Mikel Arteta continued to progress his charm offensive on the fan base.
Jack Wilshere is now officially training with us.
“He wants to do his coaching badges again and we are prepared to fulfil all the needs that he wants. That is basically the idea and it is no further than that.
“He is going to be training sometimes with us, he is going to be around the place, he is going to be continuing his coaching badges that he is very interested in, try to get him fit, try to get his experiences across to our players, our young players, our academy and I think it is great influence to have around.”
No two ways about it, this is a very sharp piece of manoeuvring from the backroom team.
- Fans love the player. Being the club that lifts up an exPro when they are at a low is just a feel-good story and it makes us all feel warm and fuzzy inside. Far better than feeling like a toxic demon is living on your gut feasting on good vibes.
- We have the youngest starting 11 in the Premier League. Jack Wilshere is in his late twenties. He has tasted highs like being the best player on the pitch against the best Barcelona team ever. He’s also tasted some pretty dreadful lows. Both of those experiences are extremely relevant to players finding their feet in new careers.
- The Hale-Enders, without doubt, will have had a poster up in the changing rooms and maybe even their bedrooms. Jack was a major, major name when they were plotting their routes to the top. Having him at the training ground will be special.
I suspect Arteta sees a bit of himself in the Jack situation. His injury issues weren’t ever as bad as the one’s Jack has dealt with, but he was a miserable shit during his last season with Arsenal and he’ll know exactly what his mental state is like right now. When Mikel was on the physio table, what was he doing? Plotting coaching moves. It’s interesting that Jack is leaning on the club to help him there.
I love the move. Could there be a fairytale at the end of it? Who knows. But for now. Let’s wish Jack Wilshere the best of luck with his rehab.
Newcastle United are selling out to Saudi Royalty. Slagging off another club just got a little bit riskier. Why is the deal going through? Because they solved for… illegal streaming. Can you believe it? The thing holding up the deal was piracy, not all the other delightful things their rulers get up to. Grim, grim, grim.
Newcastle fans won’t give a shit. They are about to be elevated into the stratosphere when it comes to money. The group running the show will invest in the City, the arts, the schools, they’ll invest in the club facilities, and they’ll spend an absolute shit tonne of money to make the team competitive.
Am I worried? Not really.
The Premier League should be viewed a little like a property market. If you got into New York property in the 70s as a rich man, you’re making a killing. Go there now with a billion and you are not making the same margins.
The first movers were Chelsea and City. Outside that, billionaire owners haven’t really made much of a dent. You need to be smart to succeed in the richest league in the world. Maybe Newcastle United will be that, but there are no guarantees.
Even in the world of petrodollars, Liverpool beat City to the title and still compete at the highest level.
We’ve seen Spurs in a Champions League final.
We’ve seen Lyon and Leipzig make Champions League semis.
There’s a diminishing return on being mega-rich. Just look at the state of Everton to confirm that.
Newcastle can’t stockpile the best players like Chelsea did in the 2000s.
Even when you can stockpile players, it doesn’t mean you’ll succeed.
United has spent as much as City since Ferguson left. What do they have to show for it?
PSG bought every elite free transfer this summer. They spent £80m on a right back. They were beaten by Rennes at the weekend. A club with a wage bill two-thirds of what Lionel Messi earns. They haven’t won the Champions League yet.
Even City, who do things properly, can’t win in Europe.
Mike Skinner, a UK garage/hip hop artist from when I was very young, once said that being around famous people at awards ceremonies took him right back to being bang average… because everyone in the bar equalised out. It was better to seek out ladies in Colchester Hippodrome. That’s how I feel about this move. Standing out in a bar when everyone is wearing a Rolex is tougher.
… but hey, who the fuck knows.
What we do know is the Premier League has absolutely no shame and as fans we’ll soon forget what it all stands for. No one asks how the sausage is made if it tastes nice… a metaphor that could work for bloggers if we’re not careful.
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Well I’ve seen it all now in football: the Spuds, Us, the Bin Dippers and Manure want to block the Saudi Newcastle buy out. The same clubs that wanted a competition free super league other than among themselves. So funny to see the toys come out their respective prams because they (mostly of Israeli origin want to block the people who support the Koran and Allah. The last thing we need is religion and politics being brought into our sport both are as bad as each other bar the Jihadists and corrupt politicians. When I was in Israel on a… Read more »
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_League_Manager_of_the_Month
This put things into perspective with such lauded managers as Fat Sam, Nigel Pearson and Nino Esprinto Santo and who could forget Harry Rednapp for Arteta’s name to be rejoiced in the same breath.
