The end of Arsenal football club

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So here we are people, the end of Arsenal football club as we know it. Silent Stan Kroenke, the evilest man to walk a sports arena, has finally won out. He’s part way to driving out the white knight, Alisher Usmanov, for a whopping £600m buyout of his stake.

This is a dark day for Arsenal.

I mean, kind of.

This dramatic notion that the world is caving in because Stan K is buying up the rest of Arsenal is a little far-fetched. The morbid picture that has been painted is based on a lot of worst case scenarios.

Sure, there could be less transparency around the club, but at the same time, you have to remember a lot of the fan interaction items that were put on were out of generosity, versus some sort of legal obligation. Our family has a share, I went to most of the AGMs before I moved to America, let’s not pretend for a  second you extracted any sort of real insight from those days out. Sir Chips or Peter Hillwood would usually insult the intelligence of the peasant folk, Ivan would tell us not to believe our lying eyes, and Stan would rarely say anything. It wasn’t true governance because the fans had no real power. Not just that, Arsenal offered up additional seats for people at various fan groups because they were being nice. The club has always pushed to be as open as possible. Ivan G has sat through a lot of fan Q&As, the club has opened up its facilities for meet and greets with the staff, we have a lot of access.

I appreciate there’s a lot of love for fans owning a stake. The romantic scenes in Germany and at some clubs in Spain where the fans own the clubs in some way tugs at the heart strings. Representation at board level is a beautiful thing, and there’s no doubt that the good folk at the AST, Red Action, Black Scarf and AISA have done a lot of good in driving fan agenda items like flags at games, ticket price freezes, safe standing, and pushing Wenger to take the League Cup a little more seriously. All marvellous things.

I don’t think those things suddenly go away. If a new CEO comes in, hopefully from another football club, do you think their first move is going to be to cut fans out? I doubt it. We’re important. Why do you think Ivan has been so keen to make the transformation at Arsenal about him? He reads the internet, he hears your hot takes from you at Waitrose, he wants fans in the stadium to shout things like, ‘bloody good transition old boy’, not, ‘HOW DID YOU FUCK UP ALONSO YOU STUPID MUG HE WAS IN THE CAR.’

Usmanov stands to make a heck of a profit, there’s a lot of sadness David Dein (Arsenal’s David Cameron) jumped the gun with Kroenke, because everything would have looked a whole lot more Chelsea right now. Again though, let’s not pretend he was always the favoured oligarch to takeover. David Dein sold out in the hope of leading the club, he managed to get himself fired in the process, then flogged his shares to Usmanov in the hope that Red&White holdings would do something to elevate the club and give the manager the transfer fees he needed.

He was pilloried for that. The fans, the blogs, everyone was against a businessman that apparently did something to someone where a vat of acid was involved. Everyone hated the fact a nasty Uzbek was coming to the party. We liked the cute cowboy hat and understated humbleness of Stan K. We liked the one who ran a ‘proper’ business. Years later, we realised Stan knew how to run a business (a real estate business), but one that lacked any sort of a ambition to dominate.

The biggest disappointment about how folk like David Dein, Danny Fizsman and Nina B sold the club out, is that they moved it on to a company that looked at incremental growth over a 20 years period. Stan K makes his money with the looooooong bets. He’ll invest in property where he knows a big Walmart is going and sit on that property in the hope it blows up over the 20-year stretch. He’s not wolf on wall street. He’s not about the quick buck.

Arsenal for him has been a quite incredible investment. His original purchase of the club, when all the blocks are added sits at about £424m. The club has gone from tinpot entity at Highbury, to £1.8b monster if he buys out Alisher. He doesn’t get returns like that anywhere else. Arsenal is the equivalent of striking oil on one of his ranches 200 years ago. We are the absolute GEM for him.

So what are the main concerns?

