Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify, is whipping up a PR frenzy in the media. He wants to buy Arsenal and he’s going in with Bergkamp, Thierry, and Vieira.
The fee they are talking about is £1.8b.
That’s where the story ends for me.
Some reasons it won’t work.
KSE Philosophy
KSE don’t sell. Never have done. They have gone on the record 500 times to say that is their business philosophy. There’s no reason to doubt their stubborn desire to be good at this one thing.
If Stan and his family can ride the pressure of screwing over their hometown by moving a franchise to LA, do you really think pressure in Europe will register?
Daniel Ek Wealth
Now, you always have to take Forbes numbers with a pinch of salt, Donald Trump faked his value for years. But Daniel Ek is worth about $4.7b and Stan is worth nearly double. Factor in Stan’s marriage into the Walton family and you start to see the difference.
Stan doesn’t need the money. He doesn’t want the money. If he was flat out broke, he has the ability to find whatever he needs with a couple of phone calls.
Billionaires are dick swingers. Stan selling out to someone he perceives to be of smaller wealth, in a country as hierarchical as America, feels like a stretch.
Put it this way, if Stan wouldn’t sell to Alisher Usmanov because he was Russian affiliated, do you think he’ll be selling to a European tech guy?
The Number
Myself and a few other bloggers were approached by a group repping a Qatari Family in 2017 about a huge bid they were preparing. £2b was the number. I don’t think they ever formally bid for the club because Stan blew out Usmanov who also wanted to expand his holding.
If Arsenal were for sale, Daniel Ek would not get near it for £1.8b. I am not in the football club market, but a London club, with the lowest debt in Super League 12, elite training facilities, classy brand, in a prime spot in London… well, you’d be looking at £3.5b plus to even get near what Arsenal would be worth to an owner that doesn’t want to sell.
Football isn’t a rational business. We would be an ego purchase. That would mean a mega premium. Buying Arsenal is not for business people, it’s for people with too much money to spend who want a hobby, to whitewash a shocking reputation, or to sell plane tickets to their desert paradise tourist spots.
I would absolutely LOVE Daniel Ek to buy Arsenal and save us from hell, but honestly, I think there’s a higher chance we sign Lio Messi this summer. We’re stuck with KSE forever and it’s painful to know that.
Business or pleasure?
Final thing. We have been run by sustainability merchants for 15 years. It has gotten us nowhere. We are in the top 10 net spenders in Europe. It has taken us to 10th.
Daniel Ek brings data smarts to the table you couldn’t imagine. He’s a branding genius. He’s a commercial powerhouse. But he’d still have to bring Arsenal back to life the hard way. He’s not going to pump a billion into a club that can’t repay him.
Petro-dollars is the only way you get to the level of investment we need right now. If you’re getting into bed with a consortium, that means three things:
- Shared leadership of the project. Lots of cooks.
- There’s not a lot of spare cash swilling around
- A return will be desired
It’s also slightly different to Liverpool. They have a sports club buying engine called RedBall. It’s a monster filled with sporting experts like Billy Beane and Lebron James. Arsenal need more than big names on the board to get back to the top, especially on a budget.
But let’s see how serious his plan is. Let’s read the documents. Just promise me one thing? Don’t get too excited. The chances of this being anything more than good PR are very, very slim.
Moving on…
Flo Balogun has signed a new deal with Arsenal. A superb bit of good news and full credit to Edu and Arteta for making that happen. Arsenal is a project in flux, one of the reasons we’re in such a mess is the lack of smarts around contracts with young players. Some of the hottest names in Europe left us for little to nothing. Keeping Flo in the family for the foreseeable stems the flow of bad news on that front.
The player has it all to be the striker Arteta needs. I think he’s an imposing number 9 that makes clever runs, he’s strong, he’s fast, he truly believes he belongs at the level, and he’s deadly in front of goal.
Our frontline, if it develops at the rate it is currently, really could be something special in the next three seasons. What is very interesting is the player sees himself making an impact at Arsenal NOW.
