I get the impression that some supporters are not over impressed about Arsene Wenger and the clubs pay structure that’s in place, so I thought I would write a bit about our situation and see how most Gooners feel.
First I will go over a few things that have been said recently.
We were on the subject of why Wenger and the club were against Nasri’s wage increase, one of the bloggers here was saying that because Nasri is a top class act in Arsenal’s team, Wenger should just pay him the money he has asked for if he wants to keep him.
Although I understand what this supporter was saying, I also thought about the pay structure that the club have in place. It was also said that teams like Chelsea and City and throw the Northern teams in the mix as well, would just pay the money to keep the player at the club and that we should do the same.
I on the other hand don’t exactly see this as the answer. If we pay this wage increase which is what I consider to be an exorbitant amount of money for one weeks wage, I feel it could open the flood gates and any player who has a good spell with us would want the same.
The same blogger said that other clubs were paying those amounts and a darn sight more to boot and they would just end up with all the quality players and we would end up the poor relation.
I tried to explain that if we went against our pay structure and just paid up, where would our money come from seeing how our club runs on the amount we bring in each week and If we paid higher wages, it would mean losing out on transfer monies and could even jeopardise the club in the future.
I tried to explain that we have not got a man at the top of the club who would pay anything to keep the player here and if Nasri is intent on moving he may just have to go.
Another way of course is to ask supporters to pay more for their seat at the ground but after just paying out a little over a 4% increase, this would be wrong, very wrong!
Just why does Nasri believe he warrants a forty thousand pound rise?
Granted he had good spells last year but not for a whole season, I worked my socks off during the whole year and that amount of pay rise he asks for is a lot more than I earn a year let alone a week.
Don’t you believe that the players wages has got out of hand? Reports suggest that some are ‘earning’ £200 thousand a week, what normal club can afford that kind of wage?
We have heard of the fair play rules is it not time for fair pay rules?
It appears to me that wealthy owners are now just flaunting the rules to suit themselves and that the old saying that money goes to money is pretty well damn close but surely if football is about fair matches. Two teams playing a game and see who wins, not how well wealthy owners can out do one another?
Where is that old sporting feeling gone?
Take a team like Citeh who have had every bit of luck you could ever ask for. They have a stadium which was built for them by us the tax payer as it was built for the 2002 Commonwealth games and then given to them because the City of Manchester didn’t want a white elephant on its hands after the event.
Granted Citeh paid for alterations but that wasn’t a bad deal was it.
Then lo and behold a wealthy owner comes in and buys the club, he then throws £200 million at the team, and after a couple of years they win The FA cup, outstanding.
Now a sponsor has come in with an offer to rename their stadium to be known as The Etihad stadium, and they will pay £200million for that honor, so it looks like the wealthy owner will get back his £200 million he invested, unbelievable!
No wonder they can buy players, and pay fantastic wages and perhaps some decent decisions on the pitch as well no doubt, while Arsenal will carry on paying our stadium off and trying to keep wages down, buying cheaper players and probably still keeping in the top four.
But of course, all that is by using our own money and building our own stadium and training facilities without any help at all from Islington Council.
And they say you only get what you work for, what utter bullshit that is!
What say you, is Nasri worth what he is asking for?
Written by Steve Palmer
Well said Steve.
We should not be complaining about our club, we should be writing to the FA complaining about clubs that do not live within their means and make a mockery of the words “fair” and “sport”.
While the likes of Chelsea and Man City lose £100M a summer, the odds are stacked in their favour.
Tell me, would you support a super steroid sprinter if he beat Usain Bolt in the Olympic 100 metrers final?
Morning all
Good Post Steve, personally I don’t think Nasri has done enough yet to warrant such a vast pay rise, the problem is that the clubs with suga daddies can offer more and any player who plays only for their pocket, will always look to go….
No footballer is worth 200k a week…. not imho anyway, but that is life today in the football world…
What has steriods got to do with money???
They are illegal in sport, sugar daddies are not, but lets no go there again…..
It is not life today Rico, it is life for a couple artificially bolstered clubs.
You don’t see Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham or us paying those wages.
I mean, if the three most successful clubs in teh country don’t pay it, you have to look at the wages being paid.
Rico, spending £100M a season more than you make is akin to taking steroids. You are using something you didn’t earn.
Sorry Will, we have all had this arguement too many times already, the big money owners are allowed in the game, to date the wages are also allowed and until someone grows some balls and brings in a salary cap it will get worse.
In the meantime there is nothing we can do about players wages, nothing….
Exactly but we can’t moan at our club for not putting the club into hock to feed their ego’s.
I would rather win nothing now than be in the hands of one man and his whims.
