Ownership rumblings dampen

by .

Welcome to Tuesday!

The ownership rumours are still swirling, and though I was extremely wrong about the Super League 48 hours, I’m not sure I’ll be so off the mark about KSE switching out to Swedish ownership.

There have been a few rumours that well-connected people have heard Stan is willing to sell. I just can’t see that sort of info finding its way towards Arsenal fans. Stan doesn’t roll in crowds that leak to proles. JP Morgan doesn’t have an insider that runs @Gooner4564. If a deal was going to happen, it’d happen in silence.

More to the point, the Super League might be dead, but I think we’re all living in la la land if we believe that billionaires are going to accept what the fans think and move on. They tried a takeover with force, they failed, and they’ll be back with a subtler type of move… as always.

In a week of fan outrage about competition, Arsenal, Villareal and Roma are about to fight Manchester United for a Champions League spot.

Manchester United failed to make it out of their groups in the richest competition in the world, and they’ve been given a shot in a totally separate trophy just because. It’s outrageous, but it’s a parachute payment for rich clubs.

Even more amusing for me, a week after German clubs said no to the Super League, RB Leipzig lost their head coach to Bayern.

Football is full of hypocrisy.

Stan K lost the battle, but the war rages on, and if there was £500m there last week, there will be 12 billionaire owners chasing it down this week.

The bigger hope for Arsenal fans is that when Stan hands the keys to Josh in the future, the son sells it for an easier life on a yacht.

It’s quite interesting to read Arsenal fans fuss over Daniel Ek. We’re hunting out billionaires like we search out our coffee beans in Crouch End. The checklist is long and idealistic. We’re looking for organic, fair trade, farm assured, low carbon footprint, with packaging that can double as a mini-tote bag. Spotify giving musicians a bum deal is deeply unfair in a business that has been built on being deeply unfair since time began. The Arsenal community is probably the most creative football community out there, the fanbase in North London is a who’s who of culture, art, music and advertising… so clearly, as matches go, the guy treating musicians badly is going to have a section of the fanbase raging.

… but. Could be worse, right? Hard to make a billion being pleasant. You could be minimum wage merchants. You could have a fortune built off government subsidies from your Eton mates. We’ve had someone in accused of mafia-like crimes. Money repped by royalty with human rights abuses to their names are in abundance. We have folk that stole the wealth of their nations. There’s a bad bunch involved in football. Where do you stop with ownership? Even going back to the past, we’ve had diamond dealers, which doesn’t exactly have a rep for being pleasant.

It’s hard to be at one with football and avoid soiling your principles.

If we were to move past the clear issues. The thing that’s appealing about someone who works in tech is their approach to survive has to be innovative, future-facing, and fast. Add to that, bold.

I’ve worked with Spotify in the past. Firstly, you cannot get over the scale of a business like that. The complexities they deal with, the volume of things that have to be done, and the standard of person you have to hire to stay at the top.

Though the tech industry has its issues, you’d totally welcome the data-centric approach at Arsenal. You’d welcome the ruthless approach to finding the best talent and then finding the best model to allow it to flourish. The thing you’d be most excited is the competitive nature of the game, they’re all about rapid expansion and retention. To do that, they need the best product with the most innovative features.

If Arsenal is content, working with one of the most ruthlessly competitive distribtion platforms is probably not a bad partner to have. Outside just the technical stuff, Spotify is very, very attuned to the next generation of money spenders. When everyone in the world was saying the kids can’t concentrate for longer than 16 second, Spotify signed the guy making 3 hour podcasts as part of a doubling down of longform content.

Have my doubts you’d ever hear Daniel Ek say, ‘young people don’t watch football.’

Bigger picture: Imagine someone showing Arsenal the care Spotify shows to its product?

Talking of care, there’s a lot of chatter about the summer Arsenal are planning.

The best news post-Super League is that KSE is going to invest. Seems silly for me to mention that, but for Arsenal to sell, other clubs need to know we have money. Last summer, we were lowballed for good players because everyone could taste the blood of a bleeding P&L in the Colney water fountain. If clubs know we don’t need to see to spend, there will hopefully be less flapping around.