‘My ambitions for next season are to make an impact in the first team. I see it as something that I’ve taken upon myself to be able to go over there & make an impact, not just be one of the numbers’
That means players are leaving. No more Lacazette. No more Eddie. If that’s the case, we really should be making sure our Thursday night line-up is reflective of where we’re going, not where we’ve been.
Now we have to move and make sure Kido Taylor Hart and ESR are tied down.
Wherever this season takes us, it is promising that we have one of the most exciting groups of players coming through in the league.
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Guns of B
Unfortunately the Kroenke combination of vast wealth and mediocrity is a really potent one.
Still, as a fan I am allowed to dream of Ek, Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp.
They are not making money They are dealing with headaches ESL fallout fans hate them They might need to invest their money into us We are 10th place. Not self sustaining- and getting top 4 we are self sustaining barely and getting top 10 There are more reasons for selling than KSE keeping Arsenal. They should be lucky there are interested buyers… who are willing to pay close to what they did or they might even come of our this in the black… barely but still! That would be great for them in this pandemic… its a no brainer… sell… Read more »
Even if Kroenke considered selling, he has Ek over a barrel. He can demand fantasy sums, and see if Ek will bite. Which i agree is unlikely, if he ramps it up to £3-4bn, which he would. Even Ek would probably, and rightly, think that’s nuts. I figure Kroenke, like Perez, is playing the long game, and still thinks he and his fellow owners, all foreign and thus emotionally unattached to the club or the sport, will devise a type of ESL, tweaking it here and there. The most striking thing about the whole farce was that they all, to… Read more »
No team is officially out of the ESL just yet. They have signed binding contracts and Perez with massive penalties according to Perez.
Captain Tierney I can’t support this-just more marketing nonsense. There’s already The National Football Museum’s English Football Hall of Fame. They should try to fix that mess before adding a competing Hall of Fame. In the States, all the major sports have a single Hall of Fame that celebrates the elite performers throughout that sport’s history. There are plenty of controversies (steroids and gambling in baseball, ex-wife murdering in NFL etc) but by and large the fans have completely bought into the concept. Most English fans have no idea who is currently in the Hall of Fame. They’ve done a… Read more »
Into the Red,
You make some good points…
However, the fall out has been so great, I cannot see in the near term and sort of ESL type situation happening.
Likely its that the UEFA and FIFA will amend their rules, change, and adjust…they also do not want another ESL coup.
If that is KSE end game, then they should think again about all of this.
It likely will not happen the way they want.
Get rid of all our execs if Ek takes over….
They all had blood on their hands…
KSE paid roughly £1,050,000,000 for Arsenal
If they sold the club for £2 billion, they’d have made £950,000,000 from their 14 year association with the club
Not bad work if you can get it
Daniel EK must be a superfan
Arsenal isn’t worth £3- £4 billion
We were valued at around £1.8 billion before the pandemic, you never know, but I’d be surprised if any serious business man paid twice a companies value
Not unless they’re seeing value and new markets that they’re very confident they can tap into
We were haemorrhaging money before the pandemic
Rich
What arsenal’s worth is at is irrelevant. It’s value is whatever Kronke accepts for selling it
Peckobill
Arsenal’s value is entirely relevant
Why would EK pay twice the value of something?
How would somebody who’s worth say £4 billion, borrow £4 billion, for something the banks only value at £1.8 billion?
Straight away they’d have a negative equity in the business of £2.2 billion
And no bank is handing out a loan of £4 billion, where the owner of that debt has £2.2 billion of unsecured debt
Even if they put down 20% of £800 million, that would be a beginning negative equity position of £1.4 billion
For a company that’s already running huge losses
Just like ESL was supposed to be a lifeline for KSE,
A new buyer who will take the team from him, is also a lifeline.
He should take it now, before the teams starts posting more losses.
I hope Stan feels ashamed and leave.
I just don’t like TH being in that group to buy the club. Great player, but a mental case with an attitude. Paddy and Bergkamp are fine.
