Morning all.
Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham have made it clear. The Kroenke family want Arsenal to be a successful club. They categorically refuse to breach the FFP rules to do so though. Every penny the club makes in profit is there to invest in the squad and that’s how it will remain. So what’s the problem? Is there a problem? I’d have to say no because isn’t that the way football clubs should be run?
That’s why winning the Europa Cup is important, why a top four place is crucial each season and of course, being shrewd in the transfer market is a big thing.
Both Raul and Vinai sat down with Laura Wood and explained everything we need to know, along with things which perhaps Arsenal fans will be disappointed with. Certainly any who crave big money signings by the handful. Here is the transcript in full from the official site:
LW: When you talk about strategy, how much involvement do the owners have in that strategy process?
VV: It’s a good question. Listen, Stan and Josh Kroenke are in sport because they’re passionate about sport and because they want to win. So when I talk about the strategy around making our fans all across the world proud of their football club and competing to win the Premier League and the Champions League, that doesn’t come from Raul and that doesn’t come from me. That comes from our owners. They’re hugely ambitious around where they want to take this football club and they remind us of that all the time. They’re massively involved. Between Raul and I, we probably speak to the owners pretty much every day and we have detailed, in-person meetings with them I’d say pretty much every month, whether we alternate between doing them in London or the States. They’re hugely involved in what we do, they are hugely knowledgeable about sport. It’s well-known that they have an American Football team, an NBA team, an NHL team, an MLS team and a lacrosse team, so they know sport and they’re really, really passionate about Arsenal. They’re really passionate about how we can move the club forward, but they’re also realistic. They know we’re not going to go from where we are at the moment to delivering our ambition overnight, and they know that there’s going to be a whole load of work along the way to get there.
RS: I’d like to remark on what Vinai’s saying, because I think it’s very important to make a special note about the passion, we were mentioning about the passion, and the sport side of KSE, of our owners. I think it’s proven enough already, but it’s something that we get all the time. They live for sports, they really get the essence of sports, all the rewards of hard work and the pain of losing when you lose, but also the joy of winning when you win. They are about succeeding, they really want us to get to the optimal position for the club, and we feel the support every time we speak with them, every time we receive a WhatsApp or an email. All the time, every message that we get is supportive, but with one ultimate objective: that’s winning and winning our way. They are in every sport and they are with passion in every sport. It’s a pleasure to work for these people that really get it. I think that’s really important for us in our daily motivation.
VV: Going back to the earlier question around ownership, all of these initiatives and ideas about how we move the club forward are completely supported by Stan and Josh and their direction is quite simple: every single penny that we generate as a football club is available for us to invest against achieving that ambition, and that is the maximum that we can ask from our owners because that is the maximum allowed through the financial fair play rule. We are feeling really confident about our ability to get there, it’s not going to be easy and there will be plenty of up and downs along the way, but trust me, Raul and I feel those ups and downs as much as anyone but really believe in the direction that we are heading.
LW: So we talk about the process. The first step of that process is a top-four finish. That’s the immediate goal for the owners but how do they support that process?
RS: Constantly. They realise the challenge. One of the blessings of the Premier League is also the hardest challenge. This is a very competitive league, probably the most competitive in the world and definitely more competitive than what I’m used to. It’s an unforgiving league and you cannot make mistakes. The challenge is there. They understand that but that doesn’t mean that they excuse that. Nobody does, we don’t excuse that either. Knowing the challenge, we know that we need to do the right strategy that we were mentioning before. We need to outsmart the market, we need to make the right signings, do the right sales, the coaching staff needs to prepare the games properly like they do. It just means hard work and outsmarting the market. That’s the two, I would say, essences of success, if we want to be there. It’s a tough league, a very tough competition but that’s what makes the Premier League great. Everyone wants to watch the Premier League games because the uncertainty of the final result is in every game, and that makes it great.
VV: It makes it great, but it also makes it really stressful!
RS: Oh my god, I’m telling you!
LW: Imagine the fans!
Chelsea are facing a transfer ban, Man City are being investigated for breaching FFP, Liverpool and Toots appear to be playing by the rules and so will Arsenal. Anyone hoping or expecting Stan Kroenke to hand the board £200 million or more to invest in the squad, it simply isn’t going to happen.
