By Tony Attwood
Oh I really did enjoy last night at the Emirates. Going towards the ground the crowds were clearly smaller than normal, which mean one could just sail by the pat-your-clothes-sir inspectors at the entrances to the concourse.
There were also none of those wretched banner holding marchers who deliberately stretch out across the walkways outside the stadium forcing regular non-protesting supporters to scuttle out of the way. There might only be 10 of them but they make everyone else move just so they can take up as much space as possible. Great to see them not in attendance.
It also meant that the scowlers were gone. People looked happy, pleased to be there, pleased not to be jostled by any aaa’s passing by, or young scalliwags holding up “Wenger out” signs.
Then there was no queue to get into the stadium, just then second cursory pat down and greetings and then inside. Very easy to get to the bar, and to my seat. No squeezing past the stewards who insist on standing on the stairs as we approach the seats – no crush, everything nice and easy. Even before the match I was thinking, “This is how it should be – let’s have a no-show protest every week.”
As for the game, the crowd noise was much the same for an end of season affair, except there wasn’t the moaning and groaning that you can get sometimes. No anti-Wengerian banners, no shouts of “Wenger Out”, just people who were there because they wanted to be there to watch a game of football and support the Arsenal.
Interestingly, there were some Sunderland fans – and I think they should be congratulated for their support. They have had a truly miserable season under the Very Silly Moyes (about whom more in a moment) but still they turned up.
Those fans had the smallest area that the away section can be allocated – the size that used to be given over to Wigan when they were in the Premier. But noticeably the sections alongside them, which were now handed over to Arsenal supporters were pretty full.
I remember seeing this before, when Manchester City decided to have their little protest about the price of tickets and only 1000 or so of their fans turned up. What the media never mentioned that time was that all the tickets that would have gone to the followers of the Gas Giants were resold to Arsenal supporters – meaning a lot more of our fans could get into a match. I always think that is a good thing.
As for the game, the whole atmosphere seemed so much lighter, so much brighter. No moaning, no groaning, even at the missed opportunities. No complaints about Ozil not running around enough, no complaints about Giroud not being fast enough, in fact no negativity. It was once more a great pleasure to be at the Arsenal for a match.
The benefits of the lack of negativists and those who simply didn’t fancy turning out to see Arsenal play a relegated team in the rain, continued at half time – getting my hot chocolate took hardly any time at all, instead of being a purchase that might or might not be completed before the start of the second half.
The celebrations of the two goals were just as always, and then at the final whistle, it was a simple saunter out of the stadium, far less of a crush trying to get away and through the inevitable idiot car drivers who thought they could manoeuvre along roads a few hundred yards from the ground.
So all told it was tremendous. I have no idea how many people were there but at last I have found a real use for and benefit of the aaa and their comrades. Boycotting matches. It obviously makes them feel good and it makes life so much nicer for the rest of us; those of us without the scowls who actually like to laugh and smile and enjoy ourselves. I do hope they will do it again on Sunday, and all of next season, and in fact forever no matter who is the manager. It makes the match so much nicer.
It’s not just that they don’t take up space, it is more that the whole atmosphere lifts without them. It just feels a so much better way to watch football.
As for the Sunderland manager, he came out with another of his great lines, speaking in relation to Mr Wenger’s thought about how teams with nothing left to play for were sometimes “on holiday.”
Moyes said, “That’s an insult to footballers. When you are brought up in this country, you are brought up to show that every game matters.” Well, maybe yes Mr M, but you see out of your first team squad of 36 players (including the under 21s) only 13 were brought up in this country as far as I can tell which is just over one third of the squad. It is not knowing little details like this that makes you appear such a prat.
So for the benefit of Moyes here are his English players
- Jordan Pickford*
- Billy Jones*
- Joleon Lescott
- Josh Robson
- Lee Cattermole*
- Jack Rodwell
- Ethan Robson
- Rees Greenwood
- George Honeyman
- Elliot Embleton
- Duncan Watmore
- Jermain Defoe*
- Josh Maja
Those who actually started last night who were English are shown with an asterisk. Four players out of 11. 36%. Now that doesn’t bother me at all; I don’t care about nationality, but I think it is a point worth making given the nationalistic fervour that the increasingly odd Moyes shows us.
Still I suppose Mr Moyes would also say, if you were brought up in this country you would realise it is perfectly ok to say to a woman you don’t know that “if you keep asking questions like that you are asking for a slap.”
Maybe Mr Moyes, the civilisation that exists outside England has one or two points that it can teach people like you who were brought up here.