I said when we sacked Emery that things would likely get worse before they got any better, and everyone told me I was wrong, and Emery was our problem I’ll say the same for KSE, we shouldn’t just assume that any owner would be better than KSE Anyone who buys Arsenal will be highly likely to borrow that money, there’s no guarantee they won’t take money out of the club to pay interest and capital repayments There’s no guarantee a new owner won’t start chasing their debts, and saddle us with more debt There’s no guarantee the new owner will… Read more »
Rich
Whisper that last line,you’ll wake them up…
Leicester are 16 points above us.
Better squad, better manager, or both?
Agreed. Ek has been careful to promote the idea that he is a big fan and nice bit of PR with the trio – but what they are there for? Window dressing? But we know nothing about how he might run a club and whether he would load the club with debt, as other owners have done. We also know nothing about he would be a good owner, having former players in a photo gives the impression he wants you to have. But he is clearly a fairly ruthless businessman – just ask musicians how much they get from Spotify… Read more »
We need The Flamster.Now he is seriously minted.£2 Billion.loose change.
We don’t ‘need’ billionaires. We need a membership scheme which has the voting rights of 51% of the club.
Crowdfunding the purchase of the club via membership is a pipedream. Membership means that everybody has an equal voice, so people will require to have equal payment. Nobody is putting £1 million in a fund and have Sheila from South Alabama who put £10 having the equal voice.
£2 billions requires 1 million people to fork £2000 each, good luck with them agreeing on anything.
100,000 people putting £20,000 each seems possible, but then we are not talking about average regular fans anymore.
Real Madrid + Barcelona are owned by the fans, they’re both over a billion in debt and haemorrhaging money
The Bundesliga hasn’t stopped a monopoly from occurring
I’m happy for the club to have a 100% owner with no fans on the board, providing that owner is competent
51% of the fan base can’t agree on anything, and leadership comes from the top
A fair few rumours KSE are willing to sell for £2,150,000,000
Hopefully Usmanov gets involved
into the red,
If only!
Rich
Of course that would get knocked back. Likely they settle for 2m
Who knows what Ek is thinking…. I doubt though, him being a fan and all that he would not be more transparent and present than Stan. I could see him being pro-active and innovative… Who he puts on the board, will say a lot. Who he has running the club will say a lot about who he is and where he wants to take us. He might allow some fan ownership as well? who knows… I think if he really has suffered like we all have, he would try to do things differently. Again, who knows… but being a young… Read more »
Rich,
For once we agreed on something.
The issue is not the type of ownership, it is the purpose of ownership and the competence of the owner.
Single owner after a quick buck + incompetent => Liverpool before FSG (Bankruptcy,…)
Single owner after a quick buck + competent => Liverpool under FSG
Single owner long term + incompetent => Arsenal under Kroenke
Single owner long term + competent => Leicester, RB Leipzig
Commercial Owner + competent board => Bayern
Multi Fan owners + incompetent board => Barcelona
Multi Fan owners + competent board => Dortmund
Stan will sell, anyone saying he would never sell is an idiot. Everything has a price. Number touted 3 years ago was 2.2Bn.
Aliko will be here…. but I don’t think it will happen just yet…. we might have to wait 18 months or so, this ESL face plant has expedited the exit strategy.
I keep on reading this story that EK is a billionaire and an Arsenal Supporter willing to buy Arsenal. However, as has been pointed out by a Swedish Correspondent this guy is a “paper” billionaire. His asset value is based on the share value of his business interests. So if he wants to buy the club how is he going to raise the money to do the transaction? I doubt that he will want to divest himself of the shares so he will need to borrow the money. The next question is how the purchase price would then be secured… Read more »
Just read this from Ornstein in the Athletic:
Mesut Ozil.moved to Fenerbahce in January but Arsenal are covering more than 90 per cent of his £350,000-a-week salary until the end of June.
He got what he wanted Fenerbahce in 2nd place 3 points behind to Besiktas. He will get a bonus if they win the league but UCL participation is guaranteed if they finish 2nd. Looks like a rat left the sinking ship and got paid for it. Arsenal ownership and execs are role models for Ronald McDonald.