Just so we’re clear I mean NO OFFENSE to any religious persuasion and just try to make light of what could be serious issues here on this blog. That said rug makers in the Middle East will be furiously weaving rugs and maybe prayer mats with the Newcastle crest. I wonder how many years it’ll be before we see a Qatar vs Saudi Arabia CL and PL final? Geordies quoting Arab sayings in their deep accent is going to be amusing. I got 2 MC brothers from Newcastle. It’s tough to understand them normally, but they’ve already called me and… Read more »
Arteta’s MOM was most likely voted by the same guys that gave Ronaldo Player of the month totaly overlooking Salah. In the end the stats and place on the table is what counts not the many infuriating stats in between.
“Tom how much did leicester pay to go from 17th to 1st in a six horse race lol?“
That’s a brilliant analogy Zach, I’m assuming Southampton was the horse No six that year lol.
You think Saudis are gonna wait until the top five retool to make their move on a 5000:1 long shot.?
Let me guess, your retirement plan is winning the lottery.
Tom how much did leicester pay to go from 17th to 1st in a six horse race lol?
—
Far less than Arsenal paid to go from 5th to 8th to 8th.
“Let me guess, your retirement plan is winning the lottery.”
Lmao
Good morning.
Howay the lads!
How the fuck is Ronaldo player of the month ? The reasoning with Arteta is at least that he won all matches + just 1 goal conceded. But Ronaldo ?
Most on here seem to get the big picture. The ones who have only followed the club since Wenger don’t. They are the ones who will cause Kroenke’s problems. Will they accept a solid 7-10th place every season ? I suspect not.
Second problem, what will happen to ticket prices and sales if we slide into midtable mediocrity. Whichever way you spin it the club have massive problems in the current climate. No wonder some of the bigger clubs tried to stop the Newcastle sale.
I think if there’s one team who deserve to win the lottery it’s Newcastle United.
Amazing fans, amazing place, amazing stadium…….,.just the weather can be a bit iffy.
Duffle coats needed over those dish dashes one feels.
The Bard Not so sure. Ifyou were twelve years old back in 1996, you’d be 37 now. How many fans/supporters are around that age and were brought up on Wenger? A fair few one would think. The reason Wenger stayed so long was because of many of these supporters you speak of. They wanted to hang onto their man. They were scared of what would happen after he left. If only he had left eight years earlier we would be competing at the top table now. Define the bigger picture. Is it patience? Is it the process? Even in a… Read more »
ST James park is a fabulous stadium. One of the very best.
It’s going to be a culture shock for the Saudis when they attend a game in winter and it’s 3 degrees, windy and lashing rain and half the fans are morbidly obese, shirtless guys pissed off their tits since lunch time
Dunno if they appreciate how awesome that is the same way we English do lol
As for how acceptable the takeover is
If city and Chelsea are ok and PSG are, I don’t see much difference. It’s all the same.
The part that’s funny is that they’ve concluded the saudi gov will not be controlling the club tho. It’s the Saudi investment fund and it’s owned by the king. How does this work? 😂😂
But like I said, if you allow Chelsea, city and PSG there’s no case to say no to Newcastle.
China1
Heard they are allowed to use 190million in Jan without bothering FFP . I think its better we have another oil rich club , they will easily take Lacazette/ Elneny off our hands. Some club whos desperate to buy , may trigger a chain reaction of transfers.
” If only he had left eight years earlier we would be competing at the top table now.” not necessarily Graham, It is possible that if the last 3/4 seasons are anything to go by , we would be at best be a mid table outfit and possibly relegated , as our wonderful array of attacking talent that we had around that time(8 years ago), would have been off loaded and replaced with sub standard players with inferior technique compared to Cazorla, Ozil,sanchez etc.. For me ,bringing Pep in as manager would / should have been the answer but as… Read more »
Imagine protesters going up to Newcastle to show their displeasure at the Saudi takeover. The ones that move into action on political matters.
The Geordies will eat them alive lol
Wey-aye! Don’t you be fookin’ around with ma footie man!
