Shorts, or Briefs If You Prefer
Jan 20th, 2016 by 'holic
Rather than one major story being out there it looks as though there are a lot of little ones, and so please find a summary of what has caught the eye since Sunday.
Nacho Montreal Extends His Contract
Back in June I was lucky enough to meet Nacho at the Puma 2015/16 home kit launch. There is no doubt that last season he blossomed after opening the season as an emergency central defender. So much so that he ensured that the left-back berth became his by right. The mutterings this season that Atletico Bilbao were poised to pounce for his services were a little concerning, so the announcement on Tuesday that Nacho had extended his contract at Arsenal came as a welcome relief. If we are to have title aspirations beyond this season we need to keep our best players, and there is no doubt that the consistent Spaniard is a first team fixture by right. Thank you Nacho.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles On Target
The on-loan youngster started for Ipswich Town at Portsmouth in an FA Cup 3rd round replay and scored an absolute beauty from the edge of the box. Sadly for Ainsley Pompey were two up at the time and held on to record an impressive victory. Go to 38 seconds to see the superb left foot strike.
Theo Celebrates A Decade At Arsenal
Theo Walcott’s arrival at Arsenal as a sixteen year old on January 20th 2006 was a high profile affair, made all the more remarkable during that summer when he was called into the England squad for the World Cup in Germany. In the ensuing decade Theo has enjoyed mixed fortunes, making no less than 30 appearances in each of his first eight full seasons at the club. A serious knee injury sustained against the neighbours in an FA Cup tie would cost Theo the next year, including the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The form of Olivier Giroud, and a calf injury sustained at Sheffield Wednesday have restricted his appearances again this season. Nonetheless Theo’s record at Arsenal bears scrutiny. He has notched 81 goals in 326 appearances and will surely become a Gunners centurion in the next couple of years. Thanks Theo.
Petr Cech On Fractured Skull
Ahead of Sunday’s big match against the bus stop in Fulham the goalkeeper they so generously gifted us in the summer, Petr Cech, has been talking to arsenal.com about the skull fracture he suffered against Reading, also a decade ago now. If anybody doubted the extent of his recovery then they only have to look at his form this season with the cannon on his chest. There is no doubt he has played a major role in our rise to the top of the Premier League. Let’s hope we are still there on Sunday night, for to achieve that we will almost certainly have to beat his former employers, and watching him one cannot help but get the impression that he would enjoy that every bit as much as the rest of us.
Come back on Saturday for a much fuller preview of the match of the weekend. Thank you.
96 Responses to “Shorts, or Briefs If You Prefer”
Err..Get IN?!
😀
Contract, Target, Arsenal, Skull.
I love those words.
Tattoo me.
Evening H
On the subject of our new Keeper.
There is only 1 player in the history of the First Division/EPL,that has won back to back Titles with successive clubs.
The odious Cantona won it with Leeds,and was then transferred to Utd,where he won it in his first season there.
Remarkably it has never been achieved before,or since.
Petr won it last season with the Boys in Blue,and has every chance of going back to back with us.
No mean feat if he can achieve it.
Let’s hope so Clive, he deserves it, and every apology I can throw out there for doubting the signing.
Hey ‘holic then there is the anticipated travail of the traveling Manure brigade.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/20/manchester-united-derby-fa-cup
Plenty of trains to Leicester though.
That would be superb double, Clive.
I really wondered if Cech would represent much of an upgrade too, Holic. Delighted to have been very wrong……..I’ll stop there before I go downhill rapidly into days of Almunia and what might have been.
Nice distillate of this weeks news, guvna.
Another record for Petr to match and then pass. Well spotted, Clive.
You are beyond ruin, ‘Holic. 🙂
Just as a measure of how rare it is to win back to back Premiership titles with different clubs, only six players — Kolo Toure, Henning Berg, Nicolas Anelka, Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy, Carlos Trevez — have won the league at any time with different clubs.
Shorts or briefs…that’s just pants Holic 😉
Very good news of Nacho’s extension of contract, he’s been a model of outstanding consistency these past 12 months. Wonder if Kieran Gibbs will stay for a few more years – he would be excellent back up – or will he seek pastures new in the summer in order to play regularly ( injuries permitting ).
Good find Clive re Petr Cech’s possibility of another landmark. What an astute, and fortunate, signing by the boss. Not only still world class but his demeanour shows him to be a top man – full of Arsenal class. No doubt swapping the “Odious One” for Arsene Wenger along with playing week in week out is win win for him, and it shows.