Clearly though, this doesn’t mean the Kroenke family don’t want their club to be successful, it just means our success has to come by living within the clubs means. No longer will players be allowed to leave for free as has been the case in previous years. Just thinking about Sagna, Alexis, Welbeck, Wilshere, Ramsey who together we’re probably worth £150 million at least in their prime, the miserly amount we got from the sale of RvP and Fabregas when they left too., is shocking. That won’t happen anymore. Any player with two years left on his contract will have to sign up or be sold.
If we win the Europa Cup then the transfer budget will increase, if we don’t, then Arsenal will be about getting maximum quality players for minimum cost. But at least both Vinai and Raul highlighted the need to ‘do the right sales.’
Just what ‘right’ means though, remains to be seen….
Eight, just eight days to go until Baku.
See you in the comments guys, that is if you haven’t gone back to sleep half way through reading….
Well we will see how much money is permitted for investment this summer ? And I do know that Kroenke’s various sports clubs in USA are soundly run and not struggling but not particularly good at winning trophies either.
Morning Chris, all.
Perhaps if the bodies that be grow a pair and make an example of City, then clubs would rein their spending in. We really need to get back into the champions league and build from there.
Andorra posted this link yesterday.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2019/may/20/ten-championship-players-premier-league-clubs-have-on-radar-football
Season tickets prices will go up if we are in the champions league.
That’s why they have not sent out the renewal. Financial fair play for Kroenke is Fuck fans permantly
Lower, I get where you are coming from re Kroenke but how can the club/he spend more on players if the rules don’t allow it.
Sneaky re the ST renewals if that’s the case but I thought they didn’t come out yet anyway…..
Morning All 7 appreciate you putting my reference in Rico re Championship players.
I didn’t nod off but skipped your interview as I had also read it. Made interesting reading so, FFP rules being what they are I, like most fans, will be pleased to see those clubs punished heavily, for flouting those rules.
Can someone tell me how our Season Tickets compare to other clubs?
It’s not as though the seats have sheepskin covers and you get waiter service when you want a beer so is it greed on the part of the owners?
I’m keeping my fingers crossed (but not permanently, for the final) as I have to eat and drink sometimes..Lol!
Morning Rico. What a crock of shite that interview was.
No worries Andorra, bearing in mind our finances, or the finances were told then the Championship could be the way to go for a couple of gems. If there are any.
Morning Adam, why? 😂
I prefer to be optimistic. I Like Emery I feel the atmosphere in the club is much better this year. I hope all fans get behind our new Manager, Management team, coaches & our Owner Kronke. They all need our support and encouragement and then I see that the improvement will continue.
Welcome Sohara, you’re asking a bit much re Kroenke….
I know :):) but a girl can dream can’t she . Perhaps ONE DAY The Kronkes will see how BIG footie is internationally, much bigger than all their other US teams. I think that Josh especially will get to love ‘soccer’ more and more. This year we are going to the US pre-season, GOOD things could come from his ownership in time. whether they do or not he is our owner with no intention of selling so, what I say is Lets not have any more toxic protests at the club and just HOPE we are now on a better course with our new management team. OK so it is a dream, but as I said at the start…A girl can dream can’t she ?
Sohara, you can’t make statements which are simply untrue, like Ozil being free. That isn’t a dream, it’s £42m of being bonkers
I’m all for toxic protests if it means the Kroenkes sell up to someone with ambition.
Ozil for free?? £42m is a freebie Sohara.
Andorra in general our season tickets ae expensive and for years it was a stick that the media used to hit us with. What they failed to take into account is that the comparisons were often unfair. The Arsenal include 7 cup games in their ticket and many others do not. The Arsenal do not include the league cup whatever it is called today and sell those matches at greatly reduced prices . The comparison that is never made is the average price per ticket which I believe is pretty much in line with the top London clubs but probably more than those up north.
Incidentally you can’t order or drink a beer in your seat , even in club class you have to be away from the view of the pitch. Crazy !
Good morning Rico and all.
We all have to live within our means, so why shouldn’t football clubs have to do the same? UEFA are talking up their action against City for the alleged breach of FFP rules, we must wait and see how effective that action is.
Of course I would like to see us compete for the best players, but not by breaking the rules.
On a side issue, we need a winger, we need to offload Ozil. Ozil doesn’t want to go, he’s happy on £350,000 a week. No club is going to buy him and pay that sort of wage.
Real Madrid have a winger, they need to offload him, he doesn’t want to go, he’s happy on £300,000 a week. No club is going to buy him and pay that sort of wage.