- Arsenal – Sunderland : 2-0
- A Little Humility Would Not Be Amiss
- How to fix the Premier League – a scoundrel’s blueprint
Moyes,
wasn’t he once nominated as The Next Arsenal Manager by some gallant and upstanding podcastateers?
This was before he moved to Utd as the Chosen One the semi-retired Rooney a 300K p/w contract. Not Alan Davies’ chosen one but chosen by Rooney’s agent 🙂
Ah well. Nevermind the football eh 😉
please boycott more..but make sure you pay first 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
the problem with the aaa is they are so miserable and so stupid not once did we ever hear them give a good suggestion for next afc manager over the whole time that they’ve been bleating into the far right media echoe chamber.
Like Pellegrini who should still be City’s manager. Not his fault he didn’t buy any CBs of any quality opting instead for £30M+ Mendezian Mules, he wasn’t the DOF (see what I did there? Heh)
Nope. David bleedin’ Moyes. You couldn’t make it up! LOL
So he didn’t realise that Mr Wengers barbed comments where really aimed at West Hams lamentable showing at the weekend.
That Moyes comment should be put in the delusional box along side:
– ‘He’s not that kind of player’
or
– ‘No player ever goes out to deliberately hurt another’ (I’d check that one out with Mr Keane)
Prat you say? Yeah, I’d go with that.
I agree with the Hunter:
Spend Spend Spend!
Put yer money where your mouth is.
Didn’t realize that Sunday will be so exciting. 3rd (unlikely), 4th (more likely) or even a first time ever play off.
Sure to be a full stadium.
@Nitram
Funny Wenger didn’t seem to have a problem with teams going on vacation when playing Southampton, Stoke or Sunderland. Weird. Also the entire Arsenal team have been on vacation for most of the season so Wenger isn’t in any position to talk about other clubs.
Maybe if Wenger had just managed to have his team ready for the first match of the season we would not be dependant on others?
You lads slag of the WOB but you lot are just as extreme in your views, can Wenger really do no wrong at all? Are you all seriously happy to plod along with Wenger in to next season? Can he attract the calibre of players we require? What will happen next season when we loose two matches on the trot?
We are now guaranteed to end the season with more points than last season (if only one). It could be as many as four if we beat Everton. That would be a 5-6% improvement and the change of formation seems to have uncovered, at least in the relatively short term, a way of decreasing goals conceded while not harming the goals scored column.
The potential return to the fold of Wilshere, Corzola and Chambers (and maybe others) makes me feel quite optimistic. If the moaners stay away next year I’ll be enjoying games even more.
I am proud of Arsenal’s record this season. Yes, like every other team, they have had bad patches and poor performances. The difference is that they have been additionally harmed by consistently incompetent and/or biased refereeing. Over the season that must have cost at least 10 points. (more, in effect, as the points in question have been awarded to our opponents.)
Without going through the reviews for the whole season, to validate my estimate, I would refer simply to the Man City away game, where they scored two goals which should have been disallowed for off-side. That should have been 3 more points for Arsenal and 3 less points for Man City. Just consider the impact of that single fixture on the current league table.
On a cynical (but realistic note), our slim chance of 4th place relies on Middlesborough taking points at Anfield. I cannot see any chance of that happening, since, in the unlikely event that Middlesborough put in the exceptional performance which would be needed, together with a Liverpool off-day, the PGMOL will intervene to ensure that Liverpool take all 3 points. (as they did with Man City last weekend)
Ive read articles on this site daily for a couple of years now, and agree largely with the theme of most articles, but I really feel this one lets the side down. We all support AFC,i’ve been doing that for 60 years now and will continue until I die. To hear you say that you enjoyed the atmosphere of a half empty stadium and your journey, etc, I find pretty gruesome, from someone that supports this club. Plenty of spaces and laughs at Leyton Orient if thats what turns you on, Go pay them to waft in and out with comfort, the pies are good too. I’m an ardent follower and seen plenty of worse times at the club, but since we realised there was something fundamentally wrong with Billy Wrights management style, we dont seem to have learned much. I love Wenger, what he’s done and what he stands for, but it’s absolutely clear that the moans and groans will last as long as he remains in charge and that can only be a sad state of affairs.I feel that if Conte had inherited our squad, he may well have done what he’s achieved at Chelsea. I believe its time to move on…play in full stadiums in front of happy supporters and start really challenging again for serious honours…time for change.
5-6% improvement? Jeez talk about not seeing the bigger picture! We finished 2nd last year and will finish 5th this year. You are excited to get Wilshere back, he could not even hold down a starting role at Bournemouth. Cazorla might not be back until October, then he will need his pre-season. By October Wenger will have ragged the squad all across Eastern Europe, consecutive losses against Liverpool and Dynamo Kiev have brought back a toxic atmosphere at the Emirates that’s here to stay for the remainder of the campaign.
