We Don’t Support The Hired Help, We Support Arsenal
Jul 8th, 2012 by 'holic
“So, as a direct result of a complete lack of foresight immediately after the war, we have a situation today where the admission prices are too low and the players are taking too much money out of the game.”
We can’t say we weren’t warned. Bob Wall, the original Mr Arsenal, wrote those words in his 1969 book Arsenal From The Heart (Souvenir Press). Obviously one thing has changed in the intervening years. Although it was long after Bob had passed away in 1981 after over fifty years of service to the club (for the young amongst you he was the Ken Friar of his day), the admission prices have now rocketed to a level I suspect even he could never have imagined.
His second warning has never been addressed, and only a catastrophic meltdown of some of the top clubs on the planet could reverse that trend. Given how unlikely that is I suppose we have to accept that the cash that used to circulate between the clubs and filter down to the grass roots will continue to leave the game in the offshore accounts of the modern top level players and some of their less accomplished team-mates.
The changing nature of the relationships between players and supporters has been brought into focus in recent years as the distance between the two groups has widened. The events of last summer, and now this, have culminated in many questioning their attachment to modern day football. Those who read the guest post from Consolsbob on A Cultured Left Foot yesterday will have recognised the genuine sentiment contained therein.
It was a fine piece that took me back to the days when our regular Friday night out alternated between Frank Mclintock’s Sutton Arms in Copenhagen Street, and Peter Storey’s Jolly Farmers. A couple of times we ventured round to the Spanish Pats by Chapel Market, which was Eddie Kelly’s juicer. The players, even up to the advent of the Premier League, were much more accessible in those days. Many seemed to positively enjoy a pint or two and a chat with those who felt they paid their wages. Often at away games they would venture out of the players entrance to distribute complimentary tickets to some of those who travelled regularly in support of the club.
I accept that times have changed dramatically, and with the rewards to be plundered from the game those who now play it are wisely advised to avoid such social attachments (and of course the associated alcoholic delights). I am still more than a little saddened that the gap between the wealthy clubs and those in the lower divisions means the flow of cash down the domestic pyramid has all but dried up. The Premiership clubs scour the world for quality signings who are few and far between and so a wage spiral has evolved, pulled ever northwards as a by-product of the riches demanded by the most desirable talents.
For a while, as the Premiership and Champions League evolved, it was still possible to form an attachment of sorts to the standout performers. I suppose that is because we enjoyed the privilege of following a side that incorporated four of the best players in the world in Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, and Patrick Vieira. It helped as well that, Vieira apart, they seemed to rebuff the offers that were surely laid out before them.
Maybe I would feel differently today had the likes of Cole, Flamini, Adebayor, Hleb, Clichy, Nasri, Fabregas, and now it seems van Persie, not cast off the shirt with the badge they used to kiss in search of trophies, not money, honest guv. But they did, or are about to. Virtually a team that failed to win us the silverware they claimed to crave. These were the players the disaffected criticised when they were together for having a soft underbelly.
Before writing out the cheque for the leased season ticket this summer I thought briefly if I really, really wanted to make this commitment again. The mercenaries may have partially drained my reserves of goodwill, but then I just couldn’t get away from the emotional ties between me and The Arsenal. For me Arsenal Football Club and my family merge almost into one. My earliest memories? Being at Arsenal with ‘holicdad. Mum and sister would be there on occasion too. Every triumph lifted us, every defeat saddened us. I want to share that with a grandchild or two, but I want them to feel attachment to the club, not the personalities who use it merely as a stepping stone.
The avaricious who pull on the red and white these days are just passers by in an institution that has ensured I experience every possible emotion known to man, and a few that aren’t. That institution belongs to you and me, to our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles and aunties, nephews and nieces, and friends. The share certificates may reside with the temporary custodians of our heritage, but the club is ours. Never forget that.
We are Arsenal.
627 Responses to “We Don’t Support The Hired Help, We Support Arsenal”
First?
We are the best
We are the Arsenal
So fuck all the rest!
Third 🙂
Esso knows.
Esso. From the last post, I have to correct you; you meant Santa put the notelets in your stocking, t
Right!?
Not sure I could handle any more let downs right now.
Great title Holic.
Course he did mate. A big fat bloke with a red face? Sounds familiar.
I guess I could have got first then.
Cheers ‘holic, lovely article.
Excellent post Holic, thanks a million. Or in RvP’s case, several million.
Hear, hear Holic. We are Arsenal indeed .. 🙂
Here, here, ‘Hols.
Here, here.
BMBD
ARSENAL TILL I DIE!!!
fuck rvp like you put it eloquently I SUPPORT THE CLUB AND WHAT IT STANDS FOR not the HIRED HELP!
WALCOT CAN DO ONE AS WELL.
hes done fuk all since we bought him.
COME ON U GOONERS
Good piece ‘Holic.
I’ve been drafting a post about the current alleged boardroom battle, but on second thoughts I think I won’t bother posting it. Maybe the miracle of this Sunday, which clearly didn’t take place in SW17 will be that the people I don’t agree with will have got bored with posting and will stop it. It would be quite a big miracle, but hey, I’m a footie fan…
Yes, but ‘Holic.
Except that Wenger showed significant loyalty to RVP.
The wild child owes his improved temperament to AW and Arsenal FC.
All those seasons spent nursing his glass leg on full wages. He owes that to AW and Arsenal FC.
One great season and a few good part seasons doesn’t begin to repay the loyalty shown.
Maybe it’s time that AW and Arsenal FC started to show a little less loyalty to the passers by? Treat them more like the hired help?
Sorry to go off topic with my first comment, goonerholic, but I got caught out…
@ AL
Thanks for the response. Here’s mine to you…
but it doesn’t make much sense to unilaterally put money into a business that someone else owns a controlling interest in, i don’t think
I’m not advocating AU putting in money, you understand, just saying that if he’s got it, if he thinks we need to spend it, why not hand it over to AW? Not IG/SK. Unless of course, he’s bullshitting. Instead of ridiculing IG for approaching his telecoms company for sponsorship. why not give us a fantastic deal with the proviso that all of it goes into the football side? Unless of course…
But when that model is in the hands of billionaires it smacks of profits and potential asset stripping.(You could possibly add to that, and under-investment, arguably.)
I’m not best clever when it comes to commercial and corporate matters, but I understood that asset stripping was selling off assets to give the proceeds to the directors or shareholders in the form of a dividend or other payments. I assume by assets you mean players being sold? For one thing, the final decision on who is sold/bought is AW’s. Secondly, I am indebted to NBN for explaining to me that under the terms of our loans, 70% of the proceeds of any player sales have to go into the TPA and cannot be used for anything else. As to the 30% which doesn’t, you’d have to show me where in the accounts it shows money being paid out to SK. YW has discussed this with me before and he thinks the most likely sources of SK’s profits will be from a) replacing ticketmaster and b) providing a subscription channel, sort of Arsenal TV with knobs on. Although Robson has now resigned. (See what I did there?) All of that profit, YW agrees, is either money that the fans pay third parties anyway (ticketmaster) or would be optional additional spend by fans. It wouldn’t reduce the club’s revenues.
If anyone were to put money into the club to help it grow and progress and so help what is mostly their business (for that’s all it is to these fellows, as we know) grow too – shouldn’t that come down to the majority share-holder?
But the question is “if” isn’t it? If we are a self-sustaining club, then nobody puts money in and nobody takes money out. That was what SK bought into. He thinks that the business is growing in the normal way – by people making deals to increase our commercial income, increasing our fan base worldwide, etc etc. AW acknowledged last autumn, and IG did so in his recent long Q&A with the AST, that local supporters have been tapped out.
As to his long-term plans – I’ve guessed at his own business plan for making additional profit, but as far as the vision goes, he is right behind IG and AW, he says.
I would rather we had a group of fans in charge, but Orange put paid to that, and between Fat and SK, SK is the lesser of two evils because he isn’t making false promises.
Anyway, after that long read, you deserve a drink, so have your favourite tipple on me!
If you change your mind Oxon I do put the odd guest post out there…
Thanks all. I know it’s all emotion and little substance, but that doesn’t make it not worth going out there.
If one player reads it and realises we aren’t tied at the hip to Billy Big Bollocks then all well and good.
Such a fine and emotionally charged piece tonight ‘Holic. You are clearly speaking from the heart and I think all regulars here will sign up to those sentiments.
I am sitting here in a misty and damp Wick with the Old Pulteney distillery just 1/2 a mile down the road. So I’ll charge your glasses with the cratur and toast the Arsenal and true Gooners everywhere.
That institution belongs to you and me, to our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles and aunties, nephews and nieces, and friends. The share certificates may reside with the temporary custodians of our heritage, but the club is ours. Never forget that.
Wonderful, ‘holic. It’s the only way to support without going mad. I surprise myself by how easily I can forget those players who move on, even though it hurts at the time. Within a few weeks, they are literally history. Except Henry and Dennis of course. Dennis is as far back as I go, I’m afraid. One of my standout memories of supporting Arsenal is of watching his testimonial match on the television, with all the fans wearing orange in his honour, and thinking, what a wonderful way to end your career.
If the players felt about us the we allow ourselves to feel about them .we would still has Cesc Nasri and Hleb et at at the club
‘Before writing out the cheque for the leased season ticket this summer I thought briefly if I really, really wanted to make this commitment again. And then I remembered who I sit next to and ran to the box office’
A very important point made well as ever.We are imprinted as Gooners and nothing can change this . I have had the considerable pleasure and privilege of meeting several members of the 71 double side. What marks them out is that they have enormous character but they have never lost the link with normality.
A few years ago I asked the track commentator at Brands Hatch if he knew any of the Formula 1 drivers. “What do young millionaire tax exiles have in common with me? They get in their helicopters after practice and they’re gone”,he said poignantly.
Its much the same with players nowadays. Their badge-kissing and faux protestations of loyalty mean nothing alongside the lifetime commitment of fans. They probably regard a lot of the punters as muppets. There is very little to suggest they have any real idea of what it means to supporters to follow a club through all the ups and downs. At Arsenal ourdowns have been very limited in recent years. We have had two terrible moments in my supporting lifetime when things seemed to be falling apart.
One was in April 1966 when just over 4,000 turned up to see us lose to Leeds. The second time?….. Late last August losing 8-2 to United.The worst defeat I can remember. How many of those on the pitch in Arsenal blue(!!) felt the humiliation we did?When you’re picking up £70 k for playing like that embarrassment melts away easily.
I nearly moved to Norfolk last year. One real consideration would be that I would rarely get to Arsenal if i did.It wasn’t the only reason I didn’t do it but it was a big reason.
When you read the RVP statement it makes you feel such a mug. The only consolation is that I know and treasure the friendship of hundreds of other Gooner mugs similarly enslaved. But each year the degree of enslavement becomes a bit less.
Try again ,
If the players felt about us the way we allow ourselves to feel about them,we would still has Cesc,Nasri,Hleb et at at the club.
Guv, Trying to get a gig as a guest poster is an idea that’s occasionally crossed my mind, but when I try and set down any extended, connected thoughts on (electronic) paper it all turns out to be much more difficult than I expected. Massive respect to those who manage it on a regular basis. I’ll content myself with my self-appointed role trying to make witty and/or insightful one-line postings. Who, knows, I might manage that one day 🙂
BTW No miracle at all today.
Evening bath. I’m on the Highland Park again tonight. It has something I can’t quite describe about it. Rather moreish, which is a pleasant surprise.
Oops, forgot I was still logged in there…
Evening George. Always a pleasure to see you pop in from your usual berth. Means I must be doing something right.
😉
blurred memory, FG: T-shirts were white, red, black and orange.
Mine’s read. I still wear it occasionally, although with its size it’s more like a tent than a T-shirt.
Who’s that impostor at 24? 😉
True neighbour, very true 😉
Alright ttg. Quite a few of our generation now still make the journey but watch in the pub among like-minded souls.
Not sure I will ever get to that stage without feeling I am cutting off my nose to spite my face, but I can understand where they are coming from.
Hey thundertinygooner, you’re not mug mate. RVP and his ‘people’, they’re the fucking mugs.
Great read, and nice to see a bit of perspective.
Its really disappointing that Robin wont sign. Just a few months ago, Robin was singing the praises of Arsenals philosophy, now he cannot stand it any longer.
It also slightly stinks that he was lying on the treatment table those seasons where we actually were challenging, but fell away. I wonder had he been fit, would we have the trophies he so desperately craves?
I feel let down by him – not because he wont sign, but because of how he handled the situation.
The fact is, if we offered Robin 250k a week, he would instantly sign. We cannot offer that, so he has chosen to disrespect the club to force his big money move.
Sickening.
Feeling more positive since reading your article – youre right. We will move on and support our great team. I just refuse to support our owner!
RED. Damn.
Good riddance to them all. Don’t let the 125 years of history and immortality hit you on the way out
‘holic 28. Well I think I shall be doing just that for the Chelsea game.
Though more likely to miss a big chunk of the game and still be in the pub afterwards.
@ 26 Ollie
Weird – a sea of orange is the picture I have in my mind. But I stand corrected by someone who was there!
“It has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way my nightcap should move forward.” I still love “you guys” but I’m going to have to change my nightcap.
🙂
I do like the 18 year old Highland Park a lot. The Distillery tour finished with a comparison of the 12yo and 15yo – with the demonstration that the latter goes very well with Orkney fudge! I have a bottle of 12yo and miniatures of the 18yo and 21yo to compare when we get home. WoB prefers Scapa for some reason.
I am hiding out at the moment Holic
Some snaps for you there, FG:
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j216/OllieRoo/Ashburton%20Grove/Dennis%20Bergkamp%20Testimonial/#!cpZZ2QQtppZZ28
Thanks, Ollie – lovely!
Interesting about the sweet accompaniment, bath. I have some popcorn with mine right now.
It’s my educated palette, doncha know 😉
George, you know you are amongst friends here.
Hey Ollie, I think there were orange ones in the Club Level – we got red ones in the Upper Tier.
There was Orange Day at Highbury during or last season there. That was maybe your sea of orange FG.
They have used more American oak sherry casks in the 15 and 21 year olds than in the 12 and 18 year olds which apparently imparts greater sweetness. They all have a nice balance of barley and peat – it’s a very fine dram indeed. Very moreish as you say.
Hitting Old Pulteney, Clynelish, Dalmore and/or Benromach on the way south tomorrow.
It does look like a sea of orange in ‘club level’:
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j216/OllieRoo/Ashburton%20Grove/Dennis%20Bergkamp%20Testimonial/?action=view¤t=202EmmanuelPetitAndThatPonytail.jpg
It’s enhanced barley I’m getting then. Good man. Do Stewarts still do a Cream of the Barley blend? Used to be cheap as chips and very gluggable, I thought.
Evening Holic and all those still standing. Way behind in the drinks…hope everyone is ok. Holic, you’ve made your case. Reading your thoughts towards the end of this piece was like having my head submerged in ice water. Just have to reconcile my memories of what was, with the reality of what is.
Just back home from a successful bowls match at Winchester. Sad to see en route the pretty village of Winterbourne Abbass on the A 35 had most of the houses flooded out with occupies in the process pumping out the surplus water before the big clean up can commence. 🙁
Your article is right on the money ‘holic….most succinctly put.
@ bathgooner
Thanks, so I’m not going totally mad. A pond of orange, then. I can see in the upper tier in one or two of Ollie’s photographs.
We are THE ARSENAL.and for that.RVP go fuck your self.truly dissapointed
Beter snap of God’s testimonial shows the colour scheme…
http://pixmaster-eu.dontstayin.com/d982e452-2305-457c-88d3-018532cbeab3.jpg
That’s beyooooooooootiful! Thanks, ‘holic.
Who’s that bloke standing up and staring back at the camera in the bottom right of the picture?
‘Twas a great day out. I loved Grimandi’s foul on Davids in the box with the gesture to indicate that he couldn’t let that Tott score in God’s Testimonial. They had the decency to miss the pen too.
I don’t know about Stewart’s Cream of the Barley – not seen it in a long time. I will look in Elgin tomorrow.
The interesting thing about Highland Park is that they use NO Bourbon casks. Just a mixture of Spanish oak and American oak sherry casks that each bring a different flavour to the final product. More fruit from the former and more vanilla from the latter.
A transcript of extracts from a very fine article in today’s Sunday Times:
Arsenal’s Future Depends On Saying ‘No’ To Egomaniacs by Rod Liddle
The angst has started earlier than usual at Arsenal. It’s normally late August when everyone starts saying they’ll have a useless season and the players moan about not having bought anyone commensurate with their own incalculable talents and former players join in the fugue of discontent and the columnists suggest that Arsene Wenger is about to be defenestrated.
I don’t know how he reacted to that emetic “goodbye letter to the fans” from RvP; I would have gone round and set fire to his clogs or smashed up his bicycle. But Wenger is a more balanced individual than myself and more used to dealing with fabulously arrogant young men with a berserk regard for their supposed brilliance.
There was one part of the letter that must stick in the craw of any reasonable person. Van Persie explained that he sat down with the chairman and the manager and “we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward”.
Did you? Did you Robin? How crushing it must have been for them to have transgressed the considered opinions of this titan of international finance. I say considered opinions, because I assume Robin presented the board with his fully costed alternative business plan.
This is absolutely matchless arrogance and self-regard, made even funnier by his pious announcement that sorting out an extremely lucrative contract for himself was “not my priority”. No, no, I’m sure that’s the very last thing you wanted, mate – way down the list after a cure for malaria, world peace and equal rights for everyone.
And then followed the letter from the Dynamo Moscow supporter and diasporic Russian oligarch Alisher Usmaonov, the 28th richest man in the world. He also has a problem with the business model, but you cannot sustain a football club over a long period by relying on the capricious input of rich individuals. Rich individuals have a habit of going broke, or getting the hell out at inopportune moments, or ending up in a prison cell.
Arsenal are doing things properly and as a consequence, 20 years from now, the club will still be third in the Premier League, rather than folded or begging to be reinstated in division one or two. Wenger and the board know Arsenal cannot live with the spending of Manchester City. Neither can anyone else and nor, in time, can Manchester City.
Thanks for the Rod Liddle piece, bath. Not a breacher of the paywall, but have heard it referenced elsewhere today. Now I understand why.
I read that piece today and was gobsmacked that it had been penned by Plod Widdle.
But hats off to the fat wind-up merchant, for once he got it right.
Played holic we are indeed The Arsenal
FG – AU doesn’t have a controlling interest in the club therefore he simply couldn’t make any such proviso
And when yogi referred to asset stripping and profiteering i think he was attempting to illustrate the difference between custodians running a club (as was once the case at Arsenal) and speculators in it for the big bucks . I don’t think he was suggesting that asset-stripping was occurring as we speak. Maybe that was a tad hyperbolic on his part – and i’m in danger of getting into dodgy water attempting to talk for someone else – but the post is there on ACLF so you can read it and make up your own mind – if you haven’t already.
Mind you as i understand it there was nothing concrete in SK’s takeover of Arsenal that would prevent him either taking money out of the club or loading it with debt at some point in the future ( he has spoken in wholly positive terms re the Glazer’s stewardship of manKu). Some in the media (David Conn – in The Guardian if memory serves) have attempted to get assurances from Stan re these twin issues and were unable to do so – if that situation has changed i haven’t heard it. And if it hasn’t changed – that bothers me.
