Liverpool and Spurs shame our owners ambition (Long Read)

by .

To make a bad weekend even worse, tragic news just dropped the Jose Antonio Reyes passed away after a car accident. A tragic loss of a young life. He was one of the most exciting ‘out of the blue’ signing from way back when and certainly an unsung hero of our invincibles era. Thoughts are prayers of everyone at Le Grove are with his family right now.

Onto football.

I took a pretty big swipe at our ailing manager yesterday, and many people felt I should focus more of my energy at the family running the show.

So let’s talk about what running a club with vision and purpose looks like. What better place to look than Spurs and Liverpool? (I know, it hurts so bad)

5 years ago, Arsenal had just finished the season in 3rd place. Spurs and Liverpool had finished 5th and 6th respectively. Neither team had broken 60 goals.

Arsenal were ahead of the game. We had built our stadium, we had better players, and we were still enjoying our superb run of Champions League football.

So what happened? As we wrote extensively at the time. The Kroenke family were happy to watch their fortune grow because they are real estate people. Sadly, they didn’t pay attention to the reality of what was going on pitch side. They couldn’t recognise the decline in the football, they didn’t understand what the influx of money was going to do to the competition in the league, and they only paid attention to the standard health metrics of the business… namely, that all financials were ticking upwards.

That said, here’s where so many fans get things brutally wrong. They’re not bloodsuckers. They have invested ample funds in Arsenal. We have had exactly the same chance at greatness as the rest of the teams around us. The single biggest failure of Arsenal was to keep Wenger on way beyond his sell-by date, the second biggest failure was on Ivan Gazidis for his cuck like behavior in not at the very least building an elite team around him. The third was the missed opportunities. Sign Sven Mislintat and Jurgen Klopp 5 years ago when we could have, we’re talking about a different Arsenal. We could have had Pep Guardiola. The list goes on.

Ivan didn’t have a real football vision for the club. He had some really nice platitudes that he’d parrot at the AGMs, but there was zero know-how for delivering his substanceless proclamations that we’d become like Bayern Munich (‘be like them’ isn’t really a vision).

No vision, no philosophy, no structure, and a bad manager was a recipe for criminal wastage… not just that, we had a placid fanbase that didn’t understand the damage their father like manager was doing (even now, people still talk about him like he’s an absent dad and it’s f*cking creepy).

Spurs and Liverpool didn’t have the same issues. They both embarked on a similar plan of attack. They hired in two managers that boasted vision, coaching skills, outrageous charisma, and absolute belief in the project they were taking on. A manager is step one, it’s always the simplest way to impact a club. Know what you want to do, then find people with the energy to deliver it.

Spurs wanted to bring through young players and coach them to elite levels. They wanted a core of British players that loved playing with each other and felt deep affinity to the manager and club (Arsene > Project Youth). They had a good crop of kids that blended in with very smart buys from around the globe. The football might not always be that technical, but the work ethic is a sight to behold. Their players are more than the sum of their parts, they are an uncompromising beast of a team.

Liverpool, it was simple, they wanted to play heavy metal football. Klopp made great strides in season one and slowly built players around his exciting vision. Power, pace, flair, aggression and warlike mentality from everyone was the absolute standard. No one has more fire than the manager, he’s someone they all love, and he loves them back.

Also, the fans knew what was coming, they bought into the energy and they saw actual progress on the pitch.

Both managers galvanised the fanbase.

‘But, but, but…’

The money, right? Stan K doesn’t invest, he’s a leech, he’s going to bring us down…

Not quite my friends. The Kroenke’s biggest weakness now is the one that’s going to sting them very badly moving forward. They didn’t take the time to understand what was going on at shop level. My guess is they haven’t wanted to be bothered because they’re making magic with The Rams. They don’t really get football, they’d like to succeed, but they’ve entrusted average people with the fortunes of the club, which was fine when elite average could get your top 4 every year, now the bar has shifted.

Arsenal has a net spend of €288m over the past 5 seasons. We’ve dropped almost €500m on players.

Liverpool, a team everyone calls cheque book these days, has a net spend over 5 years of… €204m! €84m less than Arsenal! Their outlay over 5 years is €710m, but 50% of that has come in the last two seasons because… the vision they implemented started reaping financial rewards!