Too much time and energy is being wasted pontificating about kroenke leaving ..he’s going nowhere anytime soon. A bigger concern to any right minded Arsenal fan is all the talk of the club selling our academy players and other young players before they have been given a real chance to prove themselves or have fallen out of favour with Arteta For the past 12 months the club/ manager has made so many poor decisions regarding our team that it is nigh on impossible to trust them when you hear rumours about certain players leaving. Martinelli/Saliba/Guendouzi are young players that should… Read more »
Oh the irony Ozil is still the highest paid player at Arsenal despite he is no longer playing for them. Arsenal is run my muppets.
@Pierre
“I read today that we are still paying 75% of Ozil’s wages”
make that more than 90 per cent according to the Athletic. He is still Arsenal’s highest paid player even though he is at a different club 😆
Pierre Sorry have to disagree with you on your analysis of young players at club. Guendouzi may be a good player in the eyes of some supporters, but he has proved a toxic influence wherever he played. The fact that Hertha Berlin don’t want to buy him says enough Nketiah and Maitland-Niles have been given plenty of opportunities to prove their worth and have failed to do so. Nelson is a winger and currently would be competing with Martinelli, Saka and Smith-Rowe for a place in team. He is the oldest of the four, but behind them in progression. There… Read more »
MD- Gunner
The priority was to get Ozil off the books. It was never suggested that Ozil would take or accept a pay cut. That applies to Sokratis and Mustafi as well. All were presumably compensated when we released them.
None of these three players is an Arsenal player and therefore on our payroll.
MD,
It might be a terrible situation with Ozil but
getting him out of the club and reducing even 10% of his wages was the best deal available. Pierre might disagree but based purely on the likelihood he was not going to contribute this season this was making the best out of a bad situation.
Emirates
I think Kolasinac is still technically an Arsenal player until 2022. I really hope I’m wrong about that, though!
Bacarayisgod
Kolasinac had 18 months left on his contract unlike Ozil, Sokratis and Mustafi whose contracts would have ended this summer.
I assume that Arsenal hoped that Kolasinac would have stayed at Schalke and that club would have at least paid out the remainder of his contract. Now one suspects Kolasinac
will be offered a freebie unless there is a club willing to pay a transfer fee for him, which
seems most unlikely.
Pierre, You make some good points but I don’t think you can question Arteta having the good of the club at heart. I think he genuinely wants the club to succeed but his decisions have been driven by ego and insecurity. This summer will be fascinating though. Key decisions have to be made over: Aubameyang: Do we want his as club captain for the next 2 seasons and can we even move his salary?, Guendouzi and Saliba: They both have clashed with Arteta-can they come back without the club cutting Arteta loose? Lacazette: The single toughest decision. He’s shown himself… Read more »
Emirates
Kolasinac will be offered a free transfer but what team will absorb the final year of his bloated contract?
We might end up paying him 80k a week for another year just to get him out.
Emirates As for Guendouzi, I don’t recall him having too many problems with Emery. In fact, he was fine with Arteta until the Brighton incident, which I’m convinced would have been handled far better by a less insecure manager. Yes, he’s had problems at Hertha but worked his way back into the team. Surely that’s a sign of improving maturity? The other issue is value. If we sold him this summer, we will be selling at the absolute bottom of his transfer value. Of course, Arteta shouldn’t be sacked to smooth the path for Saliba and Guendouzi. But his sacking… Read more »
Arteta’s vision….. Emi is home grown academy player with 50% less wages than Leno, one year younger and the better Saliba home grown and sent on loan for a 34 year old Chelsea reject Luiz AMN, Willock and Nelson, English and academy players, loans and reserve replaced by a RM reject Ceba and Eleneny. Smith Rowe English and academy player, real talent kept out of the team or out of position by a RM reject Ode Eddie English and Academy player playing reserve football, Martinelli home grown and real talent not kicking a ball, Pepe real talent out of the… Read more »
We need to sell one of Auba or Laca. Auba seems to be the one I would let go. Amazing though, how poorly he has been this season. Laca is a fighter and offers more overall. If pressing and passing up front is going to be our game, Auba aint it. Sell Nelson, Eddie, El neny, do not buy Ode or Dani, sell Chambers or Holding, we need to raise $$ Its all about the sell before the buy this summer. Sell Kola Get them all out. Bellerin too. Go with the youth, have Edu scour Brazil again, lets find… Read more »
i dont know guys, but Balogun gives me the feel that he is not kidding, and will do everything on the pitch to become a great striker
MLC I wish we see more of him…. its like he is the biggest secret weapon that we have never seen….