Well, if it is deemed to be not in line with the FFP rules then that is down to Blatter – but, they are not in force until this coming season so you can moan as much as you want but you cannot stop citeh and chelsea spending what they do or paying what they choose to pay players….
You are banging your drum in the wrong place, you should contact the FA or Blatter…..
Clubs have had outside investment for years. Look at Juventus/Parma/Real Madrid/InterMilan, all have benefited from rich owners, and there are probably many more.
Over the past say 10/15 years football has seen a concentration of wealth in a small number of clubs-particularly the richest leagues-England, Italy, Spain and this has been caused by the ChampionsLeague. To a great degree the same teams qualified year in year out thereby ‘earning’ huge amounts of income far in excess of any other team. These other teams found harder and harder to compete, and we arrived at a point where it was impossibe to dislodge them-the difference in income was just too great. Championsleague lead to huge monies due to qualification and then sponsorship.
It became accepted that there was the top four in England-they won everything-the media was concerned only with them and the only way to change this was outside investment. City got it and hey presto-things changed.
I am aware that Spurs finished fourth but we all know that was mainly due to Liverpool’s owners making a complete mess of it. All of a sudden Liverpool didn’t have the income to stay in that ‘topfour’.
City haven’t created the situation, they are a product of it.
Can anyone see Newcastle, Villa. Everton succeeding the ‘natural way’? No, I can’t either.
To use your example, teams outside the championsleague gravy train see those teams in it as the sprinters with ‘steroids’.
I just can’t believe there are “Gooners” who would like to see the club go to the wall for a shiney. It is not who we are.
Who is moaning?? There is only you and me here and i just said i don’t think Nasri deserves a pay rise…
I’d rather see loyalty, passion for the club, pride in the shirt – and take what ever salary that is on offer, but those days are gone…
Maybe though, while you are saying about vast wages, the club should actually look at how much they pay the kids, that is where a lot of our money gets swallowed up……
No! we at AFC can do without another foreigner holding us to ransom year in year out. Arsene will find another unknown talent using half the money he gets from the sale of Nasri. My feeling is that Oxlade-Chamberlain could be that man. It is also obvious to me that Cesc has served his term with us and he has been a great servant, but now let him go asap and spend the money on two top talents.As usual though AFC have left this all to late to beat manure to some UK talent, so it will be back to the back waters of Africa probably. A financial good move would be to bring in Honda who would pay for himself with shirt sales in Japan alone!
Good blog. Unfortunately, market forces dictate what players earn and/or are worth. I mean, for the love of god, Tevez, great player that he is, is not worth £250,000 a week! As for the Nasri situation, he is hardly a pauper on his present wage and a rise to £90,000 is handsome and generous considering he went missing in the second half of the season. Wouldn’t it be great if we could work brilliantly for half the year and just turn up for the rest and then ask for a pay rise! The other problem Arsenal have is they operate on a degree of fairness, so ALL the players are well paid. That’s right ALL of the players (Denilson – the man who stole a Brazilian passport – included) are well paid. There is not a massive difference in pay between the bench warmers/injury prone (Rosicky, Diaby, Fabregas – keeping the medical team in work) and the first team. Truth is, many of the players are getting paid to be advertising mascots for Arsenal and not very good ones!
Again, who on HH has said they want to see the club ‘go to the wall for a shiny’ – you are making assumptions….
Most fans on here have said they don’t want our club run like Citeh and the Chavs
Re your earlier about Man Utd not paying big money, have you forgotten the Rooney debarcle Will??
Welcome to those just joiing HH this morning…
Good comment sean…
Morning Rico. Nasri is entirely symptomatic of modern day football. Ok, this is a simplified view but I say that if a player tries to extort a club or makes it very clear he doesn’t want to be there, then sell him. Let us not forget that if Arsene had made the changes that were so obviously needed over the past several seasons then I think we would have been more successful and perhaps Cesc and Nasri might be more content. I think that possibly Samir is using the wage thing as a smokescreen because he sees what many of us see with regards to the strength of the squad. With yesterday’s maniacal utterings about our defense from Wenger paving the way for further inactivity in that area and the proposition that Gibbs, surely one of the most injury-prone players ever, being the answer at left back it feels to me as if Wenger has done what he normally does at this time of year and talked himself into complacency instead of taking a detached and more realistic view of squad strength. After all, it was him that said we were not good enough in defense at the end of last season but he has probably over- analyzed the situation so much that he has decided we are and only a couple of minor tactical tweaks are neccerssary. He even looks odd these days as if he is desperately trying to convince himself about what he is saying.