My reservations about signing Cech had nothing to do with his ability, which I thought undoubted. It was the helmet. I couldn’t help thinking he was a sissy or something for still wearing it years after the accident – even though my rational mind assumed it was probably an insurance requirement.
But now I don’t even notice it and couldn’t be happier he’s a gunner.
Oskar
Howdy, folks?
Theo has been a faithful servant, role model and spokesperson for the club. As Holic rightly alluded to, his goals and assists are nothing to sneeze at. Here’s looking forward to at least another half decade of even better service from Theo who I believe will improve as he gets older.
Jon Toral, Wellington Silva, Gedion Zelalem, Akpom, Hayden, Jenkinson, Maitland-Niles? Who stays, who goes? AW has a really difficult job on his hands this summer. To be honest, if you’ve seen the Tractor Boys play this season then you probably know that Maitland-Niles is the real deal.
Nacho has arguably been the best left sided defender in Europe this season( there may be a little bias here) and is absolutely deserving of a new contract.
I hope the kids are taking notes from these two model professionals.
On Cech, what more can be said? Awesome, just bloody awesome.
Thanks, Holic for the effort and good work all around. You’ve done really well for people like me these past few years. Keep up the good work.
COYG
nice briefs, holic. not that you’d take that out of context.
nacho’ nacho, atletico…our nacho.
can’t see m-n’s fine strike as “the uploader has not made this video available in your country.” the problems of being from the colonies, i tell you.
i can’t believe both theo and rosicky are up for testimonials (well, rozza in a few months). our last testimonial was dennis, iirc. none of the other invincibles were here even 10 years, and now we have two that have spent way too much time on the sick table for their talent…sad.
cech is a true gunner, and if wenger’d been able to get him before he went to chelsea (what was it, work permit issues, i think?) we’d’ve been in a much better position for the past decade…
for those of us in the outback of uploaderland, here’s a link to a youtube vid of the maitland-niles strike. it starts with the foreplay prior to the fine score:
https://youtu.be/uv1UfWoG2wQ?t=178
Outback appreciations from me to you, scruz. 🙂
Thanks for the youtube link, scuz. Do you recommend the Mystery Spot?
Congrats to Theo on his ten years with the Arsenal. And what better way to mark the occasion is with a start leading the line vs. Chelscum. It’s an ideal spot; throw in Theo up front with Alexis, Campbell, and Ozil in the attacking midfield and go after a ponderous back line containing Terry, Zouma, and Ivanovic with pace.
cheers, bt. I often despair over the early mornings, but this was just rubbing my nose in it 🙂
potsticker, believe it or not I’ve never been! I have friends and family who have enjoyed it, though. when I tend towards a spot, it’s usually green…
Changing my mind on Cech has nothing to do with his football and everything to do with his drumming skillz 🙂
Great news re Nacho. He had developed into a really excellent player and a top pro.
Congrats to Theo. I really hope he can approach the prime of his career and become the player we all hoped he would be when we signed him 10 years ago.
Cech. Never ever doubted his signing. I was more than sure that he would be a success. I still find in hard to believe that certain learned gentlemen did not think it was an upgrade on the likes of Almunia. Shezza and Flappy. Perhaps those that were in limbo will now see what you get when you but quality as opposed to the ‘next best thing.’ It’s not just his performances, it’s his all round leadership, experience and professionalism.
Some interesting figures from Deloittes this morning. We are now the 7th richest club in the world. We make more money on a match day than any other club in the world although it would appear that we are somewhat lacking with regards to commercial revenue compared to other top clubs. So, what do we conclude from all of that? We have money, the fans are being fleeced and Stan and the boys could really do a bit better? I wonder what Mr May from Swindon makes of that?
It’s quite clear that Stan and the boys could be doing quite a bit better if we are in seventh largely because of our match day income.
It means that there are teams above us and close below us who have commercial departments that are doing a lot better as they have smaller gates with fans paying a lot less per head than we do.
It really doesn’t look like Stan’s organisation have given good enough advice to merit their £3m pay-off over each of the past two seasons.
Rather than scouring the world for players who are upgrades on our first teamers, perhaps we should be looking to upgrade the board and the commercial department so that we can truly maximise our potential.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10137543/real-madrid-top-deloitte-money-league-list-featuring-17-premier-league-clubs-in-top-30
The link in case people have not seen the figures.