Spurs success, as much as it pains me, is even more staggering. Their net spend sits at €42m over 5 years. Think about that, we’re out here crying that poor old Emery only had €83m to spend last summer! Spurs total player expenditure over a 5 year period has been €328m. (Numbers sources from Transfermarkt)

Wages paints an even starker picture. Liverpool has spent £990m on player wages (Swiss Ramble sourced) over 5 years, with Arsenal right up behind them having dropped a STAGGERING £975m. Spurs, a team in the Champions League final, having just built a new stadium, have spent £576m!

Let me put this into a harsher light… Spurs wage bill is actually £18m lower than ours was FIVE YEARS AGO.

Our weak leadership has consistently thrown their hands up and said we can’t compete because of money. As you all know, we’ve been saying that’s a loser mindset. The best thinkers always find a way to at least get themselves into the mixer. Atleti, Dortmund, Ajax to name but a few.

Luckily for Arsenal, all is not lost.

I have very little faith that current leadership is going to fix this mess. The vision for the club is meek at best, I don’t understand the action plan, and there’s no timeline against it. The shift we made this year is at least there’s now a loose idea of how a football club should be run, the problem is I’m not sure we have the expertise to deliver, even to the ‘proud’ part of it.

We’re going to feel the brute force of how a well-intentioned structure will always fail when average people are attached to its success. Arsenal is littered with people that don’t know what they’re doing, don’t understand the values of the club, and will ultimately fail. Also, please don’t think I mean that about everyone, the club is also full of a lot of absolute heroes who love the club and want to make it better.

There is hope. We are an institution, we are London based, we generate tremendous revenue streams, we have class, values and integrity… and we are a beautiful sleeping giant. When the Kroenke’s finally wake up, pull the wool from their eyes and take positive action by making people truly accountable for something exciting, we’ll be able to make the climb back up to the top.

… but what we can’t keep doing as fans is continue to celebrate average. We can’t keep groaning that it’s impossible to attain greatness. We can’t have such embarrassingly low standards.

Strong leadership shouldn’t be hard to find with the resources we have available. An exciting vision isn’t that hard to formulate if you are talented and ambitious. Moving Arsenal up a level in every department should be low hanging fruit.

… I just don’t think the reality has kicked in with those that own Arsenal.

Today is a dark day for Arsenal. Two teams that five years ago were in much worse positions commercially, financially and on the pitch are in the final of a trophy we’re not even good enough to qualify for.

The exec leadership can either lie down and accept it, or they can pull their finger out and get a little more serious about implementing an exciting vision for the future of our great club.

Let’s see where this summer goes, but for now, let’s all hide in a box and pray the worst doesn’t happen this evening.

x

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Bankz

Bankz is here for the Tr4phy again

Bankz

2nd

Bankz

3rd

Bankz

BOOOOOM

Moray

Nice opinions well stated, Pedders.

Marc

Pedro

You need to be more specific on the “average” people who have been put in charge of the club. I know you don’t rate Emery but are you including Sanllehi and Venkatesham?

Moray

Even decent people without accountability and without any tangible targets will typically underperform.

Moray

Surely the Kroenkes have an idea how a proper business should be run? Or are we just so far out of mind that as long as the stadium’s not on fire they are happy just jetting over to watch the occasional humiliation?

Marc

Pedro

Fine bin the guy, one comment I would make is if you’re Emery and you’re seeing this guy not perform surely you go to Sanllehi and complain?

James.wood

Average people should read poor people.
They have as much about Arsenal in them
as a polar bear trying to be a gorilla.?

Micheal

Sorry Pedro, but this is more PR guff. Leadership in business or institution comes from the top. Yopu claim “there is hope” but where is the taingible evidence to support the comment ? Kroenke owns the club 100%. But what is the vision and ambition ? What message does it send if the owner cannot be bothered to attend a European cup final ? If he doesn’t care and if there is no grand plan or vision, why should anyone else bother ? Any football supporter can see the basic weaknesses at Arsenal, including the critical need to invest to… Read more »

azed

Pedro

You should ask Pam the lady what the hierarchy thinks of Unai.

As I said yesterday, the summer should be us doing a hard reset and building a base for the future. It would have helped if we had a DOF but we don’t so Raul and to a lesser extent are going to do that.