Well, he’s taking a loan out to buy out the remaining 30%. How does he pay for that loan? It certainly won’t be out of his own pocket. He can’t do a leveraged buyout like the Glazers dropped on United (take out a loan on the club to buy the club, then use the fans to pay and club profit to pay it off), but he has a number of options to pay it off, and now he has an opaque setup he can hide the details in. His Delaware dealings, well covered by the excellent Matt Scott over the years, are murkier than a night out with Jermaine Pennant.

Putting that to one side, not a lot changes.

For you, as a fan, we’ll still be a club that’s run sensibly. We’re never going to behave aggressively in the transfer market. We’re never going to break FFP rules. The club has been built to operate under its own steam and I’d imagine that’s what it’ll do moving forward. Arsenal is boring, but remember, we’re a club that can offer up a lot of steam. We generate massive match day receipts, our commercials are moving in the right direction, and there’s huge potential at the club.

My hope is if Stan has learnt anything over the last few years, it’s that neglecting a Premier League football club by not investing in capable talent is a sure fire way to lose money on your bottom line. I know the top folk at Arsenal are embarrassed they’re not in th CL. That’s a big deal. I’m hoping that Stan is realizing first hand that running a football club is not like running a franchise. The fans are crazier, the cost of being shite is greater, the difficulty getting back to the top is harder, and not investing cash in players is elite players is an absolute fools game with a market so flush with money.

Look at the positives. We’re all happy with the backroom hires. We’re all happy with the reshaping of the squad. We’re all happy with the general direction of the club.

Stan owning another 30% makes no difference to that direction. It’s just a feelings thing. It’s just a ‘what could happen’ panic button everyone is pushing. For me, you can worry about the implications of the ‘what if’ when you’re watching the institutions of democracy being attacked. You never know who is coming in next and it’s a constant rotation of power. Stan K is going to be here for 30 more years. We’re going to be the most consistently run outfit in world sport, it’ll just be dull.

So let’s not be dramatic. Arsenal is the star in Stan’s portfolio. For him to grow that star, he has to have a competitive team. For all the major owners to move TV revenue to the next level, they have to continue to invest in the product. We’ve been doing that, our wages bill is £200m+ and we were the 3rd highest net spender in the league over the last 5 years and we’ve outspent Madrid from a net perspective since 2010. Stan needs a competitive Arsenal, so nothing is going to change on that front, the club will move on without Alisher, it’ll move on without Gazidis who has chosen to ply his trade with Milan, and it’ll move on without fans being literally invested in the club.

It’s a bland set of circumstances, but let’s not kid ourselves anyone has the best option. No ownership of a football club is romantic or ideal. Every club comes with its visa issues. Our biggest worry is that Stan is a bit boring. But overall, bar the love-in for Wenger that went on far too long, the club is pretty well run and it’s moving in the right direction.

It’s a sad day for shareholders who have to sell up, but it’s also a massive payday for them.

Stan is a safe businessman, and he’ll always be that way. The only way Arsenal make it moving forward is having the best football staff in the game, working budgets harder, and working our players smarter than anyone else.

It’s always been a struggle being an Arsenal fan, and it always will be. Let’s just enjoy the ride. x

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gambon

“Doesn’t look like anyone else is coming in does it?”

Think we will buy a CB.

Imagine Ospina, Jenkinson, Chambers, Campbell, Perez & Welbeck will leave – possibly a few kids on loan.

Probably a £30m budget or so for a CB.

Could also see a young attacker coming in, a Guendouzi that plays wide.

Marc

Pedro

Actually by having a shareholding over 25% Usmanov had what’s known as a blocking share which can prevent a majority shareholder from doing certain things.

gambon

Nice to see good balanced reaction on here.

Apparently Stan is gonna sell the stadium, and move AFC to Los Angeles.

Hilarious.

Marko

The bane of Nelson and Iwobi looking half-decent against children and disinterested PSG/Atleti sides in the ICC.

They weren’t even that good in preseason. But yeah legitimate links outside of Vida seem non-existent at the moment. Beyond fanciful to think anything will happen with Dembele. Honestly best we could pull out of our arse would be a loan to buy someone like Guedes

Ishola70

ES

“He will have an obligation to invest properly in team and not use the perennial
excuses of operating a business model when other competitors don’t follow those rules.”

