I watched a really great film the other day, it was called ‘Thank you for smoking‘. The film is about a guy who works for Big Tobacco, basically promoting the good name of smoking. The film is a satirical look at the way big bucks corporations spin the press and public into their way of thinking.
It’s funny… because I drew a lot of parallels between that film and the way Arsenal are run.
To run a successful Arsenal these days, you have to be able to convince people that bad is actually good … it’s all about reframing fans perspective… the art of persuasion. The art of being a good persuader is to frame your point of view more positively than whoever you are debating with \ selling to…
Arsenal have become experts at this art of late… for me, 4th in the Premier League is a failure… Marketing Guru, Ivan Gazidis sees this slightly differently,
‘If we had been told back in January that we could reach the Semi-Finals of the both the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, together with guaranteeing qualification for the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League for a 12th consecutive season, we all probably would have been delighted.‘
Well, when you put it like that Ivan… it makes me feel kind of special inside! I mean, we were looking down the barrel of 5th place in December… so technically, that makes it a great year… right?
Well, how about if one of your kids came to you in December with a predicted F- in their exams… then they came to you in July with a D and told you that you should be pleased, because it was better than an F… would you bust out the Champagne? Probably not… would you drop them another grand for next semester? Probably not…
The other way Arsenal try to keep a good fan down is by making them feel stupid. Arsene Wenger will often do it when one of his long term projects come good… lines like,
‘Last year people were telling me Song was the worst player in the world, now they are complaining he is left out.’
All of a sudden you double take before you point out a player is poor… what if Arsene turns them around, I might be left looking silly! What Arsene fails to mention is that Song was probably the worst player in the world when people were complaining about him!
Kid #3: My Mommy says smoking kills.
Nick Naylor: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: A scientific researcher of some kind?
Kid #3: No.
Nick Naylor: Well, then she’s hardly a credible expert, is she?
Recognise the sketch above…? I think every AKB has that comment cut and ready to paste quicker than you can say, ‘So I suppose you could do a better job?’.
Sheep mentality is easy to get sucked into… because it requires no effort. It’s the same as being constantly negative. If I say every player is going to be crap… the chances are, I’ll be right sometimes… the same as if I say every player will be great. Having an opinion of your own based on your own thoughts is the skill for me.
I’m not a Michelin star chef, but I reckon I could spot an undercooked bit of steak if it was dropped on my plate… just because you’re not paid to do something for a living, doesn’t mean you don’t have a good feel for what is right.
Just like no one says,
‘Hold on Arsene… you’re taking control of the finances based on an Economics degree? Shouldn’t we send you back to Business school to do a Management Accountancy Masters because Economics is the theory of money… we’d rather someone who was interested in tried and tested methods… ‘
It’s a silly analogy… but almost as silly as telling me I can’t question the coach because I’m not a professional football manager!
My favourite related sketch in the film is this one,
Joey Naylor: …so what happens when you’re wrong?
Nick Naylor: Whoa, Joey I’m never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But you can’t always be right…
Nick Naylor: Well, if it’s your job to be right, then you’re never wrong.
Joey Naylor: But what if you are wrong?
Nick Naylor: OK, let’s say that you’re defending chocolate, and I’m defending vanilla. Now if I were to say to you: ‘Vanilla is the best flavour ice-cream’, you’d say…
Joey Naylor: No, chocolate is.
Nick Naylor: Exactly, but you can’t win that argument… so, I’ll ask you: so you think chocolate is the end all and the all of ice-cream, do you?
Joey Naylor: It’s the best ice-cream, I wouldn’t order any other.
Nick Naylor: Oh! So it’s all chocolate for you is it?
Joey Naylor: Yes, chocolate is all I need.
Nick Naylor: Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice-cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the defintion of liberty.
Joey Naylor: But that’s not what we’re talking about
Nick Naylor: Ah! But that’s what I’m talking about.
Joey Naylor: …but you didn’t prove that vanilla was the best…
Nick Naylor: I didn’t have to. I proved that you’re wrong, and if you’re wrong I’m right.
Joey Naylor: But you still didn’t convince me
Nick Naylor: It’s that I’m not after you. I’m after them.
[points into the crowd]
Ok, so replace Vanilla Ice Cream with young players… replace Chocolate with big money transfers… replace… actually… it’s not that simple… but you get what I mean!