I have never really had massive faith in Stan and the boys. I think that we consider success and what they consider success are two vastly different animals. The is purely business to Stan. A way of financing his sports empire. If he can make easy extra money by adding 20p to the price of a cuppa and 50p to the price of a hotdog then why not do it? The fans are a captive and easy market. With an increase in the tourist at The Grove then he knows people will pay the prices.
Bath, you are very right. I’m just not that sure that Stan is that bothered. The club ticks along very nicely, grows in value and makes him a tidy sum. All that as he puts his feet up and thinks about moving the Rams back to LA.
The figure of £103.3m for commercial revenue is very disappointing when compared with the Dippers (who have been in the wilderness for 25 years, barring a fluked ECL) at £116.4m and Manure at £200.8m, accepting that Shitteh’s figure of £173.8m is artificially boosted by grants from their oil state owners.
However the Chav’s £112.9m is due only to a recent decade of success coming from a very low position, arguably less supported and recognised internationally than Tottnumb before Abramovich injected massive funds.
Clearly there has been significant underperformance in commercial activities at Arsenal and there’s considerable room for future improvement.
Get on it, Ivan.
Get it on, Ivan.
Peddle your arse, Ivan?
Cutoffs? Sans culottes? Not British enough I suppose.
BMBD? Between Messi and Mascherano the magistrates seem to be trying to do just that if only on a one Argie by one Argie basis.
http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/35371872
More power to them I say. Madrid lawyers can use the dough.
A small, pedantic point, but Deloitte’s money table makes us not the seventh richest club but the seventh highest earning.
On which point, our commercial revenue has increased by two-thirds over the past two seasons, largely thanks to the Puma shirt deal, but is still relatively woeful by the standards of the high-flying top earners. As bt8b notes@24, a lot more work still to be done on that front.
Shorts? Briefs? Where is Wolfie and his Speedos when you need them?
New telly fixtures announced
Feb 14: Sun 14: Arsenal v Leicester City (12noon) SKY
March 5: Tottenham vs Arsenal (12.45) – BT
Sat 12: Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion (5.30pm***) SKY – (Depends on FA Cup ties being completed)
March 19: Everton vs Arsenal (12.45) – BT
The Deloitte figures are interesting and I note the insights of Bath, Steve T and Ned which are all germane as ever. Do you remember how Arsenal recruited Tom Fix at great expense to lead our commercial activities and he left us to take over as CEO of Aston Villa? ?
Apparently he’s having a shocker over there and has not been a serious loss to us but we are still underperforming in the commercial area. Amazing because I bought a Thierry Henry Legend Mug last year and a replica kit for my grandson.
The Deloitte figures also showed that if The Spuds and Chavs had the same capacity as us their match day revenue would be comparable . This means they are charging similar prices to us to sit in a couple of old outmoded stadia and in the Spuds case watch a team that hasn’t won the League for fifty five years.
I share the reservations on Kroenke. We are the ultimate cash cow for him and £3m is a drop in the ocean bearing in mind what he could screw out of us but is it the start of a process of taking money out? Certainly I want an Arsenal fan to own Arsenal not an absentee landlord with other interests that are more important to him. The real golden era of our club in modern times was when Dein and Wenger were in tandem but Dein was not keen on the new stadium plans . I’ve met Dein several times and he is an Arsenal fanatic albeit one who has made a huge amount of money out of the club. He brought Wenger to the club and pushed a very conservative board to sign Dennis Bergkamp.
Usmanov concerns a lot of people including me and if we have him we’d be settling for another Abramovich. Frankly I don’t see Kroenke selling in the foreseeable future and without a genius in charge that might suggest choppy waters ahead. No other manager in the world would suck up the flak Wenger has , operating on very tight budgets and being perceived to be unambitious when he could have gone to any other club in the world. The choice of successor to Wenger will be a very interesting indication of how ambitious Kroenke is for Arsenal. If it’s Avram Grant we’re fucked but if it’s Pep it might suggest he has ambitions we haven’t credited him with .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ighn2rYIS6g
Cheers for the posts about finances everyone. I have nothing germane to add. However…
I hope Avram Grant is not our next manager.
TTG,
Correct me by all means but I would have thought David Dein made his money out of whoever bought his shares, rather than out of Arsenal Football Club.
Surely, he made it on the back of Arsenal’s success but AFC did not pay him his c£65 million. I have to say that, however big a fan, i might also have been tempted to take £65 million for an initial £259,000 outlay.
Trev.
