To the AAA winning trophies is everything. But not to managers – otherwise PSG would have a queue of men wanting to be manager. For some managers a little bit of continuity and sanity also counts.
So arrogant has the ownership of PSG become since Qatar Investment Authority purchased the remaining the last 30% of PSG from Colony Capital and Butler Capital Partners in 2012 they assumed that they could do anything and have anyone. After all they were the champions and had a huge wealth behind them.
Thus when Carlo Ancelotti won the club’s first title in 19 years it all looked as if everything was set fair. Then, just as with Chelsea, things started to go wrong. While the owner at Chelsea thought he could hire and fire at will and that everyone would obey, so Qatari IA thought the same. But it wasn’t to be.
Ancelotti realised that while many clubs are totally mad, some are so mad that working there becomes dangerous. On May 20, Ancelotti resigned to go to Real Madrid. Still mad, but a little less mad than elsewhere.
Now when the rich get their noses put out of joint they do get mad. Real Mad. Nasser Al-Khelaifi who had been installed as PSG President went ballistic, and said that Ancelotti would not be released. Now that was a bad move first because everyone knows, what you don’t do is keep a manager who wants to leave, When normal conversation has broken down you let the guy go, or sack him.
What’s more, if you behave badly with the current manager, that rather warns off the next manager who can now see exactly what sort of fruit basket he would be dealing with next time around.
So PSG found it hard to persuade someone, anyone to come along. There was a story that Arsene Wenger would see out his final year at the Ems and then go to PSG, and during that interim year Andre Villas-Boas (“Mr One Season” as he started to be called) would take over at PSG. But Mr W said, “no chance mate” (only in French). He knows a box of frogs when he sees one (if you will excuse the double meaning).
Jose Mourinho recovering from being booed out of Real Mad also said no because he wanted to rub the nose of the Chelsea owner in the dirt.
Fabio Capello said no and Guus Hiddink said no. Andre Villas-Boas said no, although by that time no one was asking him because Mr Wenger had already said no. Frank Rijkaard said, “not on your life”.
Of course Mr Al-Khelaifi had a fall back plan in which the Sporting Director would go over to be coach for one season, and then Mr Wenger will fit in. Sadly for PSG they were in box of frogs country by then. Leonardo got a seven month ban for assaulting a ref. (Rather amusingly PSG have continued to say “allegedly” to that event, even though there has been a hearing and Leo has been found guilty).
So then eventually the seventh choice (or was it eighth – it is hard to keep count) was reached with Laurent Blanc, ex manager of the French national team. A survey in France Football suggested 53% of French football fans expected him not to make it work, not least because of the uproar among the players during Euro 2012 which Blanc very obviously failed to deal with. What is also amusing is that Blanc has been taking intensive lessons in English, as he thought he was going to manage in the Premier League.
The dressing room issue is an important one because everyone PSG sign is a star, used to having the world bow down to their whims. Of course one cock-up does not make him a bad manager, and he was a very successful manager in the past both in the early days with France and with Bordeaux. But PSG is indeed a tough one to crack.
But the number of people who turned down PSG does raise issues – the same issues raised at Chelsea. Yes, a free spending club can win things, but the owners of free spending clubs expect the winning of everything. All the time. Their logic is “look I gave you everything you wanted, but you still didn’t win”. So Manchester City, PSG, Real Mad, Chelsea all lose managers who had all they needed, and didn’t win everything (although PSG did win the league).
So what do PSG want? They want a flamboyant way of playing, a French double, and victory in the Champions League. What do the owners of Man City want? The Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League. And Chelsea? Ditto.And although PSG, like Chelsea before them, expected to do it easily, both clubs have rivals who can also play the money game. Monaco, who seem to have stuck two fingers up at the rule that prohibits them from playing in the top division because of their tax advantage, are as rich as PSG, and have that tax advantage. To equal an offer made by Monaco for any player PSG have to quadruple it, more or less. Monaco spent £50m on Falcao recently, just to show their intent.The problem is that only one billionaire can win the league at a time and billionaires tend to have short fuses, so used are they to getting their own way.What went wrong with PSG, to answer my own question, was that in the first year of the glorious Arab revolution, they didn’t win the title. Now, strange as it may seem, only one of Monaco and PSG can come out on top. If whoever doesn’t win the league also doesn’t win the Champions League, he will be laughed out of his job.Top managers don’t mind moving, but they don’t like being laughed at. So don’t be surprised if, which ever of the top money clubs don’t win stuff, their managers will be sacked but each season it will get a little harder to persuade another top manager to take over.
