Time For Reinforcements On And Off The Pitch, Gunners
Sep 1st, 2017 by 'holic
The week from hell is drawing to a close. Chicken curry and noodles have been consumed, a couple of pints have been sunk, and England will shortly kick-off in Malta. Quite when I will finish this is anyones guess. A review of the window is probably in order. I doubt if other blogs have already covered it!
Like so many I spent hours yesterday (but nowhere near all day) following what was, or rather wasn’t, happening. I got caught up in the group think of the occasion, the anger of the masses that we couldn’t get the Thomas Lemar deal sealed before watching him end Dutch resistance in Paris. Vague mentions of Rabiot and Seri came to nought. Alexis missed out on his proposed £60m deal to Manchester Tappers-Up FC.
In the cold light of the day after the day before my anger has subsided. Don’t misunderstand or misquote what follows, but if you had said to me at the start of the window that we would seal the free transfer of Sead Kolasinac, highly rated in the Bundesliga, to replace Kieran Gibbs I would have nodded in approval.
Had you added that we would secure one of the most highly rated strikers in Europe for a club record fee I would have been beamed enthusiastically. All this and still have Alexis and Mesut Ozil at the club on September 1st. I would have been buzzing.
There are disappointments, obviously. To lose 24 players and sign just two leaves the squad weaker, no question. That it could have been more beggars belief. What must Skhodran Mustafi think of his treatment over the summer? How on earth is Mathieu Debuchy still on the books? Don’t get me wrong, it is astonishing that the former was being considered a loan departure, and if Debuchy can stay injury free and knuckle down he could still be a superb back-up for Hector Bellerin, who we successfully kept out of the grasp of Barcelona.
The bitterest pill to swallow is that profit of around £30 million in a window following our failure to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since the twentieth century. That statistic is a condemnation of the management of our football club, and I do mean management in a broad sense. Where was the ‘catalyst for change’ promised by Ivan Gazidis? Jens Lehman? Another fitness and conditioning guru? A couple of youth academy recruits?
The corporate lethargy that envelopes Highbury House and Shenley shouldn’t be what the supporters are talking about. We don’t want to be talking about the misuse of club funds, the hands-off style of a far from benign owner, the incompetence of the structure of the club from the top down. We want to be talking excitedly about the team that should be bolstered by the money being generated by the not so new stadium, and the new commercial income, including a huge television income.
As FA Cup holders we should be talking about that as being the springboard for a serious title challenge from a team boasting half a dozen expensively acquired talents. We still have the basis of a team that could possibly yet achieve that, but our failure to add more quality in positions where the squad is now weaker than six months ago borders on the incompetent.
I pray to be proven wrong. I pray that Gazidis wakes up to the fact that the catalyst for change will not come from this manager. It needs to take root in the boardroom with a serious shake-up and recruitment of people who understand football, not how to sell carpets and loans. Give the manager a set-up designed to bring footballing success, not just business accomplishments to this club. And if he won’t accept a new structure let’s get someone who will.
We are short in quality and depth both on the pitch and in the boardroom, and until you sort those two things out we will continue to underperform in all areas of the club, other than the finance department of course.
Give us the teams that will stop us worrying about all of the other nonsense.
162 Responses to “Time For Reinforcements On And Off The Pitch, Gunners”
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if you ask me the problem is gazidis more then kroenke or wenger
(edit) Please desist from aiming personal abuse at any individuals connected with Arsenal. Thank you.
As if we are great in the Finance Department.
(edit) what?
What should we expect next weekend when we line up against the cherries at home? warm welcome?? hahhha not a hope. The atmosphere will be toxic. Keeping fans aside, how will the players be? Alexis?
Arsenal have made this farcical. we knew all along Alexis wanted to leave, why leave it so late for Lemar. Why was the so called 90 million bid not done in june? this is infuriating to say the least. We did not address the CM we needed, neither did we buy the CB we are desperate for. When Kos laid down on the ground yesterday, every gooner was feeling sick. What is the club really upto? are we even planning to be competitive or just there to make the numbers? it feels we no longer care.
Even the panic buy after the 8-2 loss made some sense, but then this time when it was so obvious that we needed reinforcements, we messed up.
Arsene Wenger is for me our greatest manager ever but even he has to call time. We no longer are considered for anything or anyone and we may just be in a long hiatus with no clue on how to get out.
Where is the motivation? do the players realize who they play for? can the fan be blamed if they went their ire against them and Arsene? no i dont think so for the entire club have cheated us by saying we are in the right direction and competitive. We are neither. Any doubts??? our abysmal away record from 2013 should say it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5PzZH0CkTU
My condolences Goonerholic.
Thank you T, and all who have commented. You are top, top people.
The financial significance of this window is not so much the net spend but the impact on the wage bill. Allowing for what will be paid to new recruits Lacazette and Kolasinac, the wage bill (including employer national insurance contributions is somewhere north of a quarter of a million pounds a week lighter thanks to all those departures.
Strange that the general opinion of the masses is that Arsene Wenger is in total control of everything at the football club, until it goes severely tits up and then the “real problem” is someone else.
It’s a group thing of course.
They’re all as bad as each other. 🙂
Condolences on the loss of your brother-in-law, H. I didn’t mention it before as the drinks were a bit busy with unimportant fluff. This game is never more important than life and death.
Ironic that Shankly’s best known quote just makes him look a bit of a berk (Have that, Liverpool. That’s told ’em)
A disinterested observer would be perplexed by the mechanics of the transfer window. It seems a remarkably inefficient means of allocating available labour to where it is needed at the optimal market clearing price, not least of all because the price signaling is so distorted. However, if you were to design a system to create media profits by hyping up interest in an artificially inflated market, it would probably look a lot like the transfer window.
There are obviously esteemed denizens of this bar who have worked at senior levels in the commercial world. I wonder if any of them have ever had to hire anyone under anything like the conditions that prevail in a transfer window. Perhaps we are too quick to criticise the failings of those who do, given we don’t really know from experience what it is like. That said, for those in the football business, including those in Highbury House, that is their business, so they have to master it.
But is anyone slagging off Guardiola for not getting the Sanchez business done early in the summer, or Conte for not offloading Costa?
Cheers Cynic. I hope you understand I allocate blame for where we are to all from the manager up, inclusive.
I also hope everyone I didn’t use the buzzword of the week. You know, that sh…… one.
Ned, we both remember when there was no such thing as transfer windows.
Manchester City famously lost the title when they bought Rodney Marsh during the season.
Our purchase of Alan Ball before Xmas 71 heralded the premature start of the break-up of the double team.