I do not think Dein acted in bad faith. But I, personally, feel he was seriously misguided in allowing a man like Usmanov such ownership of our club.
Kroenke might be tight-fisted but Usmanov is something else. And he is SOMETHING ELSE to such a degree that I am genuinely unwilling to write online the things I think about him that I might say to you over a pint (of orange juice).
Which says enough about him for me, frankly.
If Dein wanted a windfall he could certainly have found other buyers. I think he decided that Abramovich mark 2 was the only way to compete with Chelski and that all other considerations were of less importance.
To me, this is not the Arsenal way. And it is certainly not my way.
Another few shorts:
Ozil and Sanchez (“likely”) available for Chelsea
Coquelin is back in training
Wellbeck a week away
Rosicky playing for the U21 (he still drinks from the fountain of youth)
We did very well during our traditional winter crisis and things are definitively on the up. Barcelona beware!
As for the Deloitte ranking, we’ll be in the top 3 in 16/17 once the new TV deal has kicked in so there’s that. On the other hand there’s still no excuse for our abysmal commercial performance. Yes the new deals have improved the raw numbers but the gap with the biggest earners keeps widening.
And I’m 100% with GSD. Dein could hardly have found a worse buyer for the club. I scoff at the idea that the man is an Arsenal fanatic. A quick look at his son tells me all I need about that family, the apple did not fall far from the tree.
Le Coq back in the training pics, Alexis and Mesut training too, Danny and Rozza are back as well, is this building to an amazing climax/ time shall tell but boy it feels great to see them back.
Cech is a magnificent buy, the best goal keeper who we could have signed in the whole world( availability and talent wise). He is the leader we did not have and is the assurance we desperately needed.
Chelsea need to be beaten. This has gone too long that we havent beaten them and what better time than now, beat them and the impetus could be with us for the run in to the title.
last part is the supposed rumours of granit zhaka to us, then to pool, then to chelsea and finally he supposedly has injured himself, hahaha. Seriously he is an excellent player but his attitude had him a marked man.
Sorry Trev, your point is absolutely right and his fortune only grew because of the way he developed Arsenal. He is a surprisingly divisive figure among many fans, the resentment that does exist is presumably fuelled by jealousy.
We do of course remember Peter Hill- Wood’s amazement when he bought into Arsenal , describing it as basically ‘ dead money’ which despite his many virtues was maybe an insight into his vision for the club.
GSD
A lot of politics went on. My limited understanding is that Danny Fiszman ( introduced by Dein) had a vision of a self- sustaining club with a new super stadium. Dein preferred the shortcut of a sugar daddy despite acknowledging that the size of Highbury was inhibiting our potential growth. He brought in Kroenke who formed an alliance with Fiszman against Dein and David cut an isolated figure.
Here I agree with you that he looked for a bigger sugar daddy and chose Usmanov who was not really someone that fits the tradition and culture of the club. This was where he cashed in his chips and like Trev, I don’t blame him in the slightest. He is still at every home game, I’m not sure how often Usmanov goes but he is at the Emirates a lot more than Kroenke is. But neither man is most traditional Arsenal fan’s view of what an appropriate owner is.
It’s a bit like Arsenal fans who feel Mourinho is a more desirable manager than Wenger. I wouldn’t want Mourinho at Arsenal under any circumstances but I know some season ticket- holders who would crawl over broken glass to acquire him. Many blog authors ( you know who I mean ) would welcome him with open arms and by the same token would be happy if Assad or Mugabe owned the club if they pumped enough money in. But this is my Grandfather’s club, my Dad’s club and my lifelong obsession and I hope it will be for many generations of ttgs going forward and it means much more than to be a bauble owned by a billionaire asset stripper, oligarch or anyone who doesn’t love the club like the fans.
PHW was right that Kroenke isn’t our sort before he recanted simply because I refuse to believe his waking thought and perpetual obsession is Arsenal. I’d rather like an owner where it was.
Matt
Dein is an Arsenal fanatic, his son has shafted us but he wasn’t acting on the orders of his father. Have you ever met him and talked about the history of the club with him?
Without his contribution we would be arguably struggling at a lower level than the Spuds
Cheers H!
What TTG says about Dein. He may be a north London barrow boy, which he is, but no one can doubt his commitment to supporting the club.
It is common knowledge that we hate playing the early afternoon matches and right enough BT Sports has changed the scheduled 3 pm matches to 12.45 pm to give Spuds and Everton a leg up. Not just the match officials but the media too appears to want Arsenal to fail.