Surely a new manger would be exciting for us all? And most importantly it would bring the fan base together again and we could all focus on the team again rather than arguing for Wenger to leave or stay.
And for blaming the ref for us finishing 5th, my goodness don’t even go there! And if you do go there then don’t you think city and Liverpool has had dodgy decisions go against them this season?!
It’s true Arsenal recovered from their Accrington Stanley team looking game performance in the 1st half of the match to play like Barcelona team they resembled playing at Stoke, in the 2nd half of the match and won the game by 2 goals to nil @ fulltime. It could have been six for them had they converted some of their chances that begged them for conversions.
Also, the good thing for Sanchez is that he scored a brace in this match to make his PL goals tally reach 23 goals to keep him in contention for the PL top goalscorer of the season award with our home Everton as our last PL match of the season to come. Lukaku is still topping the goals tally chart with 24 goals to his credit and Harry Kane, am sure will through an argument before Lukaku and Sanchez to argue with them in this contest. But I think Sanchez will at the end of the day wins the argument with a superior argument of 25 PL goals scored to clinch the PL Top Goalscorer of the Season. A brace by him in our home game against Everton?
That’s apart, I was very pleased yesterday night as Arsenal finally found a way to overcome the stubborn Sunderland’s 5 man defense-line and breached it with 2 goals by Sanchez. Credit must also go to Ozil and Giroud for providing him with the assists. Maybe Sanchez could have scored a hat trick in the match if Giroud handling his shot early in the game had not happened. But that’s just for academic exercise.
Let me coach Bellerin a bit in my armchair coaching. In the 2nd half of the match, he ran brilliantly well with the ball from his rightwing wingback position assaulting to Sunderland 18 yard area and on to their box but shot side netting the ball. What I think he ought to have done before he got too close to the edge of the box is to shoot the ball on the ground with his left foot to the far side of the goal. His shot might have beaten the Sunderland goalkeeper and sail into the net had he chosen that option. Or can’t he shoot with he left foot? If he can’t, he better learn how to do it.
Dave, obviously the notion of having a look at a website before commenting on it is not one you subscribe to. If you would care to look at the analysis of the first 160 matches of this PL season – a unique presentation which appears on this site – or indeed spend some time looking at the website Referee Decisions, you will be welcome to write in again, and then provide some evidence to show why we are wrong, and what it is that supports your rather wild and whacky allegations.
Arsene Wenger’s comments were asinine considering the way Arsenal played the last few months even though he said it as a joke at the Hammers. But a stadium with out any negativity might have helped Arsenal’s cause had the boycott started a few months earlier. We can hope for the best come the last game of the season and a cup final to play for.
OK Jimmie 1886 you didn’t like or didn’t get the humour within the article, but even so, to compare last night with Billy Wright needs some explanation. Wright’s end of season positions was 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, and his win percentage was 38.46%. He took the crowds down to 10,000 and then on one occasion notoriously to 4500. What possible grounds are there for comparing Wright’s management style with Wenger’s?
Dave, perhaps you could go on and tell us how Wenger was supposed to get the team together more when they were mostly playing in the Euro finals.
Empty seats for a whole season? Not sure that’s going to help our commercial team. Might make your own personal experience better, but I doubt if the Club agree with you. It was a protest and it delivered – lots of press coverage and from what you say no aggressive element. I have never understood the partisan nature of the last few seasons amongst fellow gooners. We can respect each others opinion. I find it petty that we sneer at each other and engage in internecine arguments. My motto is Club (Arsenal) first, beyond any other. Looks like some of us have lapsed into childish mud slinging.
Hi Tony, I was at the ground the night of the infamous Leeds game and that was the last time I remember a crowd of supporters as toxic as they seem to be these days at Arsenal. We wanted Billy Wright out…nice bloke that he was, he was’nt right for the job…it took four years before he was replaced. As I said in my reply…I love Arsene Wenger.He has done more for ther club than anyone in history…he has been a great man.The football at the moment is stale. Apart from occassional games where we have been brilliant, the quality and competitiveness, the consistency and motivation having been lacking for a few seasons. This club needs an injection of something new, fresh and passionate. I no longer see AW being the man to do that.Im sad at my own comments because I love AFC but I think a change is now due.
Nice try to make light of the protest, but it was effective.
The- if I may say- slightly patronising, eye rolling, head shaking, world weary, ‘this will all blow over as it always does’, attitude, just doesn’t wash any more.