29 June Anniversaries
- 29 June 1923: Ernie Williams transfer after over 100 games in goal
- 29 June 1900: Loughborough FC fold after losing 12-0 to Arsenal
- 29 June 1929: Billy Warnes signed as a professional
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
i hope none of them get klopp.
Why did u start your article with AAA, seriously,the amount of time and energy u spend on hating your fellow gunners if spent on something more productive, maybe arsenal will be better off!!…….Your obsession with fans with different views(AAA) is reaching an all-time high!
Tony
Seriously, your opening line has nothing to do with the rest of the article. It takes the shine off a brilliant article.
So what do we all do? Ahh yes stick with a manager and win SFA,mmm I know what i’d prefer.
Surprised that Klopp was not considered for the PSG job. Cause he would be perfect for The Arsenal. But the whole article is based on hearsay.
I would hate on anyone who hates the players and the manager and how the club carries on doing things the self-sustaining way.
There is a distinction to be made here between disagreement and outright hate. you can disagree on the way arsenal is progressing by putting forward a valid point, but you cannot hate the club for not doing it like others do. And you cannot hate the manager and the players. The thing is AAA personifies this hatred.
Intresting article it just goes to show that you can throw money at managers,players etc but it guantees you nothing.
This is why I get cross at the so say fans that write on sites. In England there are 4 trophies if you count the Carling cup or whatever it is called today but thruthfully only three. The EPL , Champions league , FA Cup.
So looking at the odds
EPL 20 : 1 realistically 4 : 1
FA cup 70 : 1 realistically 6 : 1
Champ Leag. 30 : 1 realistically 4 : 1
So to win any trophy is very difficult, and this does not take into consideration new signing,injuries or suspensions.
For many Arsenal fans, our inability to win trophies in the last 8 years is down to Wenger, his inability to attract high calibre players, etc. For many of them, if we changed the manager, then trophies will come, forgetting all the other factors that have not been in our favour down the years. If Arsene is sacked, there’s no guarantee that the very next season or the next after that, that Arsenal will win trophies. Therefore, chances of going in a spiral, where managers are sacked each year becomes possible. So, i guess the first few selences wanted to highlight this. We cuold lose top managers year in year our, lose the quality that we have and extingusih the single ligt we have towards Champion’s League football.
The AAA tag is in place. it is unacceptable that a so called fan of a club will emit so much vitriol against the club or the manager that has over seen so much success in every area. Before one decides to support a team you should look closely at its philosophy and modus operandi. If it is not agreeable to you, then consider supporting another club. There is just no justification for being so hateful of the club you support and its most successful manager.
Sorry off topic, but this is a must watch http://po.st/rg9tnY
@Stevie — OK, that one really sneaks up on you. After I finished watching, I went to make a coffee, only to be stopped in the kitchen: ‘Are you alright?; are you crying?’
How do you explain the emotional impact of something like that to a person who just sees football as that game where they kick the ball around?
I am astounded that people see this period as 8 years of failure, when it contains so many moments of joy. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but for me it is all about watching your team, and enjoying those moments. Anything more is a bonus.
Oh, if I had to change anything about the video; needs more Fabregas.
OK, ramble over.
On topic. I have been arguing for a while that Chelsea have been painting themselves into a corner for years with respect with managers.
There is an argument that Abramovich can offer enough money that new mangers will always be tempted to the club, and I agree. The question is who can they get in the future?
Post Jose, they have had 8 mangers. Only one has lasted more than a year (Ancelotti ironically), and he won the league, but then was fired for only finishing second the next year.
With Mourinho back at the club, most of the Chelsea fans I know are expecting immediate success, but I wonder what happens if he does not deliver in their first season, and if he goes; what does Abramovich do then?
You can see why they went back to ‘The special one’: proven success, and already had a relationship with the owner. I just wonder if the decision is as much that Abramovich is running out of candidates that are of the quality he would employ, AND would be willing to take the job on.
@Stevie E
Swells the chest that link.
Tomas Rosicky’s strike 3.40 mins, WOW.
As for the article, clubs need to show loyalty in the same way most fans do (those that have not been spoilt).
Well done Stevie. E any true arsenal fan watching that will relise the success we are currently having now and the foundation for the future
What happens if the self proclaimed special one fails at Chelsea, who goes there then? Which manager in their right mind (unless they just fancy a job for a year and a nice pay off I suppose) would take the job. PSG, Monaco & Manchester City the same add in serial manager sackers Barcalona & Real Madrid we have six clubs needing 6 managers who are willing to take over a job where winning is everything and second place means the sack. We could add Manchester United to the list as Moyes is going to find it a hard job to follow SAF and how long will the money men at United give him if he doesn’t win trophies.
