By Tony Attwood
“Arsenal are now one win from Wembley and two wins from, errrm, Wembley. They can start to smell success in a competition that has lit up their otherwise barren last decade and a half …”
That bit of stupidity comes from the Guardian in relation to last night but it wasn’t the only piece of disgraceful journalism that surrounded the game for the BBC were even worse. But to start with the Guardian, the “barren 15 years” includes for the most part running the club in a way that it could pay for its new stadium (and if you want to tell me that the stadium has not been paid for please give an authoritative source for your belief), and become the all time record winning FA Cup side, with the all time record holding manager in the competition, and had a record run in the Champions League for an English club – a record in fact exceeding all clubs of all nationalities except Real Madrid.
But as I say that wasn’t the only media outrage last night. The BBC had as their co-commentator for the match Tony Pulis that well known crook.
And I use the word crook advisedly as in November 2016, Pulis was ordered by the UK high court to pay Crystal Palace £3.7 million for fraudulent misrepresentation in a dispute with Steve Parish over a bonus paid to him on his request over two weeks earlier than contractually necessary. Having got the money he then announced his departure.
Yes Pulis is a convicted fraudster in a matter relating to football, and yet here he was doing his stuff on the BBC as an “expert”.
Pulis the man who allegedly so hated Arsene Wenger that he worked and worked to wind up his Stoke team so much that ultimately Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg in 2010 – a fact that Stoke supporters then celebrated at each subsequent match against Arsenal with their chants and banners. And that’s not my spin on events but the testimony of Dave Kitson who played for Stoke.
Any doubt anyone might have had about the way the media wants to treat Arsenal was seen by those events last night, which detracted from looking at the players included in the line up which included Martinez, Saka, Guendouzi, Nelson, Willock, Martinelli and Nketiah.
Now I have often in the past year pointed out that Arsenal has seemingly moved from the Wengerian policy of being restrained in the transfer window, and not following the approach of trying to buy one’s way out of trouble or to success, but instead promoted from within the ranks of the youth players. I have been worried about Arsenal becoming a big spending team, as per last summer, so I for one thought it was great to see a range of players who had either joined the club very young, or are indeed still very young.
Yes we were only playing a third-tier side, but a decent third-tier side who are looking to get promotion. And playing them away from home at a small stadium with modest facilities and a lot of noise. Anyone who has been there will attest to just how difficult a place Portsmouth have made Fratton Park.
The point about Arsenal’s win is that once again the club has evolved and developed a set of youth players who, if they can avoid the attention of convicted fraudsters like Pulis will serve the club well. The way that Mr Wenger brought success to the club was through the combination of exciting young players and experienced older players who were well used to taking the pressure. Simply spending more and more and more is rarely the way forward, as we have seen here with the series of pieces that followed the top six spenders of last summer.
Six of the players in the team were aged under 21 – a remarkable thought in such an environment and Mr Arteta’s comment, ““I’m pleased with all of them – the kids responded really well” was right on the mark. He went on “I was looking at them in the 94th minute and they were still pressing and chasing. It’s a joy. I’m really enjoying working with them. They fully deserve the chance. I know it’s risky to play them in this competition but it’s worth that risk.”
This is not the only time we’ve used the Wengerian tactics of bringing on the youngsters this season – the same applied at Bournemouth where the quality of opposition players was higher, but the atmosphere far less frightening. These players showed that Arsenal Youth can deliver not what the circumstances.
We even had to suffer a yellow card for Guendouzi given it seems for putting the ball down in an offensive manner. Ah well, these PGMO men know rules that haven’t quite reached the rest of us yet.
But let’s not forget we won last night. The BBC and Guardian most certainly lost.
Our whole team and especially the young players were impressive at Portsmouth. They stood up to the aggressive and frequently foul play of technically inferior opponents, who were allowed to kick our players by Dean.
What would his and the media reaction have been if an Arsenal player, say Xhaka, had made the “tackle” that injured Torreira? – almost certainly a red card for beinbg reckless, out of control and endangering an opponent. The fact that the ball was played, as well as the player’s leg, would not have counted in that event. It was also note-worthy how many times we were penalised for imaginary fouls. Dean gave such a foul against us in the first half and allowed a quickly taken free-kick, in contrast to his treatment of our players in comparable situations. Guendouzi’s yellow card incident followed a sequence of repeated fouls – none awarded until Arsenal gained a clear advantage, at which point Dean stopped the play for a free kick. He is an absolute disgrace
don’t be surprise if none of English red is not selected for this summer euro again
You’re talking about Tony Pulis as being a crook, but you always seem to miss out Harry Redknapp who in my opinion is even worse than Pulis, and yet he’s appearing in TV ads and commentating on TV. Plus he’s living in a part of England that has one of the highest housing prices. And as far as I’m concerned he’s a bigger crook than Pulis.