To back AW and IG with a few platitudinous words is the easy bit. I’m increasingly coming to believe that our mighty manager needs a bit more than that at the moment. His good work is being massively undermined by what looks to me, in part, like under-investment. Annually (until the stadium is payed off) he is having to find 15-20million quid a year before he can begin to think about signings. Annually he is losing his leading players to his nearest rivals and it’s only his genius that is keeping us as competitive as we have been. Since the self-sustaining model was concieved and the stadium built to make us more competitive the petro-dollars have arrived and we’ve gone backwards in relative terms. We can’t match them of course, but with more investment we would obviously be more of a force. I can’t help thinking at some point in the not too distant future that AW’s genius alone will not continue to sustain the self-sustaining model. Champs league qualification is probably only going to get tougher (a revitalised Chelsea for a start) and if we stay out of that for a few seasons the financial shit really could hit the fan/s.(There’s a lot of talk of 2014 and sponsorship renewals etc. but of course the level of those generally coincides with the level of on field success. There’s the new TV deal too but agents and players generally make sure that dough heads their way – it’s the market innit.) And what happens then if the self-sustaining model struggles to pay the wage bill or provides barely any transfer funds for the manager?
I don’t pretend to know what the answers are, but neither do i think we should shy away from asking the questions of the absentee American speculator who has only fairly recently bought a majority stake in our club. Maybe you’re right, maybe he is the better of two evils – i hope so. but i’m not going to pretend i know enough about him yet to be completely sure.
I was hoping that this summer we would really get to know our stan properly and get a detailed picture of his vision for our club. The crassly opportunistic nature of R & W’s open letter has. i think, made that more difficult
And you’re right stan doesn’t make false promises – in fact he doesn’t really make any promises at all.
Cheers FG – Your favourite tipple’s on the bar.
I don’t visit the ST site – I give Murdoch enough of my hard earned cash through Sky- but WoB wanted a ST this morning to read on the ferry and I read the piece. Was asked to transcribe it (tongue in cheek) on the arses and thought it worth transcribing as it adds to the weight of negativity that RvP has produced with his ill considered epistle.
Ah an ardent Lion that Liddle. Kind of attractive what he says, nice to see someone in the media being nice about us, and there’s some good sense in what he says too. But re ManK city: they’re basically backed by an oil-rich arab emirate and its royal family, not an individual. They can spend, spend, spend till the camels come home if they want to
Abramovitch on the other hand – i would have hoped by now that a Shaft led snatch squad might have sorted that little problem
This whole situation at arsenal is really taking away my enjoyment for it all, just what the hell is going on.
@ AL
The larger the gift, the greater the power of the donor to attach strings, I would have thought. I’m sure that someone as resourceful as he is could find some way if he wanted to. Point is, until he puts his OWN money where his mouth is…I won’t believe in his altruism. He has not put in a penny into the club either, despite all his talk. In that Q&A I keep referring to, IG got close to saying the guy was full of it. In any case I don’t want him anywhere near us. Anyone who can engage in a vicious PR campaign against the club he would have us believe he is a fan of is not someone I want around.
I read ACLF fairly regularly and I know that YW is in favour (as you and I are) of more plurality of ownership. He’s saying the *potential* for asset stripping is there, but that would apply to Usmanov as well – to anyone who was in it for the money. That’s why I mentioned the discussion we’d had about how SK was likely to make a return on his investment – not by asset stripping. I asked him whether he thought money was being paid out to SK and he said there was no evidence so far of that in the accounts. His point is that he doesn’t trust either of them because they’re both in it for the money. But my point is, SK hasn’t done any of the things you fear, not at Arsenal nor at any of his other sports clubs.
He has spoken approvingly of the Glazers, but he has also promised not to leverage debt on the club. (Jeremy Wilson interview.)
Can you explain what you mean by underinvestment? Are you saying a) AW doesn’t have enough money to buy the players *he* thinks we need, or b) that we don’t have enough to compete with Man City? I would say to a) that he does, and to b) that there’s not a lot we can do. We already spend all our profits on football. The financial gulf with the oil clubs is hundreds of millions, not a few million. We have ample funds for players in the price range £10-£15m and occasionally more – the Reina bid was £20m. Truly world class players (using AW’s definition) cost treble that, so instead of buying, we develop them. Remember that he likes to polish a rough diamond, that players we want don’t always choose us, or are sometimes unavailable.
The interest payments are an expense which comes out of our turnover, but not out of transfer funds. AW has said this himself.
AW has kept us afloat football-wise, you’re right, but IG seems confident the tide is turning – he says that it is clubs like Chelsea who are pushign for FFP – they recognise that they are in an unsustainable arms race with Man City and PSG etc.
Trophies would help with increasing the income from the worldwide fanbase and from commercial sponsors, but the club’s values and identity are also very important. Companies want to be associated with ideals and values which they fondly imagine they represent. Independence is a big part of our brand identity.
Forgive me if this sounds as if I’m being obtuse, but I feel as if I know what the vision for the club is – it’s been articulated several times by IG, presumably with the approval of SK. Also in that Jeremy Wilson interview, SK says he’s happy with the set-up and the business model. So what is the sort of detail that you mean? Are you referring to more concrete undertakings not to leverage debt, or something like that?
Stan’s problem is that he is an “accidental owner”. He came in as an investor but DF and NB-S sold him their shares in order to keep AU at arm’s length. He doesn’t want to actively run Arsenal – he said in terms that he didn’t buy into it to take control. His MO is to buy into sports clubs which are already run the way he wants by people who are better qualified than he is. DF saw him as a safe pair of hands. He’s never going to be a Henry Norris or a Dennis Hill-Wood.
Nuts? Pork scratchings?
Hats off to Rod Liddle.
Off to bed now. See ya.
It’s like blackmail from Fat & Orange – give us a seat on the board or we’ll carry on the dirty tricks, black propaganda and disinformation.
Great piece holic. A call to arms just at the right time. I agree whole heartedly with your comments. I have penned my views several times previously about the relationship between fans and players and how this is changing. You even allowed me the privilege of compiling a guest post dealing with similar and related issues.
The gap between players and fans has never been greater. The riches on offer at other places turns heads and leads to greed and gluttony. There is almost zero loyalty left with players these days. This is not a new thing. I remember reading in Perry Groves’s autobiography that after his first day of training with The Arsenal that he was given a lift home by Stuart Robson. His first question as they pulled out of the car park was “how much are they paying you, how much are you on?” Now, if Perry Groves is getting asked those questions????????????
Many debates have taken place on here about the booing of certain players. The out pouring of frustration at the comments of RVP perhaps may make some understand that little bit better about why there are those that may express their emotions in that way.
No one will ever be bigger than the club. The club was around long before any of us were and it will be here long after we depart this world. Hopefully it will be in safe hands and hopefully those that pass through the gates will have had the same sense of feeling and pride installed in them as we have had installed in us.
My 8 year old was asked by Mrs T during the Euros why he was booing Nasri? “He disrespected Arsenal” was his reply. He came up to me a few days ago having heard the RVP news. “Dad, dad, Van Persie is leaving Arsenal,” his bowed face informed me. “I know” was my reply, wondering what to say next. “That’s okay. We have signed Podolski and that other one,” he said. He still wears his Arsenal shirt with pride. He gets it, it’s just a shame that those in such a privileged position do not seem to.
Arsenal always. Keep the faith.
I’m a united fan and I think this piece is great pity united fans forums are not this passionate
While most are suspecting Man City, I feel Barcelona is a strong possibility. Man City is filthy rich and there is absolutely no need for RVP to come up with the statement to lower his price. Barca on the other hand, faces a financial problem, given the current Spanish economic climate.
They are acting “innocent” with most attention pinned on Man City. The moment RVP goes to Barca, no one will blame Barca and RVP is vindicated for choosing a “title winning team”. No one would suspect the tapping up that had been going on…
Excellent ‘holic, and not to overlook excellent drinks by Steve T and others.
Majestic post Holic. I hope all of the other holics are fine.I’m too emotionally drained to add anything to the barroom conversation so I’ll just sip on some Old Speckled Hen in the corner while doing some Sudoku puzzles…
Gooner for life.
” … the admission prices have now rocketed to a level I suspect even he could never have imagined.”
You got that one right there Don ‘holic 😉
“Before writing out the cheque for the leased season ticket this summer I thought briefly if I really, really wanted to make this commitment again.”
You got that one right Don ‘holic.
“The mercenaries may have partially drained my reserves of goodwill … ”
You got that one incorrect Guv. It’s the board that is fleecy you mate. End of story. I recommend all Gooners to listen to an ex Arsenal legend’s take on the matter. His name: Paul Merson. Google: Beyond the Pitch (podcast).
We’ve gotta stop waxing nostalgic on The Arsenal. C’mon people! We’ve gotta do better than this.
“Every triumph lifted us, every defeat saddened us. I want to share that with a grandchild or two, but I want them to feel attachment to the club, not the personalities who use it merely as a stepping stone.”
Well written.
However, the club has become a stepping stone. AFC has become a feeder club. That’s not just my take. It’s Paul Merson’s take too. The club being manoueved into the rocks of mediocrity and feeder club-dom by the likes, on the Board, of those who are better equipped to be steering an Italian cruise liner than a serious UCL club.
If the club is going to charge exorbitant fees (i.e. the highest season ticket package in the EPL) than buy some players that are commensurate with such pricing. Oh course, I’m daft for suggesting this (Merson too btw).
Pure class. Great piece and some thought provoking comments. Its so nice to take shelter from the media/blog created shit storm and step into an establishment marked by calm and reasoned discussion–the occasional and throughly understandable “Screw RVP” notwithstanding.
Drinks all around…even you Schadenfreude
Cheers
I know I’ve told this tale before, so apologies to those who’ve heard it. I was in New York and found a bar in which to watch our game against Chelsea that year. The early game must have involved Newcastle as there was a contingent of Toon fans in situ and in good voice. After a chorus of You Are Just A Small Town In Fulham as the Chavs came out, the Geordies launched into a spirited rendering of When Your Russian Goes To Jail, You’ll Be F*cked. Wise words to contemplate in our present circumstances.
“The avaricious who pull on the red and white these days are just passers by in an institution that has ensured I experience every possible emotion known to man, and a few that aren’t. That institution belongs to you and me, to our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles and aunties, nephews and nieces, and friends. The share certificates may reside with the temporary custodians of our heritage, but the club is ours. Never forget that.
We are Arsenal.”
Very well written again Señor ‘holic. Props on the composition.
However, it is largely misguided:
“The avaricious who pull on the red and white these days are just passers by in an institution …”
All modern day footballers are “avaricious” no matter which club they play for. Their main concerns are winning titles and making money. Quite often the two come hand in hand. AFC does not pay FMV wages, hence, they will not win modern day trophies. Simple. Everyone, please read Soccernomics by Simon Kuper. Arsenal is England’s Lyon. Except AFC didn’t win seven or eight consecutive league titles.
And all modern day footballers will continue to be “passers by” until the club can give those with options a reason to stay. Not winning trophies is not a reason to stay. Lack of ambition is the vernacular.
“The share certificates may reside with the temporary custodians of our heritage, but the club is ours. Never forget that.”
Now that’s part of the problem. AFC would be better run in the interests of the supporters if the club was owned by its members a la Barça, Real M*drid, Bayern Munich, etc. Those clubs seem to be doing reasonably well 😉
Thanks MAG.
I’m wearing my Arsenal hat as we speak/write. Sippin’ on some Corona with a double JD, neat.
Different opinions, si. One club, ole!
And might I say, just to clarify, wrt my moniker I do not take pleasure in the woes of Arsenal. That would be a mighty incorrect assumption. I take pleasure in the woes of the likes of the Spuds (good luck w/o ‘arry and with the likes of AVB), Real M*drid, and ManUre 😉
Morning all. Some great posts above. FunGunner @60 particurlarly impressive.
Hello *in a French accent*
Here’s a good idea.
Get up at 4:30, get to the airport at 5:50, and repress your rage when smug sevisair staff tell you your flight is delayed till 10am.
Oh good, I’ll get to the meeting just in time to leave.
If Carlsberg did (Blue) Mondays…….
PS some good work up there fellas, Steve T, Fun, AL.
FG,
“Truly world class players (using AW’s definition) cost treble that, so instead of buying, we develop them. Remember that he likes to polish a rough diamond, that players we want don’t always choose us, or are sometimes unavailable.”
Si. We develop. After a number of years at the club they become wise. They want to move on. Win trophies. Make FMV wages. It’s not rocket surgery folks. Wake up and smell the espresso 😉
And truly world class players from other clubs have over looked us long ago because we don’t pay world class wages nor win trophies (even of a sub standard less than world class — like that Mickey Mouse Cup we couldn’t win against a relegated to be BCFC — Polish GKing at its finest, just like at Euro 2012 when he was dropped from the squad before their last group match. Truth people. Truth. Potentially a good GK but very inconsistent. Arsenal quality? Maybe modern day AFC? Not traditional AFC. End of.
Off they go. For bigger bucks, si. And for shiny silverware, mucho si 😉
Siesta fiesta. Ole!
Picked up from this good blog: http://poznaninmypants.com/2012/07/08/amy-amy-amy-whatever-will-we-do-with-you/
Interesting quote from the comment sections about the similarity between Arsenal and the successful Bayern Munich:
Below is quotes from BM’s Chairman…You could swap the words Allianz Arena for Emirates, and Bayern Munich for Arsenal,
“Our 340 million euro stadium, Allianz Arena, is completely privately financed by our club,” Rummenigge says. “The big advance today of Bayern Munich is that our infrastructure is strong, not just our team. We invested 25 million euros here [in the team’s training facility].”
“From the very beginning, we said if we follow the Italian way or the English way we will always lose, because we don’t have that kind of money available. We have no sheik [like Manchester City], no Mr. Berlusconi [like Milan]. We have a completely different situation in Germany and have to find out the best way. That was a wise concept to follow, and today we are a safe club … Bayern could be the model of the future for many other clubs.”
• Bayern’s stability includes a balance between smart youth development and targeted buys in the transfer market. As Rummenigge explains it, in the 1990s he and Hoeness wanted to learn how other sports teams did things in different areas. So they hit the road. They visited Ajax to see how its youth academy worked. They visited Manchester United to learn more about merchandising. And they visited the U.S., where they attended the Super Bowl and learned firsthand more about how the Chicago Bulls leveraged the success of Michael Jordan. Then they took those lessons back to Germany.
Now “we are very strong in our youth department with [academy-produced] players like Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Holger Badstuber, Thomas Müller and Diego Contento,” Rummenigge says. “They didn’t cost a penny in transfer fees. We always want to have a strong youth department, because supporters love when players from Bavaria are playing for Bayern Munich. They also love players you can buy, like Franck Ribéry and Arjen Robben, but you have to find opportunities. We probably never could spend 95 million euros like Real Madrid spent in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo. However, we can spend 24 million like we did for Robben.”
Unfortunately we have sugar daddy sponsored Citeh and Chelski. If they didn’t exist we could be the Bayern Munich of Premier League a few seasons earlier. But I can see we could compete with them in 2014. +40 to 50 millions from the commercial deals would help Wenger in budgeting for transfer and wages.
zico — Truly flummoxed as to your predicament. I’ll order another before last call in your honour 😉
Fascinating post benhan – Bayern have been quite vociferous about FFP I believe.
The Scene : D L Ltd : Executive Suite
Dr Feelgood is pacing the floor, talking to himself, and to the casual observer, demonstrating all the signs and symptoms of dementia.
Professor Storey walks in breezily, looking particularly pleased with himself and asks……
Professor Storey : “How’s it hanging, Dr F?”
Feelgood : “I’m not sure I can take much more of this, Edwin. So much expectation and no matter what we do, so little gratitude.”
Edwin : “What you need is someone to front up for the Feelgood Foundation, take the flak, so you can sit back and relax a little. I have just the man for the job.”
Professor Storey picks up a telephone……
Edwin : “You can send him in.”
Shortly thereafter, Ivan Gazidis walks through the door.
Feelgood, momentarily startled, then turns to Edwin and splutters…..
“Him? HIM? I wouldn’t let him paint my fence.”
Edwin: “Ah well, there is no need. I have just delivered an automatic prototype – its a Fence Self-Staining model…..”
to be continued…….
Hi Holic, Just read your post now. Being a) foreign, and b) from a much younger generation, Ive no experience of what you describe in your post, however it does sound wonderfully idyllic, and i wish id been able to experience those days of football.
Thanks – its due to guys like you that guys like me can vicariously experience the good old days of football 🙂
Dave, it was n’t all better. But it had soul. It most definitely had soul.
Morning Esso and all
From the last drinks;
Hehs! to Ollie and H2H.
Ollie – I’m quite sure that the use of hitmen and other such hired hands has been quite common place throughout AU’s glittering international business career. It’s certainly a language he would understand.
H2H – Uzbeki-Stan? Pun-tastic mate 🙂
FG –
“…There is absolutely no point in yoking together two people who cannot get on personally and have diametrically opposed views about what is best for Arsenal/their pockets. Especially when there is no need or requirement for this…”
Normally yes. The main point I was making, which is the same one that I took from Amy L’s article, was that there is dischord in the boardroom which translates into dischord in the changing room i.e. there is a need for both parties to attempt to find some middle ground for the good of the club. I was also careful to point out that (with circa 66% ownership) SK is not obliged to work with anyone that he doesn’t want to. However, as a member of the board he does have a duty of care to do what’s best and/or right for ‘the company’ – for that is what AFC is to KSE or F&O for that matter. It’s clear to me that the way they currently choose to operate isn’t working out for the best. Their motivation to work together is RoI i.e. if they can find some common ground and cease some of the sniping then this will have a positive effect on The Club which will help towards success on the field which, in turn, should help to increase the value of their investments. I don’t give a rat’s ar*e about either of them them personally, but it is affecting the club that we all love.
“…If AU is so desperate to throw money at the transfer budget, why doesn’t he? He’d be putting it into AW’s hands, not Stan’s, so what’s the problem?…”
I’m with you there although UA won’t throw any money into Arsenal’s ‘war chest’ without getting some of what he wants first. I think the old adage “don’t tell me, show me” applies quite well to UA’s hollow words in that regard.
Have a great week ‘Holics.
Heh! zico @ #84 😆
Sorry for the cr*p start to your week. Every cloud…..
@ 83 zico Bayern Munich are perfect model about sustainability. They also built a new stadium, consistent top league performer and nearly won the UCL. They and Arsenal are what 99% clubs craved to be.
Only 1% of football club have a deluded vision of being bailed out and run like a sugar daddy club and maybe 90% of the pundits. They failed to see the failures of clubs without sustainable (which is common, sane) financial model: Leeds, Rangers, Portsmouth, and soon Blackburn Rovers.
9th July 1976: Terry Neill becomes Arsenal’s manager. Who can remember that then?
Well what I’m hearing now is that Orange’s problem was indeed with the HLR problems. So I got that right, which proves that I have learnt things over the last couple of months 🙂
And it might be us rather than the competition 🙁 though it’s unclear yet. Also it’s not the radio access part so not too directly concerned, but still bad news if true.