Guns of Hackney

Peter, you are wasting your time trying to defend your (correct) position regarding Emery to this lot of dead eyed zombies , masquerading as Arsenal supporters. They gave up long ago being an independent entity and are now just a puppet on a string for Arsenal FC to parade about.

We were bigger and better than Spurs and Liverpool. Chelsea and City were footnote. Only united were our better. And here we are.

Nice touch re Reyes. If it wasn’t for Neville, I’m pretty sure he could have been a pretty decent player for us. Oh well. May he rest.

Guns of SF

Rest In Peace Jose

Guns of SF

I still remember Jose solo goal at middlesborough on a rain soaked night. He was something special and always had a soft spot for him. Terrible news for Gooners

Marko

We should bin the physiologist now? Fine I feel for the guy he’s got a helluva job trying to make idiots not be idiots and how to turn losers into winners. We keep hearing about this person and that person at the club (mostly it’s on the manager it seems) at some point we’ll come to the reason being a poor squad of players. I don’t think Sigmund Freud himself coupled with a management team of Pep and a young Alex Ferguson could turn these wank players into non wank players. 3 days since the final and not one mention… Read more »

Mr Serge

I agree with Pedro we are a rudderless ship. The draw of London and our club is massively underestimated if klopp would go and live in shit liverpool then a top manager will come to us. I would go all in for alegri and tell him you have 50 million and whatever you generate in sales. If he has anything about him he would come and challenge himself against Klopp. Pep and Poch let’s see what you have got Alegri I would want to show I was the man. This league is the most competitive in the world and we… Read more »

TheLegendaryDB10

Absolutely spot on post Pedro!! It really is a sad state that we’re in. This is why I am absolutely furious at the BoD who just stood by and did nothing when AW was slowly rotting the club and did nothing to push things on (Remember Chips’s comment who said verbatim: “If he has a plan we back it, if he doesn’t have a plan we keep quiet.”) We are now where we deserve to be. And unfortunately I share Pedders view about our current leadership ability to fix this mess. Time will tell and this is why I class… Read more »

Moray

Allegri rejected us last year when we had a bigger transfer Budget available. I’m not sure what he will have seen this season that would make him change his mind? Unless he feels his stock has fallen.

Danny

Pedro
June 1, 2019 14:52:55
New post fuckers
—————
Nice one Pete!

Moray

“ they know how to run a biz, but I think they entrust Arsenal with the wrong people over and over.” Pedro, that’s evidence that they DON’T know how to run a business. If you are a billion or so down you should really take some time to look t the industry you’re buying into and benchmark yourself against competitors. Problem is they could take us to the championship and still sell us at a huge profit. We passed over Klopp and Guardiola for legacy Wenger. That was folly at the time. Now it seems like complete idiocy. I hope… Read more »

Bob N16

Great post Pedro. Sanhelli needs to show us what he’s about. Sort of agree about Kroenke and ownership in general. If top executives in place, we wouldn’t have a problem with our ownership but Kroenke screwed up with Wenger/ Gazidis. Hopefully Sanhelli’s a good appointment.

Marko, do you have to repeat on a daily basis that you don’t rate AMN?

Micheal

Pedro: Nothing wrong with disagreeing.

However I feel you are completely missing the point about ownership and responsibililty. Stan owns us 100% and Emery, Bould, Raul, the catering staff, groundstaff, etc are all employees.

What other businessman-owner employees 400-odd people and washes his hands of the key responsibilities which drive any business – the overall business plan, ambition, targets, etc. No one is saying that Stan should be picking players or making the tea, FFS.

Marko

Bob do you have to on a daily basis comment on what other people are commenting on? You’re weird as fuck. Would you prefer if I only exclusively commented on Emery or Stan?

HillWood

As I said earlier
Arsenal only have themselves to blame for this shit
It’s like we went into ostrich mode after David Dein left and couldn’t see the bigger picture

Bob N16

Marko, I would argue the amount of posts you do on a football blog makes you pretty strange. I still feel that AMN has potential, I appreciate many disagree. Sometimes I rise to someone when I feel they are overdoing the bitchiness against a player. Not a problem if you disagree, just think there’s an irony about calling me weird when it does feel that your life appears to be predominantly based on this website and being taken as some sort of an ‘expert’. It’s very noticeable that when you’re challenged you tend to have a hissy fit. Get some… Read more »

Kwame

We need a coach who can make the adrenalin flow in the boys. The will to die for the club is missing in our play. With these same crop of players Poch, Klopp and Pep would get them to play with passion. Everybody around this club has been made so comfortable that there is virtually no accountability to anyone. Spoilt brats!