I should think that there will always be people willing to manage the top teams. I suspect that it will depend on where the incoming manager is coming from and how the monied team has most recently fared. I suppose it is always possible to regard these rich teams as a stepping stone to a more desirable (read a club with more pedigree and stability)club.
Sensible article from ??? Tony? Well done
Stevie E Even better done! It may be 8 years with nowt but those memories…bliss. Thanks both.
I’d go to manage at Chelsea if I felt I had 1 more season in me. It would be purely for the money and the payoff.
Oh and watching that video just makes you realise how sublime Arsenal actually are when we are firing on all cylinders. It’s a shame that hasn’t happened as much as we’d like but instead have suffered several set backs – some self inflicted and others not ie the Eduardo incident. To this day, I maintain losing Eduardo is the biggest loss we have ever suffered.
Stevie E,
Thank you so much for that link. I’ve bookmarked it now so I can watch it whenever I feel like it.
Wonderful!
It’s mad world, but I’m not.
Greedy bastards occupy every corner, money buys most things, however I’m certain of it’s causation of negative effect upon society. Hand in hand each fool rolls, the foolish lead with the fools close by, witness in total disbelief. A complete mockery!
Is this life all about money?
A little bit off topic.
Wenger Quotes from ESPNFC.com
Wenger’s best buy: “I didn’t believe Thierry Henry could be as good as he has become when we signed him back in 1999. The quality was always there, but he has matured into the greatest player in the world and it gives me great pride.”
Wenger on his 2003-04 Invincibles team (May 2004): “I am no miracle worker, that is not how I would describe myself. To start with, I don’t believe in miracles and secondly, what we have achieved here is not due to miracles. It’s purely down to hard work.”
Wenger on foreign players (September 2006): “People criticise me for not buying enough English players, but a passport does not matter. Look at the prices you have to pay for players in this country and compare it with European or African players and I have had no option.”
Wenger’s dream (December 2006): “I want to win the Champions League three or four times and that will allow Arsenal to justifiably claim we are one of the true giants of English football.”
Wenger on man management (October 2009): “You need to have a distance between yourself and the players working for you. I would be happy to sit down and have dinner with Thierry Henry or Robert Pires now because I am not their manager anymore, but if they are still working for me, I would never socialise with them.”
Wenger on wages (October 2010): “I feel any payment is justifiable so long as the organisation offering it can cover it naturally with their own income. Alternatively, you can have one sponsor to pay these wages, as they have at Manchester City and Chelsea, but that’s a different story.”
Wenger on his legacy (September 2011): “Who knows what I have brought to English football. I hope I have brought some great football and some great memories, but for me, the manager is only two percent of a team. People pay to watch players, not managers, don’t forget.”
Wenger on Man City’s rise (May 2012): “When you look at what Manchester City have spent and analyse their wage bill, what chance do we have? Sometimes you have to be realistic and accept it is not easy for everyone else.”
Wenger’s regrets (August 2012): “I was close to building a team that would have had more than enough quality to win trophies. [Cesc] Fabregas, [Emmanuel] Adebayor, [Robin] Van Persie and [Samir] Nasri playing together would have been very successful, but we lost them all in a short period. It’s frustrating.”
in other words, you just highlighted why monsieur wenger wont go elsewhere. job security for life, with minimum expectation, at one of the fattest pay. i’d sooner manage arsenal thAn chelsea or psg, so will any sane coach out there
Yes uk, the difference is with you manager Arsenal would get relegated. So much for job security for life.
Thanks for all the quotes americangooner, feel free to add lots more, I love reading his quotes without some reporters twist on things.
Much like the twats comment above, if that is what he’s taken from your post he’s a hopeless cause with a negative outlook.
UK, why do you twist everything positive people write about Arsene? What is your problem.
I feel people like ‘uk’ exists so as we can laugh at them. If everyone were serious, factual and without any spin, the world would look boring. I don’t get mad at uk, I laugh at them. Those were wenger quotes and uk spinned it to suit his own taste and,probably, agenda.
Lovely post. Quite refreshing to read something that is so well researched rather than the normal vitrol from the media. Keep it up guys n gals
@Stuart. A while back, a few people were suggesting that Moyes take over the Arsenal job when Arsene’s contract ran out. Apparently the sticking factor was that his contract ran out this year and Arsene’s next.
Frighteningly some of them took my solution seriously, which of course was for Moyes to take the Chelsea job, so he’d be free next summer for Arsenal.
@UK If your level of confirmation bias is THAT Strong, then anything can mean Wenger must go.
Chelsea offers a long term contract (4-5 years) and with it the certainty of a big pay off. Whoever takes the Chelsea job knows that the first season he doesn’t win at least one big prize, he will be sacked. However the pain of being sacked will be dulled by the massive severance package.
