coming forth, front and center, Farca script in hand, to do their toxic whoremoan dance on their keyboards. Vigilance!
bayern
bob, we could have predicted it though couldn’t we? All those early stories about how robin still hasn’t signed a new contract, and how they only have 2 days to come to an agreement before he leaves for holland. The foreshadowing of our captain leaving for greener pastures was made long before the season ended. But what interests me is the media talk-block arsenal have put on him. Maybe arsene doesn’t want robin inadvertently giving them more fuel for their fire? It makes me wonder what stage talks would be in for arsenal to feel the need to keep robin out of the media’s hands. I don’t think they would have done this if talks had gone as horribly wrong as some would suggest
C’mon Bayern!!!!! Let Spuds do the rounds and deal with the additional pressure at the start of the season. Might not even have half decent players for the games either, so if Adebayor leaves they have a strike force of Defoe and Saha. Spuds will have to spend – not sure if they approached Grant Holt? anyway I would like to see dirty arry’s triffic management skills juggling CL, EPL, FA and CC.
Fan Baiting, pros & cons in this article aside Bayern are just plainly the better team and club. Also they got turned over domestically by Dortmund so will be looking to make an amends. I hope Bayern win it by half time.
@marcus I know how you feel. I stopped following football a few years ago as I was sick of seeing Arsenal being robbed while the media shoved lies to my face. After Henry left, the media predicted the downfall of the club but they almost won the league. Did they eat their hats and concede what an awesome job Arsene did rebuilding? NO, all we get is this endless crap about a trophy drought.
I got fed of the whole charade but then I thought no way I’m gonna let them put me off enjoying the talent on display. So now win or lose I’m just enjoying the team. The way they play, the way the manager constructs it, the next bright prospect etc.
On topic….BAYERN!
Walter why is there so much fixation on the origin of Chelsea funding? I understand you feel strongly that their business model is flawed but why so much emphasis on the “those sheiks or Russian billionaires spending”? Would you feel better if it was American billionaire spending (think John W Henry)? Aren’t Arsenal dependent on Russian/Uzbek/Sheik money as well?
iniez,
yes, the RVP media ban is remarkable, and remark we do!
obviously it could be a badly negative sign as Hytner has trumpeted; or it could be a sign of progress made that AFC don’t want unsettled by a x-Cesc Leaving all-out media onslaught, trying to distort any/every word. either way, it does speak to the urgency of the moment and I would think AFC’s need not to be perceived as helter-skelter as at the end of the last window. That perception would, I think, scare off other signings that we might need to make: that is, beyond Podolski, signings to convince RVP that further top level talent is on the way AND/OR to execute Plan B to replace the departing RVP and mollify a very upset (and not small) section of the fanbase in that event.
I think that the measure of a media ban really speaks to how really crucial it is right now that AFC – for our own good – stay out front on and in relative control over the media narrative (given the vultures starting to circle, such as Stenographer Hytner, Cross John, and other media-minions of the Spurned Nose and the Petro-Ballers.
@AFCthick/thin
I used to enjoy watching Arsenal and following their progress.
But the last few years have convinced me that football is becoming more and more a large trough
where various people fill their boots.
The football has become almost secondary to the pre-imposed narrative.
Nobody blinks an eye in the media at all the discrepancies, dysfunctionality, and perversities.
Arsenal don’t get a penalty in 20 league home games….so what!
Football seems to be more a cultural and social form of reinforcement than anything else.
Being English is defined as A B C D
and then those virtues and attributes are evinced from various players and teams.
It’s just a pre-constructed narrative.
Man U may be fair to middling these days, but they ‘know how to win’, ‘how to close out victory’ etc etc
These virtues are good, but the narrative is not organic, it’s totally fabricated. MAn U will always win their last 10 games of the season, come hell or high water, and we all know how this is achieved, and it seem much less to do with the character of the players these days, and much more to do with extraneous factors….
I really enjoyed the era when Wenger’s vision and intelligence offered a genuine antidote to the
MU monopoly of the home game, but these days that has been suppressed.
And there are many factors in the game I find really unpleasant.
Football is just big business. I wouldn’t get excited by ICI’s latest account balance, or quarterly
projections, and in the same way, football is becoming very sterile.
If Arsenal get to a European Cup under AW, I will of course be cheering….but in general, the allure of the EPL is dying for me.
Munich to win.
I want Arsenal to be the first London team to win the Champions League. I really don’t care that Spurs qualify for the Champions League if Chelsea lose tonight.
I agree Gooner S
I hope Chelsea loose and Sp*r loose in the qualifier.
They wont be able to attract players as easily to strengthen the ageing squad either if they loose.