How does that work?

These other clubs don’t operate under puritan self-sufficiency rulings. Arsenal do though.

You must have heard Gazidis say numerous times Arsenal do not spend what they don’t earn.

These other clubs can throw throw money that isn’t earned. They have more scope.

The problem here is Arsenal’s puritan values and these were not devised by Kroenke. He has happily jumped on these values though.

WengerEagle

gambon

Think that it’s unlikely that Welbeck will be sold, hard to picture him outside of the PL and there’s just been no noise at all there re a move for a PL club with just over 48 hours to go.

Don’t think Chambers will be sold either, was used a lot in pre-season in contrast to the others.

You’d be hard pushed raising much for the rest, Perez the best asset being mooted for less than 10 million apparently.

There’s just been no smoke at all re wide players, maybe we bring in a CB.

Cesc Appeal

I didn’t think Nelson looked that good at all, don’t get the hype with him.

Iwobi looked fairly decent against Lazio.

Marko

Apparently Stan is gonna sell the stadium, and move AFC to Los Angeles.

Would we even win the MLS…

WengerEagle

Ffs are we being linked with Vida?

Guy is beyond average. Typical ill thought out reactionary tournament signing.

gambon

WengerEagle

Chambers is off to Fulham on loan, hence why I think a CB is coming in.

Dont see any place for Welbeck. Have never once heard Emery mention him, and hes got 12 months left. Think he will move on deadline day.

Wallace

reading the reaction, here and elsewhere, seems like those with a better idea of what Stan having sole ownership means are more worried about it than those who are a bit hazier on the subject.

DaleDaGooner

I’d have anyone else owning Arsenal, I hate Kroenke with a passion….like a curse the day he batted an eye at buying up shares in Arsenal FC….He’s not the type of full owner Arsenal FC should have. Sad day indeed.

Ben

Any chance of a big purchase in the next two days as a way of Kroenke appeasing the fans? I am fully on the Dembele hypetrain but its probably just wishful thinking and we’ll make a 30 million pound bid for fucking Vida.

These Vida links feel me with dread. It would be gross mismanagement to spend 40 odd million on 2 slow and old average centrebacks. Surely it woulda made more sense to buy one top CB paired with an average one in Chambers rather than having 5 average ones in the squad.

gambon

Cesc

I like Nelson. I think everyone forgets hes 18 years old.

Apparently he has the highest combined xG and xA of any player in pre-season.

Just being part of the squad at his age is a serious achievement.

WengerEagle

gambon

That confirmed? I don’t know why we don’t just sell Chambers. How many loans/time here does it take you to work out if the lad has what it takes to make it at the club.

Yeah Welbeck has been a ghost in the Emery era, maybe he does get a deadline day move. With some of the fees being chucked around I’d hope we take in at least 20 million for him.

Receding Hairline

Iwobi has looked decent most of the time, he has a trick or two up his sleeves to go past player, only problem is the way he strikes a ball, so weak it does not even pretend to be a shot and mostly straight at the keeper.

He needs to work on being a proper finisher.

I expect a defender and an inexpensive wide player as one of the ITK’s said yesterday. He has been proved right since Emery and Raul came on board

WengerEagle

RH

Which ITK?

Cesc Appeal

Gambon

He will get time so we will see what he becomes. He’s clearly regarded as a prospect.

I was watching him in pre-season because we badly need a winger and I was sort of hoping we might see something from him that makes you think he could over the next season start to develop his game. But I didn’t really see anything.

Contrast that with Chelsea’s young wide player who against us and against City looked dangerous and confident.

We will see though, maybe directness etc is something he’s going to pick up.

Marko

Kike Marin. The real oracle

WengerEagle

I’m not up with this stuff at all, what’s Kike Marin called right?

Receding Hairline

Eagle

Kike Marin

Never really seen Ornstien as a so called Arsenal Oracle, he just comes out to confirm done deals and waits for the silly replies to his tweets that are now boring.