Absolutely TTG and Esso.
I think Dein has always had our best interests at heart. I simply disagree with the way he tried to further them.
In his dealings with Usmanov I think he (for once) backed the wrong horse. But we would be nowhere near where we are now without his influence.
And if disagreeing with other Arsenal fans about what is best for our club without doubting their commitment and passion were not possible then none of us would be in this bar, now would we?
ksn @41. Mourinho-esque.
IT’S A CONSPIRACY!
At Arsenal FC we are short of people like David Dein who wanted us to do everything possible to stay ahead of competition. Nothing wrong with that and I don’t thing he did anything morally wrong- maybe he sold his shares to the wrong guy. He must be kicking himself for selling the shares when he did because if he had held on to them he would be sitting on a big fortune today. We need more Deins in our football club.
GSD, I understand the irony but it sure looks like there are a lot of forces out to stop AFC.
Not necessarily ksn. I could do with less Mike Dein…
ksn. Let’s hope they all fall short. This is our year!
@TTG @ GSD: I’ll take your word for it but I can’t fathom that anyone with the interests of the club at heart would sell to the most despicable and morally corrupt buyer they could find. Me thinks he did it to spite the board while making money. Arsenal’s best interest was certainly not his priority then. Maybe it is now. Too late for me, the harm is done.
Also I’m with BtM I shall make amends too. I thought Cech was overrated for operating behind a parked bus. I was obviously wrong. Very wrong 😉
Matt.
I’m not in DD’s head but I cannot agree for a moment that at any point he acted against Arsenal’s best interest. I believe that after Abramovich changed the landscape of football in this country forever that DD felt that the only way that we would ever be competitive again was if we matched their investment. This meant a billionaire of our own. Which meant Usmanov. The only reason he sold up was to give us a chance to win titles against a team with an unlimited budget, in my view.
I do not think that you can claim ‘Arsenal’s best interest was certainly not his priority then’. How can you be certain?
Given how we have fared against Chelsea and Man City in the last decade it is hard to argue that he was wrong.
I myself am glad that we did not go down the Chelski path and I do not think that being competitive with billionaires was worth the cost of bringing Usmanov in. But DD is a man willing to pay a higher price than me to see his beloved Arsenal top of the pile again.
I will repeat myself to say that, whilst I disagree thoroughly with him on this issue, I know of no more committed Arsenal man. And I suspect that his great friend, one Arsene Wenger, would tell you the same.
Also Matt, the phrase ‘I’ll take your word for it’ is an unusual way to begin a post that proceeds to disagree entirely with the word that myself and my learned colleague proffered.
An interesting debate above. Personally I have never had a problem with David Dein. I totally agree with Trev above. I would struggle to find anyone who would not have taken the money. The one thing I would say is that I’m sure Dein sold to who he thought was the right person. I don’t think any of us know the full details of how Kronke or Usmanov operate. We can all read the papers and will all form our own opinions. The one point that both prove is that money rules the game and as they say, it’s the root of all evil.
I’ve seen David Dein regularly at Arsenal games. Those who make the walk from the Tollie to the ground will walk passed his parked car on most home games. I don’t have a problem with his son. He is a football agent and has loyalty to only his client.
The one thing thing I would say about Usmanov that we should remember is this. If he was to take control with was to be with Dein at the helm. I could have lived with that.
WUUUUUUUUUUUUUN-HUNDRED…
Oh ok, it’s only a BDO-tastic 52.
Bored when the football is on, bored when it’s not.
FFS
Given how close Deano and Arsene were, [ and still are ],
Arsene must have been privy to what Deano was up to regarding Usmanov.
Did Arsene sanction/agree with what Deano was planning to do.?
Was Arsene dreaming of a 100 million warchest to fight the good fight against Abramavich
When it all went spectacularly wrong,there was nary a whisper that Arsene was involved.
Deano certainly kept his counsel in the aftermath,and no one from the Press ever raised the question that the 2 very close friends must have both had knowledge of the plan.
I guess we will never know.
Clive.
I reckon Arsene and DD disagreed on this one but that both respected each other’s views and commitment to the club. But that’s just my gut feeling and, like you say, we’ll never know…
Steve. I am far more dubious of a fortune amassed during the breakup of the Soviet Union than I am of one made in US property. Whilst the latter is hardly whiter than white, the former is soaked in blood and oil. For this reason I would have been exceptionally unhappy were this money used to fund our football war with another fortune made in the same circumstances.