Why do we create these inflationary and artificial ‘open for business’ doors, especially there are other financial tools to try and control misuse of funding not organically accrued?
So pleased the transfer window is over. I would have loved a Van Dyck for a Mustafi{ not talking about paintings}, but wasn’t to be. I try not to overanalyse transfer windows, as we never know the facts. I like to think our guys tried their best at whatever deals were going on. Only PSG seemed to get what they really wanted. Anyhow, time to move on. Off to the Emirates on Saturday for my annual September visit. Expecting a fairly toxic atmosphere, especially if we go a goal down, pathetic really, but I’ll be giving it my best, no matter what. We usually head for the 12 pins for a swift 4 or 5, but I’ll try and persuade my nutty mate to go to the Tollie to hopefully meet some of you interesting people. Definitely half pint full still!
I can recall there being serious talk of players being able to move where they liked, after a short notice period, before the introduction of transfer windows. That way lies madness. It operates at grass roots level in the UK and clubs are powerless to stop players leaving on seven days notice. Most are without a playing contract and the system being talked about for the top level years ago would have effectively made every player a contractless free agent, after a notice period.
The window needs changing or scrapping. We either need to go back to the old system, or have one window in the summer that shuts worldwide on a certain date, with no January sales.
It’s always good to get Holic’s view on events and much good sense and perspective is contained herein. I’m still steaming from Anfield and my conclusions are your conclusions Holic. I suspect most of us on here have broadly similar views. I note on Untold Arsenal they are claiming the window as an unqualified success.
You can take the view that we are where we are and just get behind the club or you can agitate loudly for change .I’m in the middle. I regret renewing as a matter of principle and won’t give Kroenke any more money beyond my season ticket. A protest backed by all fans to refuse to buy club merchandise is in my view more effective and less harmful to the team than demos in the ground. This is the club of my grandfather and father and now my little grandson and I care too much about it to hurt it overtly but something must be done to change the ownership and oversight of the club. That so many people believe it is likely to be futile does not mean it won’t have a purpose. I don’t think an Uzbek oligarch is the White Knight I envisage but I might be interested in seeing what he had to offer and I suspect we may see an interesting statement from him with the AGM around the corner . I’d dearly love a share to enable me to attend that meeting this year. I’d try to loosen Stanley’s toupee with the force of my argument and no mistake.
Onwards and upwards with a bit of Kroenke outwards.
Ned,
The whole business of transfers veers between the incredibly grubby ( surely every player us tapped up now) and some clubs like PSG just seem to ignore the rules if they can.
There has to be a protocol that us upheld and listening to John Smith yesterday he suggests that FIFA really want to revise the system because of the unsatisfactory situation we have.
It’s hard to compare it with acquisition of staff as there were no rules against tapping up but plenty about non- competes after switches and I’ve just kept a board where we had to wait a year for a sales director to join the company.
Football still has too many bandits and the financial rewards available to agents has led to a situation that us desperately unwieldy and unsatisfactory. I’d happily sort it out for FIFA provided Arsenal had an exemption from the new rules!
Spot on Guvnor! Not much to disagree about in all that! ?
Hope the Family’s bearing up after your loss. ?
Now Arsene, it’s back to you after the inter-lull, yet again, for the upteenth time! ?
Give us something very very quickly to cheer us all up about properly till the next Trans-Fucked-Up window! Every match from now on for you is gonna be a nervy Wembley cup final – you tend to do quite well there of late don’t you?! ?
That “nervy-ness” is not what any of us wanted for you in the twilight of your career, nor for those talented bunch of lads, but you asked for it, didn’t you, together with those Money-Trans-Fucker-Upers upstairs in the Board Room, when you signed-on for another two years of your one and only loving. Anyway, many of us tried to tell you to keep your pants on and move on to another, but you’re a very big boy now with lots of experience, and you “popped your Management and Head-Coaching cherry” a very long time ago. Therefore, as you like to tell us and the whole world, it’s time for you to once again, finally show us all just how good your “Full-On” skills are once more, and now beyond your usual FA Fore-Play Cupping teasing and titillation! Let’s get it on Arsene! You and that “Tight Defence”! ?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9vAiESu5wrA
A very measured and highly accurate analysis of recent events, Guvna.
Your trailer in the last drinks had me anticipating an untypical rabid rant of the type rarely seen in these parts.
As a result of their own actions/inactions the Arsenal are, rightly or wrongly, widely portrayed and perceived as a joke which has a knock-on effect on our ability to recruit. For many years there appears to have been too little accountability and a lack of individual discipline in this club. Profound changes to processes at every level from boardroom to pitch are clearly essential in this organisation. If individuals cannot implement those changes then it’s time to change those individuals.
If the majority shareholder and effective owner cannot see these problems or doesn’t care enough to demand the required changes then for me it’s time to accept that this is not the Arsenal that I have supported and it’s time to find another pastime. All good things come to an end.
Nine months notice.
“loosen stanley’s toupee”
?
.
i love this place
Nice stuff H. Sadly we have been in steady decline for several years. Players have left and have not been replaced. For only so long can you get away with it. Hence our 5th place and 18 point deficit last year.
Catalyst for change? Really. We secured apparently one of the best left backs in German football to suddenly start playing with 3 at the back. We spend big on a striker who is still behind Ollie G in the national team pecking order? Don’t get me wrong, if used correctly I think both can do well here. But they have to be used correctly.
At the moment we are a rudderless vessel with so many people in posts that make them totally out of their depths. They are totally clueless and the whole situation saddens me greatly. As each season passes we become less and less attractive to potential targets. It’s just one big mess.
I hope we take Bournemouth to the cleaners. Anything less and I really fear for what might transpire.
Struggling to be positive here I must say.
Evening H
Commiserations on loss of BIL.
My youngest sister lost her husband in his 40’s in tragic and distressing circumstances a few years ago.
Lovely Guy,and lifelong Hammer.
About 6 wks ago his Brother came back from holidays,not feeling well,went to Doc had some tests,diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,passed away last week.
Gone in the blink of an eye.
And there was I spending my time going 15 rounds in the bar with the usual suspects after the Anfield debacle.
Sad really.
Anyway,excellent post as usual.
I quite like the look of the 27 man squad actually.
Plenty of deadwood gone,2 class acts added,and opportunities opening up for some young guns to showcase their qualities.
Be interesting to see whether we stay with 3 at the back or revert to the usual 4,but either way our only major fault to me is not securing the defensive midfield,get that right and i think we will be fine.