Can you see where I’m going? Swap Ozil for Bale and save £50,000 a week. Simples!!!
I think Bale is on £500k a week, What we need to remember about Ozil’s wages. We got him ‘On a free’ so to speak. Like Juventus have got Ramsey ‘on a free’ that is why Ramsey’s wages are £400K a week ( no signing on fee) and why Ozil’s are £350K no signing on fee. It was totally our own fault that we let both these contracts ran down like this. This won’t happen again .
I understand your frustration Adam, but that was the past…As fans we just have to get behind our club NOW, support those in charge, the manager , the team AND the owner.
If he makes money out of his investment , then he deserves to, he has put a whole lot of his own money into the club. This article explains that we will put back into the club to buy players as much money as we are allowed to by FFP……If he was not allowing us to do that, THEN we would have reasons to moan at him
Morning Cicero, and pee the Toots off in the process.. lol
Adam, would you have given Ramsey his report wage demand? Or his agents more likely?
We have a couple of diplomats running the club in the UK I reckon. Kroenke has sat by and watched as Arsenal have slipped and slipped under Wenger. It was the multi-millionaire Arsene who convinced the fan base that we cannot compete in the market and it was probably the Kroenke PR team who planted the stories about us being against the end-stops where FFP is concerned. It suits their narrative of a self-sustaining holding-pattern where the business of Arsenal is concerned. The Buddha-like Raul comes in and immediately fcuk’s up the Ramsey contract situation and then uses his extensive contacts at Barca to piss £3.5 million up the wall with Dennis bloody Suarez. Yet still we have no money. It’s hardly surprising given these genius deals he has set-up is it?
And the Kroenke’s sail on. Hugely this and hugely that and yet they show zero empathy with the fans and footballing ambition to them is a mystery. How Stan must love watching Man City taking the piss while taking some of the heat off off him to actually do something to re-establish Arsenal, the sleeping giant of English football.
The interview didn’t tell us anything new and certainly put a gloss on KSE . then again if you work for a company you are hardly likely to say that they are crap in public. At least Gerald Ratner owned the company before his outburst ruined his heritage.
If Man City get away with it then it would be beholding of Asda to put their name on our shirt for the cost of Lionel Messi although by the time that happened he would probably have retired and living the high life in Buenos Aires .
Of course it stinks but so does the so called beautiful game which is rapidly eating itself with an overdose of avarice and greed.
I thought that Ozil was £42 million.
Sohara. You said that we got Ozil on a free? Is that the case?
It’s not really the past is it? It’s all happening right now.
Ozil was out of contract ( and so was Sanchez) he could have gone to any club and they would have paid him either a signing on fee or a large wage ( clubs prefer that as it spreads the signing on fee over several years) Arsenal did not feel they could let BOTH players go, Sanchez wanted to go, so to keep Ozil we paid him the large wee4kly wage £350K( as United did with Sanchez £500K and Juventus are doing with Ramsey £400K
It ‘feels different because Ozil was already our player, but in truth it is no different. It may have been a mistake to do that ( that is a different discussion) but I was glad we did it at the time , but I hope we NEVER let contracts run down again …which the new management says they wont,
Morning all.
The two wise monkeys have had their say, for now. Extolling the virtues of an absent and greedy owner and his manipulated son. Hoping against hope that we win the EL so they can increase season ticket prices is as toxic as dipping into his own purse, imo. I do believe in the idea and practise of FFP, providing it is applied fairly, throughout the world of football. Not as cites have manipulated it by their state owned copanies sponsoring the club’s buying power way beyond the value of the airline or whatever that is paying them oodles of doh, almost with no question! Or as it would seem from my side of the fence. Could the Krankies do the same and have us sponsored by say, Wallmart? Or several of his US franchises? I’m sure they could. The arsenal would benefit greatly by a vast overpayment of sponsorship money, ie like mansoor citeh!
Good luck to the investigation chaps but I bet, like Trump they’ll come out still smelly but covered in proverbial deodorant! (Not sh1t).
Reading a little between the lines, not very opaque ones at that, I think we can conclude that our activity in the transfer market will both be limited and cut price.
Plus ça change……… !
Lovely day here on the East Midlands Riviera😎
Ditto Wavy, we certainly won’t be getting Mbappe anytime soon….