Does anybody care who is ‘Manager of the Month’? Yes, the anti-Arteta brigade. Why? Because he happens to be the one chosen this month, and anything good said about him enrages them like a red rag to a bull.
englandsbest
Doesn’t enrage me.
Just had a bit of a laugh about it.
Any opportunity for the EPL to give the manager of the month award to anyone but the Man City and Liverpool manager yet again will be taken so as to dissuade the image of monopoly.
A bit like how Granit Xhaka got into that Bundesliga team of the year several years back. Have to have a few in there that were not Bayern Munich players. Otherwise of course again monopoly rubberstamped.
Ishola, I think Arsenal was the only club that didn’t drop points in September and if so then a pretty straightforward decision to give it to Arteta.
Ronaldo over Salah on the other hand I’m not so sure.
I think Salah had one goal more than Ronaldo in September.
Tom
“I think Arsenal was the only club that didn’t drop points in September and if so then a pretty straightforward decision to give it to Arteta.”
Well thank god for that otherwise it’s the same managers that get the reward every month.
It’s pretty basic the criteria for manager of the month. Strictly points on the board. Performances and opposition faced not taken into the equation.
In reality we all know what we saw from Arteta in the month of September that would be deemed award winning was the first half against Spurs.
Graham62
Me, too
China, The Saudis allowed piracy of Bein Sports content for four years in their country including the PL matches.
Seems a pretty straightforward reason to object their takeover of a PL club to me.
Ishola, I think that’s how they do it, otherwise how do you asses the strength of an opponent with a fluid PL table early in the season.
The objections to the Saudis were 1. what Tom just said and 2. that they would not be running the club directly The first one has been solved, the 2nd one assurances given. Simple as that. As long as the government itself has had so much to do with the Saudis, it would be have been disingenuous for the league to prevent the takeover of a private entity such as a football club. And human rights issues are not considered by the league – in principle, not just in this case. So after they allowed Abramovich in in 2003, everything… Read more »
Tom “I think that’s how they do it, otherwise how do you asses the strength of an opponent with a fluid PL table early in the season.” I think we know the really strong teams in the league don’t we Tom and the ones that were not in good form stretching back to last season even in September. Not that difficult to decipher. But how they do it is fair enough. Best to spread the awards around a bit and going strictly with points on the board gives them the opportunity for this. If Pep wins four out of four… Read more »
“I think we know the really strong teams in the league don’t we Tom and the ones that were not in good form stretching back to last season even in September. Not that difficult to decipher.“
And by we you mean you and I , I reckon.
AFC and Englandsbest predicted Norwich would start crushing it once their terrible early schedule eased up.
Tom
“Norwich would start crushing it”
Norwich crushing it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHLShY4O9GA
Whether it’s Human Rights, Kicking Out Racism or FFP, the authorities don’t give a Castlemaine xxxx.
How can you expect things to be sorted when so many irregularities exist.
Who makes the decision on MOTM?
Tom
FYI, I never predicted Norwich would start crushing it once their terrible early schedule eased up .
Nor, for that matter, did I say that about Arsenal either. Get your facts straight, mate.
Graham62
You seem oddly besotted with MOM for someone who had a bit of a larf
Only the cunt arsenal ‘fans’ would complain about their own manager winning the manager of the month.
Cannonball, not quite the way I’d have put it but agree with the sentiment.
I hope our brand new GK gets a run out against Andorra, a grace note to his arrival. And I hope our dazzling super-star-to-be doesn’t, the youngster might get clobbered by a bunch of amateurs. Strange, the last remaining criticism of the summer transfers is that Arteta overpaid for Ben White. And I use his name – not Arsenal’s – advisedly to counter the agenda-driven criticism of him. And in the certain knowledge that if the project succeeds, it will be the players they praise, not him. The summer signings were purposeful, not short-term, not a replace or a re-fill,… Read more »
Pierre we should’ve been in hard for Klopp. He was the one who would’ve fit our model best and absolutely delivered
Arteta had a good month. No issue from me crediting him for that.
Tom but that was addressed
The point is people talking about human rights and gov involvement
Neither of those have been addressed but it doesn’t matter because they were not addressed for any of the other petrodollar clubs so seems silly to be complaining about it for them
The gov involvement one is the obvious cheat because on what planet is that not give involvement?