The players know they let the supporters down dreadfully last week,so i am supremely confident they will come out and beat Bournemouth and Cologne at the Ems next week.
The true test as to their willingness to give their all for the shirt will come at the Bridge the following w/end.
For me we are still in their as one of the top clubs in the league,and my expectations are we will be up there in the top 6 this season.
We will have the usual ups and downs over the next 9 months,but when has it been any different.
The US’ Professional Sports System of player acquisitions and transfers, is the only way to go now. The Pandoras Box of madness has well and truly been opened by those Sovereign Wealth-Fund owned Dope-Heads!
There should be no more transfer fees but direct player-player trades and stricter salary caps per club than what we currently have. Each club can then focus primarily on other sources of income and revenue generation, and particularly its commercial and sponsorship sides to get those (profits) that they’re looking for. Leave our players alone you fuckin’ dividend parasites! This shall then compliment a more “sensible” cost for the playing staff – where it really matters for us fans.
PSG and the other super-doped-up with questionnable sources of revenue clubs, have now made a mockery of the transfer market, and one hopes that PSG is hit hard with at least a three season transfer ban for all players for its criminal Neymar-buy and Mbappe-pseudo-loan nonsense! Pathetic attempt at trying to leapfrog to the “big-time”! ?
If it’s not purely for the fact that the sources of the vast sums of monopoly-money cash that is now swirling around all of global football is highly dubious and questionably illicit in origin, something must be done to level the competitive playing field. A Leicester, Athletico Madrid or a Borussia Dortmund will become like hens-teeth. Let the calibre of “real” Head-Coaching and Man-Management competence (or incompetence) be the determinant factor of excellence only! Then some Head-Coaches & Man-Managers reality will be caught with their pants down!
Up The Arse Of That New & Tight Defence, All Day & All Night!
Arsenal Football Club Only Forever!
ask ozzie zappa or ME
we’ll show you what it’s like to be free
On the bright side, we didn’t end up with Hohum Sterling, or ‘Here’s Jonny’, or indeed any compromise signings.
Thanks GH, a very good post.
But, just to mention, it’s in
the Tongue in Cheek category.
Many good posts and I’m with
Chris on Sterling, a young Theo
with less goals – no thank you.
Not sure why Evans is flavour
of the month either. He plays
in a very defensive set-up, with
a good, solid experienced CB
partner in McAuley, and
suddenly after a decent, not
great, season he’s the answer.
No thank you on him too.
Dan@22
I think the salary cap idea would be
fairer too and make for a wider
playing field but someone once told
me that the US system would be in
contravention of EU law.
Sorry, I don’t remember why exactly.
Maybe, someone in the bar knows?
ksn, bt8 in the last drinks.
Nods modestly ☺️
Ned@10,
As i worked in HR I was trying to
answer but it became very long
and waffly.
The short version…….
The outcomes are not so different
between transfers and recruitment
in fact. From my perspective our
actual recruitment is not that bad,
anywhere north of 50% in terms of
success of the new people is good
in business in Japan.
The window is artificial but in
business you sometimes need to
recruit quickly and it can get messy.
You meet the short-term needs as
best you can. Afterwards people
complain but the reality internally
may have been that the options
were all far from optimal.
As Arsenal fans we have high
expectations. Some see consistent
failure, to me it’s been patchy but
not that bad over the last 3-5 years.
Honest, that was the short version
– it’s a difficult question to answer
succinctly!
We do indeed remember the pre-transfer window days, ‘Holic — in as much as we remember anything these days. 🙂
But for younger ‘holics:
The Premiership introduced the transfer window for the 2002/03 system when UEFA made its adoption mandatory across its leagues following discussions with the European Commission in the context of EU rules on the free movement of labour and workers’ rights.
The window was a compromise to keep professional football from having to fall in line with most other industries, where contracts were not enforceable or liable for appropriate compensation, i.e., players could move at will once they had given and served out a notice period. UEFA and the leagues felt this would undermine the long-standing basis of the footballing business (tradeable player registrations that tied a player to a club). They also argued that it would remove the incentive for clubs to invest in developing players (this was a big part of the discussions at the time, as you may remember, when clubs’ Academies were starting to take off). The fudge of the windows preserved contractual stability for both the player and the clubs while allowing moves between clubs at two prescribed times during the year (the summer and winter transfer windows).
However, like so much in the modern game, it got hijacked by money and television.
I keep reading that the Lemar deal collapsed because he did not want to join us. The main reason being that he did not want to go to a club not in the champions league. Whilst that is totally understandable I’m at a total loss to try and work out why we did not know this earlier?? We had been bidding for the player for months? Surely if you bid crazy smoke nuts like £92 million then you have some idea if the player is interested in not first???????
How embarrassing is that?
Dapper Dan@22: US pro sports offer mixed evidence on the efficacy of their systems in regard to players’ wages.
Average player salary:
NBA $6.2 million
MLB: $4.4 million
Premier League: $3.2 million
NHL: $2.9 million
NFL: $2.1 million
MLS: $0.3 million
The important structural difference between the major leagues and the Premiership is that universities carry the cost of young player development in the US, not the clubs. Major league teams get to draft the best young talent from the college game (itself big business; there are college sports departments that have a bigger annual budget than the smaller Premiership clubs).
Doesn’t Brexit mean UK is no longer bound by EU law, Matt, or won’t be when everything Brexit is finally sorted? ie, about a decade from now! 😀
Lemar not wanting to come to Arsenal could well reflect the declining influence of AW, Steve. I’m sure he’s still held in high esteem by many players looking for a bigger club, but less than before by many others, and as a liability by growing number.
Crazy smoke nuts????????
Should have read, crazy sums…
Where that came from I have no idea.
The £92m bid for Lemar reeks of desperation, imo.
I don’t think it’s just AW. I think that it’s Arsenal as a club. Even in the champions league we have hardly covered ourselves in glory in recent years. We are nowhere near as an attractive proposition as we used to be. Another result of our year on year decline.
£92 million is just a ridiculous sum of money and yet another example of why I have fallen out of love with football in general.
I agree re the desperation bit. In real terms though I guess it’s the money that would have been received for the AOC and Sanchez deals. Still total madness though in my opinion.
That’s just an illusion Chris,
a trick they do with mirrors
and with chemicals 🙂
True, Steve, but AW IS Arsenal, and vice-versa, as far as I’m concerned.
I liked crazy smoke nuts !
OsakaMatt, thanks for the useful perspective, and especially the observation about Arsenal’s recruitment success/failure rate. I suppose the big difference is that in commerce, you don’t have to deal with selling employees, or juggle with the equivalent of chains in house sales when recruiting.