I’m with you gunnerpete, maybe wenger is giving nasri time, get through the CL qualifiers then sell them both – totally agree re players holding us to ransom….
Q – another good comment
As a club we don’t spend big money on players as that is the way the board choose to be – but for a club so stringent, why do we employ and persist with average or crocked players who are earning 40+ thousand a week, what a waste!
Sean, how did we get into the Champions League?
Rico, I am not just talkiing about here, I am talking in general.
I agree with you on the kids and as my post ages ago said, I think there should be a worldwide restructuring of youth wages. It is crazy a 19 year old can buy a £300k car and not care if he smashes it.
I am thinking about the wage structure of Arsenal and how to make it bettter.
Morning Adam, i was slightly bemused by AW’s comment yesterday, ok he is right to a degree about set peices being our downfall, but they have been for a long time now.
The only way he can rectify that is to buy a ‘purpose built’ defender who will get his head on everything that comes into the box with a never say die attitude, but will he??
I thnk Cesc just has had enough being in England and wants to go home – Nasri, money me thinks…..
rico says:
July 15, 2011 at 10:03 am
Re your earlier about Man Utd not paying big money, have you forgotten the Rooney debarcle Will??
No but I know he would not get away with it now and also, it was £100k a week, not £200K or even Yaya Toure £250K a week.
You don’t ‘know’ for sure Will, Red Nose would prob pay anything to keep Rooney – i read it was 150k a week….
Still not Man City money though and I am sure Demento would not pay him £200K a week.
in fact it is more:
Manure
They insist that the deal, which is worth in the region of £160,000 per week in basic salary but could top £200,000 once incentives are worked in, ensures that, should Rooney have another change of heart, they would get value for their asset.
That’s as bad as Yaya’s 😉
Rico. I completely agree but surely Wenger is allowing players who don’t want to be here to set the agenda. Instead of playing a bizarre game of brinkmanship to try and convince people that Arsenal are not “a selling club” he should be concentrating on making Arsenal a winning club. With every passing pronouncement I get more worried about this coming season. I find it extremely difficult to imagine his present mind-set winning anything in the future. He is carrying so much baggage now. How I wish he would get more ruthless. Cesc wants to go, sell him to the highest bidder and use that money to add real strength. Same with Nasri. Can you see Arsene doing this? No, nor can I.
It has been already forgotten that last season we needed very small investment to take silverware. All was needed is a good goalkeeper (Schwartser for example) and a better CD then Scilacci.
Most points were lost due to bad tactical decisions by Wenger. It did seem like he did not do his homework on many occasions and panicked when we were losing. He continued to play players who were not in form or had a wrong attitude. In short – he lost it.
Will he get it back? I don’t think so. Those things are lost for good. Spending big money on big players would be a big mistake now.
Wenger did a lot for the club and we are greatfull to him for it, but times come and if the club does not move it will be left behind.
Will, Arsenal got into the champions league because they were good enough to finish in the top 2, 3 or 4 whatever it was at the time. Problem for other clubs is the money available to the clubs it that competition made it much easier to stay there. Unlucky Everton were good 10 years too soon.
I have every admiration for Arsenal-the job Wenger has done is to be applauded.
It was an accepted fact almost, that the top four will be….etc etc
Leeds tried to compete, it almost finished them off, Everton had a go, but failed. Spurs finished 5th twice until the people at Liverpool got it ‘wrong’.
I can see the criticism of City’s wealth and understand it, but there is no other way, and if you were a supporter of a club outside the financial elite and someone asked you could you see your club winning the league in the next 15 years, every single one would say no.
I agree.
The one thing I will say for Man Utd (and I hate defending them), they do spend money they make. Although, with the interest payments, I have no idea how.
Morning, good article Rico, is he worth it, nope, are any of them worth it…again nope….. As you say the problem is it’s about paying a so called going rate for your better players, if the average were on what they should be on then the better players could be better paid and not then so far behind what the chavs citeh n mancs are prepared to pay their best players. It’s never gonna change though as football needs to govern itself properly but it wont you will always have those willing to pay inder the table or in an underhanded way so no amount of bleating about it will stop anything we have to make the most of what we got.
As for below, same old rubbish different year…! Tell me how a team with no bottle suddenly finds bottle and a winning mentality when they had the chance to put things right after the CC final and failed dismally. Seems we’ll be starting the season on a whim and a prayer, is he really so stubborn..?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2015061/Arsene-Wenger-says-Arsenal-destined-win-title.html
Leeds tried to compete, it almost finished them off,
Incorrect, they tried to buy success the Chelsea way.
Perhaps the key to this money issue is to look at United instead of City and Chelsea, because it appears that United are also paying off debts and not getting massive cash injections.