I don’t have strong feelings either way about David Dein as some seem to.
My question would be why somebody apparently with Arsenal ” in their heart” would want to sell their shares anyway and how such a sale could be seen to benefit the club rather than simply the individual?
UTA.
I believe that has already been answered Noosa. If Dein felt that our only chance to beat Chelsea was to equal their spending then he would need to find a billionaire with deep enough pockets to do so. Whilst his persuasive skills are formidable I do not know how he would have persuaded Usmanov to pump money into a club that he did not own a chunk of.
And it is quite possible that he did not WANT to sell his shares. But that he was willing to do so if it brought an investor into the club that, in his view, it necessarily needed if it were to win another league title.
I also think that an interesting measure of how unlikely our current challenge to the Chavs and Oilers is, is that DD, essentially a footballing prophet for the last 20 years at the point that these decisions were made, a man consistently miles ahead of the curve, did not dream it would ever come to pass.
The stadium move and no player investment and ten years of maintaining CL football and then some debts are paid off and there is a bit of money to spend and AW is still here and somehow we are top of the league at the New Year? No chance matey!
DD was not the only one who failed to see that coming. A truly staggering achievement that is consistently lost by an army of Captain Hindsights.
You could, were you so inclined, argue that Dein’s biggest mistake was underestimating Wenger.
TTG,
Good stuff on Dein above.
GSD, Matt etc,
I wasn’t suggesting that Usmanov was an ideal buyer for Arsenal shares but merely discussing with TTG the point that Dein made his money from the purchaser of his shares and did not take it ‘out of AFC’.
I don’t doubt that Wenger probably had knowledge of that Clive – but I do doubt that he was part of any plan or in any way politically involved. I think Wenger made a very clear decision some time ago not to ever have shares (and he doesn’t) or to ever put himself in a position where he can influenced politically by any of the manoeuvring at the club in the bid for control. He’s the manager, he makes the best decisions for the club and I think he has been crystal clear in setting parameters on that from the start.
I have always liked Dein and always believed that he wanted the best for Arsenal. His son, no doubt felt aggrieved by the way his dad was treated and sought to optimise financial results for his clients. That said, David Dein cannot feel sorry for himself. Thats what happens in political games like that – there is a winner and a loser. And he made a pretty penny in the process because he had the wisdom and foresight to invest. The most ironic thing is that it was Dein who brought Kronke to the table. However Kronke played a much more shrewd hand after buying an initial stake of some 10% or so. In effect, Fisman handed control of AFC to Kronke. And to scorn Kronke is to scorn Fisman in some respects. Personally, while I would prefer that ownership ultimately rested with the fans exclusively, I think we could have done a lot worse than Kronke. He hasn’t interfered, taken very little money from the club, believes in the self sustainable model, supports Wenger completely and appointed Gazidis.
We’ve a new stadium, a non interfering owner, we’re financially strong, a great manager, a solid squad and we’re top of the league as well. Does it get much better?
There’s an interview with Silent Stan in this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated in the U.S. When asked if his moving of the colonial football team into the media spotlight of Los Angeles will make him more of a public figure, the silent one states that “London is a comparable stage to Los Angeles, and Arsenal has one of the most passionate and vocal fan (UK translation: supporter) bases in sport.”
Trev.
Fair enough. But as much as you might have been tempted to sell your shares I do not think you would have done so if it had placed AFC into the hands of someone who was not fit to be involved with our club, simply to make money. Neither did I think that Dein had simply taken an excellent financial offer (regardless of whether this is a reasonable course of action or not) without any regard for who it came from but rather that he felt it was for the good of the club.
I wish I felt that my making £75m would be helpful to Arsenal. But right now I can’t say I do. It’s the only thing that’s been stopping me!
Joe. I agree with a lot, if not all, about what you say about Silent Stan.
Bayonne- we have fans here too!
Discussing the benefits of either Kronke or Usmanov is for me a discussion on who is the lesser of the two evils. If both were to bugger off tomorrow and sell all of their shares to the fans then I would be very happy indeed I would then quite happily help Ivan pack his bags and have the office redecorated to DD’s liking.
Steve- I’ve made clear where I sit on who is the lesser of those two evils.
I have no particular beef with Ivan but if your buggering off and selling the lot to the fans plan materialises then please let me know if you would like any help with his bags.