The discontent is ongoing, real and it is valid.
Here are the reasons for it- (at least some of them):
1) It’s been ten years since the stadium move and the club is in a worse position than it was before the move.
2) Despite having the advantage of the biggest gate receipts in football and more available cash in the bank than any other team, the club has not invested sufficiently or consistently in the squad.
3) The ‘youth project’ has essentially failed. Players such as Walcott, the ox, gibbs, ramsay and wilshire have not lived up to their billing.
4) We have been overtaken by both Chelsea and Spurs. Also, when Spurs move into their new stadium their gate revenue will match or even surpass ours. Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton are also expanding their stadia or moving.
The recent history of arsenal has been one of missed opportunities and a scandalous mismanagement of the club as a whole.
The paying fans have essentially bee duped. ‘Self sustainability’, the ‘youth project’, the whole ‘we don’t buy stars we make them’ argument and worst of all the ‘wait until FFP ‘ argument have been revealed as shallow, misleading, phony PR nonsense designed essentially for the owner to make as much money as possible off the back of the fans willing to pay the highest prices in football.
So what is the result of all this?
In ten years the club has gone from excellent to mediocre on the pitch, but the share price has doubled and most of the stadium debt has been paid off – by the fans.
Who is responsible for this?
Stan Kroenke… job done Stan
What needs to happen?
Kroenke must sell up or arsenal will never realise its potential.
Wenger must go as the first step.
jimie 1886
Excellent post. I’m a wenger fan as well but this has gone too far now.
He’s 67, he’s at the end of his contract, he could still leave now with at least some dignity intact.
Despite believing that he is possibly the greatest ever arsenal manager, I have not been impressed by his conduct this season. The latest comments on west ham’s performance against liverpool, the coyness concerning his future and some of his recent , more expensive purchases have lead me to believe that he’s probably past it.
If he signs a new two year deal, it could get very nasty indeed.
I like the comment of needing a change of manager for excitememt, well as long as we are excited hey that’s the main thing, maybe the excitement of a relegation battle or two eh, I mean that would be exciting…
We had a bad patch, worse than Arsene has known, during this time he prepared his team, and they want out and failed, in part to him, in part to them, in part to bad luck , but largely in part to some very slanted refereeing.
But in that patch which nobody could foresee lasting unprecedentedly long Arsene has found a system to get the players believing in themselves again, having the confidence to play again, and is getting the best out of our best players, (I personally think Arsene will switch between the two formations opponent/situation depending next season), our manager managed the team, the players, and got them back on track, sadly maybe not enough for a top 4, which as pointed out by Arsene among others wasn’t worthy of note before but has now become the golden chalice…
Oh forgot to add it will be interesting to see the level of protest this weekend, during the lap of appreciation, appreciation from the players and manager that is, some fans clearly appreciate nothing…
When Kalasinic arrives, and Nacho moves up to wing back, and assuming the starting 11 STAYS at the club, then our team will have a proper balance for 3-4-3. Throw in a 25+ goal a season striker in between Alexis and Mesut, and we’re going to be very potent.
Or not!
hallo finsbury ! all the best !
alexander….i dont know man …i wouldnt pay for something that makes me angry, would you?
is it not a better form of protest to not pay them a dime?
oh and no true genuine fan goes to these lengths unless motivated and sponsored by 3rd parties. 😉
the protests are staged…not genuine.
Dave…wenger has done many mistakes but thats the case because arsenal wants to run it like a business therefore the gambling and guestimating required not to mention waiting to make bargains click at the highest level will be a tricky affair.
for me its a success that it did not end in leeds type disaster levels after the stadium move…
however admitting wenger makes mistakes is one thing and we can talk/debate all you want (imo he should have brought back cesc for example) but trying to force him out like spoilt children who didnt get ps4 for xmas is something only cee you next tuesdays do…
this is an Arsenal legend Dave
imagine our fans abusing denis bergkamp because he only curled in 3 shots one year instead of the 15-20 we were used to…..
would you not turn and punch the first moron that called for denis head?
ob 1977,
A bad patch? lasting 10+ years in the league and Nearly 10 years in the CL.
And this bad patch is down to the refs, is that right?
Are you happy with how the team has performed under Wenger for the last 10 years?
I guess you are one of those that is happy to finish in the top four and to make up the numbers in the CL.
And with your reference to what I said about fans being excited if we got a new manager, don’t you think there is anyone out there that could do a better job than Wenger? If no then please expand on that as I am very curious.
Alexanderhenry is spot on in his assessment of the club/situation atm.