Me!
I was’t old enough to drink then 😉
I was a bit young, Esso…. 😉
I was 16. Not old enough to drink. Legally!
Esso – I was 11. I remember the Neill years quite well and the Irish revolution at The Arse that followed. Happy days. Brady flourished under his reign although he first broke through to the first team under Mee, didn’t he?
Ollie – Home Location Register? FMC? And that’s Orange as in the MNO as opposed to F&O, right? 😉
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2012/07/09/082226_m-niang-teste-par-arsenal.html
According to Ouest France, Mbaye Niang, 17yo striker (2goals in 23 games) will soon be having a trial with Arsenal.
Can’t see it myself, even if it would only be one for the future (but certainly have everyone up in arms, right?)
And now news to upset abb :
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2012/07/08/221248_une-offre-du-psg-pour-pirlo.html
Did anyone mention ‘silly season’? 😉
Thumps the ball upfield towards, the c*nt, Stapleton. SuperMac is lurking on the edge of the area.
Takes the ball on the full, miscontrols and hacks the ball forward..
Indeed TS.
Jumps like a Salmon at the Ball 🙂
FG thanks for the nibbles – i’m partial to a nut, ta.
Forgetting the risk of repeating myself again, and instead running at the thing with no net nor hard-hat neither: it would make no sense for uzmanov to unilaterally put money into the club as the minority share-holder – more so when the majority share-holder is hostile towards his involvement in the club – it’s a moot point suggesting he should stick his money where his mouth is, i reckon. He’s no more likely to put any of his own money into the club at the present time than Kroenke.
Saying this does not make me an apologist for or a supporter of Uzmanov. I’m neither.
The Swiss Ramble has shown that Arsenal’s football business (matchday income, TV money, merchandise etc) pretty much pays for the football side of things (player/staff wages etc). Other monies, for player transfers and debt repayment etc., then have to be found from other sources. The club’s extensive property portfolio was expressly developed with the idea in mind that sales from there would bridge any potential gap in the club’s finances and help us remain competitive in the transfer market etc.
With the property portfolio now pretty much cashed in on money is increasingly having to be found from elsewhere. That elsewhere, it appears, looks to be from player sales (further ticket price rises are hugely difficult to justify to a, in some quarters, disgruntled and financially stretched fan base right now.) Arsene, somewhat enigmatically, suggested earlier this year that he had to “make” around 15 million pounds for the club each year to pay the interest on the debt (not debt repayment) before he could think about spending any money – player sales are now more or less the club’s only option when it comes to sourcing extra income. The Swiss Ramble’s sums/graphs pretty much backed this up.
With little or no property left to sell and sizeable debts left to service Arsenal are being forced into becoming a selling club at the moment.
Could SK not step in here and cover the annual interest payments – during this difficult period for the club? He would be putting his own money in to the club for the first time. (And not into an area where he would be risking seeing that money wasted – no 50 million quid strikers.) And why shouldn’t he, he is going to be taking money out of the club – presumably in the not too distant future. It would then free up money for AW to spend on transfers/wages etc. (p’raps make it less likely for him to have to take a hurried punt on the likes of Park), and so go towards adding value to another aspect of SK’s investment. And stop us becoming a selling club. It would help make it more difficult for our nearest rivals to take our best players from us, Arsene’s developmental work would be less likely to be undermined and those in front of us would find it harder to pull further away from us. A virtuous circle. With SK p’raps the biggest winner of the lot – in the medium to long term, almost certainly.
IF you say you’re not being obtuse then i’m sure you’re not FG. I’d be interested to hear what you understand to be the current owner’s vision for the club. I’m going to guess that it comes from the “steady as she goes, more of the same, please – self-sustaining model etc” – school; the vision that was firmly in place before SK turned up. A vision that we’ve done ok with – granted. But currently i’m not sure it is a wholly adequate response (i’ve supported it on here myself but am becoming increasingly open to the idea of some other possibilties) to circumstances as they continue to change on and off the football pitch. I don’t claim to know what the answers are (i had a stab above in the spirit of attempting to keep the discussion moving forward). But frankly, like most of us here, i’m pretty quickly out of my depth on the financial side of things.
Interesting reading that you and yogi have already speculated as to where stan intends to make money on his Arsenal investment. You’re way ahead of me on that. But until we hear about those intentions from the billionaire’s own mouth it remains just speculation. If i could ask stan one question it would be: “how do you intend to make money from Arsenal” – if i was allowed a follow-up i would ask him to put a time-scale on that and to roughly estimate how much he thought he could make in that time. That’s the kind of detail i would like to hear from the club’s owner. That – i think – would begin to help us understand more exactly what his overall vision for the club is. I confess i’m with yogi here – i don’t particularly trust either of our billionaires, they’re in it for the money and to nick someone else’s line – theses fellows are not investors, they’re speculators.
Not sure what an “accidental owner” is ; from the quote marks i guess it’s someone else’s phrase – but i’ve not heard it before. SK is our owner – surely no-one spends getting on for half a billion pounds without understanding what they’re getting into. i believe he probably joined the board with the ambition to own the club in mind. If he hadn’t wanted to become our owner he could have sold his stake at a profit and gone. I don’t imagine that he’s a particularly sentimental man regarding business – especially an overseas business that he visits so rarely.
And Danny Fizmann may have sold up to him because he thought him to be “a safe pair of hands”. You could probably build an equally strong argument to suggest DF sold up to SK because he saw him as the man most likely to keep the club out of the hands of AW’s chum, and DF’s sworn enemy, David Dein – rich men p’raps continuing to bicker over the fate of our club right to the bitter end
Unlike Ivan i’m not sure i swallow what may be PR guff coming from the turkeys at chelski who are apparently all in favour of the christmas that is ffp. They may not like being matched and even outstripped by city – but they’d be in an even more difficult position if they were being matched or outstripped by us, liverpool and s***s.
Ultimately FG – you might be right. Perhaps the club is doing pretty much everything correctly in trying circumstances, and doesn’t need to change anything right now – just sit tight and carry on along the course that was set for it 10 years ago or so – by the visionary folk that made The Emirates thing happen.
But i was struck by the second half of a post trev made a few days back when he was honest enough and brave enough to express doubt regarding issues we as Arsenal supporters often find fairly difficult to discuss. In what may be a rambling, haphazard fashion i’m having a go at running (stumbling more like) with what trev started. I don’t want to duck any difficult issues or questions, i want to hear from people who know more than i do on particular issues, and then work out what i think is the best way for our great club to proceed forward into the future.
Right now i’ve gone back to more or less a blank sheet. I believe AW is a fantastic manager still – and i believe that he has the best interests of Arsenal Football Club at heart – after that, as far as i’m concerned, pretty much everything else is up for grabs right now.
Apologies – this is horribly long and frankly i wouldn’t bloody read it if i saw it here and i don’t have time to edit it right now. Moustache!
Fruit juice and coffee on the bar
Nearly scored a random goal, turned out to be a random assist.
Good finish Wind.
Oh my gawd it’s worse than i thought…
AL
You out-did yourself son, that’s a truly splendid piece of posting. FACT!!!… in my opinion 🙂
Some minor points:
ALL investors are financial speculators, no matter how small the perceived risk.
SK/KSE has alread invested a sizeable sum into The Arse by purchasing 66% of the stock so servicing the interest payments would be viewed as additional investment. Can’t see him being motivated to do that at the moment. One reason is he used other people’s money for much of the capital outlay required for the equity. He may (repeat may) be somewhat stretched himself due to this and other sporting investments he has made in the recent past.
Overall, I think you’ve summed up really well what more and more of us are thinking about the ownership of our club. SOME change is required if we are to excel, by Arsenal’s high standards, on the pitch.
I don’t see how any good chance is possible about the ownership though, unless we turned to a German model. But the German model is only possibled because it’s been forced by the law to ALL clubs.
So yes, in short, we’re doomed 😉
Ollie is Private Frazer? 😉
AL – Point of clarification ‘servicing the interest payments’ should have been followed by ‘as you describe’. My bad.
I had to wiki him, TS :$ I have been considering for a while investigating Dad’s Army. Worth it ?
Of it’s time Ollie, but I would say YES.
Most of the characters are now passed-on. Very British in its outlook and great for catch-phrases.
Frazer’s “doomed…. we’re all doomed” was one of many.
Ta TS you saucy so and so. thanks for taking the time to bother to read it – you’re a better man than me. Ta for the pointers, I fear such a long post on subjects way out of my comfort zone is bound to be riddled with awkward bits and bobs a mere fan like meself is struggling to grasp
Fair point re investors/speculators – following an earlier post was trying to make a distinction between this newish breed (to Arsenal FC at least) of investor/speculator who have washed up at our club – and the old-school custodian type that used to run the thing. Weren’t clear enough though.
Re SK and UA investing in the Arse. Yes, they’ve bought/invested in shares and made some people very rich in the process. But that money wasn’t invested in Arsenal Football Club. It went elsewhere. We saw not a sioux? sue? soo? Pardon – penny of it
Interesting point that SK used other people’s money to purchase said shares
AL, very very long post but no need to feel bad about that. A post well worth reading, I’d say.
Scruzgooner @ H2H from last drinks, thanks for the belated birthday wishes 🙂
Spent most of yesterday at my West Ham mate’s local to watch the Tennis, belated trip as we couldn’t go pub on my birthday due to an awards thing they had to go too, first ‘legal’ alcoholic beverage… Magners. Followed by a pint of Strongbow then a Peroni over the 4 Sets, good stuff but the Strongbow was delicious, I remember the taste of it now… 8)
I think I had Guinness too early in my life, not a fan of it at all to be honest so I veered clear yesterday, shame that Andy lost but he can only go on to win Wimbledon now and at least he got a set on the board against Imperial Federer, on to bigger and better things hopefully for Andy 🙂
And I really enjoyed the post ‘Holic, poignant from the Title to the last line.
Saucy AL – Heh! Yes, quite correct re: the club itself not seeing Pinky or Perky’s millions because much? most? all? of it went to the individuals who owned the shares that they sold to the little piggies.
I don’t know if any of the shares were retained by the club prior to acquisition only because I can’t be ars*d to Google it, my bad again. However, our porcine pair would still view the money that they spent on stock as an investment in Arsenal F.C.
A pint of HP followed by a Ketchup chaser please kind sir. Bacon butties all round.
Excelent piece ‘holic (as always).
Born and raised in Holloway meant that supporting Arsenal was my birth right, before the days of the www and blanket tv coverage, Arsenal were my local team, my soldiers, my colours, my source of sorrow and joy. The players that pulled on the shirt were my heroes, my role models, guys to look up to and aspire to be. They’d sign an autograph, have a chat with you and generally be interested in what you had to say, down to earth men with a background not to dissimilar to my own, earning their bread doing something we all love.
Those days, like my flat stomach, are long gone, Apprentices no longer have to clean the first team’s boots or sweep the terraces, these kids are driving cars that few can afford, the rewards, even for the unproven and mediocre have long reached ridiculous levels and the gulf is only widening between players and fans. They live in a different world.
I really can’t relate to these guys anymore and I’m old and wise enough to realise that they don’t really give a shit about us, yet the fan in me will still cheer them on as long as they pull on the shirt, and give it their all, I’ll take them into my affections, that’s what we do, all of us.
Players will come and go, new stars will be born and heroes will become zeros, so is the cycle of football, the only constant is that, even though I now reside on foreign shores, the mighty Arsenal will always be MY team.
Ooo 2 be a Goonah.
====
Rightio, a good 100 plus drinks to catch up on, wish me luck, I’m going in. 😎
Good to see today is the day when football is back in the news for all the right reasons.
http://www.football365.com/news/21554/7883751/Terry-Called-Anton-A-F-Black-C-
Oh.
Oh good grief Ollie 🙁
A selection of fine drinks, I enjoyed the tutorial on whiskys from Bath plus the piece he posted from the Times. Also a great debate between Fun and the Rev both bringing good points to the table, good stuff.
ta Lars – too kind
Fair enough TS and bacon butties for lunch then. oh. i don’t know though – seeing @ 115 think i might’ve lorst me appetite
That court case looks to me like a big waste of time, Ollie. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone racism and JT certainly is a bellend, but it looks to me like six of one and half a dozen of the other, two guys winding each other up, nothing more, nothing less.
If it is indeed true that JT went to apologies/sort things out after the game and AF said it was done and dusted then that should of been that, it seems a bit petty to me to then make a big deal of it later on.
You’ll have to excuse me now as I feel so dirty for defending that cuntbucket that I have to take a hot shower and scrub all my skin off.
Good effort ‘holic!
From my point of view, enough’s now been said on this perennial, self-centred and egotistical tedium!
Barman? 10 gallons of boiling water for H2H please and a stiff bristled brush.
A good article with a nice sentiment, but sadly without the hired help there is no Arsenal, so you have to have at least some emotional link to the playing staff or it doesn’t quite work. IMO.
And that’s why things like Robin’s farewell, at least his intention to walk, hurt even the hardest hearted of us. There are players in this squad I hate and would not miss if they left tomorrow, but the special ones (and RvP IS a special player, for all the angst induced hate) are different.
I also think that the climate today is so much different. Liam Brady is still adored, but if he’d been playing now he would be a hate figure for going to Italy because his move was all about money. The more mature fans I have seen in other places spewing hatred about van Persie will no doubt deny it, but he would have been slaughtered for going if he’d been playing today. Hero to zero in less time than it takes to type the word cunt.
VAN PERSIE BEMOANS ‘WEAK’ LJUNGBERG
Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has described former team-mate Freddie Ljungberg’s recent criticism of the Gunners as “a bit weak”.
Ljungberg accused Arsenal of lacking ambition in the wake of his move to West Ham, citing the departure of Thierry Henry and van Persie admits his comments were not well received in the Emirates Stadium dressing room.
“If you play nine years at a club like Arsenal you can say some nice words,” he told the News of the World. If you’re coming up with excuses about Thierry’s departure and about promises from the club it’s a bit weak.”
The Dutchman added: “I was disappointed and I know a few others were as well. He had a fantastic period, he was once the best player in England, so come on and say some nice things for this club, which is fantastic.”
Source: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/15624/15624
Fucking hypocrite
I forgot that dentists could hurt. Mind you my left jaw is completely anaesthetised now so I can’t feel a thing.
http://www.football365.com/news/21554/7883751/Ash-Cole-You-Can-t-Talk-To-JT-Like-That-
Update, I have to heh that, if you removed the starts there’d be even more swearing that on arseblog.
And ‘You can’t talk to JT like that.’. Cuntley Cunt is a cunt! 😉
Way Down In Estimations
Bad news for the BBC in the Daily Mail as Charles Sale claims they are ‘set to lose leading football pundit, Lee Dixon, to ITV’.
Bad news for those of us who rather like Lee Dixon with this line: ‘Another pull for Dixon is his friendship with ITV football presenter Adrian Chiles.’
Ouch, tell me it ain’t true.
And
Twitter Exchange Of The Weekend
Andre_Santos27: @YossiBenayoun15 back on track, see you tomorrow Pal. Hope you’re well 🙂
@YossiBenayoun15: @Andre_Santos27 amigooo..you will see me tomorrow only if you have my picture 🙂
Guess that’s what blogs was alluding to. Awww, dontcha just love our cuddly maverick?
Great blog, and excellent drinks too!
@90: Esso, 2 years before I was put into a red and white crib for me!
@125: Ollie, I’m pretty sure Terry the cnut will only have to pay a fine and maybe do some community service…waste of time.
If they couldn’t jail Redknapp using Shaft’s evidence what will they do with a grainy video and dodgy witnesses?
That’s one gay that Santos will miss, Ollie.
===
After removing the outer layers of skin (cheers TS) I’ve returned to read a bit more over the trial of JT v AF, I’d just read that the max penalty is a £2,500 fine, what a waste of time. It’s not like JT being found guilty or even innocent is going to change many peoples opinion of him and it’s not going to stamp racism out of the game.
Bring back hanging, or at the very least tar and feathering.
Ah, ‘Holic from the heart plus history – the best kind of post.
Wind has been trying to write on Bob’s Wall on Facebook since this post went up. 😉
AL and TS – I did read all of it, and the replies – great work fellas.
AFC 4thG – great find.
Amazing what ONE good season at The Arsenal seems to do to players minds.
Ollie @126 – you have to love Santos. First time I’ve laughed at anything to do with Arsenal since last Wednesday.
(apart from a few drinks on here of course!)
Ollie – thinking of getting into Dad’s Army ? You stupid boy ! 😉
Theeeooo-oh, waiting to see if it’s worth his while to extend his contract, and he hasn’t even had a good season yet!
Compare and contrast with Perry Groves who said in an interview that when he joined Arsenal he didn’t even read the contract. He just signed it as quickly as he could before they changed their minds.
Back at the training ground, pre-season gets underway today and any players reporting back overweight will apparantly be made to carry their wallets round this afternoon’s ten mile run. Well, all except Fabianski, ‘cos he’ll probably drop his.
H2H, tar and feathering in this case might be apt innit 😉
How sweet is Santos, eh? Hahaha! Like Trev, those tweets between him and Benayoun made me laugh 😆
H2H I’m all in favour of tar and feathering.
Don’t you just love Perry Groves? Remember him chatting in the tube on the last day of the season with any random Gooners a couple of season ago.
Proper Gooner.
Drink for Trev. And all around.
On the proviso that you are now singing:
‘At number 1 is Perry Groves…..’
Ha, back in an airport, but this time Guinness is on the menu!
Slurp! 8)
Robin van Pursey: “It’s not all about the money”.
In a franc interview today van Pursey insisted his wish to leave Arsenal was not about money. He told the Financial Times –
“after the euros,I wanted to spend some time thinking about my future while schilling on a nice gold beach, watching the silver sea rolling in.
I told the manager to mark my words that on no account will Arsenal win another trophy as long as their salaries are not nearly grands enough to match my ambition.
It is true that my wife likes it in London. She loves to go to Harrods and buy my daughter a dollor two, and she would love to lira little longer at the famous sights.
It is also true that my parents, or as the children call them, Drachma and Drachdad, have advised me to stay at Arsenal as I have just been kroned Player of the Season.
Without trophies, this is of no interest to me and I cannot afford to take their views into account.
Some people did not like my phrases, but in a foreign language, i do not know how to coin them any other way.
The director’s can pound on my door all they like, but I’m afraid I cannot change my mind”.
If any sceptical readers doubt the veracity of this interview, you are welcome to cheque Robin’s personal website.
Packet of crisps to go with it zico ? Plane, of course. 😉
You’re quite the traveller these days, zico.
Heh, splendid work at 137, Trev! 😀
Heh @ 137, 138 and 139.
I don’t want to comment, I just want to laugh. 😀
Alcatel-Lucent Eurotunnel GSM-P (GSM Public) system to allow passengers uninterrupted access to 3G and GSM services will become operational July 2012. Installation time was about one year at a cost of 14million euro.
Well we shall see. I didn’t notice any difference on July 1st (when I travelled back from the UK).
Trev, crisps, yeah, thanks.
I am on my first pint.