See my @29 for EU position on application of labour law to professional sports in terms of players contracts.
There are five EU expert groups working on professional sport, looking at the application of human and labour rights among many other issues.
https://ec.europa.eu/sport/policy/cooperation/expert-groups-2014-2017_en
One focuses on match fixing and the promotion of good governance, but in that context it has raised questions about ‘inflated’ transfer fees and issues relating to sport agents.
Whether that will lead to any changes, who knows?
It’s all Crazy smoke nuts???????? as Steve put it, Matt.
We’re all getting a bit out of sync here. But I’m pretty sure we’re in some sort of agreement. I have to go, byeeee.
Chris@32: UEFA, not EU, regulations are what matters for football. Half of UEFA’s member national associations are from non-EU countries, but they still have to comply with the transfer window rules. That won’t change post-Brexit.
Thanks for the link Ned.
I’ll have a read through.
I hope there are changes in the
future which level things out more.
But i’m not holding my breath.
I hope not OsakaMatt @26.
The EU/UEFA have to take alot of blame and responsibility for this now dangerous and nonsensical monster it has created! Also for it’s baby Bosman! ?
The commercial attraction of the English Premiership??? Now!!! There’s just one positive from our divorce from that Brussels lot! And a powerful negotiating chip it can be for those Tories to use, and the FA too wrt UEFA, as they try to get a “good deal for Britain”. Of course, they’ll probably just fuck it all up too, like they always do with everything else! ?s
Thanks for the further info Ned@29, 31, 41.
To obviate this now disgusting, opulent and narcissistic farce, is it possible to just support “token” cash player transfers at the lower youth and amateur levels of the game, in order to keep the grassroots and community development clubs at the bottom of tree ticking-over thereby taking back youth discovery and development back to where it should be down there and away from the big professional clubs and their ringer-feeder clubs up here? Something that’ll be akin to the current College system in the US as you’ve referenced?
Once a first professional contract is signed by any amateur player, it’s either that player is subsequently moved-on only by being traded for another or several others (like the old Panini-Stickers stylo) which will depend on what that contract-holding team needs (teams would then be forced to only trade-in for what they need and trade-out what they don’t need any more rather than the current “mass-hoarding” of good players and young talent just to keep them away from their rivals getting them – cf. the now growing loan-market of top-quality players like Jesé and Renato Saches from the Super-Clubs leaving for a year or less), or they just let their player’s professional contract expire and he/she will then just become a free agent which can then choose any club that they then want to sign for, just like what Alexis Sanchez and/or Ozil could do in January or next summer if they want, or they negotiate a new contract with the player at the end of their current deal? No new deals negotiated or given in the middle of still current deals!
Of course when the player does become a free-agent, and whatever the salary that they’re looking to get from their new club/team is (I don’t really care how much or little that is, even if it is US’ Sports crazy realm – goodluck to ’em I’ll then say!), that new salary would have to fit inside a very strictly-enforced, and well-regulated by the Footballing authorities, salary-cap for all professional clubs. This salary-cap thing appears to work for Rugby and for other professional team sports globally, so why not for Association Football too? What makes it so special any way now? Nothing as far as I can see now!
At least then, this now spiralling crazy and out of control money-madness, and its clearly incoming criminal and money-laundering element from some quarters, shall be challenged responsibly by those who care about the game! Is there anything at all wrong with that now within this our now increasingly more dangerous and unscrupulous “Global Village” within which we all live? ?
Steve T@30,
Lemar’s just waiting for Arsene Wenger to get us back into the Champions League for next season. He’ll then catch the Eurostar to London Colney personally next May before subsequently flying to Russia with the other 3 French Arsenal boys (Kos, HFB, Lacazz) for their World Cup challenge! Of course, Arsene’ll be on the flight with then too as he goes over and does French TV! Viva La France! ?
Hilarious stuff here:
http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2017/09/01/human-rights-watchdog-urges-arsenal-to-stop-torturing-fans/?utm_source=WWN_Facebook_Page&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=Social_Link&utm_content=Article
Turns out there is a godforsaken interlull. Who could have known??
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/wife-cut-husbands-penis-flushed-11098874.amp ? ? ? ? ?
Dapper Dan. Why didn’t she use a five-iron? Surely the symbolism would have been stronger. 😉
Maybe this is the week AW set aside to fix the Arsenal? 😉 😉
bt8,
Or a nice and smooth opened-up Lob Wedge, with an interlocking grip, to aid her controlled release! ?️
Great write up Holic!
Couldn’t agree more with your view on the current affairs of this great football club. Change is required the sooner the better!
Looks like Cazorla has been omitted from the Priemier League squad I take it he’s not coming back ever. ?
Holic, my sincerest condolences on your loss and thanks for the post.
The window is closed and the world is still rotating on its axis. Fantastic!
In my opinion, while not having a great window we managed to shift some unwanted players and one whose loss shouldn’t greatly affect the team.
Keeping Sanchez and losing him for nothing in the summer was talked about before the window opened and we still have him no matter what transpired in between.
Getting him to produce maximally is now up to the manager who admittedly, hasn’t done a good job of that in the recent past.
I personally don’t rate Sanchez as a team player and can understand why some players would like to see the back of him.
Having said that he is probably one of the best players we have and given that we aren’t the most attractive proposition in Europe today, it should be a matter of making do with what we have and praying the young lads can learn the real professional stuff from him while he’s still here.
It also seems that he gives his all when on the pitch (for this season we will have to wait and see).
AW has to end the civil war with Gazidis and concentrate on righting a listing ship (before thinking of turning it). I don’t know enough about the goings-on at the club to say much more.
The swords should be sheathed and pressure taken off the players.
If his default method of coaching is letting the players express themselves creatively, he should provide an enabling environment for it to happen while conflating that with a tactical structure.
The main on field issue for me is our lack of a midfield acquisition to complement and/or compete with what we have. Jack is on his way back from injury and Santi may not be what he once was when he hopefully comes back. Maitland-Niles or McGuane can be called upon but they are still a bit green about the ears and that leaves us a bit light in that department.
Having gone on and on above, I guess the point I’m probably inadequately trying to get across is that there’s hope for this season yet. Outside the fact that we missed a golden opportunity to bolster our ranks and make a statement of intent, we still have a chance to go about our business under the radar.
For the likes of Reiss Nelson, Alex Iwobi, the Jeff and maybe Chambers and Holding, lessened expectation is no terrible thing at this point in time.
We have what we have and it can’t change till January at the earliest so why not just get on with it and support the Arsenal.