‘Protest effective’? Let see:
1. Match played on a weekday
2. Playing a relegated team
3. The weather
Perfect storm for non-attendance.
Propose a boycott when Arsenal play any of the top 6 team and let see how many empty seats.
Nice try though but it just show how desperate the WOBs are trying to deceive people in believing that most of the people who didn’t turn up wanted AW out.
Those who whine about AW and the team, well it look like AW is staying so please don’t renew your season ticket if you feel betrayed or will not enjoy watching next season, I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to have your season tickets. You have a choice so make it and move on.
Hunter do yu mean to say you can’t take the R&W protestors who took ten years to take their protests from a billboard to a projector (not forgetting the many thousands on the marches lol!) have nothing to show for their efforts but ten years of failure?
Blimey 🙂
I sure am glad to have idiots like those from le Groan or the Online Groaner telling me Mesut Ozil can’t play football. Nevermind Iceland or Costa Rica eh lads? Don’t blame when you know where to find Riley!
LOL!
Alexander
I feel like you pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of the reason for the discontent. This club has just fallen far behind most of the rest of the league in terms of how it’s being run.
< can't take the R&W protestors seriously.
It’s talking to itself again.
So weird!
Hunter 13,
Yes Cesc should have been brought back in my opinion to, it was a no brainer.
Also can you imagine if Bergkamp was still playing, stinking the joint out and resigning himself to new contracts every couple of seasons?
And to be fair I don’t think people are trying to force Wenger out, they are making it clear that they don’t want him to sign yet another contract. And based on performance and expectations I personally can’t see how a new contract can be justified at this point.
He is also getting very old for such a demanding position and I think he has to many fans against him now, we surely can’t have a situation where a protest is just around the corner ongoing for another two years? It’s not healthy for any aspects of the club.
And the protests and discontent are very real at this point, all you have to do is read around all the blogs to see that.
scuba…..arsenal sits next to manchester united and real madrid in terms of revenue mate…and you are here claiming that they have fallen behind rest of the league.
(?lol??)
the iq runs very high in the family i see 🙂
Interesting article. One of the most expensive team in the world couldn’t score more home goals than Hull, that’s a ‘special one’.
http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/17/manchester-united-have-won-fewer-home-games-and-scored-fewer-home-goals-than-relegated-hull-city-6643462/
Jimmie, in regards to the injection of new life, you may be right – although you’re not right to say it took four years to get Wright out since as far as I recall he was only there for four years. I don’t remember trying to get him out in the first match. Orient away I think, Baker scored – that is without looking it up.
But the point that we have been debating for several years is the one you miss… many replacement managers turn out to be worse than the one we have. That is not a reason never to change – of course we do have to change, but it is a reason for extreme caution.
Dave, to pick up on your point:
A bad patch? lasting 10+ years in the league and Nearly 10 years in the CL.
And this bad patch is down to the refs, is that right?
I don’t think you have looked at the analysis of refereeing in the Premier League on this site – see the page called 160 games. That must be taken into account. And a bad patch lasting 10 years. It depends on what you are comparing it with. Our last 10 years in the Premier League would be considered brilliant, when compared with Liverpool and Tottenham. Better than the last couple of years for Man U. Better than Man C and Chelsea before they got money that no one could ever have dreamed of before it happened.
The big problem is replacing the manager (and making no other changes to the club) and expecting that to improve our league position. Might do. Might not. But I can’t really explain further if you refuse to read our analyses of refereeing. Mind you, there is a lot of it.
“Cesc should be bought back it’s a no brainer”?
Is that because a lobotomy is also required to agree with this insane comment about a player who hasn’t been able to complete a full season of football since, well, since he picked up a “bruised bone” (not even a yellow btw) whilst playing for the Arsenal? I guess some people weren’t paying attention to what happens on the football pitch. There is surprise!
Let’s be clear the no brainer above is adamant that a club with AFCs resources as opposed to say GazCorp can afford to spend £30M plus higher wages then any other player at the club on a former player who previously stank out the club and now cannot play a full season of football?
Blimey. We must be blessed to have so many blaggers and podcastateers with such wasted insight and expertise. Iceland, Costa Rica, where were these genius’ when heir country needed them that’s what I’d like to know LOL!
I ever need to lose an easy billion I know where to go (agents etc that le Groan likes to suck up to).
The other thing that has incensed many fans over the past ten years is the club’s reticence.
Why is everything always shrouded in mystery?
Getting clear information out of MI5 is easier than getting a shred of anything from arsenal football club.
Do we have money?
Did we have money in the past?
If so, why didn’t we spend it?
Can we spend that money now?
Is it up to wenger how much we spend?