Sohara, I want some of whatever it is you’re smoking.. lol
I know I want some of it too…I know I’m tooooooooo optimistic …but then I’ve been an Arsenal fan a LONG time, been through the high’s and the low’s I Age 5 years watching them play ( they NEVER make it an easy watch ) It just has felt a better atmosphere at the club this year, So I got optimistic for some good years now … We lose next Wednesday I will be down in my boots again
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, thought provoking post, mind you I didn’t read the PR spin, I’m not interested in the propaganda only what they actually do, and so far what they’ve done is decidedly average…
Morning Kev. If cups were handed out for spin, our cabinets would be full.
Adam, I’d prefer Ospina in midfield rather than Xhaka.
Rico. I don’t really know what the details of his contract were. I would have preferred him instead of the awful Xhaka though.
Ozil was not out of contract at RM was he? I thought we paid £42 million for him. Add that to what he’s been paid and the figure is ridiculous for what he has contributed.
He wasn’t and we did Adam, I’d give up if I was you… lol
Rico. You’ve never been his biggest fan have you? 😃
I’m not sure that KSE have done anything different from Fenway or Joe Lewis and they certainly haven’t taken huge amounts out of the club, like the Glaziers – yet…
Our problem is the quality of people in the Boardroom, our past CEO and our past Manager and his awful handling of contracts.
We are paying for the mismanagement of the last regime.
That mismanagement was allowed to continue for too long without checks from the owners and its that I blame them for.
I can’t stand Levy, but he does a great job at Tottenham.
The sort of job Dein did at Arsenal..,
Perhaps that’s what Raul is trying to do Kev, just not very quickly…
My gripe about Ramsey is we should have sold him last summer but if he turned down the move, we were stuck.
Same with Sanchez, when City offered £60m if they did, he should have gone.
Allowing Ramsey to get into his last two years, let alone one year was surely down to Wenger and Gazidis. Sanchez was just a major cockup. As were those before him.
I’m going to wait and see how these two do this summer before judging them, especially with those players going into the last two years of their contracts.
Not a relevant point this, but I wonder where we would be now if Devin had stayed and the Hatton garden jeweller had gone back in 200?. I suspect we would be better placed and financially more successful than the last ten years have been!
Hey ho.
Dein not the google correction….ffs
Rico. I imagine that the new Ozil deal was, in some way, a reaction to the disappointment we felt over losing Sanchez. In the fullness of time we see that the only people to benefit from the deal is a rather rotund Sanchez and a very average Henrik. It was a bad deal all round except for those two.
Adam, I can recall Charlie Nic saying Ozil would be the one he’d keep out of the two. I thought he was bonkers then and still do now.
Financially, all three players won, we lost out big time over all three. What a mess that was.
Rico. Ozil has really gone off the boil hasn’t he? If he was ever really on it.
What was it? Two assists this season? Surely not.
He certainly has Adam. He always appears disinterested in being out there.
Let’s see how Ramsey does at Juventus. Their manager Allegri , who signed Ramsey, is leaving at the end of the season the new man may not be happy paying 400k a week for him.
Thanks Potter for enlightening me on the Ticket prices.
The “Interview” with management was a smoothing exercise of diplomacy which, quite frankly didn’t wash with me. To say that the Kroenkes are “sports enthusiasts” is a red herring as regards football imo. They are businessmen, and Arsenal FC are just another sports club in their portfolio. Just like the Glazers.
The thing is that we’re stuck with them for the time being and I point the finger of blame at the share-holders who sold out to them. Not that they sold their shares, merely that they should have gone to some rich tycoon who was really a fan of Arsenal and of the game of soccer.
Now that we have a different setup, can’t Dein be enticed back or are we covered in that area?
Had a good laugh over your Xhaka comment and Ospina, Rico.
That sounds like a reasonable idea Cicero – an exchange. RM want shot of him if you believe what’s in the press so, IF it came to pass, WE’D be better off, but I can’t see RM taking Özil on, can you?
I guess that he gets his huge weekly pay packet whether he plays or not? Might there be an issue here with the fact that the reason he’s not playing to a potential we all know he has, because whatever he, as a mid-fielder does to create good chances, are nullified because we have such a crap defence. The points we have given away on sloppy, unforgivable mistakes has cost us a top 3 place WITHOUT a doubt so he takes issue with that (unsurprisingly) and can’t be bothered to get in a sweat.
From BBC Sport “Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not play in the Europa League final against Chelsea on 29 May.