PSG’s problem is different as they did not offer the enticement of a big pay off. They were offering just a one year deal. In England Arsene’s reputation has taken a bit of a battering. Abroad he is still highly respected. There are not a lot of managers who can build successful team that plays attractive football. Arsène is trusted to not only be successful on the pitch but also to be considerate and respectful off the pitch. Loyalty is important for him. He never broke a contract. If you want to expand your brand, he is perfect in that sense: competent, charming, respectful, loyal, entertaining. He can represent all the values that big corporations want to be associated with.
Also PSG’s chairman is a personal friend of Arsène. All those things are the reasons why they want Arsène Wenger. They knows him vey well and trust him to build their brand. But because of his loyalty and refusal to break his contract, he is not available until next year.
PSG wanted Ancelotti to stay another year so they could land Arsène next year. All the prospect managers who refused the job knew that it was only a one year job. They knew that no matter how good or bad they fare if in one year time Arsène is available they would be out of a job. Moreover out of a job without a massive pay off. None of them were desperate enough to take the one year offer. Benitez did it at Chelsea with Abramovitch thinking that he would get Pep Guardiola. Benitez did it to restore his credentials, but also because he was still hoping that with good results his temporary stint could become permanent. At PSG there was no such hope, so all the top coaches elected to stay where they were.
If in two years time, the new ‘Happy One’ project fails, there will be no shortage of candidates for the Chelsea job. There may just a shortage of credible candidates because all the good ones will be either in good position or had already been sacked from the Chelsea job.
Can I be controversial and say Arsenal supporters get that video, Arsenal fans won’t. Think it’s sums up what this site is about which is to support the club (and by extension the manager and players) when everyone else is having a go.
Stevie E,
I cannot thank you enough for that video. It brought tears to my eyes, especially Arsene’s words as it wound down. Other than financial constraints, Eduardo’s leg break and that last minute penalty at Birmingham cost us the 07/08 EPL title. I think that things would have been different going forward but for the events of that day.
This is why it’s frustrating to see the AAAs slag the team and the manager. BTW, the AAA line in the first sentence is spot on in the context of the article. Only the AAAs and their apologists/sympathisers will be offended by it.
@Bootoomee I will remain convinced to my dying day that the 07-08 Premier league was in our grasp until that match, financial constraints or none.
If you are cynical enough, you could say that the players are professionals and should not get distracted by the events of that day.
They are also human, and I don’t see how anyone could could take the triple whammy of: the injury, the dodgy penalty equalizer (Mike Dean), and the captain’s public meltdown, without at least some impact.
Rufusstan,
Absolutely agree with you about 07/08. It remains my saddest day as an Arsenal fan. We were in firm control with very high morale among players and fans. Eduardo was on fire and the team was playing brilliant and winning football before Taylor and Dean screwed us. Gallas’ petulance didn’t help and he lost everybody’s respect from then on. It is at times like that that true leaders show their mettle.
I have faith in this current team and I believe that we are going to have a good 13/14 season. I don’t put conditions around my support; if the team with 3 new EPL entrants with key roles could get fourth (with 3 more points than last season) then they can definitely do better this season irrespective of the additions.
I am looking forward to it.
Also we must keep in mind that after the last minute penalty gift to Birmingham from our friend Mike Dean in the next games we saw a few other strange referee decisions going against us. The most noticeable an offside given that cancelled out a goal scored by Adebayor when it was a defender who played the ball backwards in the feet of Adebayor. That resulted in us losing 4 points and that was the points we came short at the end.
I remember Wenger saying in that season: we see what is going on, we are not dumb (or something in that style) when asked about the sometimes strange referee decisions. And my moment when for the first time I started doubting the honesty of some the referees in the PL.
Come on Wenger get our transfer targets in early so they can adapt and acclimatized before we embark on the Far east tour. The expression ‘no brainer’ springs to mind but then again it’s also an expression I can use to describe EB and truelies
Arsenal have to be twice as good as other teams to be able to become successful, as there is so much against them. Reminds me of my youth when i had to do the same just because of my colour.
@grayfox001: I think Arsenal fans have been unbelievably respectful of Wenger over the last few years. For me, and I’m on the Wenger out side, It’s been the supporters who have grabbed the moral high ground. Yes we moan on sites like this but the club have fed us spin and lies for many years now and Wenger has been a willing part of that. I’ve really hated the last few years and I’d like an end to it and someone who can unite the club.
@Walter — I agree. Something I dropped from the other post was that including Birmingham, we lost 11/15 points in the aftermath, which put us from 5 points clear to 6 points behind United. Realistically we should have finished that period no worse than 2 points ahead of united on form.