Or what you would call a session 😉
Trev, bang on the money, as always. 🙂
Cher-ching Trev
Massive heh @Trev@137!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKksMZdJdgY&feature=player_embedded
I thought that I was pissed off but this guy takes the biscuit … he’s will cheer up up
🙂
Well, good news is that I have received a job offer which, should I accept, should be more exciting and should bring me back to Bangalore. Of course the pay is decent as well
But, I am waiting for a response from another company which is product based(renowned anti-virus software), because my interview on Friday went quite well. This, also in Bangalore will pay even more, I suspect
Question is, if I quit my current company, which has been great really, am I doing an RVP?
Have you wrote a cunty open letter, telling the directors that you don’t agree with how they run their company, Harsha?
If not, then no.
Harsha,
Go where, the girls are. 👿
Heh Dr F!
No H2H, I did not write an open letter, nor was I crocked for most of the time here 😉
Fiorentina want Marouanne.
Is Chamakh deadwood or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Trev@137 Eur’aving a laugh
Harsha, good stuff.
Does your current company have many fans who adore you and want your autograph?
Heh, no Ollie.
I had a very good manager until recently when he went to the US for an onsite assignment. My new manager is a bit of a cunt
trev, 137 is pure gold.
z, if fiorentina want chamakh, please, let’s not cast aspersions. it’ll make room for TGSTEL again at arsenal’s training table…maybe just for a little bit.
‘holic, brilliant piece. i don’t know the old days for arsenal, but i do for sports teams of my youth in los angeles. dodger and laker players living in my very middle-class neighborhood, seeing them at family restaurants, shoe stores, and whatnots, always approachable. not anymore. what we’re seeing in english football we saw in basketball in the 80s (the showtime years), american football in the 90s, and baseball about the same time. huge contracts, rich owners, and a few teams that loaded the dice. of course, after a decade of dominance, those teams are now fighting it over with other teams each year on a more par basis, so hopefully things like FFP and long-term lack of interest by the über-rich in their toys will bring things back to sanity, or at least a new level where it makes sense again.
I wasn’t casting aspersions, scruz, just branching out into a question on who is, and isn’t deadwood 😉
Who’s AreVeeePee and what’s behind the green door?
That’s what I wanna know.
Not much comparison possible then, Harsha!
I just want to profess my admiration of and for Pork Scratchings 🙂
As for where Kroenke got the money to buy Arsenal shares, my understanding is that the company through which he runs his sports businesses, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, arranged some financing around the time he took control from Deutsche Bank. I have no idea of how much and on what terms. Kroenke has said that would not leverage the assets of the club to raise cash to buy it (as the Glazer’s did to buy Man Utd). KSE is a broad based sports business (unlike the Glazers’ operation) so it should have plenty of access to cash and/or financing in the regular course of business. It is also worth noting that as well as its sports teams, retail sporting goods business (Dick’s) and venues, KSE also has broadcasting interests. I think it owns 50% of Arsenal Broadband, so that may be where Kroenke, is making his crust day to day (beyond the £25,000 a year he gets for being on the main board) while his shares appreciate in value, even though they don’t pay a dividend.
Also, we should be circumspect about referring to buying things using other people’s money. Many of us may have bought a house with someone else’s money. It is called a mortgage. Doesn’t make us a Glazer.
z, sorry. now i see. he’s deadwood, unless by miracle or some transubstantiation he re-acquired his touch from his first four months with us. then he’s a living, breathing tree… have a bark, just not a piss. 🙂
Zico@157: Leaf it alone!
ned, any thoughts on this article i posted in the last drinks?
http://news.yahoo.com/man-united-filing-shows-glazers-borrowing-buying-debt-043355007–sector.html
looks to me like the glazers are getting mildly desperate. £425 million in debt!
*applauds Trev* 😀
SCG@164: i read it when you first posted it, and apologies for a lack of a h/t at the time. As I am sure you know, is not unusual for American sports team owners to take money out of their clubs. They own them, after all. I don’t disagree that the NYSE listing smacks of desperation. The money the Glazers want to raise is far less than they sought in Singapore and I suspect that indicates the difficulty they are having in finding potential investors, which in turn reflects a worsening balance sheet. The debt burden the Glazers originally laid on Man U when they bought it was heavy, and not lightened by the 2008 global financial crash. As Florida property developers, it is a fair bet that the family took a double whammy from that. The bond refinancing for Man Utd a couple of years back was intended to prevent the PiK part of the debt, which was scheduled to be increasingly crushing, from killing them. But the overall debt is still at such a level that they have little margin for error. I don’t think they would go to the public markets, with the need to open up the books that that implies, unless they absolutely had to.
Trev @ 137. – that was worth a punt! 🙂
Zico – various. The deadwood was a Plane! 🙂
cheers, ned. thanks. as gt suggested, if it were le arse, it’d be all over the red tops, etc., no? except our cash on hand is rising year over year, and tops £115M as of last november, and our debt is less than £100M…so, let’s not focus on arsenal’s success *that* way, except to poke them with the “only trophy is the deloitte’s money league trophy” stick…or whatever.
A certain amount of tranquility appears to have broken out in the bar. I don’t get out much – Is it much the same all across the Gonnerverse?
| heard a discussion on R5L last week saying the only real point in going for the NYSE listing for United was to put a realistic ‘public’ valuation on what is a private company. The actual capital raised against the very restricted voting rights of the shares going on offer would not be that great. However the valuation would be the start of the Glazers selling up and cashing in. Could be? Maybe AU could cash in his Arsenal shares and buy the real club of his dreams? Or maybe some more Arabs might fancy the real Manchester club? If they genuinely do put it up for sale and AU wants it, he would have to cash in his Arsenal shares, would n’t he? Rules against PL cross-ownerhsip and all that?
Great post Holic, and too many interesting drinks to follow to name them all. Fantastic stuff .
Trev @137 On the money 🙂
Esso – as far as I understand the rules, then yes he would.
Heh, all these puns. Are you all trunk?
Not telling Ollie . I like to play my (credit) cards close to my (treasure) chest.
You’d be nuts not to.
AL, very good stuff. Agree with TS. FACT.
The BtM crystal ball has been slumbering with its owner. Your note appears to have nudged it into action and, midst the red mist that swirls during Van Winkle time, there are some vague shadows of insights relevant to Silent Stan.
Apparently SK:
– Sees The Arsenal as a “significant” part of his portfolio and a keeper for the long term. He has it’s welfare at heart and prominently so.
– Has zero interest in damaging that portfolio through profligate expenditure on any one component
– Is content with the self-sustaining business model but is somewhat “pissed” in two regards:
1. The “crack” commercial team that has been employed at huge cost has turned out to have been a mis-spelling of CRAP.
2. It’s taking too long to rejig the salary structure that was well-intentioned, but flawed in concept.
– Regarding the first, he’s heard that a young fellow called MtB with a proven track record is retiring next year and is a sure-fire solution. 🙂
– The second, time will take care of, before the players who are the future (Wilshere, Coquelin, Miyaichi, Eisfeld, Afobe, Campbell, Chamberlain, Scezzers, Frimpong, and co) need to be retained.
– He isn’t even mildly interested in Loony Tunes. Cartoon characters like The Milk Shake of Ably Dabbly and Politburo Pete Abramovich are simply “moments in time” peculiarities with a) money that could much more beneficially spent rescuing nearby Emirates states from precipitous economic circumstances than buying the league for Shitty and b) illegally gotten gains.
– SK realizes that in the ultimate, there is is NO route to competing with the current Shitty model OFF the field. The Milk Shake has the capacity to outspend all comers 10 to 1. Stan is in no doubt that this situation:
– Has potential to undermine the BPL making it La Liga 2
– Will never disappear. Loony Tunes has an infinity of characters
– Is unlikely to be ameliorated by FIFA fair play
– So, he intends to play a longer term game and win the battle ON the field where the situation is different.
– Stan has the one priceless asset that even the Milk Shake can’t buy. Arsene Wenger. In Arsene he trusts and with very good reason. It is possible to assemble winning and even world-beating teams without going 500 million pounds in debt. Wenger is the man on this planet most likely to succeed (FACT) 🙂
– SK hates Usmanov and all that he stands for. But he sees him as nothing more than an irritant and takes some pleasure from making him sit outside the boudour of the mistres he craves to ravage. Don’t expect words. He knows that this rending frustration is payback and satisfaction enough.
– He will never countenance Usmanov taking a seat on the board. He’ll welcome any multi-million dollar contribution that Red and White may tender. But he knows that assertions toward this end are empty rhetoric, intended only to destabilize the more frail minds in the fan base.
– Words without action will see Usmanov salivate to exhaustion while he masturbates on the empty side of the door (until he’s spent), while Stan savours succulence between sheets of red and gold.
– He’s demanding much more of CRAP. Currently “Criminally Retarded Arsenal Pisspots” and is demanding elevation to “Commercial Reinforcement of Arsenal’s Propulsion”. He’s in no doubt that, after Arsene Wenger, taking the Arsenal brand global and exploiting its value is THE single most important link in the keychain to Arsenal’s future. this can’t be bought. It needs to be built.
– He’ll work hard to ensure that Arsenal has a really competitive squad for next season. But like Wenger, he won’t change his philosophy and suddenly jump on the Loony Tunes band wagon. He isn’t in this for the money. His family has more than they can ever spend. Nor is he a charity. He takes satisfaction from prudent, sustainable business behaviour.
– He’s disappointed that Van Persie is leaving, although he knows that last season was a one-off that wont be repeated, Stan’s business principles make it impossible for him to countenance breaking a contract as Van Persie is doing. There will be no buckling at the knee in the style of Manure crawling after the Fat Granny Shagger.
And, AL, I’m with him completely. On the day that Arsenal has to start buying trophies with money of dubious origin, my interest in them will begin to wane. He and Arsene need to continue to invest to their agreed max and find young talent as only Arsene can. At the end of the day, it’s eleven versus eleven. I was at The Emirates when Arsenal outplayed easily a team that cost Shitty 400 million pounds plus. I’m looking forward to that and much more in the seasons ahead.
To borrow Holic’s closing line. We are Arsenal.
ollie, i bough to your puntasticity; i’d as leif contest you as i would trev…he’s on a (bank)roll. though he should probably branch out, if he is to keep the title.
btm, you really oughtn’t to hibernate for so long. top, top post.
I’m spent !
Briliant BtM.
HaHa BTM intoxicating stuff – if stan’s half as clued up as you suggest – why the future’s in the bag already. Psed – good luck with the interview at HQ – i reckon you should just wave @176 under SK’s ‘tache and you’re sure to be in
heh tabs
822 words of comfort and genius. Thanks BtM.
Are the Reader’s Digest going to do an abridged version of BtM’s post?
See, I have work in the morning….. 😉
Esso: I was 21 when Terry Neil took over and was already a veteran Gooner having seen my first game in 67. But it was 1968 before I went to an away game and it was the end of that season that I cried the first of a million tears for the Arsenal
🙂
Blimey, you’re nearly as old as ‘holic, GT 😉
November 1955 Ollie … Holic is a few months younger than me if my memory serves me right..
🙂
Heh Ollie! Good lad Terry. My first ever Arsenal game was an away. Leicester in 1976, the very year in question. We lost 4-1. I grew up in the midlands. Had to endure the good natured ribbing from the family of City fans, who took me to the game, all the way home in the car. Wangled a place at uni through clearing in 1978 and finally got to my first home game then. Beat Southampton 1-0, with Brady scoring the winner quite near the end of the game. The rest is history.
November, GT? November? My 57th coming up this Saturday you young whippersnapper.
For reference, I think my first time at Highbury was for a match against Chelsea in 63 or 64. We lost 4-2.
From then on, I have to yield superiority as amongst other things, I don’t think I’ve ever been to an away match.
I am a bit pissed off at listening to the Hard of Thinking” who seem to think that it is: a). easy to come up with a hundred Million Quid. and: b). to legally give that money to a corporation that you are a shareholder in.
First, there are limited ways that you can pass money to a company and they fall into the categories of Debt or Equity. So far Arsenal Holdings are not in the market for any more loans and they are not seeking to increase their shareholdings. So the fat Russian should shut the fuck up and go buy Spurs ..
🙂
Evening all.
Much good stuff here tonight.
Only 55 here Oxon. I bow to seniority. 😉
Trev – the undisputed “Pun King of the bar”. Hands down
BtM – What a genius! Magnificent post
Ollie – that twitter exchange between our maverick Brazilian and Yossi cracked me up. Lovely stuff.
Is it me or has The Professor changed his ways as it relates to transfer dealings. Based on this article, I guess it’s the latter. He’s been very vocal these days. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1123539/fiorentina-lodge-bid-for-arsenal's-marouane-chamakh?cc=5901
Very gallant of you ‘holic, but even at your age, ill-advised. Unless the golf really does keep you supple 🙂
Drinks on the bar for all the over-50s
BtM
Jesus Christ – what a post.
A bottle of whatever you’re drinking. On me.
Carefully draws back his foot, putting his weight on his cane and punts the ball upfield…
Appropriate cartoon?
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/mbc/lowres/mbcn1330l.jpg
Probably not, mind you, but maybe related in some way …
Top drink BtM, you set the bar mate… 🙂
Latches onto the pass from Oxon, initates the scoop turn to take it pass opposite defender, looks up to lay it off for…
boom?
On the blind side…
Well in, SCG. Nice assist, Wind.
Bam!
ahhh, happenstance is the bedfellow of success.
cheers for the assist, wind.
bt8b, if that was a color cartoon, and the fat was orange…
and wind, are we onto bar puns, now? i wouldn’t want you to rail on me if we aren’t, but if you did i’d plead the fifth. maybe i’d get into guiness if i held on long enough (but i’d rather get guiness into me, stout fellow).
Esso@171: I don’t really buy that argument. The two-tier voting structure distorts the price, and there are anyway perfectly good ways of valuing a private company without selling a bit of it to the public.
ned, well tabs’d…
Top post, BtM. Excellent read.
Nice finish Scruz 🙂
Lol, I said pass instead of past* 😆
And I’m gonna rail on you there buddy 😉
wind, i just figured it was a nod to your pre-18 year old self…:) a guinness on the bar for you…
Well in SCG. I was “dashing” down the middle in my portable commode but was way too slow to get there for the nod in. Oxon & ‘holic …ppph just whipper-snappers – saw my 1st game in 50s.
Ps Oxon if you could give me a heads up about 70 drinks, should make it in time for the cross @ 99 drink. 🙂
Scruz @ 209, ahh I see, thanks for the Guinness, will take some time to down it… 😛
Many thanks for all the kind mentions.
NBN – the man who makes accounting comprehensible.
BtM – pretty fair post that – considering you were asleep. 😉
Sorry forgot GT, for that YouTube of the guy going mental at van Pursey. 🙂
GT, Trev, you mean KSIOlajidebt, I love that guy all his videos are hilarious, yet to see a unfunny one 😀
@170: Oxon, I figure gooners are just tired of the annual summer stresses now…or out buying GB jerseys to support the Olympic team 😉
@176: Great post BtM. We can always count on our slumbering scribe to scrounge up scrumptious submissions for sobbing senior citizens 😀
Holics, I was just wondering, if RVP were to sign a new 4 year contract and remains as captain leading us to victory would that leave a bad taste in your mouth? Of course it doesn’t seem likely at this point in time but just wanted to hear your opinions…
Trev@212: I have been called many things in my life but never that. Was it a compliment? I get so confused.
Uplympian@210: Stellar. Was it in black and white?
Ah Ned don’t be so coy … I feel the same as Trev in that I have learned so much from your posts on sports finance & other stuff like that. Eee by gum yur a clever young man lad ..
🙂
So from my ‘back of the envelope’ analysis, the old buggers on here (like me) are far smarter than the young ones (like Dr Zee) .. what does that say about the youth of today eh?
😎
I’m too young to know what an envelope is 😉
GT@217: a drink on the bar for you, sir. Flattery gets you everywhere. Or at least another round…
CoR@219: it is something you push.
North Bank Ned@205. Not sure if I buy the argument either mate, just what I heard on the radio.
I cant see the United/Glazer model surviving for that much longer though, when you start digging into the numbers, the performance is really quite poor. I think the emergence of another direct ‘Sugar Daddy’ backed competitor has damaged them more than us.
Long live the Glazers @ the Old Toilet 😉
‘holic et al,
I suppose you fellas were right about Piers Morgan. I’m just reading an article saying that his show on CNN has just received the lowest ratings in the past 21 years for any of the network’s shows in the prime time slots.
There’s only one thing you need to know about Piers Morgan. He is a massive cunt.
Speaking of pushing envelopes…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbymcmahon/2012/07/09/van-persie-arsenal-and-the-usual-suspects/
@222: I’ll drink to that! The complete collapse and destruction or the Red Heathens would make my millenium. Might take some time yet though…
Uply@210 (belatedly) Delighted to have relinquished my position as Oldest Fart to such a worthy fellow drinker. Your request re crosses noted.
Esso knows.
Today, I will mostly be avoiding airports……
Interesting at 225, CoR.
In Nigeria we say ” Soldiers go Soldiers come the Barracks remain.. So i say players go players come WE the ARSENAL remain 4eva
Me too. read also the predecessor article to CoR’s.
Sorry for the convoluted English above. I hope you can all follow what I mean.
Sigh, work beckons…
I hate airports, Dr Z.
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2012/07/10/084149_lloris-plait-a-tottenham.html
Not liking this.
Ned – definitely a compliment, sir.
Esso speaks @224 – 5 words, job done, as per. 😉
Work now.
Selective back drinking due to time restraints…. Welcome back BtM.
An Henry-like return!
Ned 216 🙂 🙂
Oxon 227 Can’t ever believe you were the holder of the Oldest Fart trophy 😉 Glad to see you are off to work….you’ve got to keep us oldies in the lifestyle we expect 🙂
Yosh, heading out of the office now. See you lads and ladies later.
Hopefully there’ll be some good news soon, eh?
Crisis Club Arsenal (TM) were teetering on the brink last night after it emerged that they have failed to extend the contracts of EITHER Lukas Podolski or Olivier Giroud.
When asked, Podolski said “Vat?? I sink you are crazy!”. Crazy to think he would stay at Arsenal, he clearly meant.
Similarly, Giroud seemed ominously reluctant to talk about extending his Arsenal career; ” ‘allo, I am very happy, sankyou”.
This comes on top of futher clear signs of panic from Wenger, as he tried to tie down Koscielny to exactly the type of long term contract that has been the cause of Arsenal´s problems. According to a fan.
Arsenal in crisis. Buy my paper, please.
Interesting follow-up, I hope, to the main post.
In the last few days I have treated some ‘old time’ Chelsea and Tottenham fans, and an acquaintance of two older Man City fans.
Their response to billionaire owners is as follows –
Chelsea fans: “don’t like the atmosphere, don’t like what’s happened to the club and no longer feel any part of what is happening there.”
One of them “preferred it in the old days when two or three hundred of us used to go to away games, have a great laugh and even meet the players.”
Tottenham fans hearing that a super rich oil sheik is preparing to buy the club (his rumour, not mine):
“I bloody hope not. Noone wants to win the league doing that, do they?”
“That will ruin it down there.”
Man City fans, friends of the chap I was treating, who himself is an Arsenal season ticket holder, are apparantly not renewing their Citeh season tickets because they too are “unhappy at what is happening to their club.”