There is hope we could shift £100m worth of talent. Hector, Torriera, Guendouzi, Willock, Reiss and Eddie alone should bring in enough revenue for a reshape. There are also big earners dropping out the other side as well. David Luiz, Alex Lacazette, and the dregs of Mesut Ozil will be leaving the wage bill.

No doubt we still have some contract work to do, but it won’t be Auba levels like it was last season.

There’s also some work to do with the PR of this summer.

Are we shooting to win the Champions League in 2 years?

Or will the club have a smarter view on how they promote the vision?

We’ll have to see what the inward signings look like, my hope is we’re moving away from old men and building back to the top with a youthful zest.

Who knows whether that’ll happen, but one thing is clear, if they botch the way they communicate that, next season will be painful in the stadium.

There’s still some way to go in the season. We’re going to Spain tomorrow to see what Unai Emery’s new side looks like up close.

I’m dreading it. Not gonna lie. Chukwueze masterclass against Granit Xhaka. Unai Emery sliding 46 feet on his knees to lift his button-down shirt to reveal the message, ‘GOOD EBENING.’

Ugh, just did a bit of sick in my mouth.

The karmic forces are rounding on me.

At least I’m in America.

More on that game tomorrow. For now, let’s chat in the comments. x

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play | Audible

389 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Valentin

1st?

Valentin

2nd?

Valentin

3rd

Valentin

Boom 4th trophy

Lower Tierney

Great post. Emery’s revenge incoming.

Kroenkephobe

WOAB Nice one. I can strip an AK47 in 20 seconds.. I was looking at it from the other side in a city (Addis Ababa) that was swarming with Russian and Cuban military. Hard to imagine now but Uncle Sam was doing the same thing in Mogadishu. The Americans went from saviours to sworn enemies in about 7 or 8 years. Trump like levels of PR blundering. The same proxy stand off thing was going on all over the world – Angola, South America, Asia. The only excitement lacking in the place was decent football. Ever played at altitude? I… Read more »

Tom

“I’m dreading it. Not gonna lie. Chukwueze masterclass against Granit Xhaka. Unai Emery sliding 46 feet on his knees to lift his button-down shirt to reveal the message, ‘GOOD EBENING.’“

Ha ha !

Valentin

The difference between the Kroenke and the Daniel Ek is that the Kroenke are asset accumulators while Ek is an asset grower. Accumulator are passive, reactive owner of assets. They buy the asset and let them grow slowly. That works well for businesses where competitions is limited and where the market grow organically. By virtue of being in a close, growing market even absent owner see growth. For example super market real estate, US Sport franchises. In those markets, As long as you do not make stupid move, you will still make money and your business will grow. However when… Read more »

Andy1886

Mid table mediocrity.

Andy1886

Incidentally, that £120m government loan is due to be repaid in May, that and our COVID related losses beg the question just how much ‘investment’ Stan is really willing to make. Could these rumours be just a rehash of the old ploy we used every season to drive ST sales?

Danny

If our players need a bit more motivation for Thursday game then all they’ll need to do is to look at Emery on the touch line and remember how crap he was, that should get their blood boiling.

Alexanderhenry

I reckon it’s a ten to one shot Stan sells, but there are positives to the bid even if it fails.

If we don’t win the EL and next season isn’t significantly better than this season, fan unrest will grow and continue.

This bid is high profile and involves ex arsenal players we all wish we still had.
It’s not some mysterious sheikh or an oligarch like Usmanov.

Tom

Valentin
The way Kroenke made his first billions is every real estate developer’s wet dream.

Building shopping malls and surrounding infrastructure backed by Walmart’s might……… you literally couldn’t not make it.
And since he is considered the smart one in the family, and talent usually skips a generation……god help Arsenal when Josh takes over fully and decides not to sell.

Ishola70

Come on Pedro he’s just a bum this Emery.

Regarding teams falling down into the Europa League from Champions League it doesn’t necessarily have to be a “rich” club that enters the Europa League this way.

As others have said looks like Elk is just looking for some extra publicity. His paid subscription product is actually over-rated. Problems with app itself crashing, too many times you don’t find the original song instead there will be a remix or live version instead and songs are taken off Spotify very regularly as well as added.