On the way football is about to eat itself concerning players transfer fees and wages and regulations that may or may not be put in place to curb the ungodly and obscene greed driving it, consumerism is king…………https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/aug/31/manchester-city-50m-right-back-transfer-window-summer-2017
Congrats Gooner Lewis Hamilton on equalling a great record.
UTA
http://news.arseblog.com/2017/09/no-cazorla-for-2017-as-midfielder-omitted-from-premier-league-squad/
Thanks all, again. ??
And before anyone asks
Alex Iwobi
Reiss Nelson
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
the Jeff
Edward Nketiah
Gedion Zelalem
Krystian Bielik
and most of the rest of the youngsters
are all young enough to play in Premier League games under the ‘under 21’ exemption from needing to be named in the 25-man senior squad.
Ned,
The young players should get a decent look- in here especially if we can make a decent fist of the U Ropey League. I also have a hunch Nelson will regularly make the bench for Premier League games.
I like the look of Maitland- Niles but think he is a holding midfield player as he showed at Southampton in the Cup last year and I hope he gets the chance for a consistent role. Perhaps the most intriguing is Bielik who would probably have gone on loan if he hadn’t got injured. He has played in midfield and central defence. I’ve scarcely seen him play but those who have say he is a classy player . Nketiah is also a good finisher and that can be a habit good players repeat at higher levels.
If we get a real dividend out of these players it may lift some of the gloom post transfer window by giving us different options .
How’s that for positive thinking??
Has Santi sadly become another wee Mozart, in the latter years of being at our Club? ? Such another waste if indeed so! ?
Here’s hoping he can still be added after the January Transfer Window, if his injury-recovery timeline permits, for one final “Hurrah” towards a special AFC season! ?
A Liverpool youngster just netted a decisive strike in a World Cup Qualifier for Wales! Why not ours?! ?
anyone seen zico ?
http://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-scotland-tayside-central-41122909
Dorset Mick from previous drinks
I am intrigued to know what made you start supporting the Club back in 66.
Given we were playing bog standard football,or soccer as it was called back then,it cannot have been the quality/style we were serving up. !!
More importantly,are you a Member of the very very exclusive
” Dancing on the Pitch Club “after the Fairs Cup Final win in 1970. ??
cba,
Apparently Zico was last seem at the summit of Ben Nevis holding hands with BTM after the Anfield debacle.
Clive,
May I say first of all, thanks for your comments and wonderful contributions in the earlier thread and indeed through-out the year!
Always full of insight, perspective, education and entertainment!
I say that that not just because of the kind words you kindly offered to Dorset Mick, but also because you offered the same sentiments some years ago to Gooner Terry.
I, for one, remember that acutely. Your commentary was a relief to his wife and to his daughters Ria and Asha.
That should never be forgotten on this blog. You really are a wonderful human being.
Joe,
Hear, hear.
Words of comfort at a very difficult time can make an enormous difference . We all hope Dorset Mick can come through his illness well and Clive’s words were very touching.
“It’s September 2nd, 2017. I’m with the German National team right now, and yesterday we took a big step towards the World Cup in Russia after beating Czech Republic 2-1. During the last couple of days my DFB teammates have been asking me about how everything is at Arsenal at the moment. They claimed to have read about the current crisis through the media, as pundits and former players are commenting on a daily basis. They say that this could be the worst team in years, even decades.
I’m writing this text together with people that are close to me, and we’ve got something to celebrate. Although no match was won, or trophy was lifted today, Arsenal and I are celebrating our anniversary! Four years ago I was transferred in a last minute deal from Real Madrid to Arsenal – Arsène Wenger convinced me. He told me about the great history of this club, about its living legends such as Bergkamp, Vieira and Pirès, who owe a large part of their success to the manager. Arsène told me how he would help me to develop as a player, and this is something every player wants to hear, as it is great encouragement.
Although I initially struggled when coming to the Premier League, I accepted the challenge. I started as a left-winger at the beginning, and in all honestly, I am not a great admirer of that position for myself – I’m better as a ‘number 10’. When playing in the centre I can control the game and generate chances. The Premier League is physically much more demanding then La Liga or the Bundesliga. 1-1 draws are much tougher, and the smaller clubs also have very strong teams that can easily catch you out. Furthermore, there is no winter break, meaning the season is extremely long and exhausting, especially when you are playing at European and National Team level too.
We have achieved a lot in our four years together. Three of the 13 FA Cup victories have been accomplished in the past four years, with the other ten taking 75 years for the club to win. This is in addition to our three Community Shield wins. After all, six titles in four years is quite something. However, this only makes myself and the team even more disappointed for not playing a role in the title race at the end of last season – this is something we hope to change this year.
Personally I’ve had to accept a lot of criticism during my time in London. ‘Too expensive, too greedy, bad body language, and lacking fight’ – this is what people have said about me. Some of these comments are made by those who do not know me, some are made by former players – both successful and unsuccessful during their time here at the club. Although criticism is something that all football players have to deal with, I nevertheless expected legends to behave like legends – my advice to these former Gunners: stop talking and start supporting!
I would like to thank all the Gooners that have always supported me and believed in me. When I leave the Emirates after a game, I see the fans standing along the street cheering. When I’ve played well, I hear you sing my song, and this makes me incredibly proud, giving me goosebumps every time. I have been privileged enough to have met both Brendan and Charlie. They support the club despite their illness, and their strength and positive messages constantly motivate me. Moreover, I’m thankful for all the other personal relationships I’ve made over the past four years.
Even though I personally do not know how my career will continue after this year, I look forward to my fifth season with Arsenal. This is because Arsenal is a great club with great people and great traditions. I am glad to be able to wear your shirt, Gooners. I’ve had so many great moments in the last four years and I really appreciate what this club means to the people of London, the UK and all over the world.”
Mesut Ozil
2nd September 2017
Compelling stuff! ?
‘stop talking and start supporting’
Obvious answer to that – Start playing and nobody will be talking.
Support for the manager, praise
for the club, thank-you to the
fans, and helpful advice for the
negative nellies – what’s not to
like about that statement?
I hope they weren’t considering jumping! 🙁 (#63)
What’s not to like about Mesut’s statement, Matt, is that he obviously believes he’s done enough when so many think he hasn’t. He sounds like another Diana Spencer … everything is everyone else’s fault.
Fair enough Chris, I honestly don’t
get that from the statement. Just we’ve
won some stuff and we are disappointed
we fucked the league up last season.
But I accept I may be biased as I like
him as a player…..