Was the decision not spend wenger’s or kroenke’s?
Why did we let rvp, Cesc, nasri and others leave?
Why is Stan silent?
What are his intentions for arsenal in the long term?
What influence if any does gazidis have?
And lately, is wenger staying or going?
Has he been offered a contract?
Has he actually signed it?
Was he offered a contract which has since been withdrawn?
Is it dependant on whether we finish top four?
..on and on it goes.
The thing is, all these unanswered questions and secrecy make the club look bad. Arsenal look amateurish, disorganised, disinterested, complacent and arrogant.
The fans deserve better.
I think “Getting clear information out of MI5 is easier than getting a shred of anything from arsenal football club” is a bit unfair, because as with the notorious Guardian comment that “Arsenal have only two players who scored in double figures” everything depends on the context. Arsenal can only really be criticised in this context if they are worse than others.
So you tell me – are Arsenal worse than Liverpool, Chelsea, Man U… I can’t see any evidence of that. To the contrary Liverpool lied, lied and lied again last time we tried to buy a player from them, and then they openly said they had lied … is that the openness you want?
Ok Tony, I stand corrected re Billy Wright, but from my distant memory of that era, Highbury was one one very unhappy place.Spuds were also pretty useful then so that compounded matters. I take on board that we should be careful what we wish for in replacing Wenger, but why would now not be a good time?
I’m convinced that with the quality of players we have at the club, there’s capability in the squad. I also feel it has been there for two or three years now but unless someone is going to mould these players into a side with winning mentality and and a consistency to go grab titles, the same will happen next year again.
Like most, i’m clueless with regards to who takes over, and i’m no advocate of change for changes sake, but rather than see my club stagnate into new low depths, I do believe it is time to change.
Jose Mourinho came, Won the league twice and left.
Arsene Wenger: The team is developing.* Carlo Ancellotti came. won the league and left.
Arsene Wenger: We are building the team.* Robert Mancini came and won the league and left. Arsene Wenger: The team is progressing.* Manuel Pellegrinni came, won the league and left. Arsenal Wenger: Still building the team.* Jose Mourinho came back won the league and left. Arsenal Wenger: Still building the team.*Claudio Ranieri with Leicester city came from nowhere, won the league and left.
Arsene Wenger: Still building.* Now Antonio Conte in his first season has won the league.Arsene Wenger never finish building the team…Is the team the tower of Babel
Dave if you think my “bad patch” comment was about the last 10 years, or you think the last 10 years were bad then we have nothing further to say to each other… oh to be so entitled…
I can just imagine now the spin the media or negative fanbase element would have if we were to release anything even remotely negative, i mean Jack and Szcezny (has been a while so forgive me) had a smoke and world broke…
And then their is issue of sharelholders and what they rightly or wrongly would like id allow released to the media…
The biggest aaa/wOB fan was MR G. Neville but then he had his lesson at valencia.
I dont think all the WOB will be that lucky
What’s wrong with Iceland or Costa Rica Finsbury? Does Arsenal not need fans from these places?
How many minutes have Cazorla played the last few seasons?
How about Diaby or Rosicky before that?
FYI
Fabregas has started 78 PL games for Chelsea since he signed for them with 36 assists and 13 goals.
Tony
I refer you to the list of questions in my previous post.
Only at arsenal are there so many unanswered questions.
We still don’t know whether our manager is signing a new contract even though he said he’d already decided two months ago and promised that he would let us know… erm about two weeks ago.
We’ve heard nothing from gazidis apart from some vague statement about being a ‘catalyst for change’. Stan is silent and absent and I’m actually not at all bothered with what sir ‘chips’ says about anything.
Where’s the leadership at arsenal?
We used to have David Dein. Remember him?
Lots of moaners here again.
I enjoyed your points about Moyes, Tony. It was absolutely cheap on his part to say English players give their all, implying non-English players don’t.
Complete garbage and playing to the nationalist gallery. Just like the kick em brigade who think there is something English and hard about going out to break a fellow professional’s leg. Great stuff!
Not to mention fouling i.e. cheating because you know the ref will let you get off with it. What happened to the famous English tradition of fair play? Yet another myth.
Hunter, that’s the point. The results are so far out of whack with the resources that change is definitely needed. Managing the business side of things well is great, but let’s fix the sporting side of things.
And lay off the IQ jokes until you learn to use punctuation correctly, you look like less of a moron. Thanks.
And, AlexanderHenry, I refer you to the point I have made so many time
“Only at arsenal are there so many unanswered questions.”