Receding Hairline

George Graham thinks all things considered arsenal had a good season, would have been a very good season if we won the Europa and an excellent season if we finished top four. Emery is watching the champions league final live, so is Arsene ( wonder how he feels about the two teams who were below us and overtook us under his watch). I still don’t see a need for panic, Spurs and Liverpool are both at four to five year stage of their projects, this was just year one for us. Most of all this talk is simply because some… Read more »

Moray

HillWood, it’s been a long slide but most fans only cottoned on a couple of years ago. From marketing to legal we have underperformed in most departments: We’ve bought the wrong players and coached them badly, managed our contracts like amateurs, over trained and injured our players, alienated and dispirited our stars through lack of ambition and a fucked up pay structure. That we now sit with ageing dross on huge compensation should not be a surprise as it’s happened over years: how Long has Corporal Jenkinson been at the club, for example? We knew he wasn’t good enough many… Read more »

Marko

They’re not overdoing shit. Since one of the worst performances by a player in a European final people have decided to direct their ire elsewhere. 8 of the 11 that started were awful and that’s nothing new and it’s been glossed over. Bob it’s also weird how you notice how much I’m on here and comment on how much I’m on here. It’s almost like you have to be on here to notice it.

Receding Hairline

Kwame passion doesn’t cover your flaws, which is why Pochettino bought 23 players at Spurs, Pep spent 200m on defence and Klopp spent a pretty penny too.

We don’t need most of these players playing with passion, we need them to be playing elsewhere.

Leedsgunner

BBC reporting that Jose Antonio Reyes has passed away in a car accident… age 35. Wonderful feet, fantastic shot… condolences his his friends and family.

Marko

Also you haven’t challenged me once Bob. For that to happen you’d actually have to get involved in a discussion instead of your usual commenting on what people are commenting on mentioning moving on from Wenger and then disappearing. At least we now know that you rate AMN.

Bob N16

Agreed Moray, ‘until things turn around’….that’s what we’re all waiting for. If not Emery then who? If not Ranehli, then who? Will it take a DoF to start the turn? Are we turning now but it’s an enormous container ship type turn?

HillWood

Mr Serge
I doubt if any of the players or directors actually live in London. Probably Hertfordshire easier access to London Colney
Does Klopp live in Liverpool or somewhere like Chester

Moe

Hallelujah, Pedro.

Kroenke is in it for the bottom line. He doesn’t care about trophies which is kinda counterintuitive because winning trophies will eventually increase the bottom line. However, with Arsenal the cash trough is so massive that even with minimal success, the Kroenkes come out ahead financially. Hence the insistence on status quo all these years.

Agree with you 100%, we still dont have a winning team in place, but do the Kroenkes know that? I doubt it.

Leedsgunner

“Arsenal were ahead of the game. We had built our stadium, we had better players, and we were still enjoying our superb run of Champions League football. So what happened?” Answer? Complacency. We should have said goodbye to Arsene in 2006 because that was the absolute limit of Arsene’s genius. He could have retired as an universal legend of Arsenal then, but he overstayed his welcome by 12 years and completely tarnished his legacy. He believed in his own hype rather than striving to justify it, and the sad thing is most of us went with it because it was… Read more »

Bob N16

Marko, I comment fairly regularly, I read most streams. Just because I don’t feel the need to post relentlessly, doesn’t mean I don’t notice the back and forth on here. CC really gets you for example because you feel undermined. Your desire to come across as a footballing expert is apparent and when someone queries you, you overreact.

Don’t think that just because you post more than anyone else, your views are any more important than anybody else.

Spend more time with your mates and less time on here, might make you more amenable.

Moe

RIP, Reyes. Gone so soon.

Moray

Bob, either we hire someone with some vision, like Spuds did with Poch or it will be an external change such as financial regulation, recession or a European Super league. Unfortunately I can’t see us coming up with much to change things but I hope I’m wrong. Arsenal has always been run with a safe pair of hands And an old school approach and this stability is no doubt what Kroenke is after.