I don’t even care tbh I just think it’s hilarious that a gov owned fund headed by the king can say ‘it’s not gov controlled’ and the PL is like ‘sounds legit’ lol
We are not talking about politics, or religions..
and forget the corruption and the irregularities
we are talking about convicted criminals taking over a pl team…
Let’s be clear here, we are talking about the crown prince and his aides, not the Saudi people or Arabs or Muslims
EB its probably best to pipe down about Wenger if I were you. The man gave us the best football we’ve ever seen. If the current regime would have backed Wenger with the cash they backed Emery and Arteta with we would be competing at the top of the table make no mistake.
Wengers mistake was achieving top 4 year after year on a pittance compared to our rivals.
The British government happily allows British companies to sell billions of pounds of military hardware to Saudi. Allowing Saudi to buy Newcastle feels a lot less harmful!
Does anyone have thiughts on weston mckennie?
Juve looking to offload a beastnof a young utility player. Somewhat bad rep? 25m looks a bit of a deal no?
Tom the six horse race was
Leicester
Man u
Man c
Arse
Chels
Pool
Tom
And leicester won w how much of a Spend?
If they’re the exception, why? Consecutive finishing places of 17 & 1 obviously should make fans consider how a settled team w league experience, no European football and positive fighting spirit w real leaders on the pitch can trump a hyper monied team any given day
Not saying we’re there, just that its not outta the question for us this year
Klopp should have won Manager of the Month for September. Arteta should have been Runner-Up.
4 Premier League games-3 wins, 1 draw
2 UCL games: 2 wins
20 goals scores (over 3 goals per game average)
6 goals conceded.
Arteta’s September:
3 Premier League wins
1 League Cup win
7 goals scored and 2 conceded.
Cannonball
I’m not complaining about Arteta winning but it should have gone to Klopp.
Bob N16
Spot on.
englandsbest
I love my MOM!
That goes without saying.
Surely the Premiership MOTM Award is for Premiership games only.
cannonball Can’t dispute what you say about Wenger. Yes, the man gave us the best football ever, yes, if Stan had invested in transfers he’d have won more, and yes, he achieved top 4 year after year on a pittance – but that’s the very point I’m trying to make when I say he was ego-driven. Winning wasn’t enough for him, he wanted to prove he was the best by doing it the hard way. Were you, like me, wondering why he didn’t buy a decent GK, a decent CB that would have made the difference. The amount looks small… Read more »
Canonball “””Wengers mistake was achieving top 4 year after year on a pittance compared to our rivals.””” Well reminded. Wenger made managing Arsenal look too easy- just like his teams made the beautiful game look too easy. It aint, especially under Stan and the Oligarchs. Even in A.Wengers last season the soccer was explosive especially at home. 47 points out of 57 available and a blistering 54 home goals. Ironically Wengers Arsenal scored more goals at home in his last season than all of the other 20 plus.( inc the Invincible season) And he registered a league cup final and… Read more »
Klopp wasn’t suited for Arsenal. His football style wasn’t suited to Arsenal. For him to really establish his playing style on Arsenal would have taken ages because Arsenal were tutored under Wenger for so long and then there would have been impatience with him.
Liverpool suited Klopp much better.
Zach, if I have to explain to you what happened in the 2015/16 PL season, especially vis a vis what the Saudis might want to do at Newcastle, then one of us is probably wasting their time. It wasn’t a normal PL season where usually one of the big clubs might experience an unusual dip. Chelsea imploded, Klopp was just starting out with Liverpool, Guardiola likewise at City, Arsenal didn’t buy a single field player , and Tottenham were……well, Tottenham. Leicester had a once in a lifetime season aided by PGMO and the league who couldn’t have dreamed up a… Read more »
EB, we signed Ozil because he was available. You forget how amazing he was at the time – 3 times consecutive most assist in La Liga – that was during glorious Barca years, remember. And because we had lost Arshavin, so he came to replace him. As for strikers, we had Giroud and Podolski. Yes, could have bought an upgrade, but we needed a better DM than the ageing Flamini that we eventually got. DMs and GKs were Wenger’s chief weakness when it comes to stinginess. CBs too, but they would’ve been fine with a proper DM, none of that… Read more »
Remember the Klopp quote when he played Arsenal under Wenger.
I play heavy metal football while Wenger’s side is more classical music.
Different ends of the spectrum.