And I respect your view, Matt, I just wish I could share it! 🙂
It’s nice to know Ivan is well rewarded for his excellence
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4847388/Arsenal-finish-fourth-ranking-chief-exec-earnings.html
Interesting TTG. No idea what
Ivan does for the money and
also I wonder what the Chav
guy does for his paltry 223 grand.
Not a surprise though as generally
we’re competitive on reward.
Ned,
Thanks for the link to the EU stuff
yesterday. I browsed through it
and you can see a general picture
of what they’re trying to do even
if it is somewhat vague. I assume
some agreed principles may
eventually emerge but whether
that will encompass the football
transfer market is difficult to tell –
for me anyway.
Your point about our transfer
activity in *10 is well made though.
Others are having problems
too.
By the way I had a look through
a couple of the Expert Group
meeting agendas – nice work
if you can get it.
Ttg@58: I like your thinking.
And I echo your @65 about Clive’s words of support and comfort for Dorset Mick.
DapperDan@60: The Wales teenager, Ben Woodburn has played fewer than 90 minutes in the Premier League for Liverpool (one start and four sub appearances). Shows how difficult it is for even talented British youngsters to break through especially when you have Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino and Lazar Markovic in front of you.
OsakaMatt@78: It is all very EU-like (and indeed nice work if you can get it). But when you think how rotten a self-governing and self-perpetuating international supporting organization like FIFA could become and how myopically focused on self-enrichment professional sports like football have become, then there is an argument for the external encouragement of good governance in the wider public interest.
Mesut forgot toads that some supporters should stop complaining and start supporting:- the only sensible thing about Arsenal I’ve read in months.
The only sensible thing I’ve read!!! Those damn toads!
Goonersince54@62, Joe@64 & TTG@65,
Thanks so much for your kind thoughts, it’s much appreciated.
Clive, I come from a family of mainly gooners, although my father and elder brother worship the swampdwellers. My father and uncle owned a small engineering business in Maidenhead, and employed a relation of Bobby Robson. This enabled us to get some decent tickets every once in a while. Fortunately for me, (I would otherwise have been a LWC), my uncle arranged for me to see the arse at Craven Cottage for my first game and I was hooked on our bang average football!
This was a shit 1-0 defeat, and got me ready to follow the arse through some pretty drab years. Was too young to make the fairs cup final (school night, living in Barton-on-sea), but I still have the badge for it somewhere!
Condolences on your loss Holic and thank you for yet another finely balanced post.
Despite our terrible transfer window, we still have a quality squad. We have left one major area unaddressed – the central midfield, which has been most unstable part of our team ever since the Santi-Coq axis was disrupted. I still think that the Ramsey-Xhaka combination can do a very good job provided Xhaka gets back his passing mojo and Ramsey loses his wanderlust early on in games. But we needed a top top top quality central midfield signing to play anywhere close to the slick short quick passing game Wenger usually wants his teams to play. I hope Wilshere springs up a nice surprise with a few good games but that is the most one can expect from him at this stage.
The worrying thing about this Arsenal squad is that they don’t seem to have the best camaraderie and team spirit. Ever since project youth began, our teams have always had a tendency for the odd defensive horror show. But what was different during that terrible run of form last season was that it was quite clearly a divided team – not interested in fighting for each other. Infact the team management did well to mend things quickly and not let it turn into a shit storm similar to Mourinho’s last season at Chelsea. Worryingly, the same signs of team unrest were on display in the game against Liverpool. Getting the team united might be the biggest challenge facing Arsene and his staff.
This transfer window was also a weird one from another point of view. Arsene has always advocated for stability as far as core members of the first team are concerned. Apart from the arrival of Lacazette and Kolasinac,we could have had new players in place of Alexis and Mustafi. That would have meant four new players in the reckoning for the starting eleven when the manager has always been vocal about problems of integrating more than two new players into the regular starting eleven in a tough premier league. There seem to be huge disagreements between the manager and the board when it comes to new signings. We have already sold Gabriel and there were plenty of rumors about us wanting to let Elneny go in the summer. Both these players were recommended by StatDNA and Arsene clearly hasn’t had enough faith in them. Similarly Lucas Perez and Mustafi – deadline day acquisitions last summer also seem to have lost favor with the manager. Mustafi is a particularly strange one because he played plenty of games for us last season. His passing out from the back is top class and suits our style of play completely. He made a few errors in games last season but those could be ironed out and defenders only get better after one season of acclimatization in the premier league. So the fact that there was a change of heart regarding him all of a sudden after just one season might point to disciplinary reasons rather than footballing ones.
Quite clearly there are things going on behind the scenes which Arsene alluded to as ‘reasons’ after the Liverpool game. By dealing with the cases of Alexis and Mustafi in the way the club has done, it might have made the job of the manager all the more tougher in what looked like a disharmonious squad in the last game. Team sport is fantastic because the collective efforts of a team outweighs their individual abilities. But for teams to have any hope of success, the first thing they need is every member of the team to focus in the same direction with total commitment. The first big challenge for Arsene and co will be to rally the troops and make it a real team again. Otherwise it could be a long and tiresome season ahead.
@61
You can pick your friends……
Ned,
There is an excellent argument for
better governance, cleaning up
football’s stinking stables and
adopting the German club
ownership model, oh and
dismantling FIFA to simply focus
on rule changes and refereeing.
I just think the political will is
lacking – well plus the individual
rights and national FAs authority
that I’d happily trample over myself
to get it done.
In reality, it will be a slow business
and incremental if anything gets
done at all.
NBN@80,
Quite! And that’s just like it is at any of the top clubs.
He also scored a belter too in one of those Liverpool sub-outings! Prodigious talent! Kylian Mbappe who??? ?
OsakaMatt@87,
It won’t be a slow business if Kim Jung-un and The Donald “get it on” with their “Mad cojones”! ?
DapperDan@89: if they do, then football will be the least of our worries…
NBN@88,
For sure! The ? is getting real!
Now, which three of the current squad members shall I reserve a place in my Scottish bunker for? The three of whom it would be best to re-build a team and a club around after the nuclear holocaust? Hmmm ?
Keep: Cech
Back: Holding (Mustafi, Chambo – form/fitness etc.) Kos, Monorail
Mid: GetStuckIn (Bellerin), Rambo – FishyishGod, Sean O’Klasinac
Front: Sanchez (shuddah flogged ‘im & got Mahrez in, maybes, oil well), La-La-La Lacazette, Danny Dubbya (The(little)0, Iwobi, and poss some others i can’t be asked to recall of a Sundee sesshhhh, form/fitness etc.)