I would be quite happy for the fans to take control of the club but only provided that it could somehow be guaranteed that Oskar the Dog would not become chairman.
There’d be some interfering with team selection then alright !
???
I am aggrieved by the depth of your mistrust, Trev. And I was thinking of making you our physio…
Oskar
Please make OTD chairman. Pretty please!
Yeah yeah, I believe you trev.
😉
That’s honestly not me @67, OtD
Must be a Trev Stunt Double then.
As for Dein I just wish I had £259,000 to outlay in the first place, never mind the £65m he parlayed it into. It’s another world.
Oskar
What Oskar? Moi?
As if I’d pretend to be Trev Walcott. Wink.
@SteveT
Given the absolute state of some of our ‘fans’ on ArsenalFanTV and Twitter and the like, I’m not sure I’d want a bunch of them running the club quite frankly. I’d prefer us to be English owned, preferably by a long standing institution with a long standing historical connection to the club – i.e. The Hill-Wood family? But them days are gone. I think our current model is just about the best of a bad deal we can hope for at the moment. Not going to stop all those folk who think the grass is always greener, from banging on though.
Esso. Agreed.
Interesting discussion and debate in the bar. I have always felt positive towards DD because of his clear commitment to the club, his vision, his work to return it to the top of English football and of course his personal role in the ‘signing’ of a certain Arsene Wenger.
We will probably never know the details of the shenanigans that took place in the boardroom that ended with him selling his share to Usmanov. However he clearly had a vision that the club needed an injection of capital and to that end introduced first Daniel Fiszman, then Kroenke then Usmanov.
His fall from grace with the Board almost certainly reflects strongly held differing views on the club’s best interests and shifting alliances within the boardroom. The loss of his post reflects the depth of the feelings involved between individuals who had previously apparently worked well together. As already observed the sale of his stake in Arsenal was probably the price that he had to pay to make Usmanov ‘a player’ in the club. It probably reflects the strength of his feeling that the Board was moving in the wrong direction that he went to these lengths because at the end of the day he remains a committed Arsenal man.
I share with Esso the wish that we had the old style of ownership and I regret the developments that have seen the AW-DD dynamic duo broken up (at least officially). I also share GsD’s distrust of both our billionaire owners and the relative merits of their means of accumulation of their riches. It is however useful to have the pair of them sharing ownership rather than the club being the mere plaything of one or the other. I do not think either as a sole owner offers a bright future.
I knew you would all miss me sooner or later.
Oh, for the good old days before the Yanks and Russkies took over. Now you only have to choose whether you want your League title bought with dollars or roubles.
Now even the biggest doubters can see what miracles Arsene has performed against impossible odds. And, if I may, and don’t tell anyone I said so, good luck to Leicester City. The Foxes, as we used to call them after Filbert Fox of Filbert Street.
Just for the whipper-snappers, Filbert Street was where Leicester City used to play before they moved to their potato crisp sponsored home – The Walker Stadium.
Just how did that become the King Power Stadium, you might well ask. What is that, anyway ? Does the king live there ? I don’t think we even have a king, do we ? Must be some sort of electricity company headquarters.
Oh yes, the good old days when Spurs still played in a dirty old victorian dump.
What ? Do they really …………
As soon as the first Sky contract was signed the game changed. Ever since that day the game became more and more of a business. As football starts to generate huge revenue it attracts those whose interest isn’t necessarily football. Their interest is their own pockets. That is when the game for us fans changed forever.
If you decide to dance with the devil then you dance to his tune. The recent TV deals are worth ridiculous sums of money. That means that those in charge see their assets grow in value. With the increase in payments comes an increase in wages and an increase in the demands of the TV companies. Match day revenue has increased but has steadily decreased as a percentage of our overall income. This will continue to decrease.
I’m not sure that Arsenal or football in general cares that much about fans. Why should they? There have been protests at various grounds with the theme being that football is not the same without fans. Really? If clubs are paid millions and millions for games bring shown all over the world are they that bothered about half full grounds? I don’t think so. If we lose £1 million in match day revenue but are paid £15 for a game to kick off at 10.30pm on a Friday night to satisfy a worldwide audience then don’t think it won’t happen. It will.
The recent round of Sky games announced a day or so ago show you his little fans are thought of. Many will already have made travel and accommodation arrangements. Does that bother anyone? No, not anyone in power at least.
All of the above attracts all sorts into the game and all with making a long term profit as their aim. That is one of the reasons I have always felt that we need people like DD. As a true fan you have to hope that he would have the club and fans interests close to his heart.