Be careful what you wish for, Gooners.
Bang on Trev .
@239
However, playing devils advocate, you will find just as many Arsenal fans saying the same thing, or similar, we should never have left Highbury etc
The fact is that the modern game is a very distant relation to what it used to be.
Except that Spurs are still a bunch of Lily White Cunts.
zico: on the other hand, my impression that it is often the ones who say we should never have left Highbury who most want Usmanov to ride in on his white horse and sprinkle his money all over the club.
Nice drink Trev.
And I agree with Zico – the dichotomy of some fans is hilarious – what odds that the ones wailing about RVP leaving and blaming AW / the board are the same ones who were
a) against PHW and wanting Kroenke involved
and b) the ones who were shouting at AW to get rid of the injury prone striker.
As little as two years ago I read that RVP “would never make it. We should sell him now and cut our losses”
Hey zico – a devil’s Advocaat for me too please.
Afternoon Tabs, Lars. 😉
Coming up Trev
We only serve them in steins though, so you better take a deep breath…..
‘Young Fellow MtB’ @ #176 – Truly magnificent! If only I could think things through with that degree of clarity. If you are seeking something to help fill your time post retirement, I have a few ideas…
Esso @ #171 – Also great. One genuine question: how do you raise capital against voting rights? Voting rights can be traded like equity?Excellent point re: PL cross-ownership, BTW. I bet AU would try to find a way to work around it which would involve high-powered lawyers, physical violence and huge bribes (just speculating of course).
Trev @ #137 – You’ve out-punned yourself, if that’s possible. The question is: Will Robin Fat Pursie be comparing size with Na$ri in the dressing rooms next season?
A stein of Advocaat? Good grief!
Give me a Brazillian gay over a Dutch turncoat any day of the week.
Fuck me!
Got a job!
Start on Monday.
I could shortly be going on the piss!
Zico –
Missed your ‘deadwood’ post yesterday.
I don’t know if Bendtner is deadwood exactly, but he’s never been very poplar.
Arshavin is pineing for a return to Russia.
Chamakh has to go – just far too keen on the ‘ash pipes.
Perfectly oakay by me if Squillaci leaves, but the rest of our back Rowan’ keeper are certainly knot deadwood.
Already done a good loan Deal for Denilson.
And it is a bit of an old chestnut,but I’m just sycamore transfer speculation on Van Pursey.
Coat please …….
Esso
Not all glamour.
You heard it here first 😉
Mate its been 2 years, nearly forgotten what its like.
TS – heh 🙂
Re filling time post retirement, I heard that 80% of men are now taking up shoe mending in their retirement to try to make ends meet.
But that sounds like a load of old cobblers to me. 😉
Fuck me !
Esso got a job !
Sorry, I meant congratulations old boy !
Esso
Congratulations/Commiserations.
Choose and have a pint on me.
Question, (probably, Ollie will know)
When do tickets for Sunderland go on sale viz:
Silver?
Red?
Hey Esso, great news!
Have a virtual drink on me
Is it the same job interview you mentioned on the arses a couple of days back?
Congratulations Esso.
More top punning Trev 🙂
Aye Harsha thats the one. Interview yesterday, job offer today. Start on Monday. Would rather it was a couple of weeks later, but cant really complain.
And cheers all for the congrats. I am now going dahn the rub-a-dub!
@MFworldfootball: Sky Sports reporting Robin van Persie could u-turn on that ludicrous statement and actually sign a new deal at Arsenal! #AFC
Not sure how I feel about that.
Would certainly need to do a lot more to earn my trust and love again.
Congrats Esso. Enjoy the celebrations!
Snir – we all know what’s been said by various parties well enough. I do remember registering a definite twinkle in the eye of Paul Davis though, when he was asked on SSNews what he thought would happen.
“That’s negotiation”, he said. “Robin has said his piece and now we’ll see what the club respond with”. Or words to exactly that effect.
He had the look of a man who knows something, and there are strange things indeed happening at the moment. Not least the silence from AW.
‘Wait and see’ time, I guess.
Hi holics well done esso,great post and great comments as ever,fine article on here is the city well worth 5mins,ain’t got a clue how to link to it computer illiterate 🙁
Snir – It would have to be a climb-down of immense proportions and I’m not sure his delicate palms and knees could take it. Can’t see it under any circumstances myself but if it happened, all good by me assuming enormous amounts of puckering-up by Van Hearsie.
With all due respect, f*ck trust and love, just keep banging those goals in!
Well done Esso. Enjoy those midday, mid-week pints whilst you can.
The funny (or sad? Not sure sure, to be honest) thing is I wouldn’t even be surprised if RvP really did make the u-est of u-turns and signed a new contract.
And it would be, hypothetically speaking, perfectly possible to repair the relations between himself and the club/the fans. It will take a gignormous apology and some action to back it up – like saying “I received some really bad advice and I have now sacked both my agent and my advisor and will never work with them again, I am so sorry for my actions” and then back it up by scoring a couple of goals really early on in the season – but it would be doable.
Meedja Tosspot at #238 – Excellent 😆
And cograts, Esso!
If he signs a new contract, he’s injured and worried about a medical.
Are we witnessing some serious straw-clutching here?
Cograts? Never knew there was a special kind of rat that lives in cogs. Well, you learn as long as you live, they say…
zico@270: interesting thought, that could very well be the case. Or perhaps he and his agent seriously miscalculated the amount of suitors for his signature.
Strange, isn’t it, that Champions League qualification was supposed to make our summer transfer / player dealings relatively straightforward.
Strange too, that Citeh were able to attract big name signings long before they had qualified for the Champions League, and yet, despite our annual qualification, our top players queue up every summer to leave.
It’s not the money though ……
Sorry Lars, I meant to put a sarcastic smiley face after that last sentence, as that was me at my cynical best.
I don’t think RvP would have gone anywhere near that statement if he didn’t know what was on the table elsewhere, but he may have mis-calculated the club’s response.
AW has said one thing on this as far as I’m aware – “keep him at all costs”.
That either means that we are taking a different approach with him compared with Cesc and Nasri or it is typical Wenger media speak.
I just refuse to read anything into anything that is being reported on Sky Sports News.
Hear Hear !
Could not have put it better myself and by god I mean that !
Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, years into decades, and so on. I think we get the picture.
Who remains at the club ?
Only the fans and no one else !
Managers,players,coaches and chairman come and go. Only one thing remains the same, the fans who walk through the turnstyles who are now sons/daughters,grandson/daughters and great granson/daughters.
That is what is passed down generation to generation. as previously said if the grass is greener else were *money* then go !
Leave your excuses at the door and enter if you want to leave the door is never locked.
Arsenal til i die !
And Fucking Proud of it !
What up y’awl.
Interesting articles posted by CoR and Oxon.
If we use the anology that the RvP saga is a poker game then it looks like the striker has forced his hand too soon, now we just got to hope that the board has the balls to call his bluff.
*since typing this (I started an hour ago, only to be interupted) I’ve seen that there may be a possibility of a U-ey, which strengthens the boards hand even futher.
====
Good stuff from Trev, glad to hear what fans from other clubs think, the sugar daddy’s are not universially appreaciated then, who’da thunk it?
Plus, well punned, you branched out to trees. Nice.
===
Congrats to Esso on the new gig.
No idea why that was in capitals ?
I just refuse to read anything into anything that is being reported on Sky Sports News.
Wise words, and neither do I. But hypothetical discussions can be fun too 🙂
And, still hypothetically speaking, considering that they claimed Gazidis was on a two-week holiday and IG then being photographed outside the Emirates the day after, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had misjudged the interest in RvP either.
The alternative theory, of course, could be Mrs Van Persie came downstairs this morning with THE trousers on and said :
Manchester? You’re having a fucking laugh. Now get out there and tell ’em, me and the kids are staying in London. And so are you, Billy Big Boots.
Fellas – I don’t think it will happen. If its a Rooney U-Turn it most certainly won’t happen as he’s not gonna get 200+k
He will however have the option of becoming a legend despite that statement just like PV is after this statement from 2001 –
http://arseblog.com/2011/06/give-me-back-that-old-familiar-feeling/
Heh@279 😀
Yep, don’t understand why “sky sources” are being taken as a platform on which to build any kind of hypothesis.It is in the interests of all facets of the media to invent twists and (u) turns, cos it sells papers and fills air time.
Today he’s reconsidering, tomorrow he’s off, wednesday he’s fed up of it all , decides to have a sex-change and joins the female tennis circuit .
All baloney.
If it looks like a fish, smells like a fish and tastes like a fish , it probably is a fish. He wants out, just a question as to whether Arsenal let him leave.
Sky Sports News can exclusively reveal :
Robin Van Persie is a Fish!
🙂 🙂
Okay..so from the training clothing scheme it really looks like it is going to be the purple striped abomination of an away kit 🙁 http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/arsenal-back-in-training-picture-special
on the other hand it has the same effect as the home kit, looks better while worn by players, the color combination is not that bad actually when you look at it but the stripes are so going to kill it -_-
If van Persie has taken the bait dangled by another then we have a plaice vacant and we need to fillet with a dab hand at finding the net or we could flounder next season. No longer can we rely on a sole goalscorer, eel need some help too.
Guilty confession… kind of slyly like the purple kit.
Well Catalan as I said ..the color combination itself, when worn by players is not worst, it has something to it ..but the style of the shirt, the horizontal stripes, are making it utterly horrible 🙁
Sky Sports News can exclusively reveal :
Robin Van Persie is a Fish!
Robin Fin Perchie?
Heh excellent punmeister Goram and H2H above.
Ah, fish puns – oh, have we? Twice?
Zico @279, Tabs @282 – 😆
Back to work ……
Andy, H2H 🙂
As for the kit Are you boys talking about the training top, which I don’t mind really .
Is the actual kit kit ie the stripey one, out yet ?
Goram, H2H – 🙂
Is the kit kit for Andy Andy Goram Goram ?
Trev, I thought we had gone far too long , at least 48 hours, without any fish punnery 🙂
Felt we needed more – We must know our strengths and stick to them 😉
Really want to score – ooer – but have to work.
Good luck with 301 Tabs. 😉
Trev @295 🙂
Makes an early run, slapping all defenders with a wet fish
@296 – seems I’ve made a rod for my own (stickle) back here, but will have to skate over it and return tu ruddy work.
I’m off. 🙁
Cheers Tabs, what a pass … ;). Laters.
tabs@299, you mean like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s
Exactly that Lars ! 🙂 🙂
Well done on the 300 Trev. Bit miffed you took the real glory (301) as well though 😉
301 is just the new 283.
H2H@276
Interesting articles posted by CoR and Oxon.
Eh what? Are you sure? I haven’t knowingly said anything interesting for ages.
Just saying so that you can compliment the appropriate person.
“Given Cod, Ling, Ray, Haddock or Dabs,
I prefer Stout, Gin, Rum – Whiskey” said Tabs,
“Then a dance in the tollie,
When I’m off my trolley,
And Wolfgang can strip for a Cab”..!!
Can’t sleep…arggggghhhh…
Did I miss anything? I saw someone mention some U-turn rumours?
Only problem is there’s no U in team…
Catalan likes the purple.
Catalan likes the purple.
Catalan likes the purple.
Only slyly though so it’s alright. 😉
Don’t UEFA have better things to do than bully our kids?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jul/10/arsenal-jack-wilshere-uefa-warning-twitter
Joe,
Did you ever take the train to Limerick? 😉
Don’t mind it myself, if I may say so slyly.
Liking the fish lines
‘ere this takes a bit o’ wading through but think it’s worth catching
http://wso.li/2jEZ
Hope you don’t mind ‘holic
Couldn’t be arsed backdrinking but stumbled across 249 hooray!
8ball… you tell tale! sshhshhhssshhhhh!!
Ollie can you backdrink at least to #256?
Anything else of note happened today?
Oxon, it was you @ 231.
Heh Joe.
Joe 🙂 🙂
You know me too well !
zico, I’m afraid .con in France is the same as .con in Scotland so I don’t have more info than you.
I expect they’ll announce the new pricing scheme before or at the same time.
I think that generally for the first game of the season, tickets go on sale to Silver roughly a month before the game, and to Reds only a few days laters. So I guess we have a week or so to wait for news.
Think I might wait until it comes out in book form AL 😉
If I go to a football match and support one team , am I a dualist ? 🙂
http://www.7amkickoff.com/2012/how-much-money-would-it-take-to-bring-arsenal-level-with-the-big-spenders/
Extremely interesting read, although I disagree with some of the arguments there.
Cheers Ollie.
With great red hair comes great responsibility. 🙂
Would like to get Swiss Ramble´s view on that model, Snir @321
Heh, from the Guardian article linked in blogs’ blog:
By the time court case 1103985595, listed as “John George Terry 07/12/80”, had finished for its first day, it was difficult to recollect how many times, even roughly, the word “cunt” had been used. Forty? Fifty? One hundred? More? The only certainty was that it was going to be a difficult day for newspapers, radio and television when it came to their asterisk and bleeping policy. Early in his evidence, Ferdinand was unsure about whether or not he could swear in court. “It’s a serious issue,” the prosecutor Duncan Penny told him. “Please do not worry about the language, what did you call Mr Terry?” Ferdinand replied: “A cunt.” And so it began.
OK, the best bit is at the end
‘• This article was amended on 10 July 2012 to add the word “allegedly” in the second paragraph.’
Have I got News for You anyone?
I’m sure they mean well, but I’m afraid Untold Arsenal pretty much surrendered any last pretence to being a credible blog today.
As conspiracy theories go , it’s right up there with the best .
It is absolutely fuckin’ mental .
Did they mention the gunman on the grassy knoll?
tabs, which specific article?
Cheers for the heads up Ollie.
Reports of the Trial are hilarious. I would pay lots of money to hear some of the exchanges going on in that courtroom .
A few for your delectation garnered from the Guardian’s tweets …
1.Carter-Stephenson: “F***ing nobhead’ is something I suspect you’ve been called on the pitch on a number of occasions”. Ferdinand: “Yes”
2.why did Terry’s penalty appeal make you angry?” Ferdinand is asked. He tells court: “i’m a winner”
3.Terry said to FA if someone called him an ‘ugly c***’ He would reply ‘an ugly c***. Look at yourself’
Brilliant ! 🙂
Dr Z ,
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/22803
Don’t say you haven’t been warned 😉
They may well have mentioned the grassy knoll, but I only got halfway through before I fell off my chair .
tabs, that’s amazing. “it wasn’t robin, it was little red men from mars who typed the update”.
wow.
on a different note, anyone who has gone to the pictures link posted by eandy at 285 above, can you help me identify some folks?
* #40 in picture 23
* #44 in picture 25
* #49 in picture 31
* the dude behind henri lansbury in picture 32
* all but gay brasil in picture 34.
7am’s take is interesting, but i don’t see how it has to be £125M, not when you consider the dross that’s part of the al-citeh £800M. given arsene’s prudent buying, it should be more like £14 50p.
Thanks for the link, tabs. I think I can spot a flaw in the theory.
H2H@317 Guilty as charged. In my defence, I claim only to have posted a link to something interesting, I didn’t actually say anything interesting. Not that you accused me of having done so.
scruz;
pic 23 : Kyle Bartley
pic 25 how can you read the numbers?!?
From L to R I see Gibbs Vermaelen Jenkinson Vermaelen, oops get it, the 2nd Vermaelen I’m struggling to identify too and yes I see he’s got 44
On picture 21 though I can only see Djourou and the back of Jenkinson, no 49. But I see 49 in picture 32 who looks like Yennaris to me.
Not sure who is behind LANSbury on that pic though
And er, there is no picture 34! 🙂
So I guess 31 was 32 indeed and on 33 I see Miquel on the left and don’t know about the 2 on the right either
Just the one Ollie ? 🙂
So the girl maintains that Robin didn’t write the letter, and then goes as far as she can so as not to consider that he actually approved it. I think you`ll find they mean more clicks 🙂
They’ve obviously completely changed the numbers but this
http://www.arsenal.com/reserves-youth/players
might help recognising the other faces.
There’s a clever bird there.
@ 330
Oh very dear.
A warning to all not to mess with industrial-strength drugs. (Unless prescribed by your friendly neighbourhood Foundation). 8)
Actually, I knew the face behind Lansbury looked a bit familiar, looks like Craig Eastmond to me.
cheers, ollie.
pic 23, bartley indeed.
pic 25, it’s that vermaelen clone that’s the wonder.
pic 30 it should have been, with #49, nico indeed.
pic 32 with lans (LANS) bury another wonder
pic 33 (not 34) with gay brasil, definitely ignaci on the left, anyone for the two on the right?
sorry about the picture errors, i wrote them down incoherently. not enough coffee this morning, as usual.
ollie, good call on eastmond. i’ll posit the rightmost with gay brasil is thomas eisfeld, based on his piclet. could second from right be jon toral? and vermalen-clone conor henderson?
Hey, randomly aces the triple-nelson 🙂 🙂 🙂
Ref the posting on 7am Kickoff linked a couple of times above. Look at the last graph, and the timing of Arsenal’s dip in TotalTeamValue (TTV). It’s almost as though they had to tighten the purse strings when they built the new stadium.
Also, notice that it went up sharply the season before last. I’m happy to believe that it would have gone up again this season had it not been for exceptional circumstances and that van Persie’s recent statement was not déjà vue. I concede that two consecutive sets of “exceptional circumstances” is, at least slightly, incredible but I honestly believe that the start of next season will put last week’s events into some kind of perspective and that the updated graph of TTV will show a healthy increase for the period 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12.
Re: Ollie @324. It is plain lazy journalism for me when the reporter is unable to count whether “cunt” was used in the courtroom 40, 50 or 100 times. What was he doing most of the time, sleeping?
heh tabs 320 – fair enough. it’s a bit of an academic exercise anyway i reckon. well researched and written and that, and interesting in theory. Did mullet over and don’t fink it does huss too many favours, re the reel world
The bloke that stuck his knee in the back of a barce centre-forward in the world-wide watched champs league semi was just on the radio messaging the nation with the notion (i think) that he’s far too sneaky to do anything incriminating with the TV cameras watching.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury i’m a sneaky fuk – well-known for it – how could i possibly be guilty???
scruz, I’d say more likely Eisfeld as the ‘fake Vermaelen’ to me on pic25, just from the haircut really. Actually he looks a lot like Ian Curtis in his .con picture.
Or maybe you’re right it’s confusing.
Jon Toral definitely not one of these, I’ve seen him play for the U18s so I know what he looks like 😉
Face of fake Vermaelen doesn’t look much Eisfield thoughn, true. Bah.
tabs@330: oh my goodness me that was a conspiracy theory fit to compete with the best of them…
AL- have to confess to not getting too far into it, but will give it a go when I’m feeling up to it.
Well done btw on your exchange with Fun earlier.Great stuff from the pair of you. Found myself nodding away at various points to both of you .
And heh at the JT stuff – if only you were prosecuting ! 🙂
Barking is the word I think Lars 🙂
Right, this is from Twatter, but it doesn’t sound too unbelievable:
David Gubala@DavidGubala
#Adidas to become the new kit supplier of #Arsenal Football Club as early as 2013/14. Partnership agreement is currently in the making.