What we do know is that United are doing a better job of international marketing. Part of that is by winning titles, which is a self-feeding mechanism, because players want to join winners, and fans buy merchandise of winners, and TV rights get paid to watch winners. But also part of that is through better tapping up of revenue-generating markets.
I’ve heard that our Malaysia match was worth 15 million. This could be the start of an improvement for us.
Winning would help too. If that Eduardo-gate Birmingham match hadn’t gone wrong for us, everything could have been so, so different. Anyway, it’s today, so let’s do what we can.
Adam
Very good point, but Wenger doesn’t, and that is what should be addressed, no one is asking the club to break the bank… just buy a couple of better players than we have who will help put right what is wrong with our game…
Exactly Savage, instead of having pops at Wenger, have pops at the commercial department who are badly letting us down.
Morning WATH, i’d like to take the praise for such a fine post, but it’s Steve’s…..
That bit about the bottle is something i cannot understand, how can a group of professional footballers, grow men who profess to want to be winners, crumble so easily??
RvP, Jack and maybe a couple of others apart, the rest just dropped their heads and wallowed in self pity – absolutley disgraceful in my book…..
And yes, nothing will change much if we have the same old squad to begin the league…..
Oh, and questions have to asked about the management team who are there to motivate and prepare players???
Not that they should need it….
I think Nasri deserves a pay rise.
Mainly though i think Nasri, as well as other players are completely disgusted about the Cesc saga, and have been for the last 2 seasons. We are building a team around a “traitor”, one who loves someone else. Talk about building your house on a sand foundation, stupid that is.
Time for Cesc to leave NOW, at least he should not be the kingpin of our team this coming season, he should be used as a squad player if his lover(Barca) does not pay up. The team should be rebuilt as if he is gone, which allows us to have multiple options to be able to compete against different clubs and their way of playing, options to be able to change the game, which we DO NOT have when Cesc is there.
As good as Cesc is, he loves another, and should be thrown out of the house, if you get what i mean.
The bottle thing has me stumped as well.
Watching the Vieira vid yesterday and also others from that era, the one word that struck me was warriors. Each player was a fighter and we could battle with the worst of them. Now, as soon as something goes wrong, our heads go down and that is it.
Hi Savage,
Guys,
Has Wenger not been the one resonsible for us not going any further than Austria??
He didn’t even want to go to Asia this time around… 1999 was obviously too much for the him and the squad!
If the board had been a little more pro-active they would have got us to Asia a long time ago but I guess it’s easier to sit on their backsides and do nothing…..
Hi Gary, welcome..
swarzer is a name in the past but i’d like to see us get an old keeper in, one with just a couple of years left at the top, if Ches or fabianski get injured, Mannone really worries me…..
And of course, cahill 🙂
As rico said,that is not for us to sort out,
You can claim there cheating all you want,but that aint gonna change things.
Barca and Real have been at it for years,by getting provided cash from Spainsh banks.
Have they been stopped??
Anyway forget other clubs,im getting tired talking about them.We should be getting our own house in order.
Is it just me or is Wenger spilling the same stuff over and over again.
This year just feels like de ja vu to me!
Wenger’s number one priority is to win titles, so I understand if he preferred to go to Austria, as he thinks that is better preparation. What if RVP had pulled his hammy against Malaysia?
However, the market has changed drastically since then with the arrival of Chelsea and City money, so the cash factor has become a lot more significant.
Morning Mr Is, i’m fed up with talking about the other clubs too, rather just worry about afc, and there’s a bit to be worried about right now – but, i think wenger will get us a defender and my rationale for that is i see TV at LB for most of the season…
Right now is seems same old same old, but i’m hoping to be wrong, very wrong….
Any player can get injured any time, some of the pitches in the PL can do that in the middle of winter….
It is the managers responsibility tio win things, its also his resonsibilty to buy and field the players to do just that.
But, with our manager, he seems to be more than that these days….
And he doesn’t seem to be getting much right other than saving money and keeping us debt free as much as he can, but that doesn’t win trophies or attract good players…..
Morning!!
See ive got the feeling since this tour,he will not buy unless Fabs or Nasri go.
He thinks that team he has now is good enough to win the league.He believes the defence we have is good enough and that makes me think he will not buy.
I’m still not sure Gibbs and amrfand are ready to make the step up.How many games did Traore play for Juve???….Cant recall it being alot and does anyone know how he did??
Morning folks…
I feel the Wenger comment on set-pieces is far too simplistic.
Our problem lies with the back four not being dominant enough, and sometimes not having the maturity and footballing brain to read the game… It’s all about symptoms and diseases.