As others have said, I would love to turn the clock back. I’m not sure if we have the best option in place or not. What I do know is all of the above is rapidly turning me off the game. I hate the fact that I’m a customer now and nothing more. I fear that the fans voice will continue to disminish. For me, I really don’t think that it’s a good thing.
Steve. Nice TTG impression.
‘If we lose £1 million in match day revenue but are paid £15 for a game to kick off at 10.30pm on a Friday night…’
Either you meant ‘£15m’ or you have some way to go before fully understanding financing in football.
Or, possibly, a diabolically low opinion of our commercial team’s abilities… Wink!
And nice posts Baff and Steve.
And the Arsenal show that they retain a touch of their former class:
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-offer-refund-to-supporters-who-cant-make-rearranged-leicester-game-a3163056.html
GSD@54: To be fair to Kroenke, he did not make his property fortune in an underhand way, a charge that could be leveled at some US property developers. But then he didn’t really need to. He married a Walton heiress and made his money by developing the shopping malls around new Wal-Mart stores. When your development has an anchor tenant like Wal-Mart, it is harder not to make money than to make it.
Usmanov is a very different kettle of fish.
PH-W@75: Good to see you get your leg over here once more…
Just between you and me, Ned,
and talking of getting my leg over, just after retiring the other night, Lady Nina was complaining that she felt me begin to fondle her in ways I hadn’t in quite some time – that It almost tickled as my fingers started at her neck, and then began moving down past the small of her back, then caressing her shoulders and neck, slowly working my hand down over the old Bristol Cities, stopping just over her lower stomach.
She claims I then proceeded to place my hand on her left inner arm, caress past the side of her breast again, work down her side, and pass gently over her buttock and down her leg to her calf.
I then apparently proceeded up her inner thigh, stopping just at the uppermost portion of her leg – and then continued in the same manner on her right side, then suddenly stopped, rolled over and became silent.
As she had become quite aroused by all this caressing, she asked in a dusky, slightly desperate voice,
“Darling that was wonderful. Why did you stop?”
“I found the Sky remote,” I mumbled, and turned on Match of the Day.
GSD. It was of course £15 million although your last sentence is very accurate.
?
Bath. Only a touch of class as the offer only applies to non season ticket holders. Clearly a bit of Kronke added in there somewhere. The kick off time and date change now mean that I can’t now get there. Do the people at Sky care??????
@81 HAHAHAHA!
PH-W@81: And that you still know how to press the right buttons…
If you have ever wondered what a transfer contract looks like, Football Leaks has the one that took Gareth Bale to Real Madrid — the one, as the Telegraph explains, that contains provisions to supress the fact that Bale cost more than Ronaldo.
https://mega.nz/#!MEQzFSJb!4FtjIhfsloTtjEEtn96iRMq-g6OqbPtnWPR9J90FPfQ
Here’s the Telegraph’s story:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/gareth-bale/12111960/Revealed-How-Real-Madrid-claimed-Gareth-Bale-transfer-was-not-a-world-record-to-keep-Cristiano-Ronaldo-happy.html
Holic
You have mail!
PHW
Thank you for arousing us all on a dark, dank Friday afternoon.
I too find Sky remote but have also felt BT have been a bit aloof recently …oh sorry?
Mesut likes his new song:
http://www.arsenalstation.com/2016/01/22/tweet-mesut-ozil-shares-video-of-arsenal-fans-signing-his-new-song/?
PHW….always new you weren’t a Virgin 🙂
+ k before the grammar police set upon me 🙂
Uply,
You omitted a comma (,) after + k in contribution number 91, as well as the k in new, in contribution number 90.
Ned will organise the resulting flagellation.
Flagellation, GPO? Nothing to it once you’ve learned the ropes…
GPO 049 I plead guilty as charged to item 1 but not guilty to item 2 as contribution no 91 was indeed correcting my initial error with the missing (k). In mitigation I request I receive just a caution in this instance. My mitigation is that I was edumacated in the London Borough
Of Islington, and the fact I can write at all is worthy of commendation in itself. 🙂
Ned, in case my appeal is rejected and in view of the current intense workload of your monks, could the flagellation be sub-contracted to
Miss Whiplash? I’m sure if I happened to be PHW under similar circumstances, his request for Lady Nina to undertake the task would be granted and we do now live in anti-discriminatory times!
So I am a day earlier than expected. Have a preview. >>>>>>>>>>