Twitter rumours, Lars, shame on you.
And I really really really hope this isn’t true.
I hate Adidas with a vengeance (probably Marseille-related) and all their recent kits for various cunts have been pig-ugly.
I’d rather have Usmanov on the board.
Well, not quite, but still.
Aaaargh , Usmanov in an Adidas kit . Does it get any uglier ? 🙂
With Ollie on this one. I prefer the look of Nike kits to Adidas.A nike shirt is a more natural fit for the dedicated Speedo wearer.
A quick visit to say congrats to Esso. Great news!
Ollie your hate list is getting quite extensive.
The question for today, is, do you hate Adidas more than airports?
Personally, I’d much prefer Adidas on my chest than Gatwick South Terminal.
And tabs, I always thought that the dedicated Speedo wearer did not wear a shirt?
These questions could keep an already troubled mind awake at night, just so you guys know….
Now that’s a poser, zico….
Of course the dedicated Speed wearer sometimes wears a shirt Dr Z.
To go out in the depths of winter with no shirt ? That’s just silly 🙂
A guy in Speedos AND a shirt,
that’s a poseur Ollie….
HEH Dr Z
🙂
Okay here I go again to put things in to perspective a little.
The Sky Sports news claim is merely one of two things:
1) Somebody down in the ‘Sky Sports News Understands’ department has taken another look at RVP’s statement where he stated:
“soon as Mr. Gazidis is back from his 2-week holiday in America further meetings will follow and I will update you if and when there are more developments.”
and has thought ‘hang on, I can create another story out of this’. or perhaps the SSN rep who was quick to copy and paste and then plaster other parts of the statement on screen, including lines like:
“unfortunately in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.”
and:
” I’ve thought long and hard about it, but I have decided not to extend my contract. This is clearly after the
which clearly make better headlines than the first quote above, has now realised that after taking another look at the whole statement in it’s entirety, that it actually has other dimensions (my old boss always said you should check your work and then check again). Anyway…
RVP’s statement merely re-confirms what the media (ahem, agent) had already carefully placed in the media previously straight after the ‘meeting’ in question.
Remember this shit?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2146071/Manchester-City-alert-Robin-van-Persie-stalls-new-Arsenal-deal.html
In effect RVP’s statement did not tell us what we did not already know. It just confirmed it.
But saying that, we were already two signings deep by the time RVP released his statement. Which ends with the first quote above.
Who knows what effect our second signing has had on the ‘RVP Agency’?
See the statement in full if you haven’t already:
http://robinvanpersie.com/2012/07/04/update-for-the-fans/
2) Theory number two of course and the most likely is that the carefully placed statement was supposed to have the affect of other clubs now showing their hands.
But more than likely to the disappointment of the ‘RVP agency’ it has failed to spark any new interest apart from re-igniting the same old dross which is; Citeh, PSG and Juve, all clubs which in my opinion would be a severe step down for the striker.
In turn, now that we commence the start of pre-season training, the media (ahem, agent) now rely on that carefully placed caveat which is the first quote above, to warm the supporters towards the fact that RVP may feat for the team at some point during pre-season, making it uncomfortable for the player, whilst his agent (ahem, media) await the ‘Mancini mind games’ and his ‘oil-rigging superiors’ to sort out the fee/bankers draft which AFC are willing to accept (no less than 25 mill) for a 29 yr old in the last year of his contract. Or of course for RVP’s dream to come true, which would be to link up again with his mate Cesc at the ‘best club in the world’ (although the last time I checked Cesc had moved to a club in sunny spain).
Whatever happens negoatians are far from over, but as with other other high profile ‘Arsenal poaches’ in the past, this saga will drag out, but this time, our squad can crack on with it’s new replacements (ahem additions).
I must say, I’m looking forward to the pre- season games which at last are being shown on TV. Albiet as early as 14:00 on a weekday (gooners can’t be choosers).
But there you have it. There will be no love lost from me after this whole ‘sickly business saga’ is over, because let’s face it, all that it is doing, is distracting the club from concentrating on what is really important for the us at present, which is getting the team ready for a realistic challenge for honours next season, with or without RVP!
Not Adidas, not for Arsenal 🙁 Wouldn’t feel right wearing an Arsenal Shirt that doesn’t have Nike on it, they’re all I’ve ever known.
In my personal belief, the best clubs are generally with Nike.
And look what happened to Liverpool, from Adidas to Warrior Sports, just saying… 😯
Hope that negative progression never happens to us.
hmm..haven’t seen this one with Jack posing in the purple one…hate to admit it but it does not look _that_ bad when actually worn by player http://allarsenal.com/wp-content/uploads/away_2.gif
Yeah, when did wearing Adidas do anybody any good?
What?
Oh…
While on the subject of kit, looks like we are now a feeder club for Citeh’s shirt colours, too. Its new away kit looks very much like our anniversary redcurrant.
http://www.footballshirtculture.com/12/13-kits/manchester-city-2012-2013-umbro-away-football-shirt.html
I know Shitty want our floor-boards too, but they will never emulate this Arsenal Kit. No way!
Live long the Reeeds!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42099562@N08/6229399043/
*long live* rather
‘arry on the (long) short list for the Russia manager job. Full list:
Rafael Benitez, Anatoliy Byshovets, Marcelo Bielsa, Valery Gazzaev, Josep Guardiola, Fabio Capello, Andrei Kobelev, Yuri Krasnozhan, Marcello Lippi, Valery Nepomnyashchy, Nikolai Pisarev, Harry Redknapp, Yuri Semin.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18787009
Red Redknapp.
Goonertown: 🙂
It is only a small step from those shorts to Speedoes.
Just let me know how much Adidas want to pay and I’ll let you know whether we ought to be wearing their kit!!
Uply – stand by for pinpoint cross
Cheers Oxon….I’ve greased the wheels and emptied the pot to reduce the weight / increase the speed. I’ll start in a mo. if I score the quad-ton, I’ll refer to your assist Oxon. 🙂
Sorry Uply. Got to head for bed before the Horlicks goes cold. At least I won’t be kept awake by the drinkers at this bar.
‘night all.
Sleep tight Oxon…..by the time we get to 400, I’ll have forgotten why I’m there 😉
One more to help you along, Uply.
Cheers Ned..I still expect I will overtake Denilson on the way down the pitch. 🙂
Just us 2 in the bar, I think a quick Baileys coffee will set me up nicely.
Football deprivation symptoms are starting to set in. At the grocery store today I got excited when seeing somebody wearing a Stoke City shirt, a sign that things may be getting serious …
As even John Terry may figure out one day, denial is a short step away from desperation:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jul/10/john-terry-denies-snapped-affair-taunts
My favorite part of that article is this exchange between prosecutor and Terry:
Under cross-examination , Terry agreed words such as “cunt”, “prick” and fuck”, were part and parcel of the game, as was calling another player “fat” or “ugly”.
“There are no-go areas aren’t there?” asked Penny. “Wives, girlfriends. ‘I shagged yours’, that sort of thing?”
“I wouldn’t call them no-go areas,” replied Terry.
For the Speedo men of the bar http://elbalonrosa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Gotze-3.jpg 🙂
Bt8b Wayne Bridge would confirm your last line 🙂
lol @ bird and uplympian. here’s another on the chase to the fourton.
@ tabs
Normally yes. The main point I was making, which is the same one that I took from Amy L’s article, was that there is dischord in the boardroom which translates into dischord in the changing room i.e. there is a need for both parties to attempt to find some middle ground for the good of the club.
There isn’t discord in the boardroom – Usmanov is not on the board or involved in the administration of the club in any way.
@ AL
BtM has covered most of the points, so I’d just add:
AU could have agreed to Megafon sponsoring Arsenal – that’s a genuine business deal and he would have got a massive PR coup. No FFP problem as he isn’t on the board of either Arsenal or Megafon. Emirates gave us a shedload of money and were able to make stipulations so why couldn’t her? Emirates don’t have any say in the club’s policy either, but handed over the cash. But my underlying point is that AU’s promises are being taken at face value, and I don’t see why.
The £15-20m interest payments on the loans for the stadium comes out of the overall turnover but AW does NOT have to make £15m-£20m a year on transfers to cover it – that would be extraordinary – consider that the entire net profit over a number of years was quoted as £21 million. Last tax year the football business made a small loss.
In the profit-making scenarios I described, SK is not taking out of the club. Neither is he taking money out now. He never promised us his money. So why should he put money in?
“Accidental owner” is my own phrase – what I meant was that when DD got SK into Arsenal, he saw it only as an investment. “We didn’t invest to come in and control the club,” Kroenke says. “I thought that we needed a strategic alliance with one of the big clubs. We did have lots of different opportunities presented to us to invest in European football. I didn’t have the motivation to do it until Arsenal.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/8797931/Arsenal-owner-Stan-Kroenke-Arsene-Wenger-is-one-of-the-greats-he-will-be-in-charge-for-as-long-as-he-wants.html
is where that’s from.
Anyway, I guess we’re both happy to leave it there, so have yourself another.
That is definitley Eisfeld in training pics, by the way.
Fun @383 – Mistaken identity I’m afraid , not me . I haven’t commented other than to say I enjoyed your exchange with AL and at various points was in agreement with both of you .
Whoops, sorry, tabs – that should have been to True Storey. Beg your pardon and please have one on me. And yes go on, TS, there’s one on the bar for you as well. Cah! What am I like?
@331: Hey Scruz, not sure if anyone answered your question correctly already but after checking out the photos I think that:
Picture 23 – Kyle Bartley
Picture 25 – James Shea
Picture 31 – Nico Yennaris
Picture 32 – Craig Eastmond is the guy behind Lansbury
Picture 33 – Ignasi Miquel, Damian Martinez and Thomas Eisfeld
@363: Eandy, I admit the action shots make the possible new designs look cooler but still not a big fan at the moment…The design makes Wilshere look too much like last season’s Shrek
Not sure if you gooners saw this but seems like it’s a good thing that Kagawa is not going to the Fulham bus stop this summer…
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/shinji-kagawa-pornstar-girlfriend-ameri-1136810
8)
It’s a shame he picked such a skinny chick to date though.
She needs to pick up some “chankonabe” and quick!
Shaft@388: now, now, don’t be sarcastic.
Uply: time to down the last of the Baileys and start the late run…
Exclusive recording of the sensational testimony of John Terry at his trial today: http://youtu.be/SZxTb01OgNE
😎
Which of you facking lurkers are still hiding in the facking bushes you facking kants? ..
🙂
I’m in some bush at the moment 8)
Shoobie, doobie, doooo….
BMBD
Only problem with that Lonestar is that it isn’t night time here.
There are a few strangers here, but that’s normal. 😉
DR Zee: Wanna a early goal?
Boots it straight up the field more in hope that in glory … 🙂
It drops right on the penalty spot and sits up nicely for… 🙂
Son of Diego!
Buenos Dias Mothafuckas…..
And for good measure,
the new tabs…… 8)
I would just like to thank my faithful enabler, GoonerTerry………
1hr 14 ms to run the length of the pitch – a new record for isn’t it Dr Zee:
😎
well in, diegoz…
As you can see my assistant’s strength is not in arithmetic 😉
My main man, Zico with the tan.
Groovy goal my soul brother!
Heh Shaft,
I may have a job for you – there are major corrupt football administrators in this quaint backwater. To be found in the offices of the SFA.
You interested?
I’m definitely interested! Maybe I’ll work up a dossier and get it ready after I skip across to Zurich…
What is Switzerland like at the end of July? Need to know what to pack…
…besides my Bear Grease of course 😉
Every day I get greeted on the site by ‘we wish you a plesant summer’. And the temperature. This morning, 13°C. And rain.
Summer my arse.
zico, well done at 400 and heh at 401 (does that count as a retro self-assist?)
You were up early this morning, mind.
Morning Ollie and other ‘holics.
And I see that Forest are going to win the Premier League soon.
Hey Esso, how’s the new job treating you?
Dont start ’till Monday CoR. Going be busy before then trying to swot up on the stuff I bullshitted on to get the offer in the first place.
Morning Esso, CoR and lurkers.
Time for a little coffee here before serious work starts again.
Heh Ollie,
@ 412 – you may think that.
The alternative of course, is that I may just have been getting home 😉
Shaft @ 408.
Waders and a snorkel should do the trick.
@419: Thanks for the advice Zico!
I wonder if there are any Swiss holics that can point me in the direction of a good cheap pub?
@416: Esso, you’ll be fine man. All you need for the first day at any job is a clean shave, Issey Miyake cologne and a bright smile and you’re good to go. Shaft has never been qualified for any of the jobs he’s done and now he’s running everything. Fake it till you make it 8)
Heh! Not sure if I’m such a dude as your good self, but I’ll give it a shot mate.
I reckon Barclays will be a much better bank with Esso in the hot seat 😉
Interesting, just read in czech news here that Arséne declined an offer from Brasil to coach their national team till World Cup. *takes a bow to le prof*
Also apparently according to the same article he named Cesc, Nasri and Clichy as the ones who made it impossible for his philosophy to work so far, which I would take with huge pinch of salt since it just does not go well with how Arséne acts in media.
@ Eandy
If it’s the article I think it is, what he said was that losing them as they hit their respective peaks had made his job difficult – he was talking about other clubs destroying his work.
John ‘I didn’t snap’ Terry’s testimony sounds very dubious to me.
Still, what’s the point of wasting all that money if it’s for a maximum £2,500 fine that makes even UEFA look strict on racism.
Which article was that Eandy?
Thats the thing, its the article written here on czech sport news. Worded exactly as I wrote. I believe it was more along the lines as FG said it was, just showing how misleading translation can be sometimes :-S
@ Ollie
“if it’s for a maximum £2,500 fine that makes even UEFA look strict on racism.”
Daft, isn’t it? I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that. But for an individual, the stigma will be the real punishment.
Eandy, I have read the same thing on a FRench website yesterday.
Eandy, I have read the same thing on a FRench website yesterday.
Here it is:
http://www.francefootball.fr/#!/news/2012/07/10/122900_wenger-aurait-refuse-le-bresil.html
I also read the Czech/NAsri/Clichy thing elsewhere.
Some bizarre stuff must have happened with ‘holic’s server.
oops poldi spoiled the away kit day earlier 😀 heh http://i.imgur.com/PS3ak.jpg
FG – I don’t really see how it’s possible to make genuine comparisons between Emirates and Usmanov. One’s a sponsor the other owns nearly 30% of the club with a clearly stated ambition to own more of it. Any investment from him would inevitably be conditional.
Re your “underlying point” re AU: not sure i know of anyone who takes Usmanov’s promises at face-value; even those who most vociferously support his proposals are aware that he has an agenda to push. From what I can tell that’s pretty much the point re him: in the main those that buy into his agenda support him and the financial proposals he makes re the club, those that don’t buy into his agenda – don’t support him. I guess another group has begun to emerge recently who are fed with what they perceive to be destructive infighting and wonder whether some accommodation can be reached between the two factions. But this group are also fully aware of Usmanov’s agenda and take nothing he says/does at face value, I think.
Re the transfer business, business – with football business paying football costs and the property portfolio mostly cashed in on it’s difficult to see where else the club can find the 15-20 million pounds Arsene talked about the club needing “to make” each year (which as the Swiss Ramble points out is about the same amount the club needs to meet the interest payments on the stadium debt annually), which in turn would push us into being selling club – (and perhaps force us into selling key/valuable playing assets year on year). Though, unless I’m misreading this, the Swiss Ramble suggests that we have been doing something like that for some time:
” There has been an undue reliance on player sales with an average £25 million a year being generated from this activity since 2006. Good business, but it makes it hard to build a winning team.”
Arsene made about £18 million on our summer transfer dealings I think. And income being used to pay down debt or interest on debt wouldn’t then show up in the books as profit, I reckon – but that’s fast approaching the outer limits of my admittedly limited knowledge on this lark.
Could we/should we then expect some investment into the club from our newish owner – Sk, so that we are not necessarily forced to sell when/who we don’t want to sell? No, SK didn’t buy the club to put his own money into it – but circumstances/conditions and even minds change: I worry that the self-sustaining financial model is not going to prove adequate in the near future now that the property portfolio is more or less sold up and we still have 2 years to go before we can cash in on our renewed long-term, front-line sponsorship deals. The full FFP thing is also still some way off and none of us knows for sure how effective it will be anyway. (We do know though that the clubs most likely to be detrimentally affected by it will do what they can to get round it, they’ve started to do that already.)
How are we going to bridge that gap in our income? Could/should SK – who clearly believes there is money to be made from AFC – help the club out financially during what promises to be a particularly tricky couple of seasons even by the standards of the last few seasons? Such an investment on his part could be characterized as a bit of short-term speculating in the knowledge that plenty of accumulating is likely to be done further down the line – so long as AFC is still in pretty good shape, of course. Or, the club with its debt burden increasingly under control (though debts a re still sizeable) could perhaps borrow from other sources if it needed to cover costs in the short-term. The owner would obviously need to ok that too – should he? IF (a big if, I know – but more resources are bound to be useful) money from these sources helped AW maintain or even improve on the current levels of success, then SK’s asset would continue to appreciate as the club carried on forward to that promised land where the stadium debt is payed off and all profits, from all areas of a by then hopefully rapidly business could then be spent by AW on improving the team/playing squad.
Thanks for explaining the phrase “accidental owner”. That’s an interesting article you posted. I read it at the time, but what with my failing memory that counts as a long time ago, so enjoyed reading it again, ta. SK rightly says many mighty fine things re our marvellous manager, and some interesting stuff on other issues (though his praise of the Glazer’s stewardship of ManKu still makes me queasy). Not sure I take at face value Stan’s apparent claim that he never intended to become owner of the club – if indeed that is precisely what he is saying. I think the point still stands that Stan didn’t have to buy the club. He could have sold his share at a good profit or possibly just retained it and so retained his interest in the club. But he’s clearly no fool he knows there’s money to be made from AFC – he chose to buy the club and he spent an awful lot of money doing so
FG I’m more than happy to have this sort of discussion here amongst smart/balanced Gooners whose love for the club, in the broadest possible sense, is unquestioned. I was delighted when TS, Trev, Ned and of course BTM (with his glorious, raising the roof off the bar paean to most things Arsenal) joined in and added their perspective/knowledge. I’m not driven by any agenda. I simply want to better understand what’s going on with the club I care about. And to wonder aloud whether there are sensible/practical/feasible things those at the top of our club could undertake to help improve our situation off the pitch during very difficult times, which could in turn facilitate AW in further improving things on the pitch. If there are no improvements to be made so be it – I’ll still be there next season, like the rest of us, roaring Arsenal on.
Up The Arse
Psed – sorry I’ve gone horribly, horribly, horribly (too many horriblies even) long again – there was a time when I posted pithy nonsense. And I fear this posting is that bit duller than the other longy before. This has to stop. Ok – I can’t end on a song so a gag will have to do (I’ll keep it short)
Three contortionists walk into a mini-bar…I fank you!
Right, moustache!
Can anyone sum up AL’s post in 3 words?
Or failing that, 3 lines?
Another magnum opus from AL.
I can remember when he was just fields……..