DaleDaGooner

Ishola70August 7, 2018 15:04:07 Dissenter “He owned Wenger’s idiocies 100% since he alone kept him on”He didn’t alone keep him on.The real culprits that kept him on were the fans who couldn’t unwed themselves from Arsene Wenger.Always ask the question when was Kroenke seriously and realistically expected to sack Wenger before last season given the cirumstances stated above and no-one gives a definitive or true answer. It’s all haze from them. I get we hate Wenger a lot on here, I get he alone made awful decisions on the field that has seen us decline, I get he out stayed… Read more »

englandsbest

Pedro

What is the virtue of a billionaire owner (it was two), if he doesn’t give his Club a few of his millions?

Stan may not be guilty of human rights abuses, but he is certainly guilty of animal rights abuses. Or have you forgotten?

Zfree

Stan is 71 yrs old. His wife has almost as many billions (descendent to Walton family) and is 69 yrs old.Be nice if Josh becomes a fan and drunk on the European football scene, inherits money when either parent passes, and goes nuts with the sort of “rich kid letting loose” behavior for a few years pumping in his own money. Can dream, right?

DaleDaGooner

Re Nelson, i was excited about him, but I am beginning to think there’s not much there. He hasn’t really shown any next level stuff. Nketiah really wants to be a part of things while Nelson plays too comfortably.

TR7

Yeah, Nelson has not really stepped up. He still plays at the same level at which he played a couple of years ago.

Cesc Appeal

Kronke Jr by the sounds of things is a bit naive but he has got the right idea in terms of wanting Arsenal to move forward, he was once of the voices pushing for Wenger to go although allegedly he wanted Henry as manager which highlights a naivety.

Emiratesstroller

Ishola 70 The point I was making was that Kroenke had a controlling interest in the club, but he did not actually own Arsenal and was therefore accountable to other shareholders in how he ran the club. If he owns 100% of the Club and it becomes a Private Company his responsibility is only to himself. If he wants to run a successful football club and compete with the the likes of Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea then he needs to invest in the team something we have failed to do in last decade. Kroenke may not be personally… Read more »

alexanderhenry

ES

‘If he wants to run a successful football club and compete with the the likes of
Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea then he needs to invest in the team something
we have failed to do in last decade.’

That’s it in a nutshell, the key bit being ‘if he wants’.

Ishola70

DaleDaGooner “what I don’t get is how a lot of you guys on here make excuses for Stan Kroenke” It’s not making excuses for him. Some may not want to go down the path of comic book villain. Some of it is way over the top such as the suggestion on here the danger of being located to LA. I would prefer another owner but how much different would things be on the pitch if another owner came in who had supported Arsenal all his life went to every match with his Arsenal scarf on but the club was still… Read more »

Olumide

DaleDaGooner
“Re Nelson, i was excited about him, but I am beginning to think there’s not much there. He hasn’t really shown any next level stuff. Nketiah really wants to be a part of things while Nelson plays too comfortably.”
Nelson had 3 assists in International Champions Cup. Highest by any player in all clubs that participated. What were you expecting?
Many runs and dribbles with no end products?

DaleDaGooner

Other than the LA Rams, take a look at how stale other KSE teams are in their various leagues. The Nuggets are boring AF! Colorado Rapids won the league once and they’re just there to make up the numbers, very middling, Avalanche? give me a break. Only exciting thing about Rams was the move and a new manager, much like Arsenal now without the strategic move.

TR7

Kroenke was controlling affairs at Arsenal anyway but the only reason he is paying over the odds to buy out Usmanov is because he doesn’t want any accountability to anyone. That’s the long story cut short. Also very obvious why those who were in a position to make his accountable to some extent are fearing the worst.

Ishola70

So ES wants to tear up the puritan self-sufficiency.

You know this is close to Gazidis’ heart and he thinks is valued by fans.

Dumping on it.