Moe

Getting ready to cheer Lpool to smash the pretenders. You heard it here first, it’s gonna be ugly for the scum today.

Receding Hairline

Meuneir has elected to move to united who he supported since he was a boy apparently. Good luck to him.

So the month spent speaking to him was wasted as I’m sure all united did was offer more in terms of salary

Marc

Moe

I really hope you’re right.

Marko

Bob seems like you’ve got me pegged. You must be studying me for some time. Good for you

Redtruth

Wenger lingered on for far took long.
The board are fuckin clueless, they should of defied fans wishes and hired a coach 10 years ago.

Moe

Agree Pedro, that’s exactly what I meant too. Wrong terminology.

Redtruth

Wenger lingered on for far too long.
The board are fuckin clueless, they should of defied fans wishes and hired a coach 10 years ago.

Pierre

If a club hasn’t got untold billions to throw at a project like Chelsea and City have done recently then there is only one person who can bring a club back to competing for the title …….the manager.

You can have the best owner, scouting system , facilities , stadium , backroom staff in the world , but if your manager is sub standard then the rest means nothing.

Bertie Mee, shankly ,Revie, George Graham, Ferguson, klopp ,pochettino and wenger each transformed their respective clubs…

Gonsterous

Totally shocked by the news of Reyes. Funny how life can change in a second. Gone but never forgotten 🙁

Receding Hairline

Kroenke entrusted the football club to Gazidis and Wenger whom he liked. Annoying thing is Gazidis wasn’t sacked but left of his own accord. I hear now he wants Shad and Sven with him at Milan. I hope he takes Arteta too. Let’s see what Ivan’s vision is all about.

Nelson

It all sounds good by delegating the job to the right person. But they should be held accountable . There should be a performance review after each season. What have Raul and Vinai acheived up to now. Are sponsorship deals increased? Why Manure has so much more sponsorship deals than us? All Raul did was signing Suarez in January. They promised the fans Champions League football and failed. They have caused a lot of sadness to the fans. A stronger leader should come out and acts accordingly. He should set a performance target for everybody, including Vinai and Raul. This… Read more »

Moe

Marc,

I am 100% confident that they will be humiliated. Of all the teams ahead of Arsenal, Spurs are the one team that doesn’t impress me. Take away Poch, and they are ordinary. As poorly as our season ended, we hmstill had ample chances to finish above them. Plus, we bossed them in both of our league games with an Arsenal team with no fight in them.

Redtruth

“Bertie Mee, shankly ,Revie, George Graham, Ferguson, klopp ,pochettino and wenger each transformed their respective clubs…”

You forgot Clough the best of the lot.

All those past managers would have been swept away by the tidal wave of money which consumes the game today.

HillWood

Moe
Hope I’m very very wrong but I think The Scum have their name on the Cup
Anyway my mobile will be switched off from 6pm tonight !

Marc

Nelson

Well the new shirt deal is a considerable increase on the previous one and no one promised CL football. They also took over their current roles in September so weren’t in charge last summer.

We need a change in culture at the club but if you’re going to criticise at least get the basic facts right.

Un na naai

Pedro You’re still too light on the kroenke’s When the pull the wool from their eyes?? What shall we do just wait then? Hope? How long will this will be in place? Nah, fuck all that noise. We need to vote with our feet We were quick enough to protest wenger well this is as bad as anything wenger served and it’s not going to get any better. We need emoty stadiums and angry protests Hit them in their pockets Also. For fucking years you lambasted wenger for sitting on a pile of cash because it devalues in the bank.… Read more »

Bob N16

‘Studying you’ Marko, again over-egging your importance again.

Moray, we need an inspirational hire at coach, as well as good acquisitions/ sales. Some level of patience will be required! Am beginning to feel that identifying a DoF that is going to lead the changes that we obviously need, will be crucial. If it’s Edu fine, hope he has a clear vision and if Emery can work with him, fine. If not Edu, if it’s him, needs to identify a coach who will share the vision.

Nelson

Marc

I thought the deal was signed by Ivan. Also, in the recent interview, Vinai and Raul mentioned that they signed Emery based on his record in EL. They are giving the fans false hope.