One minute we’re all sitting there moaning that we don’t sign enough adults and we’re upset because we haven’t won a trophy… the next thing you know we’re all sitting there applauding Wenger for having the youngest team outside the under-16′s league! How did we get there… that wasn’t what we were talking about! He won the argument by changing the argument… I’ve gone from being upset… to being pleased that we give youth a chance and we have class and integrity when it comes to buying players!
I’M CELEBRATING THE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODEL!
WHAT HAVE I BECOME!
HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?
… it’s simple my friends, becuase Arsenal are pretty damn good at reframing a bad season.
Oh and to finish on a positive not we received an e-mail yesterday from Ivan, and he said this about the old ground. We have not budgeted for, or relied on any profits from Highbury Square, nor can the football club itself suffer if we do not reach a new agreement with our banks. In practical terms, the only way that Highbury Square can significantly impact the financial position of the football club is positively. So what he is saying is we are not skint.
Have a great day Grovers… if you’re not, remember… it could be worse, you could be dead!
have you two stopped fighting?
Why have sunderland taken our place in amsterdam? I was looking forward to that.
Blogfart?
hat trick?
Evening GM… pretty rubbish replacement!
I’ve no idea why we changed it?
Hi Pedro
I promised my boys we’d go again. Flights to strasbourg are too expensive for the barca friendly. I’ve got tickets for rangers. Maybe I’ll get tickets for the athletico game. I’m toying with the idea of following the team around Austria.
Dinner’s ready
Catch you later
Austria is quite nice that time of year!
Isn’t the fixture list out?
How many boys do you have GM?
perez says the faggot from manure is next on the list after kaka and villa
GM i dont know if it was you that wanted the name of a tattoo parlour where u could get the arsenal crest for ur boy.
CAMBEN LOCKS,
11 Chalk Farm Road
London
NW1 8AG
they should be able to sort him out there
Has Vermaelen facking signed yet ffs. I hate when transfers are drawn out like this.
At least Van Persie is excited about us signing him. And here i thought they had a problem with eachother.
Anyway………..
rvp knows what a tough bastard he was to play against, and knows that is exactly what we need to shore up our defence.
Yeah hopefully………
2 Pedro. One’s got glandular fever at the moment poor sod. Thanks for the address Franchise
i hear cesc had a huge gash on his face tonight
Yeah i heard about that. Seemed pretty serious. What happened exactly?
Who said something about Veloso on Sky Sports earlier? Where abouts was it? On the website or tv?
i think he was going down on a fat bird
Evening all
cesc requires some stitches.. but he’s going to be fine.. hope he misses the confed cup though.
Choy, i hope so too. But only the mancs players use injuries to skip playing for their countries. Cesc is too proud to sit this out if he is any bit ok to play.
they don’t actually need him anyway stu.. hope he sits this one out..
they have so many class players!
Thats probably why he is playing tho because usually he wouldnt start for them. Probably brought a lot of fringe players.
I hope he doesnt play tho because he hasnt had a proper summer off in a few years now. And with the WC next summer he wont have that off either.
HAHA Bear Grylls got stung by a Bee after he stole some of their honneycomb. Fucking delighted. His face has swollen up in hillarious fashion. He looks ridiculas but its funny as fuck. What a little pussy…..nothing compared to Lee Stroud (aka survivorman).
You hear that incescc! NOTHING!
goonerpress – the veloso story was on SSN
shall we start a massive internet rumour that spreads across the blogging world and makes it into the mainstream press re: veloso?
ARSENAL IN 12M PORTUGEEZER SWOOP
great now we are linked with veloso,when does it ever end….
DO NOT expect Arsenal to do a Real Madrid. The Gunners will not break the bank to sign players on world-record deals – simply because they cannot afford it.
When asked to comment on Kaka’s 65 million euros(S$131 million) Monday move from Italian club AC Milan to the Spanish giants, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger deadpanned: ‘Yes, Kaka just signed. So he won’t play for Arsenal.’
But then came this revelation:
‘No, for sure we won’t spend this kind of money because we don’t have it,’ said the Frenchman, who is known for his preference for developing youngsters.
In Kuala Lumpur as automotive lubricants company Castrol’s global ambassador, Wenger told The Straits Times that, while the amount may appear huge, it is relative. He spent a night in Singapore and will fly to Europe today.
‘Is it too much or not? It depends on the guy who buys Kaka for 65 million euros, who makes the calculation,’ said Wenger, who was in Real’s shortlist of managers before they appointed Chilean Manuel Pellegrini last week.
‘Is it worth or not financially? I don’t know how they can afford such an investment. But they certainly have.