I’m not sure what musical style you would tag Arteta’s Arsenal side. It’s certainly not heavy metal nor classical.
I’m no fan of Arteta but can’t help but wonder if the Superfan brigade may have a point about some posters. So Arteta won the PL Manager of the Month after picking 9 points out of 10, does it really need so much forensic analysis? Someone has even gone far enough to say he’s “disgusted”.
Wow
The way players like fabregas and RVP and even Sanchez left told you everything you needed to know about how things were under Wenger towards the end – we weren’t that interested in being truly competitive, just staying in the CL. And when you think like that, decline is inevitable
Ishola70
The Kremlin greatest hits music.
Ishola
“”””play heavy metal football while Wenger’s side is more classical music.”””””
x 54 goals scored in Wengers last x19 home games is more Iron Maiden than Beethoven.
Anyway , Klopp was perfect for Arsenal.
Bloody perfect.
Charismatic, track record, believes in attacking soccer and PROVEN!
A cataclysmic strategic error in not nabbing him when he was available.
CG
Unfortunately Klopp was already at Liverpool.
There’s no way he’d leave them for us.
coq: “So Arteta won the PL Manager of the Month after picking 9 points out of 10, does it really need so much forensic analysis? Someone has even gone far enough to say he’s “disgusted”.”
Who that?
Graham62
“The Kremlin greatest hits music.”
Forbidding and dour?
Take that back.
The Russian national anthem is quite stirring really.
F bar 2 strings guitar maybe for Teets.
I have to say this but I don’t think we are a passionate enough club for Klopp. Our fans would have to change to satisfy Klopp’s expectations.
Our stuffy approach to things would also not go down well with the German.
Graham
“”””CG Unfortunately Klopp was already at Liverpool.””””
I was under the impression , he was available after his Dortmund sacking.
Liverpool were bold sacked Rogers and appointed Klopp??
I thought he was nailed on for Wengers replacement…..
Our owners and board though need a kick up the backside so, in this respect, Klopp would have been a breath of fresh air.
Klopp loved the idea of Liverpool because as Graham alluded to it was the “pashun” of the fans. The high octane.
Yes Liverpool are irritating along with their fans but we have to admit they live for their footy a bit more. Just the area.
And Klopp went from Dortmund another big footballing area in Germany where they also live for their football.
CG
So you’re admitting Wenger should have been shown the door 3 years before he was given the boot.?
Sugar! you’re getting closer to my 2009-10 departure.
Graham
“”””CG So you’re admitting Wenger should have been shown the door 3 years before he was given the boot.?””””
A.Wenger should have only been replaced with someone equal or better than him or not replaced at all.
Simple logic.
Klopp is certainly an equal and probably superior
You choose him.
Emery and this Arteta!!!, give me strength!!!!
Graham62
I think if Klopp had ever stood on a terrace amid a crowd of scousers, he would have preferred to be at Highbury.
“47 points out of 57 available and a blistering 54 home goals.” Yeah, CG, the home form will be a very important barometer this season. The Emirates was a fortress for all its Wenger years, into Emery. Last season at home 7 defeats, 4 draws, +3 GD. Prior to 2 years ago, it was MAX 2-3 home defeats per season, 25+ GD, and one of the top 2 or 3 home teams in the league. Even if we’re not going to be any more than 5th in the table at very best, we need to see the backbone of dominant… Read more »
kris You are so wrong it’s hard to know where to begin. But I’ll start by saying you don’t buy players because they’re available. I fail to see any resemblance between Ozil and Arshavin. I never rated Ozil at any time – but okay, I’ll accept that as a blind spot on my part. As I recall Podolski was pre-seaon end sleight-of-hand by Wenger to make fans feel better about him selling RvP. Podolski was past his best. And Wenger made it worse by selling Robin to Man U, and laying all the blame on him. Stinginess is a stand-out… Read more »
CG: “x 54 goals scored in Wengers last x19 home games is more Iron Maiden than Beethoven.”
1 goal less than the total of Arteta’s Arsenal home and away in 2020/21. I wanted Wenger out for years, but not for bums like Arteta.
englandsbest
Don’t agree.
Have you ever been to Anfield? Have you been to Liverpool?
I have, many times. My Uncle was a scouser and I was born in Chester
I’m afraid there’s no comparison.
Klopp is made for that part of the world,
.