As far as a sequence of dodgy decisions wrecking our season, I always connect that with 10-11, but thats a whole different story.
@Bootoomee I agree its on my list of worse Arsenal days ever, but the ’78 and ’80 cup finals are worse for me. Both for the simple reason of not only watching defeats, but the first with friends who were Ipswich fans, and the second at home with a bunch of Hammers.
@ steven — considering the way we work, I wouldn’t be worried that we have not announced anything before tomorrow, but I agree we really need the bulk of faces in place by the 11th.
@Rufusstan: If Wenger spends money on quality this summer (a big IF), introduces some proper tactics & organization, plays a different system which gets the best out of his players, makes sure they are fully motivated for every game etc. … then has a successful season as a result of all this … it is WENGER who should be eating humble pie, not his critics! Because those are some of the things we have been desperate for him to do all along. And he had enough chances and enough resources to have done them all. He chose not to and also decided against freshening up his coaching staff. He has failed miserably since we moved stadiums and at the same time had a detrimental effect on the ethos and culture of the whole club. Even many of our fans have a losing mentality which is why he still has so many willing to back him. I want to club to succeed whoever the manager is. But the past few years of failure cannot be re-written or wiped out by the future, no matter what happens
We have no edge over Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City. So who exactly does Wenger give us an edge over? Spurs, Liverpool, Everton? With our financial clout we should be miles in front of these teams, not looking over our shoulders come the run-in to every season. A good manager would give us the edge over teams like the three that finished above us. When discussing the validity of measuring wages against achievement, the manager’s apologists conveniently forget two things. Firstly that Utd under Ferguson have consistently out-performed their neighbor’s and Chelsea over the last 10 years despite having leeches as owners, and also that there was a time when we competed with Utd. We had a top manager back then
Agree chaps, re 07/08. In fact the same can be said for the years after that. Arsenal are typically blatantly robbed of 4 to 6 points every season that would and should be in the bag. Add to that a few debatable ones (not even the iffy ones) and the number rises to 9 to 12 points.
Its always going to be difficult to win the title with each season seeing us starting with such a deficit. Ok some years the gap between being a runner up or winning would not be closed down by the 6 points alone, but it would certainly elevate us from 4th to something like 2nd. If this was to be redressed we would probably find that maybe Arsenal finished in 2nd place more than 3 times and won the title at least once in last 6 years. After all a table put up by OPTA showed we would’ve won the title without a couple of defensive errors alone last season. I seem to remember us getting robbed in two games v Chlesea & v City this past season(6pts).
This split between fans is something I never envisaged would happen and it is perhaps the saddest thing of all that it did … and that it has lasted so long. I see your point about both sides being able to say they have been proved right if we finally buy quality this summer. My personal view is that the money has been available to spend for a long time However, I accept I could be wrong on this. But then if I am wrong – and if the money wasn’t there to spend – then surely that was all the more reason surely for Wenger to have spent more time on the training ground working on tactics and motivation, getting 100% from his players etc. to maximise our chances of success. The effort and application part of the game is totally free so there is no excuses for how Wenger and his players have failed so often in that respect. I am tired of the fighting between us though and clearly you and others are too. It would be fantastic if something positive was to happen that would unite us all and stop the bickering and point scoring. The only thing I can think of in recent years that did this was the Ramsey injury. Lets hope the club finally delivers in the transfer market this summer to take our minds off the negativity that, in truth, the club are mostly to blame for
What a bad luck the stupid board didn’t realise that the solution was so easy: bring in Steven as the manager and we would have won at least 2 trophies each season.
I think someone should send a letter to the board and say that we have found the person who really knows better. A person who could spend the money we didn’t have. A person who could pay the wages other teams paid and we didn’t have.
A person who has the right tactic that always works in each games no matter the opposition, no matter the refs.
Ah f*ck Steven why did you didn’t let us know this all before…. I blame you in person for these 8 years from now on….
“Firstly that Utd under Ferguson have consistently out-performed their neighbor’s and Chelsea over the last 10 years despite having leeches as owners”
Erm, City struck gold(ok, oil) 4 years back, not 10. Anyway, I wouldn’t really want to use utd as a yardstick when talking of success on the pitch, their titles are tainted. Why have they not managed to reproduce/transalte domestic success into Europe?
Steven,
I’ll never understand much of your point of view, sorry. Some might say I am too patient where as I would say I am realistic.
Walter,
Think steven is ApolloGooner. His post at 9pm is taken from a post made on the 21st of june on a different site, word for word.
http://www.onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=433#.UdCckTvVCXk
I recall you banning some one again not so long ago for similar antics. Isn’t this the same bloke? Where do these people come from??