AFC Forever

LeedsGunner “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!” Thanks, mate. Cheers to everyone who was interested in the East Germans version of modern-day Oil State doping. Cards on the table, I have always been an avid hater of foreign football club ownership. Call me old-fashioned but the beauty of the game is the community spirit, history and the David vs Goliath stories that we all love so much. This is why the ESL was so unappealing and why we all have to be… Read more »

AFC Forever

*whether we like it or not football corrupts.

Emiratesstroller

Valentin The difference between Kroenke and Ek is much more than the comparative wealth of both parties. Ek’s wealth is dependent on his shareholding in Spotify. He is by all accounts a minority shareholder in this business. So to buy Arsenal he would need to sell those shares if he is allowed to do so or borrow money on their asset value. Kroenke by contrast has a large portfolio of wholly owned business assets plus a huge property portfolio. Whilst it is unclear how much he has borrowed on these assets I am pretty sure that he is not borrowed… Read more »

Mafuko

I watched a bit of Villarreal vs Barca this past Sunday. Some observations:

– we have an extra 2 days of rest
– Villarreal might have a self destruct 🔘 just like Arsenal. Barca’s second goal.
– if we work out our transitions well, press well, lots of space for runners, and will create chances
– Xhaka CANNOT start at LB. Chukwueze will eat him alive.
– Nketiah must not start.
– let’s pray for Leno

Samir

Daniel Ek doing an interview tomorrow at 14:45 with CNBC RE Arsenal take over bid???

Samir

Smart move from Ek, will put pressure on Stan to sell.

Ray+in+LA

I would like an Arsenal Owner to also be an Arsenal fan — but failing that I would like an Arsenal owner who actually cared about the success of the team — Ek ticks those boxes, but I don’t see him having the financial clout to pull it off

Also it doesn’t seem to be a difficult puzzle to find a way to have Saka, ESR, Pepe and Martinelli play at the same time

Also, also agree that Xhaka is much more effective as Partey’s mid-field partner and LB needs careful thought — although there are reasonable options being discussed

AFC Forever

Emirates Kroenke is not selling, we have to suck it up. If he does, what makes any of us truly think Ek, Bek, Fek, Gek, Lek, Hek, Tek , Sek or fucking Heck will give us what we really want? Sure, I want an Arsenal fan as the owner but does he have the cojones to stand up to the shit he is going to get and stick his hand in his pocket? This ‘it’s all the Managers fault’ is why we will be also-rans. How many frigging Managers do we want until the truth smacks many of us between… Read more »

Samir

AFC Forever
‘But will it really improve things? No’

Not true. The club has been run terribly for years. Having an owner that’s an Arsenal fan; watches all the matches…Listens to fans – of course we will improve.
None of us are asking him to come in and pump money in. Look at Leicester.

Bayern Munich are idiots, why go for Nagelsmann when the best generational coach EVER is at Arsenal and they could of had him. You watch, Bayern will rue the day they passed on the generational one

Ishola70

AFC Forever

This narrative now from you that it is all the others and Arsenal have not faulted themselves is a little too much.

Arsenal have made errors so are not helping themselves as well as the actions of other clubs.

In time we will probably see that appointing Arteta himself was yet another error from the club. Just one example from unfortunately too many examples.

We could buy messi, Ronaldo, jao felix, Jude Bellingham, van dyke etc and we’d still be struggling mid table with that fraud as a coach.

@Pedro

I’m serious mate. He’s such an amazing coach, I’m telling you for free ( a la sid) that Bayern will rue the day the greatest coach from Spain wasn’t chosen over Nagelsmann

AFC Forever

Samir “Not true. The club has been run terribly for years. Having an owner that’s an Arsenal fan; watches all the matches…Listens to fans – of course we will improve. None of us are asking him to come in and pump money in. Look at Leicester.” Yes, the club has been run terribly for years the under-investment is why we are where we are as much as the bad decisions. It has caught up with us. Leicester is a great story but they have none of the pressures or outside influences that affect huge clubs like Arsenal. The huge pressure… Read more »

Ishola70

The Europa League is not as great a burden on the season as people like to suggest.

Not when you can play weakened sides up to the straight knock out rounds.

As Arsenal are clearly not good to qualify for europe/CL from the EPL atm rather than moan about it fans should see it as a blessing and some sort of chance of a lifeline as we this season.