The symptom is that we suck at set pieces. The disease is that we have a back four that gets too far up the park and too square,at critically wrong times.
The disease is the reason we give away the foul, with a lunging, last-gasp, panic-stricken tackle that results in a free kick.
The sympton is that, once we have given away the free-kick, we can’t handle the resulting high ball into the box.
Sure we need height, at both ends of the park, but first we need maturity and football nous, to read the game, which, incidentally, has everything to do with intelligence, and not so much to do with the age of the player.
We need to buy that, because we simply don’t have it, and if they’re great in the air too, so much the better.
What seldom gets mentioned is how different the Premiership is now than in 2003 when we were winning.
Back then, the big players went to Italy and Real Madrid. Arsenal were able to succeed because of Wenger’s ability to find new talent and create loyalty to him, and by using his French influence to bring in and retain top Frenchmen.
The following events changed everything:
– the Italian match fixing scandal
– the construction of our new stadium
– the arrival of Abramovich
– the arrival of Barcelona and the Ronaldinho transfer saga
– the arrival of City money
Between 98 and 03 there was always a top 2 in England and if we came 2nd it wasn’t a catastrophe.
Now a big number of the biggest players are in England. There’s a top 4 and an emerging top 6 due to Chelsea’s money spilling into Liverpool coffers.
He played ten matches Mr Is…….
Loan move to Juventus
On 31 August 2010, Traoré joined Juventus on a season-long loan. He was given the shirt number 17, previously worn by David Trezeguet.[5] He made his debut on 13 November 2010 against Roma coming on as a 45th minute substitute for Fabio Grosso. The match ended 1-1 and the goals were scored by Vincenzo Iaquinta and Francesco Totti. He made his first start for Juventus on 1 December 2010 in a Europa League match against Lech Poznan, playing 83 minutes and the match ended 1-1. He made his first start in Serie A for Juventus on the 10th January 2011, starting the match against Napoli. The match ended 3-0 to Napoli with all goals scored by hat-trick hero Edinson Cavani. After a return from a short injury, he started Juventus both latest games against Milan and Cesena. On 10th April 2011, Traoré played the full 90 minutes in a 3-2 win against Genoa with Luca Toni as the match winner against his former team mates. Armand spent most of his time with Juventus on the bench, making only ten league appearances. At the end of the season it was confirmed that he would return to Arsenal.
He eventually played his last game for Juventus against Manchester United at Old Trafford in Gary Neville’s testimonial match on 24 May 2011.
The answer to your question is “NO”. Nasri, granted had a good half season. What has he done for Arsenal in the last 3 seasons? Reality is scandalously absent in football today. I don’t know why we are keeping him, i say sell him. Wheather to Man U, City, Chelsea. Let him go! No one player is bigger than Arsenal and certainly not him!
The guy that used steroid analogy is spot on. What Chelsea and now Citeh are doing to football as AW put it amount to “Financial doping”. City and Chelsea are now better than Arsenal and more ambitious beceause between them they have spent more than a £1billion in players and salaries. Which club can compete with that unless you have a sugar daddy. If we equate success to cash then Arsenal as a club is doing remarkably well. If we accept that football is more than Cash, then, we have to give AW all the credit as a coach and manager.
Morning Mike,
good comment – the question is will he buy that player(s) – from his comments it seems unlikely, unless he’s playing with the press….
Morning Rico,
You pays yer money you takes yer choice…
The pro-Wenger camp, like me, say he plays with the press.
The anti-Wenger camp, say he just plays with himself.. 😆
All depends which camp your in 😉
That has made me smile Mike, not that i wish to give too much thought about Wenger playing with himself but sometimes he can be a bit of a w*****r 😉 😉
I knew he didnt play that much,but 10 games??
From what ive seen of him,he’s good going forward, but very poor defensively.Bit like glen johnson.
I must be a inbetweener then mike 🙂
Mr. I,
that’s why God gave us two hands 😆
Mike b,glad you said that and not me 😆
Then you have the ones that are just camp Mike……..!
Hope thats not Mr Is seeing as he’s in the middle…..! I’m not asking in the middle of what.
Mr Is,
he’s no LBthats for sure, he’d be pretty good on the wing though, pacey with a good cross – but AW doesn’t play him there….
Now I thought he gave us two hands for washing up 😉
In your case 2 hands is to make tea and bring the bikkies………… 😉
You guys seen the Clichy story today??
He’s not liking the new tackling in training 😆
What does that say though…..?
No Rico, for convincing the old man to buy you a dishwasher 😆
HA your killing me.
Rico,
thing that annoyed me about that ‘story’ for want of a better word, was the blatantly provocative and inflammatory headline…
typical Express.