Excellent report, couldn’t have said it better myself 👍👍
@John L,
I totally agree, I remember, I am sure in the first half, and it could either have been Xhaka or Cebelos? Was behind a Pompey player and he fell down and won a free kick.
On seeing the replay I am convinced the Arsenal,player concerned did not even touch him, I said straight away I would like to see that again.
If my view is correct I was, but then maybe I should not be, that the commentators said nothing.
This is my gripe for today.
Whoever reads this have a good day.
“Yes Pulis is a convicted fraudster in a matter relating to footballl”
Tony, hope you and yours are all well,
thanks for everything.
And especially for this line.
An irate donkey would make more interesting noises about the Football for the average punter then the braying of Pulis.
Let’s be fair and reasonable. The people hiring Pulis aspire to be like Alan Partridge and all we can say is that Steve Coogan is a comic genius!
One of Arsene’s biggest errors was entrusting this Football Fraud with one of his charges.
Fortunately Arsene Wenger has a much more admirable record when mentoring and looking after young people when compared with those at Aunty Bleeb….
And so too as all saw last night will Arsene’s Eyes and Ears, the player once known as the Prince of the Park and the coach who in six weeks has impressed everyone in English Football, you know the youth coaches of talents like Sterling etc, all bar the oblong ball chasing soggy biscuit eating utter Frauds and Gibberish Merchants at the FA
COYG
Judith, if you enter the word “Redknapp” into the search box on this site you will find hundreds and hundreds of articles out of the almost 10,000 we have published which mention Redknapp. But as responsible publishers we must be mindful of the law and I am not sure that Mr Redknapp has ever been convicted of a serious crime. Indeed in his famous trial which involved his dog (among others) he was, I believe, found innocent, and it would be quite wrong to suggest otherwise.
Tony,
Hyperlink to Swiss Ramble’s twitter thread re Arsenal’s latest accounts:
https://mobile.twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1234383483583201280
This shows that Arsenal have a gross debt of £209m, the majority of which is due to be repaid in 2029.
I’ve had a look through this, and I can’t see a reference to 2029, although maybe I am not not looking straight. But more to the point I can’t see where there is a suggestion here that Arsenal have a stadium debt which is what was mentioned before. As I read these figures, Arsenal’s financial decline is through a drop in income and increased costs of player purchases, without any of the Wenger magic of buying players cheap and selling them on at a high price.
Tony, here’s a direct quote from Swiss Ramble’s twitter thread:
Swiss Ramble
@SwissRamble
#AFC gross debt reduced from £217m to £209m, while cash decreased from £231m to £167m, so club moved from £15m net funds to £42m net debt. Majority of debt due to be repaid in 2029 with £50m due in 2031. Club also owes £77m transfer fees, though is owed £24m by other clubs.
You need to click on “17 more replies” to see the above. Swiss Ramble is or was an accountant and has been blogging about football accounts for many years.
Yes Lanesra I know Swiss Ramble’s work well, and we’ve had a few debates over the years.
The only question I have been raising is nothing to do with SR’s work, but other people who say that Arsenal still owe money on the building of the stadium, which I do not think is true. The money 2029 and 2031 money repayments are not due to the building of the Emirates Stadium, which is what others have suggested, and which others often suggest Swiss Ramble verifies as being the case. The money relates to bonds and earlier long term loans taken out by the club.
3/2020
I went last night. Totally professional performance by such a young team. As for Mike Dean. Did anyone bring up the fact that he scratched his knob with his hand twice in response to our chants of Mike Dean you are a c**t. Aimed towards us and with his back to the dugout and the cameras?!!
If anyone got that on video or in picture then please send it to the FA. Any comments??
@Mark – the FA probably have framed pictures of the PGMOL’s balls in their inner sanctuary. You should know that Dean is unable to qualify as a cu…. because he has no use.
This is the testimonial from Kitson revealing how Pulis ordered his team to take an Arsenal player down when attacking which led to the legbreaking. Shocking Shocking, just plain criminal and worth a jail sentence. It would make anybody with a shred of decency sick and a gives a legit reason to boycot this appealing man to be involved in the game as a pundit. But
That he is the co-commentator is a cynical move to prove how the media has it in for the Arsenal.
https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/dave-kitson-makes-astonishing-revelation-about-tony-pulis-arsene-wenger-and-that-sickening-aaron-ramsey-leg-break
rondejonge
“That he (Pulis) is the co-commentator is a cynical move to prove how the media has it in for the Arsenal”.
100% spot on.
Given the multitude of co commentating possibilities that would of been more than happy to give a negative slant on everything Arsenal, to pick a guy with his toxic attitude towards Arsenal, an attitude of which the BBC would of been completely aware, his appointment could only of been done with a disgracefully malicious intent.
That they were prepared to overlook this hatred of Arsenal, as highlighted in Kitson’s tedtimony, as well as his criminal history as a convicted fraudster, just demonstrates to what extent the BBC are willing to take their hatred of Arsenal.
And I HAVE to pay for this shite.