How do you know this is “only at Arsenal”, and not the way that all clubs operate. I think there are just as many questions at, for example, Chelsea. Questions like how could the club be allowed to slip so low last season? How could the club allow the managerto abuse a highly respected doctor? How could the club actually get so far into the legal process, and then have to concede on every point, and so on.
Hanks this is how statistics is used to support racism. You give a list that is biased one way and then claim it proves your point. If you want to make a point you need to include the managers who have come along and failed to win the league, and then try and work out why. Lists don’t help if they are just selective on one point. You also need to consider how much money the owner is making available but if you think that Leicester City is a model we should follow or the work of Mourinho then ok, that’s your opinion, but nothing more than that.
Jimmie, what you say is all very reasonable, except, in my view, the bit about “stagnate into new low depths”. True we’ve never been in the third tier, but we’ve been to most other low depths I can think of.
I truly and really had a blast this season ! The EPL has always been a roller coaster ride .
That there may still be events and factors beyond our control that’ will probably astound us this weekend ( and beyond!), is making my mouth water .
Being now officially a senior , with all its attendant benefits has made me much more appreciative of life , family and football . No more drama and outbursts for me . Just enjoy the ride . And the humour .
God’s Plan for Aging
Most seniors never get enough exercise. In His wisdom God decreed that seniors become forgetful so they would have to search for their glasses, keys, and other things, thus doing more walking.
And God looked down and saw that it was good.
Then God saw there was another need. In His wisdom He made seniors lose coordination so they would drop things, requiring them to bend, reach, and stretch.
And God looked down and saw that it was good.
Then God considered the function of bladders and decided seniors would have additional calls of nature, requiring more trips to the bathroom, thus providing more exercise. God looked down and saw that it was good.
So if you find as you age, you are getting up and down more, remember it’s God’s will. It is all in your best interest even though you mutter under your breath.
Nine Important Facts to Remember as We Grow Older
#9 Death is the number 1 killer in the world.
#8 Life is sexually transmitted.
#7 Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
#6 Men have 2 motivations: hunger and hanky panky, and they can’t tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.
#5 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.
#4 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.
#3 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
#2 In the 60’s, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.
#1 Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do today may be a burning issue tomorrow.
Please share this wisdom with others while I go to the bathroom.
Who’d have believed it! Bunter’s actually found a friend! Two of a kind!?
@Tony Attwood.
Oh the irony. You lambaste Hanks for putting forward bias stats and yet you do this with your ref reports. Where are the ref reports for every team in the league? For if you want to make out we’re hard done by you need to analyse every decision for every other team rather than just claim we’re a victim of bias. Notwithstanding that these ref reports are done sitting down watching videos of games, a luxury not afforded refs as they have to make decisions in real time. I have mentioned this before to the usual indifference. I doubt there’s any bias against Arsenal, there is absolutely no reason for it, no suitable case has been put forward, merely the usual mantra of “everyone has it in for Arsenal” from some of the more unhinged on here.
Alexander Henry makes some valid points. We’ll have to see what kind of owner Kronke is when Wenger finally goes though I think we can make a fair assumption in concluding that he’s not very hands on (except when he wants 3 million pocket money) and is more interested in profits than trophies. If he was Wenger would have been shown the door several years ago. No really big club or ambitious owner would be content with not winning the league for 13 years. You can dress it up how you like with all these top four finishes but nobody really cares unless those top four finishes include a title or two.
@hunter13, is that your age, the last time we won the league or IQ? Only joking. But really such hyperbole about us going the way of Leeds needs to be addressed. Leeds are not a big club compared to us. They had a brief flowering in the late 60’s, early 70’s and then they faded until a brief resurrection in the 90,s and 2000’s. They do not have our fanbase or financial clout. It would take an owner of Abbot & Costello like idiocy to drag us that far down. It’s like comparing caviar to sardines.
Anyway I’m glad you enjoyed a half empty stadium Tony, I expect the longer Wenger’s in charge the more likely you’ll be untroubled by supporters who give a shit. As it’s entirely likely we’ll lose Sanchez or/and Ozil in the summer and finish fifth there’ll be very few options for decent signings as Chelsea, Pool, City and even Spurs look more attractive than us. They all have managers that currently look better than Wenger and will have more pulling clout for players, I expect. How refreshing it would be to have a great owner and great manager, even one would be something but with as much respect as I can muster I think it’s time Wenger stood down and maybe we can at least address one of those issues.
Oh I almost forgot. Let’s beat Everton and go out with a win before the cup final. We’ll need a good result to give us confidence for a tough game.
Dave – I am not surprised you don’t think. Your eyes look at the ball & not the player who is making the move. Wenger puts the team together & the results are down to how those players carry out his instructions & methods.