AFC Forever

Ishola “This narrative now from you that it is all the others and Arsenal have not faulted themselves is a little too much” Mate, try understanding what you read. We are where we are for a number of reasons including the lack of investment over a too-long number of years, poor management and some pretty shoddy transfer dealings. However, I am trying to stop this incessant bollocks that all you have to do is change the Manager endlessly to get success. Fuck me, Spurs have been doing that for 60 odd years in an attempt to win their next title.… Read more »

Luteo Guenreira

If the Europa winner qualifies for Champions League through their standing in their domestic league, does the runner up get awarded a CL spot?

Ishola70

AFC Forever

You are going over the top though.

On another subject it always makes me laugh when fans back managers and players demands for less matches.

Of course in any workplace or profession having to do less work for the same money you are on or more is a very nice option isn’t considering how much these players are on in the first place.

These over-paid petals find it so taxing to take a couple of hours flight to play football midweek for which they are handsomely paid.

My heart bleeds for them……..not.

AFC Forever

Ishola “The Europa League is not as great a burden on the season as people like to suggest” Yes it is. Every coach will tell you why. There is travel to factor in and preparation, all of which affect the preparation for the league game. Cup games too have to be factored in. You prepare for your next game. That means everything from tactics, provision for certain players, weaknesses to exploit, patterns of play, set pieces, corners etc. The players are worked on within the week leading up to the game on those things, it’s key. That is why coaches… Read more »

Ishola70

Travel factor my arse.

They travel luxury in first class and flights work out to a couple of hours on average.

We are not still in the steam boat age.

Emiratesstroller

AFC Forever It should not be forgotten that Kroenke had CONTROL but not OWNERSHIP of Arsenal until 2 seasons ago. Usmanov was in the background as a significant shareholder. When you do not own a business you are unlikely to make investment decisions in the team. That was the real problem at Arsenal until recent times, because we had an ageing board and no-one actually owning the club with a potential hostile shareholder on the sidelines without a seat on Board. There has been recent evidence that since Kroenke owns the club that he is more willing to make club… Read more »

Ishola70

AFC Forever

It’s no good moaning about a competition where we could all be jumping around in a few weeks for winning including yourself.

AFC Forever

Ishola “Of course in any workplace or profession having to do less work for the same money you are on or more is a very nice option isn’t considering how much these players are on in the first place. These over-paid petals find it so taxing to take a couple of hours flight to play football midweek for which they are handsomely paid. My heart bleeds for them……..not” My god, you clearly don’t understand football mate. I can’t help you with that. A different point about being overpaid, they are and they really are a bunch of virtue signalling snowflakes.… Read more »

Ishola70

Let’s be clear

We are not failing in the EPL primarily because of being in the Europa League simultaneously.

We are failing because we have a rookie coach who has made some ropey decisions, tactics and overallfootball look to be not adventurous enough plus baggage still hanging around before Arteta although some of that has been discarded.

AFC Forever

Ishola

“It’s no good moaning about a competition where we could all be jumping around in a few weeks for winning including yourself”.

Ha ha. Where did I complain about the Europa League? I said Leicester not having any midweek games and being able to prepare and play their best players every week was the main reason they won the league. Now you are twisting. Behave mate.

AFC Forever

Ishola, I give up mate. You seem completely unable or unwilling to understand anything. If you don’t get something it’s best to back off. Trying to twist things or make ridiculous claims is really not the way to debate.

Kegunner

Imagine if Arteta had kept his head down he would now be in Nagelsmann shoes.

Ishola70

Yeah we will back off and let you continue with your balanced views on the club AFC lol.

The platform is all yours.