If balo has signed can he now be brought back in from the cold?
With auba and laca out Martinelli Eddie and balogun should all be chomping at the bit
Guen should be offered a new contract on modest wages. No one bigger than arsenal will be in for him. No one will pay him more. And since he’s been a bought boy he has very little leverage about his salary.
Give him a modest offer then we can either give him another crack of in the summer he seems more mature, or we can loan him and review again in Jan.
That’s my opinion
He’s been a naughty boy*
I like Guendouzi. But I would sell him too if it means we will bring an established proven CM. We desperately need that. We can pin our hope on Azeez to become the next young cesc instead of Guendouzi. We need a player that will make the CM position his own. Players I would sell this summer are a lot. AMN, Torreira, Guendouzi, Elneny, Bellerin, Chambers, Lacazette, Nketiah and Kolasinac are all on my sell list. Players I am not so sure about are Nelson and Willock. Willock is doing great at Newcastle. I though we were using him wrongly… Read more »
CAM targets in order of Preference would be Odegaard, Emi Buendia, Matheus Pereira. We would solve our creativity problems by signing one of these and an attacking CM next to partey. It has to be fixed this summer.
Habesha yeah even if he’s more mature I don’t suggest guen should be a starter. But the fact is we’re losing ceballos so it’s not only about upgrades which we sorely need at CM, but also numbers and bodies.
If he will behave, he’s good enough to be a rotation option and his wages aren’t high as far as I know, so there’s upside to keeping him if he can be a good boy for once
I read yesterday arsenal are still paying 90% of ozil’s wages
Pierre will be happy about that no doubt
Habesha In regard to Reiss. No one talks much about him being in the real dog house. I mean, its like he dropped off the earth. As much as we talk about Martin and balogun, Reiss has literally dissapeared. HE will be pining to move this summer. I do not blame him. Our youngsters need to play, and if not with us, then elsewhere for their own personal sake and careers. I liked Reiss and also feel he has not been given a run in the team. oh well, ask the special sauce about that…. I would still go back… Read more »
I think Ode will go back to Madrid. This ESL disaster has them with egg on their face. I think Dani is off too. He wants Betis, his true love.
I would also add Bissouma to our list… somehow.. ..with him being the main DM.
TP and ESR in front of him….
Its about time we stopped these loans for RM players, and get our own boys back in…..
Azeez is the next one on the list…. dude is a baller.
Guns
I’m not falling into the Azeez trap. It’s the same one I fell through with Zelalem, Vela and Merida. I’m not sure people realize how lucky we got with Saka and ESR. This is not normal for players this good to come through our youth set-up.
Azeez is a talented player and by all means we need to keep him in the fold. But like ESR did at Huddersfield, we need to see how Azeez performs against tougher competition.
The Krankies won’t sell to Spotify, Nigerian Cement King, Flamini or anyone else. As Pedro points out – they don’t have to. The Krankies true wealth is undervalued for tax reasons. Flamini has stated that he has no interest in buying the club and he insists that his wealth is over valued. Most of it is shared with his partner or invested in plant and machinery. In other words he does not have the spare cash floating about – unfortunately!
Bacary
This is the point – very few of the young talent have been tested at the top level. Arteta has had ample opportunity to try them out but has declined, only using youth when he has to. A decent coach would seek to integrate the young players into the first team squad or loan them out in order to sort the wheat from the chaff.
I read something that Flamini is only worth about 20m.