‘Real Madrid have funds available of 200 million euros, maybe, they say. But they are not wrong with the player because, for me, the player is top, top, top class.
‘I can understand how it hurts people to see this kind of money being spent, but you can be sure that the guy who spends the money will try and get it back.’
Real topped financial analyst Deloitte’s Football Money League this year, with total revenue for the 2007/08 season at 365.8 million euros, and one can be sure the club will be cashing in on new signings such as Kaka.
Real also attracted an average attendance of 73,157 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real will no doubt make that money back. Be it from shirt sales or trophies he helps them win. 65m is nothing when you consider what he will make them.
For us im sure Arshavin has helped pay back the money he cost. If not already then it will certainly be covered by his performances etc next season.
Anyone aboot?
Heres a topic: James morrison is a twat…….or at least seems like one. Discuss.
I felt sorry for pedro last night , beating back the AKB’s with a stick ..
fuck it i would just ban them all .. mass yellow card them
red even …..
you had to answer and defend the most rudimentary questions ..
Stu
all i know is the true phrase of a music problem is do you listen to kasabian’s or placebo’s new album ? can it be done at the same time ?
Ethan, i know absolutely nothing about either band you just named. Should i be ashamed or what? I know who Kasabian are and one or two songs but thats about the all of it.
all i can say from looking back at it is defend the youth program all you want ..
but what it has effectively done is 3 things
- gave us 4 seasons of trophy-less football
- kept the wage budget high
- and left us with a squad full of young merc’s who dont know arsenals history ..
Basically im hooked on Kings of Leon for the time being. Brilliant music!
yes placebo is a mid 90′s band from the UK ..
quite depressing music over all but there are always one or 2 killer tracks on each album …
plus his voice is quite unique ..
you either love em or hate em … like the cure .
i like jim Morrison of the doors ..
but James Morrison does suck ..
some musicians are a complete waste of time .
most pop ones are .. other than U2 .
i do like james also !
he has done 2 or 3 real killer tracks in his time ..
and 4: they start off on high wages and naturally want more as they get older. Thus when they dont get they fuck off and leave us having to bring in another kid to fill the position, they have to learn and we are weakened again.
yes … sex is on fire .. brilliant track .
and 5 is … if you do load them up with high wages and they turn out to be average… like eboue , ade etc .. then not only do they not want to leave, no other fucker will take them on because they cant match there wages , therefore we are stuck with a bunch of average aging players .
on high wages who wenger must persist with to turn good ..
or not turn a profit on them …
Yeah, pop is generally shite…..no talent, just look the part and have all the lights and dancers making them seem good.
All of course except the girl bands. Noone really gives a shite what they sound like
6: the club is being used as a production house to grow players with the hope they become good and can be sold at a profit so we can start all over again with the same goals.
*resulting in no silverware.
Im pretty much sick of Sex on fire. Still good tho…..
yes only the video’s
and exposing as much flesh as humanly possible
whilst avoiding a R rating
and 7 . whilst wenger is largely to blame for that production line mentality of bringing up youths , the board are yet to realize how damaging it is to Arsenal’s footballing name and wenger himself ..
we are now irrevocably becoming known as a selling club and transfer wise a place to start your career at , as against join the gunners and win trophies at.
that dezko or what ever his name is , is a prime example . you couldn’t tell me if the year wasn’t 2003 , that he wouldn’t have chosen us over AC …
Exactly right! Long gone are the days that we were seen as a threat and a club to join to get success. Now we are a stepping stone to the bigger, more ambitious clubs.
you are wrong ethan… wanna know why?
Because the future is bright and every promosing kid is definately gonna come good and definately none of them will leave.
sure .. humor me
because milan were european champions in 2003
and guess what… in 2003 dzeko would have still said milan were his boyhood heroes.
hope this helps
and i might add leave prior to them really making a dent in their career’s !
its has to happen that way , because we as a club refuse to over pay our top end earners ..
im sure it wont take long for AA to realize , and realize quickly that he can be better paid at another top 4 club and win more in the process ..
thats the mentality that needs to change prior
to us gaining our stature as a top flight Euro club ..
Im off to sleep. Night Ethan, faceman etc etc…..
face
ill do a bit of reframing myself then
they wouldnt have been interested in him in 2003
whilst wenger might of
night stu..
Its starting to look more like no one is leaving, & we are buying a player who RVP rates. So that must mean that he will sign a contract.