AFC Forever

Emirates “I don’t think that there is a remote chance of Kroenke selling to Ek. He has a track record of being a stubborn man and not someone who sells assets. My sixth sense is that Arsenal will be provided this summer with a decent budget to buy players. Part of this budget will come from sales, but additional funds will be made available if required by Kroenke”. Yes, he won’t sell. It will be interesting to see if he is stung into action by the fans or whether he just doesn’t care. Midwest was quite dismissive because his record… Read more »

Dissenter

“Getting rid of Kroenke is a vanity project; we will all feel so much better about the club without him in charge. But will it really improve things? No, not until football is more honest and returns the integrity that was once part of the great game.” Thanks for that bit of clear headed thinking. Kroenke isn’t going to sell because he does not need to sell. His wife has more money than him so why would he divest his ownership of one of Europe’s most famous clubs? Arsenal is the most treasured sports organization he owns, he’s not going… Read more »

Quite frankly I hope he doesn’t invest as we’ll only get foisted with shit players as Arteta is clueless on talent. The fact he signed off for Runnarson should tell you all you need to know about Arteta. Easily one of our worst signings ever. Jesus I thought almunia was shit, but compared to Runnarson he is Lev Yashin

Save the money till we’ve got a decent manager. Otherwise we’ll end up with 11 Runnarson and Willian type shite on big contracts and the new guy won’t be able to move them on

Kegunner

Kroenke should immerse himself more in the club. Josh can probably take a year looking closely at the club structure probably spend time with likes of Pat Rice, Steve Bould, Keown. People who are level headed and been around the club for a long time. No more hollywood hires. Deal with proven hires that have the fortitude to turn around the ship. Arsenal needs mental courage at the moment. No more Willian or Luiz type quick fixes. No more banishing senior team players. No more throwing away mascots. Arsenal fans no longer cheer the team. We have been reduced to… Read more »

AFC Forever

Dissenter “Thanks for that bit of clear-headed thinking. Kroenke isn’t going to sell because he does not need to sell. Arsenal is the most treasured sports organization he owns, he’s not going anywhere.” As much as I am hardly a Kroenke fan or a supporter of any kind of foreign investment, the reality is Arsenal changing manager is going to be like sticking a plaster over a broken leg. In fifty-odd years of supporting and playing football, I really don’t like the place it is in now. From FIFA giving the World Cup to Qatar, Qatar buying PSG, UAE buying… Read more »

AFC Forever

KEgunner

“Kroenke should immerse himself more in the club. Josh can probably take a year looking closely at the club structure probably spend time with likes of Pat Rice, Steve Bould, Keown”

Great comment. If the ESL has shown us anything it is how out of touch the top echelons of the club are. Time to change the culture by bringing in true Arsenal men. Not the wet weekends we get as pundits, proper men with cojones and who actually care. Keown certainly, anyone who wants to chin Van Nistehorse is right in my book.

Captain Tierney

Daniel Ek to give an interview to CNBC tomorrow. Regarding the potential takeover

@AFC

it was a mans game when I was growing up, unlike today. Not only is football corrupt as you rightly pointed out, I also hate the fucking cheating on the pitch with players rolling around like they’ve been machine gunned. Hate cheats

Useroz

Among what Lehmann said about relative merits of different ownership structures especially on the possibility of PL clubs adopting the German model, this is what in my view is most relevant to Arsenal at the moment … “..normally bright people make good decisions” …” How true is that! We here talk regularly about how inexperienced Arsenal ownership and management is, from MD, DoF, to manager, and critique the cascade of sub-par to poor decisions and that they continue to be made by the trio. Following the ESL saga, many blogs and posters alike reiterate, pinpoint and contrast the apparent inadequacy… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Cards on the table, I have always been an avid hater of foreign football club ownership.

AFCF
Some of the homespun ones have also left bit to be desired. Doug Ellis, Peter Swales,racist Ronnie Noades, Ken Bates, Alan Sugar, Peter Ridsdale and the Hill Woods. Not an exhaustive list but some pretty major cunts there…

Guns of SF

Rich, that could be just gamesmanship….
Money talks… end of the day.
Worst case, Stan does not sell but now a fire might be lit under his fat ass, to invest in the team.

Just drop 250M this summer, of his own cash, and the fans will be quiet like a mouse for a entire season…

azed

I called Arteta winning Europa a long time ago but it would be hilarious if Emery is the one that pushes Pedro into the #ArtetaOut camp.

Question for Grovers

Would Pedro be objective if we are knocked out by Villareal or would Pedro’s ego takeover?

Guns of SF

Pedro,

Josh knows there are leakers within the club. so he puts this out, so it drives up the price of the team…. its unlikely he would tell the staff, well “were thinking about it”

KSE wants the most $, clearly, and chances are they know that Ek is serious about buying… so they want to drive up the price..