The market he wants to attack it invest in or whatever you call it is ‘worth’ 30bn.
He said it’s a bit like attributing 1 restaurant in France with every restaurants worth.
Flamini doesn’t even appear in the top 41 french billionaires.
Wow, I see Michael van Gerwen is getting a consortium together for a take over.
Superb news on Balogun signing a new contract.
Not long now until we see a forward line that could consist of Martinelli, Smith rowe, Saka, Balogun and Nketiah and Nelson…
Go all out to Sign Bissouma to partner Partey, bring back Guendouzi , willock and AMN ,promote a couple of academy midfielders , get a decent keeper in, bring in Saliba and we will have a team of youth , energy , hunger and intensity.
And it won’t cost us a penny with a few of sales.
Keep Aubamayang…
I think we need to be careful with the so called project youth. Very few young players make the step up on a permanent basis. The casualty rate is extremely high.
Pierre
If we are quick we could steal Martinez from Villa right under the noses of Man U. £40millon should do it.
Guns I agree on Reiss. He hasn’t had even a run of 5 consecutive games for us. He has had good performances and average performances too. We just need to know for sure whether he will be very good or a mid table player. For example I know now what Eddie Nketiah can do. He is a poacher with a high work rate. He might develop other qualities in the future but we have had enough sample size to know what he will be like. And at some point you have to sell your academy players that aren’t at the… Read more »
The way Bayern pimp their league out is insane.
Everything that was deemed wrong with the ESL is being committed by Bayern in the German league.
Repeated purchases of their closest rivals talents to keep them on top and their opponents on the bottom. Once or twice is acceptable but this is has to be an actual business plan of theirs. Happens to often not to be. Gotze, lewandowski, etc etc
Now they ‘ve gone one step further and nabbed their closest rivals manager!!!
Not saying the practice of buying within your league should be banned but Bayern certainly push the limits to the grey area at least
I am not so sure that Nagelmann will enjoy working for Hollywood FC. At RB Leipzig, he had a team around him. He won’t have that at Bayern.
Externally, he will have constant sniping from former players and the media will not give him time. Internally he will not have as much power/influence. The players such as Boatang, Alaba, Kimmich, Goretzka have a high opinion of themselves and may not be as receptive to his method than younger players.
Valentin
I agree. Insane to think Nagelmann is only 33.
Better Bayern than Spurs tho. Had he went to spurs after poch with a peaking Kane their fortunes may have been a lot better than it is now. But thank god it isn’t 😂
based on Pereira’s performance at the weekend he would look a good prem ready upgrade on Dani and seems to be able to play from deep as well as in the No10 role. Then just a Xhaka upgrade, back up LB and a GK to replace Leno
I have spent 7 years in Germany. They are proud to have Bayern doing well in the CL. Internally, they only support their home team even if they are playing in the 2nd or 3rd division. .
Gun of Brixton,
I hope that by Christmas Nagelmann realise that he made a terrible mistake and join us in replacement of Arteta, while the Kroenke finally sack the good talker.
Adidas is really propping up Bayern with incredibly advantageous deals. Bayern commercial strength allows them to ruthlessly crush any attempt to challenge their dominance. You have better players, we’ll buy them off you. If you don’t want to sell, we let know the player that a deal will be available when his contract expired. See how they got their No2 goalkeeper after falsely promising that he would replace Manuel Neuer. Now it is, you have a better manager, we’ll buy off you as well. Good luck watching crumbling what you spend the last decades building with that key man. They… Read more »
watching some lower level games recently like the Berlin local derby the standard seems pretty poor i.e, below prem level
We should be grateful to Brendan Rogers beating CP, we are now less likely to finish 13th
Sid, nice to see you’ve got a picture of your mum for you display picture.
Nice touch I must say.
Sid.Sounds like you need a Rogering.I’m telling you this for free.
You are supposed to be on your best behaviour during this Holy month Mr,
i understand it must be hard since coitus is forbiden that makes a man cranky,
Thierry Henry was converted from a winger into a striker by Arsène Wenger upon arriving at the club from Juventus.