Our income (the property lark mostly) continues to diminish significantly. Our outgoings, if anything, continue to rise. How can we bridge the gap without becoming a selling club – or as some would have it – continuing to be a selling club?
Heh Ollie 3 and a half lines is the best i could do – and i wish i’d thought of that lot before
Heh Zee – i blame the weather…and the lack of access to the CMC
AL,
Both problems solved with one easy solution.
Remove the vendors of the overpriced fizzy beer in and around the stadium and replace them with Feelgood Foundation outlets. Chemicals for all, at prices that will bring a tear to your eye.
Dr Feelgood is a reasonable man – he will give Stanley Krankie a cut.
I’ll drink, and drink, and drink to that Zee. Ahem, any chance Feelgood might be looking for other investors – i’ve stopped buying newspapers just now and might/may be/perhaps/potentially be interested in channelling them funds elsewhere. If favourable terms and conditions could be established of course
What are you guys on? I’m having difficulty understanding any of these posts
Any chance Feelgood might be looking for other investors?
Feelgood will take ANYBODY’s money AL, you should know that.
Speak to my man, err, woman, err hermaphrodite Wolfgang, and ask for a prospectus.*
* May be printed on Ladbrokes letterhead
Epic post AL.
Tabs, I had a quick butchers at that post from Untrue Arsenal, a bit sad really, I however will let her have this, fron the fifth paragraph;
Now, call me crazy…
OK sweetheart, whatever makes you happy. 😎
Maybe JT should invite her on his legal team, she looks to have that spin thing down packed. Although she seems to be overlooking one small fact, if it indeeed wasn’t RvP’s statement nor RvP’s website, then why the hell hasn’t he rebuked those statements? Girls eh?
====
Dr F, take a big of a cut of the profits as you want, as long as you don’t cut the merchandise. 😉
===
Facking rain here too, not looking good for the weekend either, those paalzitters are gonna get wet.
Uncle Charlie.
Blame on Dr F.
*Blame it on.
Not quite awake yet.
@ 435 And Lester
Well, if you don’t mind carrying this on… Apologies to anyone else who is bored, but at least you know you can skip.
I don’t really see how it’s possible to make genuine comparisons between Emirates and Usmanov. One’s a sponsor the other owns nearly 30% of the club with a clearly stated ambition to own more of it. Any investment from him would inevitably be conditional.
If Megafon (AU’s company) had agreed to sponsor whatever it was they were being called about, they would be in the same position as Emirates. By saying any investment from him would be conditional, you are implicitly accepting that what he wants primarily is control – otherwise becoming a sponsor of a club of which he is a fan shouldn’t be a problem for him – an easy way to inject cash if he thinks that’s what we need.
Re your “underlying point” re AU: not sure i know of anyone who takes Usmanov’s promises at face-value; even those who most vociferously support his proposals are aware that he has an agenda to push.
None of them are asking any hard questions, or asking for any detail of his plans. None of them are asking to see see proof of his intentions, evidence that he has put money into other (sport) ventures. They parrot the line that he’s a fan, etc, etc. That’s what I mean by taking him or his promises at face value. And they are all over the blogs, to the extent that one suspects some of them are being paid to do it.
Re the transfer business, business – with football business paying football costs and the property portfolio mostly cashed in on it’s difficult to see where else the club can find the 15-20 million pounds
As I understand it, the £15m-£20m *is* the money we pay in interest and all that is covered by our hugely increased matchday income. I’m a bit out of my depth here, so I hope a more clued-up commenter can dive in and explain it (I’m looking at you, North Bank Ned). The transfer profit from last summer was about £12 million and 70% of it has to go into the Transfer Proceeds Account – ie it can’t be used to pay down debt. I see you have quoted Swiss Ramble but logically we can’t have made £25m a year from transfers each year AND made £21 million total transfer profit over several years from transfers.
Could we/should we then expect some investment into the club from our newish owner – Sk, so that we are not necessarily forced to sell when/who we don’t want to sell?
I don’t think we should expect investment from him – we’re either self-sustaining or we’re not. Also we have only been forced into selling by sulking players or players who want higher wages at Man City, which is vastly richer than we are, not £15m-£20m a year richer. We haven’t lost anyone (against our will) to anyone else.
There is a huge unbridgeable gap between our financial resources and those of Man Cty in the short term, and there will be a less huge but still unbridgeable gap in the medium to long term (gnoring any possible effect of FFP). But that doesn’t mean that we have to give up all hope of competing with Man City, Chelsea and Man United *on the field*. After the side was bedded in, we matched them for points and we finished above Chelsea for the first time in ages. I accept their financial superiority, I do *not* accept that they will therefore always have football superiority. I don’t for one minute think that you are screaming for unsustainable spending, but I ask you to accept that we are already spending all the profit we have on football, that we are working to increase revenues and hence profit. Stan has every incentive to support IG and AW in making us as successful on the field of play as possible.
I don’t like the fact that he praises the Glazers either, but remember that a) Americans expect to make money out of sports clubs – it’s not seen as sacrilegious b) he praises them for increasing ManUre’s commercial income, not for leveraging their purchase on the club c) he is not taking money out of the club at present, d) he has not leveraged his loans on the club.
I think the point still stands that Stan didn’t have to buy the club. He could have sold his share at a good profit or possibly just retained it and so retained his interest in the club. But he’s clearly no fool he knows there’s money to be made from AFC – he chose to buy the club and he spent an awful lot of money doing so
Absolutely, he didn’t have to buy the club (technical point – he is the owner in practical terms, but strictly he is the majority shareholder). He knows when he’s onto a good thing. There is indeed a lot of money to be made because of his position at AFC, but I would stress that that money doesn’t have to come *out of* AFC. Usmanov has spent heavily also, so presumably would also be interested in making a return.
Incidentally, given how many people beat Stan with the stick of only being interested in maintaining the share price rather than winning on the pitch, and contrast him unfavourably with Usmanov, it is ironic that it is Usmanov’s high valuations (he pays 50-60% more per share than SK paid for DF’s or NB-S’s holdings) which is inflating the share price.
He bought in because he wouldn’t have to change anything. That being the case, what else should he do except let IG and AW get on with it and give them praise and support in public now and again?
My attitude to Usmanov is that he is a slippery shark, and I don’t trust him. I see no reason why he should get involved in running the club. I was equally sceptical about SK when he came on the scene – fully supported PHW’s hostility and caution. Now, a few years on, my attitude is one of cautious approval, mainly because he has been straight with us from the start. He is a sports fan, he likes the cut of Arsenal’s jib and he wants to make money with sports clubs over the long term. And that’s it. No pretence, no lies, no soft-soaping. And I like the fact that he does not interfere with Arsene. If I could wave a magic wand and put in genuine Gooners, I would. But hey.
Heh H2H 🙂
Cheers for the summary AL 😉
It might be argued that our expenditure might go down (reduced borrowing and interest) whilst our income goes up (renewed sponsorship deals etc) in the near future , no ?
And meanwhile The Terry trial gets better and better .
Terry has painfully had to recount to court the song from Liverpool fans about his “mum loving Scouse cock”.
Lovely ! 🙂
Prospectus, Get your Prospectus here .
Just to clarify – it is of course commercial income where we are looking to increase revenue.
@ And Lester
Also this:
“It might be argued that our expenditure might go down (reduced borrowing and interest) whilst our income goes up (renewed sponsorship deals etc) in the near future , no ?”
Good point, tabs.
Terry has painfully had to recount to court the song from Liverpool fans about his “mum loving Scouse cock”.
ha ha ha ha ha! Made my day!
@ 448
That’s the spirit.
There’s a pair of shoes in it for you. 8)
NBN & Bird
Speedoes were all the rage back then. 😀
Guilty of racial abuse…. 2500 GBP
Public humiliation of JT…. Priceless !!!!
That´s quite cheered up my day 🙂
There’s one thing Gooners across the world cannot deny. Even though we are divided upon many issues concerning our ‘N.London skyline dominant centre-piece’ we all love coming together on a sat/sun etc to watch the most beautifully played footie in the perm!
We’ll add our self-sustainability to this beauty later shall we? Maybe whilst we continue to be aware of how others are trying to emulate( in the 100’s of mills) but can never duplicate!
…and so say all of us!!
Aaron Ramsey should just tell Chris Coleman to take a flying fuck at himself.
There are issues there says Coleman.
Yeah, and Aaron is the innocent party – so why not keep this to yourself instead of airing it all in public? You can phone the guy up and ask him the question without it all being in the public domain.
What a prick.
Heh Dr C.
The problem is, I see it, is that most think that JT is a cunt anyway, so nothing will change there, and the ones that don’t, the Chav supporters, will probably still support him and go into seige mentality mode.
It’s all a big waste of time and tax payers money.
Unless they bring back tar and feathering.
AL – another amazing effort.
There is nothing I can sensibly add to your debate with FunG, except this.
The question “how can we bridge the gap between ourselves and Man City in the medium to long term?”
The answer given in the same piece was, “we can’t”.
A simplified version I know, but we do have one chance and it is already in place. “It’s” name is Arsene Wenger.
As one of you said, once our team was settled last season, we matched City and beat Chelsea on points. And that was in a season when the heart was ripped out of our midfield.
Arsene Wenger has, as many have already said, performed miracles, and not just since the move to The Emirates. With the dreaded David Dein in tandem he won doubles and produced The Invincibles.
Without him, but with all the constraints imposed by building and moving to a new stadium, he has completed 15 years of continuous Champions League qualification, a feat unmatched by any other club, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, Man Utd and Chelsea.
FunGunner says that at least Stan Kroenke does not interfere with AW. Personally, I don’t agree, which makes AW’s achievements all the greater.
Last summer’s public statements of intent regarding transfers in no way matched tha manager’s eventual actions. That discrepancy can have had only one source.
The manager has made the strongest possible declarations of intent again this summer. We now await the outcome when the loss of a potential transfer fee threatens.
So, Ollie, AL, before I forget where I am completely, I will attempt to sum up the debate in Ollie’s desired 3 words:
“Keep Arsene Wenger”
Still, it does provide us with some light entertainment;
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/brian-swanson-sky-sports-john-terry-testified-to-hearing-his-mum-called-a-slag/
Nice one Zico, I concur.
Nice one Mr C and H2H. And the latter should observe the former’s not so recent promotion. Professional (tee hee) respect, you understand. 😉
Well said Zico regarding Aaron and the Thing from Stoke. Coleman must be quite the man manager.
Blimey, there’s been a lot of drinking done here since late last night. Lots of back-drinking to do…
One final (promise) point on the finance / boardroom debate.
If the club does change direction, don’t forget to turn left out of The Tollie, instead of right.
That’s all we really need to know ? 😉
Hi holics Coleman is a twat,when he asks Aaron do you mind if this leg smashing cunny can play alongside you next season aaron should say no probs once were sponsored by jaguar,after al I’m sure you won’t mind been reminded what smashed your leg to pieces mate 😉
Garsguns – thought you were going to say ‘cos they were made in Coventry’. Oops !
Astonishing level of detail, AL.
In short term we have a sum of money set aside which is to cover the loss of CL for a year.
Costs now being looked at. There is, as acknowledged by Gazidis, downward pressure on wages. So as the Squillacis and Almunias are being offloaded the salaries being offered to the squad-fillers is dropping.
Attention turning to tying up partnership deals in the East and the US.
Looking to maximise revenues from merchandise, hence new stores opening and in the pipeline.
This is to get us through two years until the first major commercial deals are up for grabs.
Either that or we are closing our eyes and hoping for the best when we open them 😉
Afternoon Major !
What, no golf ? 😉
AVB has done really well and Spurs are impressed with what he has achieved at Spurs so far.LOL
Never mind the leg break all Ramsey has to do is be honest and suggest that Shawcross is not good enough to even play for Wales.
@ 461
You raise an interesting point.
Rather than Arsenal changing direction, has anyone canvassed RvP’s opinion on moving the Tollie?
(As it happens, whether I turn right or left, I still end up getting lost – just ask the Reverend AL) 😉
😆
Dr. F the money’s in my next post
Cheers H2H – i think
Fair enough FG thems your views. I think our exchanges have become a tad circular now, so I don’t really have much new to add above and beyond the doubts/questions/worries i went on about @435.
Except to say that funds from transfers used to pay down debt wouldn’t show up as profit – i don’t think, and as i understand it funds from the TPA can be used to pay down debt and almost certainly have been used to do just that – among other things
Tabs it was the couple of seasons/years between now and 2014 that i was largely yagging on about (sadly couldn’t get that in the 3 line summary Ollie restricted me to). From what i can make out they look like they could be terribly tough ones financially for the club as things stand
Psed – John Terry is innocent!!! Of something. Not sure what though
Cheers Trev. It wasn’t the gap between our finances and mank city’s I was on about – I realize that’s an impossible gap to (wayne) bridge. I was referring to the fact that our income from the property portfolio is about to dry up, and we can’t cash in on new front-line sponsorship deals etc until 2014. It’s going to be very difficult for the club to significantly raise match-day income through ticket price rises, so to my untrained eye it seems to me that in the short-term (the next couple of seasons) there could be a sizeable gap between the revenues that come into the club and revenues that have to go out of the club (servicing the debt/paying interest on it, and ideally investing on the playing side) – unless we sell players (become a selling club effectively) or find an alternative option in the meantime. And you’re right without the genius of AW we would almost certainly be in serious trouble
Cheers ‘holic – i sincerely hope it’s enough to see us through. Too kind with the astonishing level of detail thing – editing this stuff down is not my strong suit
AL – I think I’ve got it !
If we can persuade ‘Holic, zico and Tabs to stop drinking and give the money to AFC instead, we may even be able to outspend Man City. 😉
@471 – that’s what he meant AL. 😉
You spill the beans Zee, and I spill the pints
Eureka Trev – you may have struck oil for the Arse!
Psed – realized ‘h was teasing somewhat there
Interesting stuff from AL and FunGunner, I can’t really contribute to that particular debate but read what you write with great interest.
Trev, so right about Arsene Wenger. Without him we’d have been looking for cut-price deals on paddles at the Shit Creek General Store.
And what has that idiot Coleman said about Ramsey?
Good idea Trev.
*Wipes brow and breathes huge sigh of relief that my name wasn’t on that stop drinking list.
@ 472
If you manage that, you can buy Man Utd with the change….. 8)
Lars;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18786041
Cheers H2H, I have to say that that was one of the most astonishingly incompetent and cowardly displays of management I have ever seen from someone in such a position. He’s putting Ramsey in an almost impossible position by going public with that.
Twat.
As cunts go, Coleman cuts the mustard.
AL, FG: Two quick points on your debate above. First, the long-term strategy was that as the revenue from the property development business came to its end, the commercial and sponsorship deals would fall due for renewal and new ones be added, thus filling that gap. Second, there is a difference between the money we have in the cigar box under IG’s desk where the club keeps it cash for day to day running of the club, and what the books say we have for accounting purposes. So (these numbers from the last annual report), turnover minus operating costs from the football business before depreciation, player trading and exceptional items amounted to £45.8 million in 2011. Then account for depreciation of £12.5 million, exceptional costs of £3.1 million and operating loss from player trading of £20.9 million (this is mostly the amortization of player transfers over the life of the contracts, not the difference between what we spend and what we get for transfers in any particular year; that gets taken into account later) and you are left with operating profit on football of £9.3 million. Then add in the clubs share of the profit from Arsenal Broadband, which the club operates as a joint venture with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, £822,000, the profit on the year’s transfers, £6.3 million, and you get to £18.4 million. Out of that comes the net servicing of the debt, £14.2 million, leaving a pre-tax profit on football of £2.2 million. So, even without the property profits, £12.6 million in 2011, we would need only a modest boost in revenue from player sales or commercial deals to stay self-sustaining.
Just to reiterate the profit/loss on player trading (mostly accounting for the write down of a registration over the player’s contract) and the net profit/loss on player registrations (i.e. transfers) are different things in the accounts, but easily mixed up. Also, Arsenal’s bookkeeping year ends June 30th, so ‘summer’ business may fall across two accounting years.
Hope that helps explain it all. I’ve already for gotten what FG wanted explained. Time for some of Uply’s memory restoring Baileys.
@450 ,
New shoes ? Whoopee whoop whoop 😎
Another way of measuring how relatively small the gap is, is that reaching the quarterfinals of the CL rather than the last 16 would cover it.
Miquel to Brighton on loan? A good move if it comes off, IMO.
Fun – cheers for the drink, way back when.
AL – apologies, I have now read your tome, rather than the three line summary, and well worth reading it was.
I’m agreed with you that with a 2 year “gap” to fill until the new commercials kick in, that a slightly less conservative approach to borrowing (whether it be from Stan by way of a soft loan or even a fresh loan in the commercial sector), might be used to bridge that gap and to keep us on course until Adidas et al start to pay us squillions.
I don’t see that that approach is in any way at odds with a “self-sustaining” model. In fact I would agree with you that it would help our long-term viability in as much as on field success will of course maximise the ultimate revenues from the new deals.
Cheers Ned – i think i understand just about enough of that to be reassured by it – enjoy your Baileys
Heh tabs you spend all that time reading some amateurs tome then someone who knows what they’re on about comes along and explains the thing with bells on in half the time – oil well
Dr Z @454 – Agreed . Words fail me other than that Coleman is a mahoosive cunt.
Trev @456 – Great stuff. Only one manager could have seen us through the the last 6 years, and thank God we have him .
Garsguns @462 heh 🙂 Not just Coleman’s leg that was fucked in that smash it would seem.
Trev @472 – Now I’ve heard some nonsense in my time, but the three musketeers give up the sauce ?? 😉
Right back to the comedy extravaganza that is The Terry Trial.
H2H, if you reckon its a waste of money , you just ain’t following it mate 🙂
AL Heh 🙂
@ 483
Who said anything about new?
Gotta move a lot of product before we talk new 😉
The Terry Trial
John Terry himself followed by Cashley Cole followed by Chelsea Bus Driver (ok forget him), followed by Ray Wilkins followed by Bruce Buck.
Has there ever been a bigger parade of cunts in one courtroom since 1945 ?
Enter Cashley stage left…
I don’t know – were the Nolan Sisters ever nicked?
Ah you had to go and spoil it Dr Z 🙁
The Good Doctors in The Quackery don’t treat me like this.
Heh at most above.
Dunno Dr Z , crimes against fashion ,music ,diet maybe.
Also operated the biggest drug cartel in Western Europe or so i heard.
Evil witches !
AL@487: the summary is that even though the mega-millions owners inflated player costs (wages and transfers) way beyond what we expected when we started the stadium project, and the global financial crash hit the property development side of things, our self-sustaining model is proving robust enough just about to carry us through, albeit without as fat a safety margin as we had originally planned for. We haven’t done a Rangers, Portsmouth or Leeds. Nor should we do anything that would remotely put us at risk of doing so.
There are no good doctors in the Quackery, Wolfie.
To your original question – I forgot about your thing concerning being in the mood for dancing, romancing – ok, how about The Spice Girls?
Diablo!
Alter ego self assist?
Are you familiar with the term Clype H2H?
It’s a Scottish Term for grass…. 😉
Wot? Like what footys played on, or the stuff you smoke?
Oh.
NED @ 498 True we certainly don’t want to do what those 3 did.