Marc

“We need emoty stadiums and angry protests ”

Another poster who doesn’t attend matches telling others what they should do.

Bucko

The rot set in when David Dein was pushed out. AW lost his direction, perhaps distracted by the absolute power, there was no clear plan and the club has suffered as a result. Throwing money at the job won’t do; we have to bring through the young players, including AMN (remember he’s a midfielder, not a right-back) and get rid of the deadwood. Thee is no quick-fix solution, so we need to give Emery a chance – Klopp’s Liverpool finished seventh not so long ago, but they had purpose, a vision and the desire to win, which sees them in… Read more »

Marc

Nelson

The new shirt deal was over seen by Gazidis. My point is the commercials have increased but if it was so easy to match ManU’s commercial deals wouldn’t everyone do it?

The problems we have at Arsenal are not a 5 minute fix. Anyone thinking they are is just opening themselves up to further disappointment.

Redtruth

Imagine today’s game set in 1980.
Nottingham Forest win the European Cup in 1979.
Forest iose their best players to super rich clubs the following season.

MGooner

RIP JAR

Moe

Hillwood,

I understand the unease and nervousness given our rivalry, but it ain’t happening. Zero doubt in my mind. Lpool are a much better team.

Guns of Brixton

“Marc, our team psychologist is a guy called Dave Priestly, when he left Saracens, they stopped choking, and we’ve been getting progressively worse since he joined.”

MY WORD

HAVE WE HIRED ANYONE , EFFIN ANYONE WHO IS REMOTELY COMPETENT???

Champagne charlie

Terrible news about Jose Antonio, that double against Chelsea in the FA cup will live long in the memory. Proper way to announce yourself, R.I.P – Pedro, Nail on the head stuff, I cannot really disagree with what you’ve written there. I despise Kroenke, but we should be better placed for the ‘outlay’ we’ve made in recent seasons – though I personally struggle to see our ultimate objectives being achieved under him. Think he’s more just dandy as an also-ran in the CL places. BUT… This summer it’s imperative Raul and Co. get their shit right and flex whatever acumen… Read more »

MGooner

Property price appreciation is minimal and is for boring investors.

I prefer leveraged equities 🙂

Meanwhile seems Newcastle might be sold to some rich people who would probably get their net spend to way over 288M over 5 years.

288m compared to Pools and Totts could be perceived as cherry picking.
Why not benchmark against the top 10 and analyse percentiles, it might be better data analysis.

Un na naai

Marc

I run a business dopey. If I got weekends off I’d play football rather than give my money to a bunch of pricks who treat you like the mug you are.

So yes, I’m an arsenal fan who attended at Highbury regularly giving my opinion.

Such a bitchy comment. Very Mark with a C thing to say.

Leedsgunner

If Emery was sacked because of his record in the Europa League, all the more reason for his dismissal after our humiliation last Wednesday. Emery, before Wednesday, has already stated on record how he doesn’t feel the pressure as much as he did at his other clubs… why is that? Is he that comfortable already? We need a manager who understands Arsenal through and through… who has led Arsenal, won with Arsenal and can unify Arsenal. What about PV4 as our head coach? He has been slowly building his experience without fanfare at Man City, New York and Nice. He… Read more »

Bob N16

There are so many more lower hanging targets that ST holders Red.

MGooner

Un na nai loves Mark, with a c 😉

Craigy

Cracking post pedders…

Redtruth

Champagne charlie

You despise Kroenke for listening to fans like yourself who wanted Wenger to choose his own departure date ….

GoonGoonerGone

My take on Kroenke is that even if Arsenal finishes in 17th position every season and the club is still generating profits, he will be fine with it. Why would a family with no idea of football buy a renowned club like Arsenal if it is not for the profits the club can generate? Beyond his teams in the US, has Kroenke had the balls to purchase another team anywhere else in the world? He is sitting on a mountain of pounds at Arsenal and he knows it. He is a businessman, a corporate whore, and the only thing he… Read more »

Nelson

Marc

You didn’t get my point. Pedro said that KSE is perfectly fine. They don’t need to show any interest in the club as long as they allow the club to spend the money. My point is that this behavior has a bad influence on the culture of the club. I am citing the example of Vinai and Raul. What Manure did is served just as a reference to Vinai. I want KSE to hold everybody accountable.