DaleDaGooner

Nelson had 3 assists in International Champions Cup. Highest by any player in all clubs that participated. What were you expecting?
Many runs and dribbles with no end products?

It’s pre-season, we all saw JET and Wilshere all those years ago in pre-season……I haven’t seen anything yet that suggests Nelson will take us to the next level.

Champagne charlie

Pedro the bar you’ve set there would get knocked over even by Banfords micropenis. Stan isn’t part of the mafia so let’s be excited by sole ownership? OK mate.

Can someone inform me how this is a POSITIVE move for Arsenal? Let’s try that angle, I don’t see the merits at all.

DaleDaGooner

Ishola70…look closely at his sports “portfolios” see where they stand in their different leagues.

gambon

“I haven’t seen anything yet that suggests Nelson will take us to the next level.”

Yeah most 18 year olds are winning the Ballon D’or

DaleDaGooner

Arsenal in the last 2 years, Wenger or not, are just where KSE teams like to be.

Olumide

Arsenal wanted Kroenke initially because he would leave the club to run itself. Now, he must invest in the club.
People just inventing reasons to blame Kroenke.
It’s also funny to think Kroenke will bleed the club dry. Why would he do that?
If he wanted to do that, he would have left Wenger on.
Have you seen a billionaire who would bleed his £1.8 billion investment to devalue it to £1 billion or £500 million?

azed

Dale

The US runs a closed system, there’s nothing like relegation (tanking is a strategy there) and more importantly, no salary cap in Europe.

Why I don not expect Kronke to go berserk and drop 300M in one window, he would know that he has to be competitive to keep his investment growing. Two years out of the CL would have told him something.

gambon

Charlie

I dont see anyone saying its positve, I see a lot of people saying it isnt negative.

Stan didnt OK the £40m investment in the club infrastructure because he was scared what Tim Payton would do if he didnt.

Bob N16

Like your thinking Zfree…

DaleDaGooner..with you on Nketiah but feel Nelsen has a chance too – both really young.

Ishola70

DaleDaGooner
“look closely at his sports “portfolios” see where they stand in their different leagues.”

What do you want him to do Dale? Invest his own money?

The decision was made a long time ago by Arsenal that they did not want that type of owner. Usmanov no thank you they said.

And fans were shamelessly singing the same tune. Be funded from outside like Chelsea? No thank you they said.

DaleDaGooner

gambonAugust 7, 2018 16:04:47 “I haven’t seen anything yet that suggests Nelson will take us to the next level.”Yeah most 18 year olds are winning the Ballon D’or Ah, we’re going to say he’s just 18 years. I reckon Ousman Dembele, Mbappe were/are miles ahead at the same age…and I mean out of site miles….so to expect a little bit more hunger in Nelson’s “i’m too cool” style of play is not ballon d’or wish, not much to ask for, at least I compared him to Nketiah who’s shown a lot of hunger in his desire to play and show… Read more »

Olumide

DaleDaGooner
“It’s pre-season, we all saw JET and Wilshere all those years ago in pre-season……I haven’t seen anything yet that suggests Nelson will take us to the next level.”
Okay. What gave you the impression Nketiah will take us to the next level?

DaveB666

So that will be Gazidis off to Milan and the next CEO will be Mr J Kroenke!

DaleDaGooner

Ishola70August 7, 2018 16:08:30 DaleDaGooner “look closely at his sports “portfolios” see where they stand in their different leagues.”What do you want him to do Dale? Invest his own money?The decision was made a long time ago by Arsenal that they did not want that type of owner. Usmanov no thank you they said.And fans were shamelessly singing the same tune. Be funded from outside like Chelsea? No thank you they said. It’s not about using his own funds, but there’s something very average about his ownership style. The NFL is a level league in terms of profit sharing, so… Read more »

Champagne charlie

“Asking Stan to invest his own cash and make us dependent on him seems like a childish dream.“ Who’s doing this? It’s exaggerated nonsense. – Stan could’ve put the brakes on us having to sell a major player each season – he could’ve been outspoken in his ambitions each season and given an appraisal of the past season – he could’ve taken positive action with recruitment knowing the inner workings of the club unlike any fan – he could’ve held Wenger accountable and not extended the clear malaise – he could’ve reached an agreement with Usmanov 6 months ago and… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Pedro

I do not think that Kronke will go mad and pump huge sums of money in the
transfer market. He is by reputation a solid businessman.