Plan B : Xhaka on as quarterback to chuck stuff at HFB ‘gainst deep-lying defences/should plan A go stale on us arses.
That gives us 5 (not inc. da keeper) tenaciousish, pacey defensive types on the pitch, und 5 attacky-types. Thus (oh yeah!) Rambo & the Wizard could concentrate on getting stuff done up top, though would be required to at least make a nuisance of themselves wen we aint got the bladder.
Ps – wingbacks would have to choose thems times wen to go & not. (Coaches FEEL FREE to point them more or less in the right direction, here und there – no-one’s not gonna not like you if you don’t – (bang! Neg hattrick!).)
See, this manager lark is eaaaaaaaaaaaazeeeeeeeeeee
https://youtu.be/QIKqw-pTiJ0
Heh@90. ?️
RIP Walter Becker. Great musician.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG2seugAgnU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZ56I_xQW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bwHK1xkgJA
?????
the mighty Z
?????
Sadly,it seems the years are reeling them in.
Another of Walter Becker and Donald Fagan’s classics: https://youtu.be/UfZWp-hGCdA
favourite row i’ve seen / not seen
a sunday night
not unlike tonight
a family do – not mine
loada women of a various certain age
in disheveled finery
waving fists of ripped out hair
then
the biggest roomiest one o them roars and tears round the corner
“GRANDA – HE’S NOT WORTH IT”
.
?
fuck alone knows what their menfolk were at round there
.
and it the lord’s day
.
.
though i’m guessing 61 would run a close second
oops
98 was for
ZICO
must admit baff ‘n’ ned
i know only hardly fuck all
about steely dan
i will rectify that forthwith
(if i think they’re shite i will keep me mouth shut)
Walter Becker and Donald Fagan Steely Dan. The sound track to my 1970s student years.
Feeling very melancholy, drinking whisky and listening to The Dan.
Learn to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05f1sqh
Spot on.
Likewise CM 100 @ 102, the soundtrack to studying for my finals was the Royal Scam. The golden nectar and Steely Dan is a fine combination. In memoriam WB.
I remember in my first year residences Union bar the juke box always seemed to be playing Rikki don’t lose that number …..
see my @97 and relive your youth, C100.
CM@105, had to be 1974.
I went up in 75 but close enough!
I spent the summer of ’74 in Boston, Mass. It was the sound of that summer. Maybe it took a year to get to your local station! :0)
No I just think the singles on that jukebox didn’t get changed very often!
I also remember in the same bar beer was 20p a pint ….
Boston in 74 sounds great.
CBA@101,
You’ve got way too much musical taste not to love Steely Dan. Probably. They were one of the best bands of the 1970’s, and my favourite until World Party.
@101: The first thing about Steely Dan you must know is that it originally was a gigantic steam powered dildo inside William Burroughs’ head, giving his psychedelic vagina multiple orgasms in all possible permutations.
It may also be the last thing you want to know about Steely Dan as it is absolutely irrelevant.
Or is it?
The smartest and wittiest two dudes in popular music.
Thelonious Monk to Horace Silver, lots of different Jazz cats have appeared in funky disguise in their music. Without actually appearing, that is.
And whereas much of Rock and pop is exhibitionism of the human Id, their songs bare nothing, while revealing a lot.
Only group who could write songs equally memorable and witty about Buddhism and Condom.
Never very serious, but in a serious kind of way.
I managed to get through the ’70s in Australia without hearing anything Steely Dan other than the Rikki song. Another chunk of Albion that passed by generally unremarked the other side of the world. It’s surprising how much of such only came to light in retrospect decades later.
No, in the ’70s we were listening to Dragon, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Sherbet, Australian Crawl, Icehouse, Mental As Anything, Rose Tattoo, Little River Band, The Saints, INXS, Skyhooks, Midnight Oil, The Angels and Cold Chisel among others (it was a very fertile music era in Aussie). Few of them would have been heard up there, I’m guessing. But we did give AC/DC to the world at the time – even if most of the band were born in the UK.
Can’t let the above go without a sample. This is Midnight Oil led by Peter Garrett who later became a member of parliament holding several portfolios including Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejorQVy3m8E
But my favourite Aussie band was always Cold Chisel, the greatest pub band the world has ever known. But here in a bigger venue with the ultimate anti-Vietnam War song. Fantastic lyrics … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfDI2ZjXwK8
Singer Jimmy Barnes, born in Glasgow.
She was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, till they found their chosen one
And their legs were often open
But their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long, pay packet lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been
But the car parks made me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and Novocaine
Hmmmm. No one around, eh? Maybe I should do a cba…
Er, no. No one could. Nope, I’ll just play another Chisel … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcjZrf_g-lQ
In the notes some dude claims “outro guitar solo is as fine as any you will hear anyone play anywhere in rock in the last 40 years” so be sure to stick around for it. A fine musician Ian Moss.
can remember buying two lp’s on same day from HMV in London
tubular bells and cant buy a thrill by steely dan
great records. must have been 1974?
would have been 16
Dan,
If it’s a nuclear holocaust you’d
be better off choosing 3 of the
wives to rebuild the team.
None so blind as those that won’t see.
Poor old Ivan. This is the kind of dynamic leadership that we have at the club. I use the word leadership in its widest form.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4849354/Ivan-Gazidis-Arsenal-s-transfer-window-success.html
Only the Mail says Gazidis declared the transfer window ‘a success’. His email said no more than we had ‘improved the quality and depth of our squad’. Not sure that is true to any substantial degree, but it is different from being triumphalist about the window.
Well, quality is in the eye of the
beholder. But I struggle to see
how Ivan can say depth.
@Chris
http://tinyurl.com/y93esona
Guns N’ Crawl… 😀
OsakaMatt@118,
I’m one of those LBGTQADE….Zs, so I’ll go any which way and loose in me kilt all day and all night wi any o ’em and their preference! ? ?
Breaking News!
http://www.skysports.com/share/11020098
????
What a bunch of fuckin’ ?s!
Who started it all with the Galacticos?
Who bought Gareth Bale for stupid money?
What a pile of ?!
You made the bed Lads, so everyone’s now decided to lie in it too! ☯️ ⚽️
?s!
????
… and another classic : http://tinyurl.com/o6wh8ql
😀
well now dorset M
given that the verdict from my internal juke box jury
is now in re. steely dan
ye might wanna reappraise your view on me
from man of good taste to cloth-eared clunk ?
was surprised how many i knew though
isn’t the brain amazing
memorizes the tunes and lyrics but doesn’t bother to label them
the cheeky bollix ?
just opens yer forehead and fucks em all in
also
round here
ye wear steely dans on yer feet
for workin on the sites
useless information quota filled
i must head back out again
.
look after yerself big man
It was pointed out to me yesterday that if Wayne and Colleen split up and they share everything 50:50, she will have more Premier League medals than Steven Gerrard.