It is understood the Armenian, 30, feared for his safety on the pitch in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“Having considered all current options, we had to take the tough decision for me not to travel with the squad to the Europa League final,” said Mkhitaryan.
“It’s the kind of game that doesn’t come along very often and I admit, it hurts a lot to miss it.”
As a result of political tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mkhitaryan has missed club matches played in Azerbaijan in the past.
“We have written to Uefa expressing our deep concerns about this situation,” read an Arsenal statement.
“We have thoroughly explored all the options for Micki to be part of the squad but after discussing this with Micki and his family we have collectively agreed he will not be in our travelling party.
“Micki has been a key player in our run to the final so this is a big loss for us from a team perspective.
“We’re also very sad that a player will miss out on a major European final in circumstances such as this, as it is something that comes along very rarely in a footballer’s career.”
Uefa responded to Arsenal with a statement that said: “Working alongside Arsenal FC, Uefa sought and received assurances regarding the player’s safety in Azerbaijan from the highest authorities in the country.
“As a result of these guarantees, a comprehensive security plan was developed and given to the club.
“While the club acknowledges the efforts that Uefa and the Azeri government have gone to in this matter, we respect the personal decision not to travel with the player.”
On Monday, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the UK, Tahir Taghizadeh, said there was no cause for concern.
“I would say [to Mkhitaryan] ‘you are a professional athlete, you are a footballer, and a class A footballer’, so let’s make sure this is a class A event if our purpose is to make a great final,” Taghizadeh told Sky Sports.
“If our purpose is to play political games around it, that is something different, but I hope it is not, because you [Mkhitaryan] are being paid as a footballer, not as a politician, so let’s leave other issues aside.”
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan because of a longstanding conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan usually does not allow foreign nationals of Armenian descent to enter the country
Thanks Rico, I for one don’t feel Kroenke is right for us and have a bad feeling we will go further backwards under him. I think the summer transfer window will tell us a lot more so I will hold back on final judgement until then. I am quite prepared to support Kroenke if he does indeed show true ambition, and I don’t have a problem with trying to do this as much as possible within our means, but if he doesn’t step up and treats us with the absent disdain I currently feel, and we start to slip further and further behind then bring on the peasants revolt.
I do though have a couple of points and questions. Firstly I am not sold by that interview with those 2 at all. It sounded very much like a typical polished politicians interview just telling us what we wanted to hear, and also seemed very staged with the interviewer being primed to only ask the questions they wanted…..in other words no unexpected awkward ones.
Can we really say that what these 2 have fed back has demonstrated Kroenke’s ambition and commitment. All just flowery words really, and not even from the mouth of the man himself. Actions do indeed speak louder than words and when they say the Kroenke’s are absolute sports nuts with great ambition in all their ventures, I want to look at their actions elsewhere to date. Have they demonstrated a proper sporting ambition prior to this in their other ventures?
Also where they talk about “the challenge” to take this club forwards again it is not as if they are saying it as new owners taking over from a previous failed regime, but they are the regime and have overseen the last 12 years at the helm. Are they admitting to having got things wrong and saying that they will now implement a new and better plan to get things right? If not what is it that they are trying to sell us that is new, outside of us having a new manager which the passages of time required to happen anyway?
The recruitment of the right players, the lack of progression of our promising academy prospects, the club wage bill, the contract negotiations, and the loss of players for free (and therefore significant transfer funds for reinvestment in the squad), all seem to have been poorly handled, and all under his stewardship.
It is all very well banging the drum of the self sustainable model but we have done ourselves out of finances that would support this further through some rather gross mismanagement. Sometimes you have to wear and correct a mistake (like Ramsey and Ozil’s wages) at your own cost. Will silent Stan wear his mistakes and correct them at his own cost to put right the errors?
Also, I am not sure about this but is the repayment for the loans to buy the club coming out of his own alternate finances or are they levied on the club. The latter would further eat in to what we have left in the so called self sustainable model and doesn’t exactly fit with the bold statement in the interview that all monies are re-invested in the team.
I am not sure about this last one though and need one of you more savvy financial bods to clarify that point……possibly a large American or something similar.
Cicero, I’m not surprised re Mkhitaryan.
I’m sure Ramsey must be fit by now so why isn’t he playing I wonder…
Gb, same here re this summer, for all of them really. If we start next season with a very similar team to the one which finished this season, I’m washing my hands of all of it.
Julio Pleguezuelo has gone. FC Twente have signed him.