In essence, that means The Arsenal isn’t a selling club, like AC Milan.
Heres a question, who would you be more likely to get 3 points from in a World Cup qualifier Andorra or New Zealand? or even the Soloman Islands. Well as an Australian I guess we will never find out coz we never get to play any of them
Arsene is in Singapore and had this to say :
1. 50% of our revenue comes from gates and matchday revenue, 25% from TV and 25% from sponsorships. He doesn’t worry about the property bit. (Reinforces what the Gaz said).
2. He will not sell, unless the player is not good enough.
3. We will see some signings (he used the plural) in a couple of days.
I have to confess that despite my doubts about Arsene, I felt like I was in the presence of greatness. All power to him!
I feel AW’s losing his touch with unearthing players.
I never believed he would go for AA coz the whole world and their dog knew about him after the Euros.
When he commented he was a good player at the tournament I thought it was his usual style of praising a player and then finishing by sayin but we’re not interested.
And Jan 09, he’s a gunner.
Now for Dzeko, again under the spotlight after winning the Bundesliga against all odds and topping the scoring charts. Again, all know about him and we’re being linked. Is it just paper talk or does AW now use the same menthods as Sven/Harry (Harry would go for Akinbyi if he thought we were sniffing) to scout players i.e under the limelight?
Iceman…what do we care if they are unearthed as gooners or not…the end is that they are quality…we still have the likes of Jack and JET and the Cocq to come through…so a lot to be happy about.
David I prefer not to get into bidding wars with tival clubs. For instance, we were on track for Dzeko…because word got out, Milan came and turned his head.
Now it’s still not certain what’s going on. That’s all I’m saying.
The way Sagna/Eduardo were signed is how I prefer it.
Not many people knew and it was done smoothly.
me Grovers, how goes it??
So the latest gossip is Gallas might be on the way to Milan or Juve. Straight swap for Chielleni then or throw in a some cash as well and that would do me well. I like Gallas, always have tbh but the relationship is perhaps beyond repair now with all that has happened with him since that fateful night vs. Birmingham.
We keep saying we need experience and now we’re looking to sell our best CB and one of the most experienced players on our team…. :{
Hey what’s up guys???
Pedro, that’s by far ur best post I’ve read!
iceman, who r we selling?
If we do a swap deal for Chiellini plus some cash am all for it ICE. He is younger, meaner, and does not sulk like Gallas. I like Gallas, always have, but maybe its time he moved on. Chiellini, Toure, Vermaelen, Song, Senderos seems like a sold group of CBs to me.
Gallas apparently Cartman.
Rumor today saying Gallas, Eboue, Barndoor, and Toure will be be allowed to leave. Gallas for Chiellini would be a good deal for us imo if we can manage it. That plus buying Vermaelen and the return of Senderos should have us sorted at the back.
LAzer…Toure still might leave….and sorry mate, I’m being a realist…Juve will not let Chiellini leave.
I think if we offered Gallas plus 8 to 10 mill they would do a deal for sure imo.
Lets get the defense sorted, we have enough players in attack. So we spend 11 on Vermaelen, spend another 10 and swap for Gallas and you are set at the back. Then see what happens with Eboue and Ade and if you can cash in address the winger or DM position otherwise go in with what you have. I would feel a lot better with a solid defense even if we had to go with Denilsong/Nasri as DMs.
we finally signed vermaelen…..sigh of relief,now just to bring CANA IN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chiellini, Toure, Vermaelen, Senderos, JD, Song. That’s a solid group imo.
so these rumours are saying that were getting rid of our last experienced players? Hmmmm
dan, i’ll be first 2day!
Yep Dan, but these rumours are also saying that we are about to swoop for 35 different players!!
its very quiet today on the arsenal transfer front!!
It’s always quiet on the Arsenal transfer front! Morning all.
hey geoffy!
Look out Eric “F5″ Cartman is back.
Morning Cartman, Gnarley what are your cricket team going to do for the next couple of weeks?
new post!
9 o’clock
Geoff judging from the weather reports coming out of Blighty, they won’t be trying to get a suntan
So Gallas is off then. Sounds like the Singapore Slings have been doing Le gaffer the world of good & he is making way for new signings. A pruning of the deadwood maybe.
I think Arswaxin should get a pay rise, based on a DB10 performance that wins the PL 09/10. Until then get on with the job he’s paid to do.
I’m about to post!
If we keep selling the older heads we’re not gonna make any progress. Wtf!!
Gallas is a dead man walking, he needs to go.