What do we do re finances if we don’t qualify for the the quarter-finals and beyond of the champs league? Do we have the cash reserves to cover that?
Heh, H2H @ 501- I agree… something smells fishy (I apologize in advance for spawning more punnery, oh right.)
BMBD
The Nolans and I go a long way back Dr Z – they used to be such nice girls. Who would have thought they would all turn out to be such carnivorous knee-breaking vixens . Not me I can tell you .
As for The Spicey girls, pale imitators !!!
Booooooooooooooooooooo !!!!
Self-assisting cheetah.
@ goonerholic and NBN
Thanks for that – Airtel, Citroen etc, none of them massive deals, one assumes, but it all adds up. Plus the cash reserve, of course.
NBN, I don’t understand all the detail yet, will have to study it more closely. What I deduced from both of your respective posts was that there isn’t a black hole opening up and we are well placed to cover the shortfall when the property receipts dry up completely.
@ AL
I think it’s fanciful to talk about bridging the gap with Man City, though. They have many billions, we will never have anything like their money with or without extra loans in the short term (which are probably unnecessary anyway). If we found ourselves able to buy in the readymade equivalent of Robin we would soon discover that in fact we couldn’t, because the price had just doubled. That is the effect City and the other behemoths have on the market – the pool of top players doesn’t get any bigger over the years, so if the money available to buy them increases, the price goes up. We’re always going to have to do things differently. I absolutely agree that we couldn’t have got this far without AW. I can think of no other top manager who could have achieved what he has with such limited resources. So thank goodness we’ve got him, I say.
@ tabs
glad you enjoyed the drink. My pleasure!
@ ‘holic, AL, Trev, tabs, hell, everyone, get them in – I’m buying!
(Disclaimer: virtual generosity may not correspond to real-world generosity. Numbers of drinks bought online is no guide to actual drinks bought in real bars.)
Apologies Ned I can see you’ve already covered that above when you said we could cover the shortfall with player sales and perhaps some new commercial deals
Curses. When I started that post, I thought I was taking up a good position on the wing ready to slalom my way into the box Theo-style and stick one it. Gah. One of these days, one of these days…
“stick one IN”, I meant.
@ NBN
I took that to mean selling players to reduce the wage bill – *not* selling our top players. That is not part of our money-making strategy. We want to keep our top players.
Heh with generosity like that Fun, I’m getting the Krug in . 😉
I’m already celebrating. I no longer care whether Terry is found guilty or not.
He has already had to sing a song about his own mother liking “scouse cock”.
After that, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is clear that WE are the winners.
I fear you lot been posting like mad since my last post.
Summary?
The scene, H2H gets called in to testify in the alter ego self assist case.
George Carter-Stephenson QC, for
TerryDR F: “Did you want to get involved in the situation?” “No.”Mr Carter-Stephenson said: “When you made the statement what was in your mind?”
–H2H replied: “The FA summoned me to do it.”Cole
Mr Carter-Stephenson continued: “Did you feel there was any conflict?”
ColeH2H said: “Yeah. Zico is myteamblog-mate and friend;Anton and Rio and his familySonofdiego, I’ve known for a long time.”The trial continues………
In other news I hear that new Manc signing Kawaga has a porn star girlfriend.
Just wait until Mr Terry hears that news.
Will he be “turning Japanese” ?
I really think so .
@ 500 the Maradona of the North is back
FG thanks for the drink, there’s one on the bar for you too. But i haven’t at any point, on here or anywhere else talked about us bridging the financial gap between ourselves city. They’re over the hill and far, far, far away – why they could probably settle Lars’ bar bill and still have change to catch the airbus home and buy endless packet of chips to plop on the broad shoulders of their seven or so ridiculously overpaid centre-forwards.
Re the last part of your post Lars again might have a view on real v virtual generosity
@ Ollie
Summary:
tabs has found out that AL has been living a double life and has a wife and kids in Australia; the Guernsey mafia are after H2H for an unpaid gambling debt which was in fact incurred by NBN using H2H’s identity; Trev’s long lost twin brother has come back but as a pre-op transexual and Zico’s cat has had kittens with six toes – just for a bit of comedy relief. And I’m still driving the cab.
@ AL
Sorry if I got you mixed up with someone else, then. Thanks for mine!
Quite right, Dr Z.
No good doctors in The Quackery. Only evil narcissistic quacks. But we do know how to look after a lady…
Where for art thou Nurse Bubbles??
Do we give kudos to Cashley for blanking the CPS´ “joke” about The Emirates?
*Sticks middle finger up at AL and Sundry, especially Dutch Sundry*
516, tabs.
8ball linked to that earlier, do a quick google of her and her alter egos and even on the realitivly tame Google or Bing images you´ll find shes Knot (not a typo) just your average run of the milll porn stars.
I hope for him his English isn´t up to scratch, he´ll be ripped to shreds.
Afternoon ‘Holics
AL @ 433 – Tree-mendous. I am a particular fern of your sequoiand paragraph. I woodn’t want to add anything to your soliloquy. Yew speak for me big man. We’ll leaf it there.
UTA!
PS: JT being made to feel uncomfortable in court? Pop the champagne corks please.
Image of said pornstar girlfriend? (fully — or at least partially — clothed, of course, for this family-oriented website):
http://www.7msport.com/news/newsdata/20120709/75706.shtml
Halfway through a bafflinf backarse.
Are there hints that Shawcunt could play for Wales? Thought he’d already been called up to the England A team, no? :s
Shameless at 500. RED CARD.
Excuse the pun but ‘Breaking News’ in The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/wales-manager-chris-coleman-may-consult-aaron-ramsey-over-selection-of-ryan-shawcross-7935777.html
“Arsenal midfielder Ramsey broke his leg in six places in 2010 after a tackle by Shawcross, and ignored the centre-half’s initial attempts to apologise.”
So, it’s true, as reported at the time, that Shawcross is a lovely boy and that after his ‘tackle’ Ramsey broke his own leg in six places and then wouldn’t even apologise for doing so!
FG 518 cheers, all clear now! 😉
Ollie, Now we have some idea of what constitutes a red card offence, but I believe we still require some clarification as to what constitutes appropriate punishment.
Esso, I forgot to say congratulations on the job and good luck. 🙂
TS i Sherwood like to thank you – apparently there’s some Krug on the go
Rev AL
Heh! JT is not guilty of…….. being Ry*n Shawcr*ss.
Per Lars, What a c*nt the Welsh manager is for going public with that sh*t.
Trying to make space in his squad for a leg-snapping, half-mong who asks for his mummy when he smashes other people’s legs to pieces?
Not even good enough for the England team but come on over to Wales sonny and never mind what you did to our captain, he’ll get over it?
Jaysus H. Christ – How many more utter, utter c*nts will the modern game produce?
Balls2Coleman
Nice variation on Colemanballs, TS 😉
H2H @522 Ah, I’m with you as to this girl’s speciality .
I believe however that Mr Terry has a plan which will overcome the language barrier.
He is going to take her out on the lash ! 😎
Bring on your cards of rouge, and shove them where the soleil don’t shine.
Rules are for minions. 8)
‘Your mum’s a slag’. Hang on, did someone misquote that chant?
I thought it was ‘your mum is a thief’, etc…
Heh! Spotters badge for the cultured Mon.Ollie 🙂
More stuff for your winter wardrobe all …
http://yfrog.com/nzg20tyj
Don’t mind it actually !!
‘Purple Reign’. Oh dear.
It looks a bit too weird. Although I suspect that like the blue kit from this season, it will look better ‘in the flesh’ than on any pictures.
Is that enough to make it a ‘good’ Arsenal away kit, I don’t know.
At least it hasn’t got 3 stripes on it 😉
Sir Chesney all in Pink !!
Yippee .
Sir Chezzer showing the way forward .
https://twitter.com/BlackScarfAFC/status/223068754270093313/photo/1
TS, I’m running out of space to put all these badges 😉
The Big Pink Pole!
Heh @ Esso
That might just send Wolfie over the edge…..
Heh 🙂
That kit will be a hit on arseblog.
I’m a bit meh on the pink panther kit…
– Owens Corning (http://www.owenscorning.com/)
BMBD
Kyle Bartley in First Team Squad (according to him on twitter!);
Kyle Bartley @kylebartley22
Over the moon to officially be an Arsenal first team player. Thank you to everyone who has supported me. Hard work starts now!
I love it.
Yeah, it’s all right.
These drinks are turning into a ‘retweeting’ site.
I vehemently protest :p
I still don’t know the first thing about tweeting. What’s a hash-tag? and what is it good for (absolutely nuthin.)
BMBD
Claims 555 for the good of humanity (>)
Hash?
Oh go on then. 😛
Ollie, put your green lenses in and try to view it as re-cycling. I love the planet, me.
> = greater good of humanity, of course.
TS, You made a hash of 555, but it could be for the greater greater good of humanity in any case.
Heh, TS has a new alter-ego 😉
Dr. Feelgood appears to have slipped into 555 position without anyone noticing. :blush:
This is all getting rather confusing, even with a professor’s brain 🙁
Dr. F – As you well know, the only good hash is the corned beef variety.
I still don’t get tweets or twits or whateva.
Snir, what’s good, bro?
BMBD
tabs @ 486 had brain ache and was still trying to understand the detail ned had come up with just before. Hadn’t fully appreciated the distinction you outlined re viewing potential short-term loans as actually being compatible with a self-sustaining model – v interesting. If the club felt they had to/or wanted to go down that route it could be a positive way to sell it to the media/critics of the club who might be tempted to try dress it up as something more negative
And Zee @ 521 i missed that – heh
Psed tabs with your wig on can all 3 footballers on both sides of this case be done for perjury. I’m not sure i believe any of them is telling the whole truth – footballers yougotta lov ’em
John Terry is innocent!!! (I’m merely repeating something sarcastically that i thought i heard JT say)
Right off to buy the new Keepers’ kit and pop down the pub with it on and get me a rinky dink drink
@553 Lonestar Gooner
RVP is a #judascunt. Are you getting the picture?
and @563 And Lester.
John Terry is about as innocent as George Davis was.
*embeds Sham69 – george davis is innocent*
Dr. F – As you well know, the only good hash is the corned beef variety
I beg to differ……..
*puff, puff, pass*
Heh Lonestar!
Hash tag – a game played by adolescents running around a field with some home grown?
Apparently (Twitter again) Miquel loan to Brighton, Bartley promoted, Squillaci drops into reserves! Can´t be worse…
Home grown hash can contend if you have the right climate, Lonestar. 😉
AL,
Yep my point exactly . To be self-sustaining does not preclude borrowing per se . It is only when the extent of that borrowing reaches such giddy heights (ie Man Utd) that borrowing can threaten self-sustainability such that sugar daddy investment is required.
As to your perjury point – in theory yes all 3 could be found to have perjured themselves if they are all found to be intentionally untruthful about facts which materially affect the outcome of the case.
In theory – possible . In practice – highly unlikely, probably impossible .
Another Terry gem from the trial tweeted (sorry Ollie) by a journo.
QC tday asked John Terry how many times he’d been sent off. “Can you say, please? Four times?”
JT answered: “Please, please, please, please”
This is not a joke. It actually happened !!!!!!!!
John Terry – you thick thick racist cunt.
*jaw drops to ground*
ER, tabs? I suspect it IS a joke. Which, coming from twitter, is hardly a surprise….
Mediawatch excerpt:
Calm
Shortly after that, Terry’s own lawyers asked him: “How many times have you been sent off in your career?”
To which Terry replied: “Four times…I remain calm in tense matches.”
While we don’t want to tell the prosecution how to do their jobs, we urge them to call Alexis Sanchez as their next witness.
Ollie,
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh
QC tday asked John Terry how many times he’d been sent off. “Can you say, please? Four times?” JT answered: “Please, please, please, please”
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh
I wasn’t making up John Terry’s ‘4 pleases’ gaffe btw. The court fell about laughing.
@paulwaugh
Editor of PoliticsHome.com News, gossip and comment from House of Commons.
Might have been a joke Ollie, but nothing to suggest it was, quite the opposite in fact.
Heh Esso @ 563 i’ll get the brushes out and start painting that on railway bridges around london – not.
tabs an interesting, potentially v useful and subtle self-sustaining distinction, i reckon
ta for the perjury explanation. re the perjury thing re AF (blimey not sure you’re allowed to say stuff on a public forum – oh gawd i’ve gawn hash tag paranoid), just to say – for what it’s worth – i sort of wonder if he was peer-pressured/a bit bulllied by certain others to drop stuff post game – then maybe later after giving it some thought p’raps decided to change his mind – if that was so and i very much doubt it is – honest – it wouldn’t materially affect the outcome i guess. Anyway i know next to nothing about anything. Anyone who has ever at any time read a post of mine will back me up on that.
I need to go for a lie down in the pub – it’s been a long day
I love you JT – you’re the best!!! (i was merely repeating something sarcastically that i thought i heard JT say.)
The please x 4, is either the funniest or sadest thing I’ve heard all day, I’m not sure which.
Please let the please story be true please
MediaWatch’s excerpt was from yesterday’s proceedings.
The above is from today’s. Given Terry had already told the court “four times” yesterday would have been the reason the QC said “four times” querulously today.
This is in tonight’s Evening Standard:
In a hilarious misunderstanding, Terry was asked to repeat evidence that he had been sent off four times in his career.
“Can you say, please, four times?” asked his QC, George Carter-Stephenson.
“Please, please, please, please,” Terry responded.
Guffaws of laughter broke out around the courtroom at the misunderstanding, which was a result of the judge asking Terry to speak up.
The footballer appeared confused by response from the courtroom.
Is he ploaying the insanity card?
playing, damn it.
AL – peer pressure/bullying to either drop the case or plough on with it nothing to do with perjury.
Simply about what he says when he gets to court and whether he tells the truth.
Might be argued however that if there has been peer pressure either way , it might affect how truthful he is.
Actually, what AF said , apart from being hugely entertaining, was of little consequence , apart from the one most significant part on which the whole case hinges.
He said that at the time (on the pitch) he was unaware that JT had used a racist term and was only made aware of it later by his girlfriend.
If he is believed it blows JT’s Defence out of the water ie that he was merely repeating AR’s accusation that JT had used a racist term.
It follows that if AR was unaware (as he maintains) that JT had used a racist term, he would not have accused JT of same , and that therefore JT’s Defence ( that it was a sarcastic and querulous repetition) is a pack of lies.
Ergo, John Terry is a lying cunt 😉
tabs, I don’t trust anyone on twitter anymore, ever 😀
Although, with you explanation, I suspect tomorrow’s Mediawatch will back you up 🙂
Drinks on me.
H2H 579, well it worked for Harry….
Wilshire crocked is doing the rounds, rumours of him being finished have started to circulate
Heh Ollie.
===
Finished what Tigger?
His GCSE’s? His dinner? The latest Harry Potter book?
Where cometh from, these so called rumours?
(please don’t say twitter or me and Ollie might have to come around and kill ya. 😉 )
Heh Ollie 🙂
Understand your twitter aversion. To a large extent I share it.
Cheers for the drink, and one back for you Sir.
Some serious drinking going on in the bar!
Is that JT story for real?!
It’s exactly real, Harsha…except for the fact that it’s a joke and never happened.
Free John Terry. Free John Terry. Free John Terry.
BMBD
TaBS @587
You may have an aversion, but I see Wolfie has been tweeting away today… those pink and purple shirts have fired him up 😉
Free John Terry?
I wouldn’t take him if you paid me…….
*Mad dash for coat*
Doc, I can’t control what that blighter gets up to 😉
LG, what doI have to buy to get a free John Terry?
Tis true Doc, I am fired up by the merest hint of Pink and I have tweeted.
So sad that only Chezzer will look resplendent but never mind , it is progress.
Ned.
Leave your missus unattended.
Crap, I read What do I have to do, but you wrote buy.
FAIL.
JT is simply a poor misguided, tragic soul. I mean, if I were brought up on charges every time I used the term black “insert derogatory term of choice”…, oh right.
BMBD (lurking)
Drifts into the box…
Have at it, gays…(Love myself some Santos)
BMBD
OOps
Too early or too late…
Damn. Too late. Well in, H2H. Generous assist, LG.
Sod it.
Failed Lurker
Well played LG, H2H and NBN
@581 JT a lying cunt?! sounds good to me your honour – take him away.
Don’t worry JT i’ll be waiting for you when you get out (of court and pay your derisory fine) cos you’re my hero and i love you and everything you stand for!!!?! (i was merely sarcastically repeat something i thought i heard JT say)
Good goal, H2H.
Thanx gents, a bit of a sneaky one that.
Cheers, Ned.
Good goal, H2H. They all count.
As for me, I shall lurk no more forever…
BMBD.
Por lo tanto, no 600 para mí?
Bastardo!
You want soft toilet paper you go to Hotel Gayboy. This Hotel Bastardos!
Heh 🙂
Better try and cobble some words together I suppose. Heaven knows what about.
Let’s see if Mr Talisker can help…
The toilet paper is lovely and soft where I’m staying Esso.
@609.
No es para mi. hijo de un git de mano divina.
‘holic@611. Please Dennis do, Guv. The natives are beginning to get restless. They’ll be turning ugly soon. Or uglier…
Heh H2H,
You made a fine fist of that 🙂
Maybe JT cleverly played the ‘Awwy (I don’t know nuffink) card to avoid a fine that he could pay in loose change found in one of his socks.
The difference is, that being a thick, ignorant, racist c*ck will put him in prime position for manager once they’ve fired Di Matteo at Xmas.
*books a room at Hotel Gayboy*
Heh, thanks Z’, my limited Spainish shines through.
I know it’s not that good, but it’s infinitly better then JT’s understanding of English.
Please, please, please, please m’lauuuud, don’t belief that b**** c***, I is not a racist, innit.
H2H
Wilshire has finished collecting all the money from the LWCs who bet that they’d finish above us in the league (and given it to charity)
Apparently, it was like trying to herd cats in a fire drill.
Good call TS.
Not too sure if all those tight fisted LWC’s coughed up though. 😉
A b*llock with every single pound coin apparently, H2H….
….Hence the delay, heh!
‘Holic @ #611
Was that The Talisker bought on special offer at Sainsbury’s? 😉
Re: Lonestar @608. Reference could easily have gone over the heads of our old world friends. I believe that was Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians who said “I shall fight no more forever” after having fought heroically for years upon years. But correct me if I am wrong. 😉
Ollie Ollie & H2H
I read this and thought of you….
@AFCTransferTal
Exclusive :Yann M’vila will sign for Arsenal next Monday. Fee of 17 million and personal terms agreed! Medical next Monday after his holiday
I’ve filed that one with “WWII Bomber Found on the Moon”
Heh! What a load of old pony.
8Ball, his English was obviously as good as JT’s.
===
Well, it could be true TS, otherwise why would it be on Twatter? OH!
8ball@622, Your belief is confirmed by Wikipedia. As a resident of the Old World, and I hope a friend, the reference had indeed gone over my head. Thank You for the explanation.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Players change but the club remains the same, more or less. We are not the only club bemoaning a skewed transfer system. Don’t know where the tipping point lies but it feels like it is getting closer. As is a new season with cringe worthy purple kits, c’mon you gooners!