However, the hand break on our transfer business is more likely to be removed now that he owns rather than controls business.

Whether he does so remains to be seen.

DaleDaGooner

– he could’ve reached an agreement with Usmanov 6 months ago and not with three days of the summer window left.

THIS! I log on the internet to see if we’re selling players or buying a super star…instead it’s all about owner Billionaire owner satisfying his greedy needs to place Arsenal fully in his “sports portfolio”

englandsbest

Pedro No, Stan could not do whatever he wanted with the Club last week. I have already given as examples leverage of a debt of £557m and (however unlikely) moving Arsenal into his new LA stadium. A Q&A in the Daily Telegraph lists several others. And no doubt Stan has more up his sleeve. Yes, AFC has spent money on ground improvement, training facilities (which has increased the value of the Club) as expenses, rather than pay money away on taxes. Good business practice. Yes, Stan has adopted a ‘hands-off’ approach thus far, but he certainly imposed strict financial parameters.… Read more »

DaleDaGooner

Gazidis moving to Milan seems engineered, I don’t believe Mr Gazidis is moving on his own.

gambon

Dale

At the same age, Ousmane Dembele played 18 games for Rennes Reserve team. Nelson won U23 player of the season.

Dembeles big breakthrough season was when he was 18/19……..exactly what Nelson is this season.

I’ll say again, what exactly are you expecting from an 18 year old?

Olumide

DaleDaGooner
How many clubs in Europe has a player like mbappe?
Yeah Nketiah had hunger in preseason. As if hunger leads to points. I’m not saying Nketiah is crap but he hasn’t shown anything better than Nelson.
Nelson had more impact with his assist against Chelsea.

Emiratesstroller

The timing of the sale to Kroenke was not dependent on him but on Usmanov.
Usmanov until recently gave no indication that he was prepared to sell his shares..

One thing is for sure Kroenke is 100% committed to Arsenal. Can you honestly
say that Usmanov had the same feeling?

How long will it be before Usmanov becomes the major shareholder in Everton?

DaleDaGooner

gambon….so you going to leave Mbappe out? or ……..Nketiah?, to keep things simple?

DaleDaGooner

OlumideAugust 7, 2018 16:15:33
DaleDaGooner
How many clubs in Europe has a player like mbappe?
Yeah Nketiah had hunger in preseason. As if hunger leads to points. I’m not saying Nketiah is crap but he hasn’t shown anything better than Nelson.
Nelson had more impact with his assist against Chelsea.

And Nketiah only scored a couple of goals in crunch time last season….

Cesc Appeal

I wonder if Pogba potentially moving to Barcelona will set off a chain with him going there, Dembele going to Arsenal and Milinkovic Savic going to United?

One can dream.

DaleDaGooner

I’m comparing Nelson to Odoi…if i’m being blunt….that kid outshown our own Nelson on the same platform…he didn’t even seem like raising his game seeing what Hudson-Odoi was doing…

gambon

Good point Dale,

Nelson isnt as good as the best teenager in 20 years, therefore he is absolute shit.

In other news, my car isnt a Rolls Royce, so it must be absolute crap.

Ben D

Good, balanced post. Forgive me if this comes across as ignorant, but I struggle with the net spend argument. Isn’t the quality of assets you had at the reference point a really important element?

If I owned lots of assets and you didn’t and I started selling expensive ones every year to fund my spending whilst you had nothing to sell, then using our net spends as a data point is rather misleading isn’t it?

I would say our net spend is bigger than some because of sales like Bale, Ronaldo etc.