The going rate for players has changed, no doubt about that.
That means if you can’t compete at money level, you have to compete at another level, hence Wenger’s whole project youth thing about raising kids that develop some loyalty together. Which hasn’t worked of course.
Right now we’re still getting players saying they like us for our brand of football, so that’s a good thing.
I do WATH, just not for you 😉
The big pans won’t fit in Mr Is 😉
It is almost as if dear old Arsene thinks before each press conference ” now what can I say today that will really piss our fans off?” so we have the total, absolutely daft and irrational claims about the defense that we heard yesterday. Funny isn’t it that, before the season ticket renewal date, we were told that he had identified our defensive frailties and was preparing to address them. Erghh, or was that last year he said that? No, it was the year before that I think. Now, I think he may be preparing us for what is to come. He has already convinced thousands that we are not a wealthy club, that we can’t afford to spend £30 million on a player, having said last year that he could do that very thing. He says that spending money is not always the way forward, neatly ignoring the fact that, by definition, it is the way forward sometimes. His schtick seems to be that those who criticise his lack of involvement in the transfer market, like me, really want him to bankrupt the club. What a stupid stance, yet he has sold that hook, line and sinker to many bloggers who are constantly countering arguments that would encourage buying the right players for the required positions with the suggestion that this would spiral the club into administration. If there were a number of PR gaffe possibilities laid out as holes in the road of management Arsene would have fallen down all of them by now.
Mike, we have too many finger pointers when we have to defend a high ball. No one takes charge, no one is a shirt puller of our own players, someone who will drag one of ours into position and shout orders.
I bet Clichy wishes he was back at Arsenal!
He will start to understand,how good he had it here.
We must tackle thou in training,just not as mad as that city lot.
They will never be a threat in this league,until they get rid of Mancini.
Morning Will,
Yeah, but that again is something of a symptom… if we have someone with maturity and an ability to read the game, they become the de facto leader, the rest will naturally defer to their judgement.
Adam,
I couldnt have put that better myself.
Top post mate.
Back to the other syptom Mike, we lack leaders within the team and squad fullstop, we have none…!
WATH,
You’ve bloody-well gone and done it again…
I knew it would happen one day.
I forecast it would happen one day
I hoped it would happen one day.
I even prayed it would happen one day…
You’ve said something else I agree with 😆
Adam,
I have been saying the same things and all i get is we are not city or chelski??
Or your not a real fan!!! 😆
It’s so boring and brings nothing to the table.
On and off for a bit – laters….
Ok Adam and Mr Islingtin. Money where mouth is time.
You are manager of Arsenal for the day. You know our budget and using Downing going for £20M as a yardstick, fix our team WITHOUT putting us in hock or leaving us short for next season.
Go:
Hi all.good read.nasri deserves a payrise but not the one he is asking for.he has shown qualities of being our talisman and thats why Arsene is desperate to keep him.
Make the most of it Mike it’s like sun in summertime in London it don’t happen very often………… 😉
Will. For a start what is our budget? You seem to know. Secondly, Wenger is not the manager for day, it is an evolving thing. There has been no continuity of vision of squad evolution for years. Witness, Bendtner, Denilson, Rosicky, Almunia, Squillaci etc, all on big wages, none good enough. With the exception of Squillaci, all have been at the club for years, under performing yet earning big money. I can see where you are trying to take this but the solution lies in a broader scope than fixing the transfer market around Downing.
I have supported Arsenal for 51 years and football has been a big part of my life but i must say that I am becoming more and more disillusioned as the years go by. Football seems to have left the world of sport a long way behind now. As Steve says, it now seems to come down to who can make friends with the guy with the most money. The whole thing is so cynical and is far removed from sport; I wonder how long I’ll carry on making the effort to get up t The Emirates!
Greetings KT, no good keeping him to walk for free in 12months, complete waste of time..!
I am not the one saying buy buy buy so I guessed you had an inside track on how much we had. Sorry if I guesssed wrong.
I am using Downing as a yardstick.
I also won’t take milner’s comments seriously about tough tackling in training.the best defenders don’t even have to tackle as they rely on superior positioning.Fergie made that same mistake of letting Stam go as he made fewer tackles and he thought it was a sign of decline.it proved to be a fatal as he went on to have a brilliant career there.Maldini made 1 tackle every 2 games.
WATH,
Being serious for a moment… I completely agree.
If there is one criticism I have of Arsene Wenger, and I don’t have many, it’s that he promotes on the basis of short-term expedience, and not long-term good.
Cesc is a classic example, as was Gallas.