I think Chelsea are very lucky not to have Terryfobia in fact its a blessing in disguise . In the Barcelona match,had Terry stayed on Chelsea where to lose. As of me i don’t care who wins but i would love Chelsea to win and see wot the whore-lists will tell us next season and off-course their crazy predictions.
No yellow for Boswinga or Cole yet a yellow for Munich due to a handball.
I think I saw him pull the card out of a brown envelope.
no card for a chelsea handball?
So doomsday for Spurs arrived!
No CL money,no CL glory for them.
Chelsea have won, now Roman got what he wanted from the beginning. So the day when he&his money will leave Chelsea is coming sooner!
Arsenal survived threat of relegation from CL by 1 point! YEAH!
I’m gutted that Chelsea won to be honest. I thought they played a little dirty with a fair few of their challenges resulting in studs on the ankle – very painful indeed and their period of rotational fouling on Robben.
@ Andrei
I’d like to know how Arsenal are dependant on “Russian/Uzbek/Sheik money” when we are the only team who regularly makes a profit and operate sustainably. The only reference I can thnk of is the sponsor which is a legit source of income.
this feels so shit and not even what it means to spuds make it better..football has lost and money has won
@Mahadain, well said. It seems like that money can buy you everything, at least in football. The victories for Man C and Chelsea will only attract more sugar daddies. FFP must be implemented as early as possible to avoid this thing.
Financial Doping 3 – 0 Sustaiability
Football died tonight.
John Terry danced on its grave – no doubt later John Terry will go round football’s house and smash football’s grieving widows back doors in before wiping his manky little dick on football’s curtains.
2012 the english year of the brought trophy. the 99% of the footballing world, and legends will always disrespect these types of titles.
on the plus side…..
HA. just when you thought the tots couldn’t get any tinier. magnify glasses at the ready.
i wonder if they’ll have a ban? HA. enjoy your summer.
Any worth while TV programmes feature on Thursday nights? I’ll have to sympathise with my spudlet mates that they’ll be missing them. I’ll send them a DVD 😮
Not a good night for clubs that like to build teams using money they’ve earned though. Watching Terry and Abramovic last night was a real pain.
I’m not sure I agree today with the Chelsea bashing. Yes they would have bought it whatever whatever…all true. But whatever you say, to be able to beat Barcelona over 2 legs and then Bayern in Munich on penalties is big. There isn’t any denying that. No way. That is a lot of mental strength shown by Chelsea.
If Arsenal had done that, that is what we would have focused on for sure. So no..unless some how Bayern were robbed big time and it doesn’t look like they were .. considering they got a penalty in extra time and fluffed it…today I’d like to put aside my Chelsea dislike and congratulate them. I hope they get knocked out of the qualifiers and lose half their squad in the summer and are forced to rebuild…but that’s a different story…Maybe I am alone here who thinks that way…but hey.. that can’t be helped : )
The difference is that Arsenal works hard on making them a self-sustainable football club. Bayern Munchen is our great example on how to do things correctly.
Then comes Chelsea with a Russian mafia sugar daddy, making trainers more expandable than football wags, having no real policy other than spend, spend, spend, without a proper strategy or thought behind it (it is somewhat stupid that they still haven’t gotten a bigger stadium) and they win it by basically camp in front of goal and hope for the best and got lucky through out the whole tournament. Like Greece at Euro 2004.
This just shows that football is no longer a sport, just a playground for the rich and scandalous and those with proper ideas will get ridiculed, instead of being rewarded from it.
Robben did a favour for his former club :).
When Drogba handed over the trophy to the Russian Oligarch (@Andrei – hate as much as you do…that’s who he is ain’t it?), I found the whole moment despisable! It was like the czar being handed over some plundered bounty…Andrei just to answer your question. I don’t think Stan or Usmanov will do that in the middle of the audience…i don’t remember any other owner do it! Undignified and disgusting…
There are some very interesting comments regarding Chelsea’s win, which got me thinking about a few things. Below is a link to a book extract written by a unapologetic Man City fan (it’s a bit lengthy though).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/18/fall-and-rise-manchester-city
Personally I found the article very interesting and cleverly written which tries to justify the Eithad FC project. The only thing it doesn’t address is the wider impact and far reaching consequences of the destablised league. The Premier League is feted for it’s strength and competiveness, but with oligarchs and sovereign states buying and using football clubs for broad purposes, I wonder how the league can and remain so. For how much longer can the supposed great league remain in this state with clubs like Man City & Chelsea throwing their financial clout around.