Am I completely missing the point?

gambon

The AKBs are all still so unbelievably rattled by Wenger getting sacked.

They now spend all day just arguing about anything they can find to argue about.

The pain is real.

DaleDaGooner

Nelson isnt as good as the best teenager in 20 years, therefore he is absolute shit.

Ah, you fatso! I haven’t said Nelson is shit, I did say i like him a lot, and like a dad (figuratively) i want to see him play like he is meant to be in the team.

Olumide

DaleDaGooner
“I’m comparing Nelson to Odoi…if i’m being blunt….that kid outshown our own Nelson on the same platform…he didn’t even seem like raising his game seeing what Hudson-Odoi was doing…”
How did he outshine him? With his runs or his One-to-one miss?
In that same game, Nelson assisted Lacazzete and we won the game. I would take that.

DaleDaGooner

And gambon…you keep conveniently leaving out the Nketiah comparison.

DaleDaGooner

How did he outshine him? With his runs or his One-to-one miss?
In that same game, Nelson assisted Lacazzete and we won the game. I would take that.

Yeah, one bit of good thing he did, all i’m saying is he needs to inject his game with a bit of hunger and desire to shed that number 45 or whatever number he’s been giving, he can offer a whole lot more that is missing in this current team…18 or not.

DaleDaGooner

gambon said best teenager in 20 years….let’s forget that Sterling was extremely promising at 18 in England…even though he isn’t that good.

Vintage Gun

“There are some rumours from Spain that Arsenal want to give Barcelona £9 Million for a Dembele loan now with an obligation to buy at around £80 Million for next summer”

GET IN!!!

Sorry about that outburst lads, i should know better after all these years.

Fuck it…. GET IN!!!

azed

I would say our net spend is bigger than some because of sales like Bale, Ronaldo etc.
Am I completely missing the point?

In business, you have to speculate to accumulate, in football, your assets are players so while Wenger was penny pinching and trying to play smart by signing and over playing players, others like Madrid were signing big name players.

Champagne charlie

Pedro Do you not sit and wonder what now though? We all drew up a managerial candidate this summer and spoke about who or what represents a good person for the job. Apply that to our owner and would anyone look at Kroenke as a good option for sole ownership had the spot been vacant and he’d had this same tenure at another club before coming here? Don’t see it. Footballingly he’s offered next to zero, idk how him now having carte blanche is merely symbolic. You’ve grossly oversold the progress we’ve made this summer (and this is from a… Read more »

TR7

‘You’ve grossly oversold the progress we’ve made this summer (and this is from a guy who appreciates the strides we’ve taken), I think this move halts any good vibe and throws a cloud of uncertainty our way that absolutely wasn’t needed.’

Totally agree with this

Radio Raheem

For Arsenal, only one teenager has impressed enough to stir debate this pre-season: Guendouzi.
Don’t think any other teenager is worth talking about. It’ll be meaningless hype.

alexanderhenry

Pedro

It’s not that simple. There were checks on Kroenke while other shareholders existed. Those checks have now been removed.
If Stan gave the impression that he was genuinely committed to arsenal’s success, it wouldn’t matter, but he hasn’t.

DaleDaGooner

For Arsenal, only one teenager has impressed enough to stir debate this pre-season: Guendouzi.
Don’t think any other teenager is worth talking about. It’ll be meaningless hype.

I agree! Except, I don’t even see him as a teenager anymore, he plays miles above the requirement…at 19

But gambon would have us think i wanted Mbappe like numbers from Nelson.

Radio Raheem

I think most on here hold the view that Guendouzi should start agiant City on Sunday.

Question is will he be starting of any of the 5 teams that finished above us last season? In a nutshell that tells you where we’ll be finishing come the end of the season.