Now, if you cannot see the cheating bastards with the whistle & their selective blindness, then you do not only not think but you also do not see. Arsenal have had to put up with this corrupt bunch of officials since it was set up. PGMOL have fucked the football in England & the FA are responsible. If you cannot see why England have won fuck all then believe me it is because of the officiating across the board. When kids lean to kick players rather than the ball they will get all the skill killed & only the morons will get to play in the leagues.
I am not going to detail your brilliance because you know what you are good at. I am good at diagnostics. My diagnosis is that PGMOL will screw the game into the ground if they have not already.
Wenger knows more than most when it comes to football & there are many who visit this site thinking they know better. If they did they would be managing a football club.
Dave
17/05/2017 at 3:31 pm
i think the term ‘ stinking the place out’ is very heavy to use for wenger and arsenal.
i repeat..stadium trasnitions are considered your worst part in history. extremely difficult project. and in arsenal’s worst period the club got 4th with teenagers while facing saudis and russian mafia.
if as arsenal fans we consider the period of 2007-today as suffering then i wonder what you would think if i showed you Arsenal going 30 years with only a double to show for or 18 years without a title and finishing 7th..10th..12th..etc
did arsenal have stadiums to repay back then? russians and arabs to compete with? what was the excuse then?
no they are not scuba.
arsenal starts the seasons automatically as 4th favourites for the title as manchester clubs plus chelsea have far more money to spend than us.
your frustration is mainly because we are always so close and it makes the disappointment a lot bigger.
but you can certainly can not claim that arsenal is badly ran or ‘stinking the place out’
scuba i will question your iq when you are totally ignorant of arsenal’s pisspoor history of mediocrity since existence and your delusion that because we built a stadium we have become the bayern of england….
punctuation ? pah….call me lazy…
if you want to talk arsenal you will first recognise that arsenal is no real madrid to win the title or the champions league every year or else = failure.
and you will haev to recognise that the english dont take too kindly having frenchmen bossing them in their national sport with peanuts and teenagers when others splash billions in the casino.
wenger makes ownership obsolete…you hire him and sleep safe at nights.
The Peon is trolling again & then cries to mummy when he is picked on.
Alexanderhenry have you got any savings? Why haven’t you spent it all? Practice what you preach. Arsenal are a well run company that maintains a football team. The details you require are all available from companies house. You could search on line. Some of your questions have a simple answer ‘none of you business!’
some talk as if arsenal was ever an ac milan like 89-90.
get real…
we are valencia roma levels historically and with nothing to show for in europe
our only period were we resemble a big club doing things and acting big is with wenger.
accept it
juventus who you expect we poach allegri from (lol) has had platini roberto baggio del pierro and zidanne to name a few play for them…. the only arsenal names that can sit among those are players under wenger’s tenor and pelase dont mention the back 5 please… no serious big club would ever take seriously a tony adams or a nigel winterburn..they did take seriously vieira and gilberto though… 😉
The Peon…
ahahahahhhhhhhhhaa
very good!
Yellow,
The data of 160 PL matches is available on this site including video evidence. Yes we will not make it to all the matches. That is because the people who did this do have other things to do in order to feed our families.
We had an effort to do all the matches with the refereedecisions website. We then managed to cover more than 50% of the matches and did this with a team of referees from all over the world and most of them NOT being Arsenal supporters.
You can ignore this of course and call it incomplete. But I think it is the most complete survey ever done on PL referees. If you would care to pay our team a full time wages so we could quit our jobs I would surely try to make sure that all the matches will be covered.
So to protect his lordship, “arsenal” fans here are hellbent to prove that historically we have been a small club. Good days.
Arsenal62 I think you have just got the prize for the most extraordinary comment of the day. Sadly I don’t have an actual prize to give you, but we can consider it a virtual prize.
Walterr,Tony,Menace dont bother with sewer rats if they cant tell the devil mike shit dean and see nothin he does really for Christs sake how do you talk to such nutheads seriouslyy..
@ Tony Attwood – 18/05/2017 at 4:55 pm – Congrats Tony ,UA and its regulars have been voted as being very influential in the dealings of the Arsenal !
I’m just glad that I don’t have to deal with such a very stupid bunch of losers and morons daily . While they abound in my country , I choose to ignore them as well.
Oh , oh – the truth .
A lady lost three pairs of panties at her home , and blamed her maid in front of her husband.
The maid , now really upset turned to the lady’s husband , and said , “Sir , you are my witness . You know me very well, that I don’t like to wear panties !”
Do you think that they all lived happily ever after ?