Evening all and thanks Rico.
I must be the only one getting what Sohara is saying about Ozil, she was not talking about his fee from RM, but that he was virtually cost free (in terms of buying him)when his contract with us was near to expiring !
As for VV and RS……………………….arse licking across the Atlantic of the highest order !
I have said for years what Wavy from the East Midlands Riviera said earlier…………..some financial doping from Walmart or any other “family” connected company………..ASDA is a part of Walmart, but in Arsenal terms it means.Arsenal Sell Dividends Arrive !
Personally I am still not right in the head and will only be cured if Bindippers win CL !
I got what she was suggesting Lc but the reality is, Ozil was already with us and given the choice, we’d have been better off selling him the summer before, same with Alexis if neither were going to sign a new contract which didn’t demand hideous wages.l.
and will only be cured if Bindippers win CL !
That might lift the gloom but it’s non win scenario . I have oviously no love for Tooteringham but also dislike the victims fans as well with a passion . I’m not sure that I will even follow the score as it happens , I certainly will not be watching it.
I’m the same Potter, cant stand either….
I wont watch it either as the stress will kill me !
I will be a Bindipper for the night and to get into groove of things will nick my neighbours wheels and leave car in customary position of being on bricks !………………….I shall grow a moustache aswell !
Hiya, Rico, and peoples – including Le Coqie, 🤪
I remember way back at both AR and then HH that you were always a straightforwardly honest person. That said, I too agreed that Arsenal should not play fast and loose with our finances to the detriment of other less financially secure clubs in the EPL.
My friend Cicero has also said as much today when he agreed with your Post.
The one flaw that scuppers the views we all support about financial honesty, is that it does not, and will not, work when there are clubs like Citeh who have gone from nondescript mid-table nonentities to super dooper winners of all they behold. How? Money. Buckets of it.
There is an incontestable correlation between money and competitive success, which means by eschewing that sort of approach by Arsenal, means we will always be one of the ‘also-ran’ clubs having changed places with Citeh.
It is difficult to remain with that status as many fans are not interested in the niceties of moral and honest policies, but want to win, at whatever cost, unless UEFA or FIFA ensure it is a level financial playing field for all clubs.
There does not seem to be much concern from the Media about the alleged financial improbity of certain clubs — just gloating that X won this competition or that — Yaaay.
Bow Locks.
Hi GB — I still remember you — and I still enjoy your lengthy and worthy comments! 🤪
Hi Ra, I don’t think anyone wants the club to spend what it hasn’t got, just stop acting like a club which is already broke. If what Raul said is true and whatever money the club make can be spent on transfers, then prove it this summer. Especially if we happen to win the CL.
Cech is heading back to Chelsea to be their Sporting Director. Perhaps he can persuade them to let us win the Europa Cup, after all they’ve already secured CL football…. lol
Seriously though, how can he start in goal for us with all this going on and his history with them?
LCM,
😁😃😇
rico, it’s all conjecture, we don’t need to cheat the system, we have our youth to look forward to lol !
Back to reality and if I have to watch another season of Ozil moping around the pitch week after week game after game I’m gonna end up as miserable as he is if that’s even possible !!!
Top four is important but all we do is make up the numbers in the CL, the other side of the coin being we need it for the financial muscle it brings to re-boot this team of ours but if I’m honest I wouldn’t be surprised if we only managed to sign a slow cooker this summer, I suppose that would be an improvement on January so I shouldn’t really complain should I.
Morning all.
Stan, when he actually speaks, says all the right things about the Arsenal and it seems his minions are well trained to do the same.
What a load of tripe.
Kroenke loves sports?
Bullshit.
Utter bullshit.
He’s openly stated he doesn’t buy clubs to win trophies ffs.
Cech was another in a long list we nearly signed but for whatever reason talks stalled and a season later Chelsea swooped in and closed the deal.
rico, I’d like to think he has a point to prove, Chelsea no longer deemed him good enough and sold him to us so I’m sure he’d like to stick one on them, add to that he’s already won the Europa Cup with Chelsea previously, he’ll also be he’s returning to the club where his lad plays for the under 10’s so a happy ending is guaranteed.
Micko, I hope you’re right re Cech. Still, at least we signed him in his prime… Is Richard Wright still playing, we need another keeper..
Agree re the youth though, even though I know your tongue is firmly in your cheek…
Morning guys.
New post up now..