Actually all of Steven’s posts today are copy and paste from that same link above, all by this same ApolloGooner guy/gal or whatever it is.
Spot on Steven. Hey Stuart how can you say realistic? When we have been trophy barren for so long?
Good spot Al
ApolloGooner 20:35pm 21st Jun 2013
http://onlinegooner.com/article.php?section=editorial&id=433#.UdChPvnVCPw
Al, you are quite right that Untold does indeed ban people who re-post other people’s articles or comments. The whole point of the name “Untold” is that it publishes (except on very rare occasions where the reasons are noted) original articles and original commentaries.
Normally I would delete all the comments that have appeared elsewhere, but I have been recovering from a very late night dance in Daventry today (honest) combined with finishing the text for the forthcoming “Arsenal in the 70s” book, and so I’ve not been keeping up with events here.
As a result others have been discussing the commentaries which have previously appeared elsewhere, and so if I now delete them, it will make subsequent debate harder to follow. I am therefore leaving it in, but dealing with the author.
My apologies to onlinegooner – I will shortly be writing to them personally to express my apologies directly for reprinting their work without permission.
Thank you Tony. And its really not helpful of these individuals distorting the context of the debate by posting snippets of out of place comments borrowed from unrelated topics; thereby unnecessarily creating an extra workload for you, when you need to be channeling your resources elsewhere or resting your feet:) Anyway, keep up the good work you’re doing.
Jig deal he plagiarised some poncy comments from online gooner, but there is enough gust in those posts.. Definitely worth a read
@Liam — really? Not sure whats worse: the idea that copy/pasting some stuff constitutes contributing to a discussion, or that plagiarizing something is OK if it has ideas you like.
I was going to tear into steven’s ‘reply’ to me, but I don’t want to make Tony’s apologies any more difficult so I will leave it at this:
In amongst all the vague polemic, there are a group of demands for this season. If you break them down, I’d argue most of them were already achieved last season, and the last few are being worked on as we speak.
Steven: you were found out dude, care to express your feelings and explain why?
How many others have done this I wonder?
It shows him and the others up for what they are and makes their comment invalid regardless of what it is.
Higuain please come over you will love it here.
Oh and while u remember, I suspect many managers will go to Chelsea/psg/city because although it is a win this and you stay longer, dont and you are out type of gig, they have a real chance if winning something which helps their cv. So if you need to get back into the game of manager then take Chelsea job, win something and your next role is in the mail.
Just my thoughts
Coyg!!!
@Al, how the hell were we robbed last season against City and Chelsea? If you’re referring to the home game against City we were totally outplayed in the first half and rightly had a player dismissed.
Away at Chelsea we were poor and the home game only a little better.
I know it’s hard to be objective when you’re a fan but a few months after a game you should be able to offer an objective view.
We’ve been miles off the title in recent seasons no matter how you spin it.
As for someone claiming Manu haven’t had success in Europe I wonder what you mean? In comparison to us? Are you serious? They’ve made two CL finals at least in the last 7 years and won one. Very few teams that aren’t called Barcelona can claim the same statistics. It’s very hard to get to a CL final unless you have the financial clout to buy the best and/or you have a fabulous manager. Unfortunately we have neither but Manu don’t have limitless spending power either but they did have an extraordinary manager.
Anyway if you believe all the crazy press stories we’ll be signing Torres and Higuain. While I doubt this is likely if it happened it would prove that Wenger now realizes that only top quality and experience can win you trophies, that’s what the current squad, which isn’t bad at all, lacks in depth.
Rupert at Chelsea we were robbed. A clear foul from MOTM Ramirez on Coquelin for the first goal, a dive for the second goal. Chelsea fan Atkinson gave both vital decisions to Chelsea.
In fact we were so poor that we dominated Chelsea for a big part and they scored on tow of their counters.
About your remark and if the transfers would happen: maybe it would prove that Wenger now for the first time will have enough money to compete a little bit with the big money teams?
Walter,
There you go again making excuses for the team. We lost to Chelsea because of the ‘deadwoods’. We were just not good enough. Wenger needs to sign ‘world class’ players like ….well, any player that is not currently playing for Arsenal.
Our team is horrible and useless, even inferior to Spurs. I don’t want to hear that we finished above them because finishing by only 1 point does not count.
We need trophies and world class players right now and Wenger must go if he fails to deliver this time.
(In case anyone is wondering if I have lost my mind, the answer is not really, but if you can’t beat them join them)
I thought we fairly ordinary in that game and yes we had a lot of possession but little came of it Walter, but that’s just my opinion; in fairness Chelsea were fairly ordinary too.