I would not be surprised in late summer, to see this go through if it does…..

@Pedro

Pedro if we had a good manager I’m all got kroenke investing. But if he’s going to give that prick money to foist more Willians and Runnarson’s on us on vastly inflated wages , then yes, I would rather kroenke doesn’t invest till we get a real manager as opposed to a guy pretending to be a manager. Sorry if it hurts thet I think along with the kroenkes, Arteta is the worst thing to happen to Arsenal. Sorry you backed the wrong horse, the majority of us can see the donkey that he is

@Azed

I wonder if Arteta had gone to palace as an assistant, if Pedro would be so keen on Arteta?

Arteta is bang average Pedro, the stats you go on about so much proves it. I’m not the only one who thinks he is shit. I bet the majority do on here

Bertie Mee

Flip back to Arsenal 2 Southampton 2 just before we fired Emery .
The worst defensive performance I’ve ever seen from Arsenal ( that shows how bad it was )
A Southampton fan on the tube said afterwards that they could have scored ten . He was nor exaggerating. That is the coach we are facing on Thursday

First full season with a better squad he finishes lower than Emery, hardly fucking generational. He is such a poor manager I wouldn’t even have him coaching my kids football teams

Ray+in+LA

AFC Forever
April 27, 2021 17:08:30

Agree with most of what you say, but no matter how uneven the financial playing field is there is no excuse for not making the best Arsenal that we can with the current resources — optimising club Infrastructure, scouting, coaching, use of data, the medical-side, sport psychology, etc., etc.

At the moment the reference points shouldn’t be outside the club — it is building a better Arsenal from the inside

Karsa

I don’t get people comparing a rookie manager with managers with 10 years experience or more.

There are very, very few people who are at the top of their game from day one in any situation.

Whether Arsenal should have hired a rookie manager is a different debate.

Valentin

Pedro, You mean the election list for coaches dismissed for poor result? You need to wake up from that brainwashing, endoctrinement, cult of Arteta. He may be a good technical coach, but he is a truly awful manager. He is like the soldier who learnt to shoot on immobile cardboard and now can’t hit a running target. The guy may even win an Olympic gold medal, but on the battle field he is useless. That’s Arteta, technically maybe brilliant, but unable to adapt to unexpected challenge, terrible man management, blind reliance on senior players over talent, does not understand the… Read more »

Leftside

Statement from the cunts, pardon me Kroenkes saying they do not wish to sell at all.

Honest question

But if Arteta is that good a coach, how comes he hasn’t improved anyone? Isn’t that what a good coach does?

Bertie Mee

Worry not Pedro
Remember Arsenal 2 Southampton 2 just before we fired Emery.
A Saints fan said he was gutted they didn’t score ten as our defence was so bad .
He was not exaggerating . Unai Emery ‘ organised’ that defence

Chelsea and Spurs sacked a manager as they didn’t like what they were seeing. Both Lampard and mourinho had same time as Arteta , but they fucked up and were rightly sacked, unlike our club who seem to accept mediocrity as the norm

AFC Forever

Kroenkephobe “Some of the homespun ones have also left a bit to be desired. Doug Ellis, Peter Swales, racist Ronnie Noades, Ken Bates, Alan Sugar, Peter Ridsdale and the Hill Woods. Not an exhaustive list but some pretty major cunts there…” True but I would sooner have a British investor. To be fair to Ridsdale, he had a proper heads gone moment but he gambled and lost. One minute they were in with a chance of winning the CL, the next Leeds spiralled down the divisions – a warning to everyone really. I think we all agree the game belongs… Read more »

Dissenter

Pedro seems to be more contrite about his Arteta peddling on his podcasts that over here on the blog.

Avi

Harsh criticism for a rookie in a pandemic year in which Liverpool under are in 6th position and Spurs have sacked Mourinho.”

Any chance its same pandemic year Big Dave Moyes(lol) has West ham flying, Liecester putting 16+points between us, United and Chavs making us look absolutely amateurs???

If your hero Arteta fails to win the ECL he should absolutely get sacked, I mean the only reason he won’t will be solely based on the fact we’re no longer a big club and nobody takes us serious anymore.