Real leaders are borne, cliche I know, but it’s true…you don’t promote players to positions of authority just to keep them happy.
It’s a bit like playing the GK up front, because he’s getting bored in goal. Play players to their strengths, not just technically, but emotionally and intellectually.
*in italy*
I woould have TV as captain and Robin and vice captain.
KT, I agree, Gilberto was a fantastic defender, how often did you see him lunging into tackles?
Will. What have I ever said that lead you to believe I know what our transfer budget is? I am not advocating spending so much that the club goes broke. Apart from Man City and Chelsea and possibly Man Utd who don’t seem to give a shit, every club has it’s limits. My point is that, for the past several years we have been in excellent positions league-wise where a modest and targeted investment MIGHT have bought improved success. At the moment the results tell me that it ain’t working.
Spot on AJ, even twenty years ago we could relate to the players on the park, blokes some of us grew up with even played with or against in our local sides when we were kids and teens, yes they earned good money but it wasn’t outrageous it wasn’t obscene just to kick a ball around. Sky came in and took footie to a complete new level and footballers became less loyal, they chased the proverbial golden chalis and we’ve lost that connection with the players at our club… everyone has and now we’ve even lost the connection with our club as they really don’t care about us as they too chase the golden chalis as they need money to pay wages and executives who also really don’t care abt OUR club its all about money and earning what you can and if someone offers more then off they go………. Where does that leave the fan…??
Ok, let’s again using the yardstick that is Downing. £20M for an average 7 goal a season attacking wide player. What constitutes modest investment?
Cahill is reported at £17M. Is that modest?
Spot on Mike, A captain isn’t a position to try and bribe a player to stay, it’s not a position to make someone happier or to try and maybe heap a guilt trip on them that as Captain you must stay…!
Some players don’t need to be captain to lead by example or to rise above to tell other where to go who to mark etc etc they just do it but a proper Captain is natural your 100% correct and he’s one that inspires those around him or glares or shouts and they know they will run through that brick wall with him cos he would for them….! We don’t have one…! Although there are not many around either to be fair…!
Wath, that is my issue with Man City and Chelsea, with no rules confining them, they can go to any player in our leage and offer them £200K a week. That is unfair and in my eyes and my eyes only, cheating.
Will are we playing football manager here.
I have players in mind that i would buy,but do i get paid 3m a year to make them decisions???
Does anyone know how much Arsenal has to spend???.Please tell us Will.
Ive been reading your comments and you seem confused.
You talk like you dont want us to spend and then in other comments you say we lack leaders???
Which is it will??
Folks,
this loyalty thing is nothing new… Pull up a sandbag and sit down 😆
First ever game I saw was Chelsea versus Notts Forest. A misguided uncle thought I’d enjoy it 😉
Chelsea won 4-3 and Greaves scored a hat-trick, before going off to Milan… 1961.
Mind you I was incredibly young 😆
If a proper captain shouted at a few of ours Mike i reckon they’d start crying or just sulk…! there also lies another symptom for you.
We do lack leaders but I am not calling for massive signings any more. I did but I realise, buying success is not success.
WATH,
it’s a moot point that a proper captain doesn’t need to shout.
Bobby Moore was the best captain I ever saw…,he just had that quality, but he didn’t often shout.
God, what is this… wrinkly time? 😆
Mike loyalty or lack off isn’t anything new for sure but in those days when you were in your 30’s it wasn’t the norm for a player to go abroad for instance and there was far more loyalty with players although again from smaller clubs they would all want to playe for a bigger club for more money I know but I don’t think there was the mercenary feel to it that there is today. I’d say hand on heart 95% of players are purely in it for the money and would move to who ever paid them the most.
Will,please state where i have said buy big mate??
Our own players are saying we need to buy,ex players are saying we need to buy.
Do you think utd care about all the money they have spent over the years,do you think they have had success then??
They buy because there is a need and we need players mate.
ask any utd fan do they care about how much Rio or rooney cost them??
They have just won the league and feel the need to bring more players in.
Sometimes it’s a need and not just the case of splashing out.Which i feel city do.
We just lack warriors. We lack the roll up your sleeve mentality and that is down to coddling kids.
Gotta go Folks
Catch you later, and thanks for the banter.
Will Utd care when they can’t pay their interest rates?
Mike…. Mclintock………? TA didnt always shout either it was the look or the clenched fist…. Said it all…!
Cheers Mike
Will,
End of the day,that aint gonna change history.
History says that they are the most successful team in the premiership years.
Or, the most successful team in the Premiership years to go bust.
Mr Is you got a ST……..? and if so do you use it or loan it out..?
Fuck it, anyone know Bill Gates?