Just saying.
In memoriam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMjGaiIxtY
The greatest pub band the world has ever known….
Have a word with yourself…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaybV46MA6E
After I bigged up France for the
World Cup they drew with
Luxembourg 🙁
I wonder why my bookmaker is
rich and I am poor.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/sep/04/arsenal-problems-stan-kroenke-premier-league-los-angeles-rams
…….
“Kroenke’s vying for the title of worst owner in international sports history…..A place in the Championship would be his coup de grace.”
:0(
BB@131,
Although probably true, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens when they first try that inevitable new Head-Coach and Man-Manager, before the moniker of “worst owner in international sports history” can be rightfully apportioned to him. ☯️
One only wishes that Arsene Wenger had indeed taken-up that PSG job that was allegedly offered to him in the Summer; and gone on to Paris to show us what he can do with ?loads of money at his disposal by finally winning his holy grail – the Champions League. A title which he does deserve for all of his love of the game! Sadly, he just will not now do it with us because of just pure and simple “lower-capacity” alongside the relatively-inferior “playing-staff” resources that he will now always have available to him. ?
UTAD&AN!
AFCOF!
I don’t know how Gazidis can claim keeping Sanchez and Ozil was a sign of ambition.
Nobody wanted one of them and we would have sold the other one, if our bid for Lemar, which was almost three times what we originally tried to buy him for, had succeeded.
A sign of panic maybe. Ambition? Nah.
A sign of ambition would have been them signing new contracts?
A sign of ambition would have been to have known months ago that they won’t sign a new contract, to have sold both early in the window and to have replaced both ?
Anyway, another interesting read from someone who does appear to be a proper ITK.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/849749/BBC-Sport-reporter-David-Ornstein-reveals-explosive-Arsenal-details-after-transfer-farce
BB@31: That Guardian piece was written by the satirist and comedy writer DJ Gallo (SNL, The Onion, sportspickle.com). Don’t know whether to laugh or cry, though.
SteveT@135: full text of Ornstein’s post:
https://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/904618820073132032
Not much we didn’t know or haven’t discussed in this establishment but but then we knew it was a shambles unfolding.
Ornstein pulls it all together coherently. Why don’t BBC and other reporters just do that all the time?
Interesting question as to who is the most incompetent at their job at the club…….Kroenke as chief shareholder , Sir Chips as Chairman or Gazidis as CEO? None of them have got a bloody clue ( that’s if Kroenke is trying to run a sporting franchise that is successful on the field of play.
Ornstein doesn’t tell us anything we don’t know but putting it together is helpful and without the club spin we can see the damage .
Let’s take the titbit about central midfield at the end of his note. He says that Wenger thought we might need to do something about it at the end of the window but hadn’t left enough time to sort it. That is just incompetence , negligence or whatever you like to call it. So was not moving players surplus to requirements on earlier
Arsenal is poorly run at all the key levels. I think it comes primarily from Wenger who has lost the plot but is not accountable to anyone except Kroenke and he doesn’t give a shit about football success despite what Ornstein alleges.
My conclusion is that we need a better, bolder, more ambitious owner and one who wants Arsenal to be successful even if it takes some of his personal fortune. Unfortunately at the top level it is a pissing contest and Kroenke isn’t prepared to join in. Understandable , but no use to us if we want to compete.
I’m a great David Dein man but he did us no favours in introducing us to Kroenke.
Chips has no power, so you can hardly blame him.
CBA@125,
No-one’s perfect CBA, but you are not a cloth-eared clunk, far from it judging by many of your recommendations.
Unless you like Christy Moore, that is!
mother o god , dorset M
had to attend one of that dollop’s concerts
(long story)
what a fuckin torturous affair that was
i felt like gnawing me ears off to escape
Christy Moore? Wasn’t she in Debbie Does Drogheda?
This is also well worth reading. A suggestion that backs up something that I was told that Josh Kroenke is trying to knife Wenger. The trouble is, if he does will he know what to do then ?
http://7amkickoff.com/index.php/2017/09/04/the-ornicle-speaks-of-moneyballs/
It’s an American perspective on what Ornstein revealed and what Josh has ‘ achieved’ in USA.
Cynic- a Chairman has power if he chooses to exercise it…and knows what to do.
@137,
If what Ornstein states is true, then = ?s
This pales in comparison! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc
And for you @143,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P1iBbBL1040
CBA@141,
At least you will never have to put yourself through that nightmare again, as he has apparently retired from live performances. Hopefully this retirement is legally enforceable!
The problem with moneyball is that it only really works when one team is doing it. As soon as every club recruits that way the original team’s advantage from buying mispriced talent is eliminated.
147
?
Is it safe to come out from under my rock yet?
What power does a chairman have when he’s basically an old duffer figurehead, who replaced the previous one? Zilch.
David Ornstein, Arsenal twitter’s most trusted reporter
The one who said neither Oxlade-Chamberlain or Mustafi would be in the squad at Liverpool, which he got 100% wrong?
S****d p****e will a***s be s****d
(edit) never underestimate the power of a coward
So basically it’s a power struggle
where whoever wins we lose.
You missed a * out, SSY. 😉
What is it with US billionaires putting their kids in to run the UK football clubs they own? The late Malcolm Glazier did the same at Man U, though his sons seem to have had more business experience than Josh Kroenke.
More money-go-round than moneyball, a new survey by the CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland of transfers over the past five years shows how the big clubs are largely shuffling the transfer money amongst themselves. This is a particularly telling graphic showing that:
http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr27/en/images/fig07.svg?crc=3917716828
The whole survey is at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr27/en/
Some surprising lists of the top buying and selling clubs. Incidentally, the Ox makes the list of the top 20 overpriced transfers.
The Ox showed yesterday for England exactly what he demonstrated for us. A frustrating lack of end product. Can he play in central midfield? Sometimes…he is not really consistent enough or able to concentrate enough to play that role. But boy do England need someone there if Livermore is a heartbeat away from starting.
Cynic
Re Ornstein
That was a fake Twitter account. If you check back in the official account it’s not there. Some people get off by doing things like that
#113
Nice to see the Saints (the band ; not Southampton) get some love.
But no Radio Birdman, Scientists or Victims ?!?!
For shame 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Jjg-5ouaI
*
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>