Emiratesstroller

Alexander Henry There may have been checks on what the club was doing, but the reality is that Usmanov and other minor shareholders such as AST had little or no say in how the club was run. That was blindingly obvious at AGMs. Kroenke will own 100% of the club and his responsibility to run it properly is up to him. You don’t invest £1.8 billion in the business to run it down. As I said the handbrake is now off and if Kroenke wants to make the football club a success [not just the business] he will need to… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Pedro I agree wholly that Emery will do bits compared to recent seasons inputs, but you waxed lyrical earlier and it was ott imo. The garden ain’t THAT rosey although steps are being taken. As Alex points out, the sole ownership thing isn’t really the sticking point (at least not for me). It’s whether Stan is the right sort to have that responsibility, and it’s this ive not been convinced of over the past decade which says a great deal. Yea sure, time will tell and who knows etc. But Stan taking full charge doesn’t excite me, it makes me… Read more »

Guns of SF

No one really knows what Stan has in mind for Arsenal.
He says nothing. Does nothing.
I feel we are a bank asset for more loans for his other teams, ranches etc.
1 Billion buys you a lot of credit at the end of the day for whatever you want to do

raptora

“Good, balanced post. Forgive me if this comes across as ignorant, but I struggle with the net spend argument. Isn’t the quality of assets you had at the reference point a really important element? If I owned lots of assets and you didn’t and I started selling expensive ones every year to fund my spending whilst you had nothing to sell, then using our net spends as a data point is rather misleading isn’t it?” Well Liverpool have made over a 100m pounds NET profit on Coutinho’s sale. What has stopped Wenger of producing stars like he did in his… Read more »

Bob

Cunt Usmanov sold as out

Bob

Us*

champagne charlie

I fancy Dembele is a shoe-in to appease fans following this takeover revelation

Guns of SF

I think more and more of us feel that we have become an asset versus a sporting entity with the love and support of an owner that feel like the fans.

I think with Usmanov we got the feeling he would shake the club up, put his $$ into it, and make us competitive.

Stan is a ghost.

The man just got richer like crazy— lets see if he spends that cheddar on Dembele!

Receding Hairline

“Question is will he be starting of any of the 5 teams that finished above us last season? In a nutshell that tells you where we’ll be finishing come the end of the season.”

No it doesn’t tell us anything

Marko

Stan could’ve put the brakes on us having to sell a major player each season He’s not a football man he wouldn’t know a major player to a turd if you asked him. How about oh I don’t know blaming Wenger for selling our star players. he could’ve taken positive action with recruitment knowing the inner workings of the club unlike any fan Again he’s not a football man and I doubt he has got a clue how to run a football club so again how about blaming the people who were running the football club. It’s pretty clear once… Read more »

Receding Hairline

I fancy Dembele is a shoe-in to appease fans following this takeover revelation

That would be an appeasement and half

Dembele is not happening though

Guns of SF

Kinda wish Usmanov held on for at least this season. We crack top 4, get competitive again, then his shares price goes up….

Wenger and the loss of CL made us cheaper value- here comes Stan!

Usmanov took a loss selling to Stan right???

englandsbest

Pedro I am more on team humane Understandably you are scratching around trying to find reasons to be hopeful about Stan. You’re an optimist, like me. A little voice whispers in our ear, ‘He may change, he may change’. I have no doubt the Rams fans in St Louis listened to the same voice. Didn’t do them any good. And probably on his Texas estate the people who haven’t yet been thrown off properties they have lived in for years are hearing the voice, too. Won’t do them much good either. This is what happens when you feel helpless. You… Read more »

raptora

Would be interesting how would you rate Emery compared to the other 5 managers in top 6?

Pep should be the winner because of what he did with the same money that Mourinho spent but failed miserably.
Now between Poch, Klopp and Sarri there might not be much. I rate Poch higher than Klopp and have no opinion on Sarri yet.

champagne charlie

Marko

If you’re going to try and argue for Kroenke by using ridiculous ideas about him knowing nothing about football i’m just going to keep replying with these..

😀

Bob

foreign owners buying British clubs in British land I guess that makes Britain great again.

champagne charlie

Receding

You really think 10 mil down and 80 next year is such a crazy deal to pull off? I don’t personally. Think we could leverage that in the next 48 hours.