@Avi

Well said. Under kroenke and Arteta we’ve become a banter club. We’re locked almost as much as the spuds these days

We’re laughed at. Sorry

AFC Forever

Bertie mee People have short memories. Arteta had to come in and fix the worst Arsenal defence I have ever seen. Against transition, our defensive shape was non-existent and I think it was the Watford game where we conceded something like 30 odd attempts on our goal. Games were turning into the Alomo. After he went we heard stories about confusing tactics and players not understanding him, to which we all nodded our agreement. He is clearly a very good Manager in Spain but he was a disaster for us. We were getting worse but the biggest problem was without… Read more »

englandsbest

Thanks, Pedro, for a marvellous mix of cynicism and idealism. The way of the world. For fans, football is a wormhole into a nicer one. Better the devil you know. I’m starting to believe Stan has his good points. He believes Arsenal should be self-sustaining, pay its way. So do I. That was always the Arsenal philosophy. His mistake was not to break the rule early on when the Club struggled to pay the stadium debt. Yes, he is an absentee owner, yes he’s been negligent. But, on the other hand, I like his ‘hands-off’ policy provided the people he… Read more »

Bayern Munich pissed themselves laughing when paired with us 8 odd years ago. They were in hysterics. Not really taking us ‘seriously’ is it. We’ve been a Mickey Mouse club for last 10 years under the kroenkes. We might have a shiny new stadium, but let’s be honest with ourselves, we’re not a big club at all

AFC Forever

We’re not laughed at. My football whatsapp group is quite large, over 100 of us on there all members of the club I am involved in. Fans of all the big clubs, probably largest share is West Ham. They don’t take the piss out of Arsenal. Banter sure but it’s a respected club. They take the piss out of the fans, especially AFTV they banter us as self-entitled but they respect us because we have walked the talk. None like Spurs and the banter the last two weeks is about them sacking another manager. What some of you who like… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Comparing Arteta to Emery is absurd. MA needs to be compared to GG, Herbert Chapman, Bertie Mee, first decade Wenger and Don Howe. At the moment, he is nowhere near any of those, and it is questionable where he ranks in relation to Terry N, Rioch, second decade Wenger and his compatriot (if you absolutely must). Billy Wright anyone?

Avi

Arsenal was the most derided club amidst the ESL fracas, more than enough of fans supporting other teams were like “WTF”

Arsenal should absolutely be nowhere near such elite t) gathering, they we’re simply making the number and have been anything but ‘super ‘ for years.

Peckobill

Wenger stayed way too long but his second decade still shits all over arteta . Don’t think he’d have us sitting in 10th but even if he did at least we’d probably be playing attractive football . Now we got 10th and dire football, you don’t mind dire so much if we are competitive.
Anyways last chance saloon on Thursday for arteta by my reckoning or a next season emirates with fans is going to be brutal

Pedro

K, pretty sure most of our ex-managers would say a trophy inside 6 months was good going. He could make it two in two season if things drop for us. This is GG on Arteta. “They have got problems, but they can rectify them with three players,” “Arteta is doing a very good job. But while he has improved the players, he has only improved them to a certain point. “They have got to have natural ability to get to the next level. “Arsenal have outstanding young players, but they need help. Quality players around them to show them the… Read more »

@Pedro

I really don’t think he’d spend the money wisely though Pedro. Be fair his track record isn’t great

Pedro

Avi, again, really reads like you hate the club.

Arsenal should be more derided that Spurs? Are you kidding me?

We’re two games away from our 2nd European final in 3 years in our worst run as a club and we won another trophy last season.

There’s a table doing the rounds that we are the most successful team in England over 100 years.

If there’s a Super League, based on big clubs, then we absolutely should be there.

Avi

Wouldn’t give a penny more to Arteta, he’s got shocking eyes for talent

Unforgivable that he sold the best keeper in the league for peanuts to keep Leno who is absolutely a clown.

Pedro

TYAG,

Arteta doesn’t spend the money, that is Edu’s job.

We’ve signed Martinelli and Saka to longterm deals. Brought in Odegaard. Signed Gabriel and Mari. Gone big on Thomas Partey. Those are good vibe players.

1 2 3 4