Ishola70

It’s not just about money in regards owners unless you are Man City and funded by a country. We can see that the owners and those involved with Spurs and Liverpool are far more sports orientated than Kroenke. Kroenke pretends to be sports orientated. He isn’t really. And look at his other sport franchises. They pale into insignificance in comparison to Henry’s Boston Red Sox who are a sports institution. And there is no need to compare Spurs front man Levy with Kroenke. There is no contest there. Arsenal got the dud owner in comparison. I think Arsenal would benefit… Read more »

Marc

Un

That’s fine you have commitments at weekends etc that mean you can’t attend matches – I don’t criticise you for that I criticise you for telling me that I shouldn’t go and should be out protesting on your behalf.

My point is don’t ask or expect others to do on your behalf what you either can’t or won’t do yourself.

Nelson

Marc

It is known that everybody in the club is too relax. It is the responsibility of the owner to change that.

Ishola70

If Kroenke had any sort of worth to this club other than selling up he would put in a sports orientated hands on front man like Spurs do.

And no not Josh Kroenke.

WengerEagle

Wow, shocking news about Reyes.

A little thing but he was the first name that I ever got on an Arsenal jersey, the 04/05 blue away strip. I was 9, remember absolutely buzzing about signing Reyes and he didn’t disappoint with some beautiful hits, the double against the Chavs in the Cup in particular sticks out. Was the player along with Arshavin that I was most saddened by how it didn’t pan out for here after an electric season and a half from both of them.

RIP mate.

Redtruth

Marc

You shouldn’t have to be told to protest, it should be automatic without hesitancy

HillWood

Moe
That’s a bold statement
Hope yore right

MGooner

Marc is protesting to Un about Un wanting Marc to protest about something else.

@ Nelson – Why can’t the owner be relaxed when everybody at the club is relaxed. Why are you prejudiced against the owner 😉

Ozilarsenal

RIP Jose Antonio Reys
May Eshwar bless your soul

WengerEagle

Dreading this tonight, I lose either way given there are 10 Bin Dipper fans to every Gooner over here.

We’ll all be getting sleepless nights if the monstrously ugly Spuddies beat us to the CL punch though so reluctantly fangirling the Kloppites tonight.

Mane and Firmino to score, 2-0 Pool.

Nelson

MGooner

I don’t want everybody at the club be relaxed. They should care about winning or losing. Everybody should be under pressure. Cech also talked about the difference between Chelsea and Arsenal.

MGooner

@Nelson

A better way would be that everybody does what they must do, nothing more, nothing less.

There is no need to be under pressure 😉

Cesc Appeal

Where does the £17 Million we had to pay Wenger and his staff figure into our accounts?

A one off payment or would that have been on our wage bill?

TR7

‘Where does the £17 Million we had to pay Wenger and his staff figure into our accounts?’

A one off expense.

Emiratesstroller

Pedro First of all it is a sad day that Reyes has passed away at such a young age. Personally I enjoyed watching very much this talented player whose career at Arsenal was probably cut short by the terrible tackle of Neville. He was never the same player after that game. Following onto your post about the club. I think that it is far more ‘measured’ than yesterday’s post. I agree with a lot of the points you make. We have an owner who probably has the best interest of the club at heart, but somehow is not the right… Read more »

Words on a Blog

Pedro, As real estate investors, the Kroenke’s primary concern has been, and will always club’s asset value, rather than profitability or sporting success. In the last, they managed this through a combination of delegating pretty much everything football (ie. ebpverything bar the sposnorship deals and real estate sales, to Wenger. as long as: a) Arsen kept to the (1-year) self-sustaining rule and spend within his means, and b) attain top 4 and therefore a Champions League place, everything was hunky dory, because the asset (i.e. Arsenal FC) would appreciate in the context of higher TV and sponsorship revenues. Once competition… Read more »

Marko

Wenger could have forgone that last year like Gattuso did when he got sacked. That would have been classy

Un na naai

Pedro

What’s attending games got to do with having an opinion? You think this club deserves the money being ploughed into by gullible fans week in week out?

This wool you mention. Do you really want to wait around to see if kroenke removes it or would you rather it happens quick sharp like ripping off a plaster
It’s all bollocks anyway
There is no wool. He knows full well emery is not an elite coach.

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