They have coveted and pursued players under contract elsewhere, often strategically weakening their neighbours by first prising star players away from current clubs and then inhibiting the other clubs ability to recruit new ones by also registering an interest in new targets. The player wage bill has been transformed, possibly forever even though I had hoped the ‘credit crunch’ would of offered up a faint silver lining in that sensibility would be restored. As Portsmouth found out 90% of income spent on wages could be fatal. But then again what can clubs do, except pay players huge sums in weekly wages if they are going to remain competitive? Especially when the modern footballer is not known for their loyalty or respecters of legal agreements called contracts, especially when eye watering sums are on offer at clubs like Chelsea and Man City. Just how can the league remain competitive when clubs are barely coping with the level of wages demands and many crippling themselves in debt? How can the league remain entertaining when teams remain in highly strung survival mode from the start in August until the end in May? Financial concerns have meant that the league has taken on an ugly air of ‘by any means necessary’. The three points (or one depending on ambition), take presidence over whether the game fans played to see was any good or not. The failure to appropriately punish and crack down on them aside, it is not suprising that career ending desperate and dangerous tackles are becoming more prominant and common within the league.
I look at this season and see that Man City and Chelsea have won the top honours. On the simple sporting level I actually applaud them for their footballing efforts, but the strong bitter after taste as to what their wins mean for the premiership and football as a whole leaves me repulsed and apprehensive for the direction its going in. You could say the ‘butterfly effect’ of their wins will definately impact football as a whole and of course Arsenal FC directly. As the club attempts to navigate an almost impossible situation, the levels of abuse and anger directed at the club, board and manager, players born out of frustration will quite possibly increase.
The imperfect analogy I would use is of the Mens 100m sprint that took place a while back that saw Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis and break the then world record. Both men lined up for the race, one competing on his own natural ability and the other one artifically pumped up on drugs. To me Man City & Chelsea is football on steriods.
@Goona gal. I do love the term financial doping (first come across it on untold) It is spread all through football, We notice it even more at the top end because of the vaste sums that City and Chelsea can spend. But even Arsenal spending 10 million on a person is obscene even if earnt by the club. Basically these top end footballers are walking, winning lottery tickets. Plus who are we to tell a person how to spend their fortunes. They are not breaking any laws that we can prove. Is it wrong? Yes.
@ Adam – I don’t follow your point, if the club has earnt the money and can afford to spend 10m on a player, why is it obscene? Nor about footballers being walking lottery tickets.
For ten million you could build a school and educate a whole generation, or build a hospital wing, supply more fire engines, build safer level crossings the list is endless. To buy a person out of their contract for ten, twenty or thirty million is obscene, Understand now.
A top players wage demands is the equivalent of winning the lottery.
What repulses me from football, is fans who live in this bubble world, who moan about others financial position but refuse to see the bigger picture.
There is too much money in football. Too much greed, from footballers and fans.
@Adam
I agree with you regarding it being obscene how much money is involved in football. That money is also what brings the ‘sugar daddies’ to become involved in football. They lose money on their clubs (virtually every club makes losses). But I can bet you whatever you like that they make money off of it, through fair means and foul. (I’m not saying you disagree)
My real point to you was, don’t lose hope. I’m not sure how much ‘greed’ there is from fans, and how much of it is the perception that the media creates. I’m not sure the number of greedy, glory hunting fans is as high as it appears. The media amplifies their every squeak into a roar. Whether it be bin bags or protest marches, or even some chanting. Anything to give the image of a ‘club in crisis’.
The extortionate fees paid for players has all begun from the fans demanding more. More goals, more top players, more trophies which all leads to more competition in the transfer market and bidding wars.
@ Adam, I still don’t understand 100% what your point to me is. From what I can gather though, your personal view relates to your idea of what is inappropriate or obscene if you like in any economic market trade system.
@ Stuart 7:58 am – I agree
There will always someone moaning about another team winning something.
With Man U it was their financial clout, with Arsenal it was the fact that most of the players weren’t English or British. It will always be something.
Death of the clubs that do it the ‘right way’? Not really. Bayern came within a whisker of winning it.
Man City and Man U couldn’t get out of the group stages. Real and B*arca fell. If you look at those who did get out (of the group stages)they weren’t all rich teams. Apoel Nicosia? Basel? What does that prove?
For the record I love it the way that Arsenal are doing and are still successful. It proves that Arsenal as a club and Arsene as a manager need other teams to financially dope to the tune of hundreds of millions to be better. How good is that?
I am sure if people have seen these funny photoshops of John Terry. I guess he did his bit by not giving Di Matteo a selection headache on not taking a penalty.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147522/John-Terry-lampooned-online-Chelsea-captain-lifted-Champions-League-trophy-kit-shinpads-despite-banned-final.html