I think the squad with the perfect blend was the 1998 one. An experienced defence with a superior midfield and pretty splendid attack. The Invincible squad was almost its equal and possibly the key man in that team was Campbell but there were many great contributors to that great achievement.
As for big transfers, we haven’t made any yet, and it won’t prove anything. For all we know Wenger may have had a lot more money to spend than we think in recent seasons. Truth is we don’t know how much we’ve had to spend or even have now, we just have lots of positive noises erupting from AFC which is certainly pleasing to hear.
Personally I don’t really care what happens in the transfer market in the next few weeks, I’ll wait until our first game and see what our team is then. I’m sure there’ll be a new face or two and let’s hope they can help push the team forward.
Boot to you: sorry to say this but did you watch the season ending? Did you notice that we are actually quite good now that the team knows each other? Did you notice that we actually finished above Spurs and almost Chelsea, then Chelsea year before?
Do you remember we are now building a really good team now that the real, in a true sense of the word ‘deadwood’have actually left to other clubs to win stuff? They didn’t want to work hard together to achieve something they wanted to be carried by the badge and fear that other teams had for us from invincible era.
Like me did you get at all excited last season watching us, ever? If you did then how you can say we have a useless and horrible team is beyond me. Unless you didn’t or you are a fair weather fan more angry at yourself for daring to say out loud in the office that you go for Arsenal back when we were cool?
I think it’s that reason and that alone, you want to tease your work mates again but can’t change teams cos they know!
Here is an idea, change jobs and you can start supporting ANYONE who is winning at the time!
Then there are the words from Gary Necilke himself if you have not heard them yet then find the link posted in earlier comments and watch it. If you then feel proud, sad and passionate all in 8min then you are a Gooner!
*Gary ‘friggin’ Neville – bloody auto correct!
@elkieno — reread Bootoomee’s post with your sarcasm detector on.
@Rupert, since it is more tied to the conversation, what is your take on the 07-08 season (and the 10-11 for that matter)?
As far as transfers go, I’ve been saying for 2-3 years now, that wages have been the constraint rather than fees. We have finally managed to start easing players out of the squad, giving us the leeway to bring in the players we need.
Rupert
I know you always come across as too keen to see things from the other side, why that is so I will never know. But like Walter explained already, Chelsea’s two goals should both not have stood, while ours was legitimate. In my book that counts as a result of 1-0 in favour of us. Thats 3 points. In the City game we had Kos sent off after like what, 9 mins, for having a hand round a striker who was not even anywhere near the ball in a crowded box. Dont want to spend my time raging about the injustices served by dean in that game, but IMO a draw would’ve been the worst result in that game given City’s poor record at the Emirates. Two teams I am not worried by at the Emirates are Liverpool and City, unless they get a helping hand from the officials obviously.
Regarding newplayers, I can see you are already trumpeting the new spin being pushed by the mainstream media that we are finally buying expensive players becuase we realised we cant compete with our current players. Nothing could be further from the truth. As pointed out by Rufusstan already, why would a player leave a team like Madrid where he would be on 150k per week to earn 80k per week? Of course a player who valued his football more than dollars could, but how many players are like that nowadays? Only one or two in the whole world. We couldn’t afford to pay those wages simply because we had been tied into long term sponsorship deals that we signed to finance our move from Highbury. We could afford to buy players for £25m or more, but couldn’t afford to put them on the wages they would expect, i.e., anything in the region of £150-£250 per wk.
@Rufusstan
Was about to say the same too to elkieno:)
elkieno,
I was hoping that the last sentence, in paranthesis, would make my ridiculous post obvious enough. But I am wrong, again!
To be clear, I am with you. My post is meant to mock the fans whose sole purpose in supporting the team is to brag about the trophies won.
Al,
Yes, the new spin is very funny and highlights how short peoples memories really are.
Only a year ago, people were moaning that the club had misled them over the stadium by promising it will allow us to compete on players yet it wasn’t doing this. Now that our finances have improved, these same people are moaning about the change.
Unbelievably these people are moaning about a change for the better which to me is proof that they are moaning for the sake of moaning. I bet they would moan about having nothing to moan about one day.
Stuart,
I think if we all look deeply enough, we’ll find something that we don’t like about the team and the manager. Difficult as it may be for the pessimists, we AKBs also have loads of complaints. There are several things that I wish are happening differently in the club, but talk to any Man United fan and they’ll have their own lists too.
Hell, there are several things that I wish I could change/improve about myself! But when I take stock of what I have got based on the reality of my skin colour, my place of birth and my parents’ economic status, I am extremely grateful for my lot in life. I am as ambitious as any sane human but my ambitions don’t run my life!