The King failed to score in his first 7 appearances for Arsenal, and was ready to tell the boss that he wanted to go back on the wing, but he knew that Wenger believed in him, and that was enough to end his first season with 26 goals as a striker in red & white, and end his career at the club with 228 goals..
Just imagine if it was Arteta!
Diet pep asks his winger to play LB, thats where Henry would be playing.
Nagaelsmann is the new Pep.
Nagaelsmann, like Pep, will be two or three years there before Man City come calling for him.
Except Willian. He decides for himself. He can play 372 games with a goal or assist.
Of course, I meant ‘without’.
All this talk of the German ownership model yet as Valentin says, they have won 8 consecutive league titles. The league is a joke. When Dortmund briefly broke into that dominance, Bayern simply asset stripped them and Lewandowski is showing how influential he has been. The Germans do most things right but have a sad history of also doing a lot of things very badly, Here is the first example of a state financially doping a football club, not exactly the same as the Arab Oil States of Abu Dhabi and Qatar but nonetheless a potential warning:- 1978: Communist East… Read more »
AFC Forever @1346
Can I say that was one of the most interesting football related comments that I’ve ever read on here. Fascinating! Thank you!
With. Bayern, just look at who’s on their board and compare that with ours. Owners aside , that’s practically where the spine begin.
And we have Vinai, and Edu and Arteta say it all. Don’t worry though, we’d be fine in the next decade cos they are all generational talent and aim to deliver for the next generations, just not us.
Flo Balogun signed his Arsenal contract… that everything is dire at the Emirates. Whoever decides to come after Arsenal is going to have one heck of a group of young players to nurture and develop…
One person I would bring back to the club is Kwame Ampadu, he has been instrumental in nurturing these talents… including Nketiah, AMN, Willock, ESR, Saka, now Balogun.
The man is a magician… and his record speaks for itself.
*see, not everything is dire at the Emirates
Part of statement by Balogun on his signing a new contract. One can see nuances of politics in the Club. But as per AFC system, Arteta, so long he is here as Manager is the winner politico. Kwame Ampadu, when I first came here at [under] 18s, he showed me tough love. But it was definitely something I needed at the time. Even now, Steve Bould he’s managed me really well this season, making sure that I took more of a leadership role, which is something I need to learn as well. ‘My ambitions for next season are to make… Read more »
AFC
Fantastic and educational post!
AFC forever Thank your for the post about East German football, a great read. Have you been a journalist in the past? Regarding Bayern, I was in Munich a couple of years ago and took in the stadium tour (fabulous stadium) and they are completely unapologetic about who they are and what they do. Very proud club and yes, very well run even at the expense of others. ‘Mia San Mia’ was everywhere, we are who we are. Despite their repeated canings of us, they have always been my favourite German team since I was young, the aura about them… Read more »
AFCF I greatly enjoy reading about cold war history and having formerly worked in a government department that regularly sent me overseas, I had some experience of it myself. I was in the horn of Africa while the Americans and Soviets were fighting a proxy war over the horn of Africa. Ethiopia was as hardcore stalinist as their Eastern European counterparts at the time. That it was being played out in one of the poorest and hottest parts of the world made it all the more surreal. I’d love to hear more about stuff like this if you have time… Read more »
Kroenkephobe,
Didn’t realise you were a Somali Warlord in a previous life…..no wonder you’ve sought the relative anonymity of life in rural West Wales!
AFC interesting.I once met the ex East German Female Chess Champion.In Portugal.She told me how good life was for her.She still managed to get to the West.
Let’s sign Odergaard, , then sell lacasette and Auba, buy a young good CF, Pepe is getting better, nail down Saka to 1 or 2 positions, get a back up for the jock, Buy an equal RB , young ect, fuck off cedric………..keep all the CB’s for now, and see who ends up best……….Danny onions I’d give him back…………gutted we got rid of Emmi martinez……….think that’s about it……….oh, and a young PV or EP for in front of the best CB with the biggest mouth…………think that’s it……..Miami.