I want Arsenal to win every trophy in every competition that we are in but I’ll accept whatever distance we may reach in each of them. I know how key luck is in winning trophies and we have been pretty unlucky in the last 8 years (I think we used up our luck in the 2005 FA cup final:-)). If Portsmouth, Birmingham City, Swansea and Wigan have all won a trophy each in that period, how can anyone attribute our lack of trophies solely to lack of ‘world class’ players?
I hope our players gell as a unit in 2013/14 season. I hope we have a relatively injury free season. I hope that the referee do their jobs fairly and more than anything else, I hope that fortune smiles on us this season.
I don’t give a rat’s bum about POTENTIAL signings. I never did and I never will.
Can we all be civil here -a suggested guide for your perusal you AAA types .This is from an e-mail I just received .Enjoy !
Bloody hell. I use all 18 ‘real’ world expression nearly day. But who gives a shit.
CUSSING AT WORK
Dear Employees:
It has been brought to management’s attention that Francis Jacinta Vandyke, has been using foul language during the course of normal conversation with his co-workers.
Due to complaints received from some Star workers and the Companies top employees,Brendan,Wayne,Bruce,Dennis,Adrian,Donna Van,Frances, who were easily offended, by this type of language will no longer be tolerated.
We do, however, realize the critical importance of being able to accurately express your feelings when communicating with co-workers.
Therefore, a list of 18 New and Innovative ‘TRY SAYING’ phrases have been provided so that proper exchange of ideas and information can continue in an effective manner. THE FOLLOWING IN BLACK WAS FRANKY’S ANSWERS, WE NOW WOULD LIKE HIM, TO EXPRESS HIMSELF AS PER THE RED AS INDICATED.
Number 1
TRY SAYING: I think you could use more training.
INSTEAD OF: You don’t know what the f___ you’re doing.
Number 2
TRY SAYING: She’s an aggressive go-getter.
INSTEAD OF: She’s a f___ing bit__.
Number 3
TRY SAYING: Perhaps I can work late.
INSTEAD OF: And when the f___ do you expect me to do this?
Number 4
TRY SAYING: I’m certain that isn’t feasible.
INSTEAD OF : No f___ing way.
Number 5
TRY SAYING:Really?
INSTEAD OF: You’ve got to be sh___ing me!
Number 6
TRY SAYING: Perhaps you should check with…
INSTEAD OF: Tell someone who gives a sh__.
Number 7
TRY SAYING:I wasn’t involved in the project.
INSTEAD OF: It’s not my f___ing problem.
Number 8
TRY SAYING: That’s interesting.
INSTEAD OF: What the f___?
Number 9
TRY SAYING: I’m not sure this can be implemented..
INSTEAD OF: This sh__ won’t work.
Number 10
TRY SAYING: I’ll try to schedule that.
INSTEAD OF: Why the f___ didn’t you tell me sooner?
Number 11
TRY SAYING: He’s not familiar with the issues…
INSTEAD OF: He’s got his head up his a__.
Number 12
TRY SAYING: Excuse me, sir?
INSTEAD OF : Eat sh__ and die.
Number 13
TRY SAYING: So you weren’t happy with it?
INSTEAD OF: Kiss my a__.
Number 14
TRY SAYING: I’m a bit overloaded at the moment.
INSTEAD OF: F__ it, I’m on salary.
Number 15
TRY SAYING: I don’t think you understand.
INSTEAD OF: Shove it up your a__.
Number 16
TRY SAYING:I love a challenge.
INSTEAD OF: This f___ing job sucks.
Number 17
TRY SAYING: You want me to take care of that?
INSTEAD OF: Who the f___ died and made you boss?
Number 18
TRY SAYING: He’s somewhat insensitive.
INSTEAD OF: He’s a pr_ck.
Thank You,Frank
Human Resources
PS- For those of you who were not able to ‘fill’ in the blanks, the answers will be printed tomorrow !And for those who were unable to see the words in red ,my apologies !
Agree 100% with you Stuart. These people will moan about anything and everything. Didn’t we use to hear them saying why doesn’t Wenger buy/field any English players, when we were winning things year after year. We also heard one about the Emirates being as quiet as a library, we shouldn’t have moved from Highbury, bla bla bla; the same fans conveniently forgetting that its them that need to do the shouting/singing, and not AW or the board. Just to name a few.
They don’t like it when they are labelled the AAA, yet they are the ones that go and copy and paste anything they can find on the internet that has anything that portrays Arsenal or the manager in bad light! If they feel strongly about the way our club is being run then why don’t they post their own original comments expressing their true feelings? Because they cant. All they can do is just regurgitate anything they would’ve seen/heard elsewhere criticizing the club or the manager, whether its relevant to the topic under discussion or not. If that isn’t the definition of being AAA, then I don’t know what is.