Wenger and the club brought all this on themselfs.
Before the renwals they were going on about moving quickly in the market and how they know where our weakness are.
Fan’s are tired of the spin.
Yes been a proud season ticket holder for years.
Loaned it out this year,as i couldnt afford the increase and disgusted by the effort of some of the players and wenger’s tired excuse’s.
I ain’t gonna lie,a part of me wishes i had renewed.
But seeing as nothing really changed,i’m glad i havent wasted my money.
Will. I fully understand and accept that you won’t accept my view. Presumably ex Arsenal players / legends would carry more weight? Tell me of one of these who has said that Arsenal don’t need strengthening because I think you will find a lengthy list who do. As for your ” buying success is not success” remark. Tell that to Viera, Bergkamp, Henry, Freddie, Pires, Bould, Winterburn, Wright, Campbell, Dixon, Seaman, Lauren etc.. All bought and paid for. Does this mean the success they had isn’t real?
This is the first time in years im not going.
That’s how out of touch i feel.
I still pray to god Wenger gets it right and makes me eat my words.I love Arsenal to death and always will.
But it’s the let downs that have done me.
I am sorry Adamn, I didn’t realise getting the players you mentioned cost the same as buying a small country. I will go back to my history books.
I’m same as you Mr Is, have two paid em and have loaned em out to a mate who’s paid me for em, they not getting anymore of my money until they put some of our bank assets onto being pitch assets…! The pub with the chaps watching it is more fun anyway and far better atmosphere…!
I feel like that aswell,when we go down the pub there is more of a togetherness about the club.
When i go to the grove,i get look’s for singing songs and swearing.
Sorry i didnt know i was going there to watch opera and that i had to sit in silence.
Will. I give up. You win.
Will Utd go bust 😆
You living on another planet,thats just such a silly comment.Did you know that utd will be fine when the fifas so called fair play comes into place??
How much does their interest repayments cost?
Adam, were you around is those days?
I could put my house on the fact that Utd will not got go bankrupt in my life time.
If you think that,then good luck to you.
Do you see what you guys have done, you have made me have to be the bad guy to oppose your ABSOLUTE and UTTER NEGATIVITY.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/22/manchester-united-record-loss-debt
Hi, first time poster, good article. I think we pay him what he wants and then sell him.
Good comments from many, agree there is very little loyalty and this goes back many decades now.
Agree Arsene has become what seems very stale in his outlook I forsee problems if we don’t buy a few players that we are crying out for that in my opinion doesnt lead us into going broke and far from it.
Success leads to more success in my mind and would encourage sponsors to invest in our “brand” when opportunity arises.
Mr Is i think you have raised many valid points and i admire your stance with your season ticket, you to Wath although having had mine since 1973 I am loathe to pass it onto anyone i am to stuck in my ways.
Will your sentiments are dommendable but also unattainable I think, football is far from able to govern itself and far from wanting to as it has been awash with dirty money also for decades. I do think however the gents are making valid points that are not negative at all they just do not fit in with your viewpoint.
Thanks again for a great blog always read and now have posted. We’re all Arsenal remember that when you debate and discuss points of view.
Sorry Will that’s not my plan to make you feel like that at all.
I’m just here to debate Arsenal with my fellow gooners.
Welcome Shoes….. Now you’ve broken the ice a new voice is always good for the melting pot..!
My apologies, Will comments were to read “commendable” not dommendable. Sorry again
Great first post shoes,
You should come on more often.
I just want people to see what world we are competing in and we are now not able to just identify a player and get him. Because of a couple of teams all transfer fee’s have gone up to a near unsustaiinable level.
I remember just before RA came to chelsea, transfer fee’s were starting to come down to a reasonale amount again after the Spanish galactico’s farce but as soon as he did, all prices shot up and now that has happened moreso with the Arab’s.
Tell you what Mr Is, the atmosphere in the bowl is so sterile it’s no wonder the players can’t get motivated when they watched by a crowd that seems dead half the time but thats the fact your not allowed to shout n scream and show passion….. no getting upset someone might object…! utter rubbish that is…! football is about getting passionate about your team so you need to show it. Least with your mates in the pub you can do that.
I wonder what happened to Imelda?
Got zapped in the “brew”
W.A.T.H,
A little funny story about that mate.
Well against the chavs i was going nuts the way we was playing and of course because of the team we was playing against.So i was a very happy man after that game.
So i turned up for our next home game against city and saw two stewards waiting in my row.Now when ive started getting to my seat one of the boys said watch out the stewards are after you.I shrugged my shoulders and said so what i aint done nothing.
So they come up to me and check my season ticket and asked who i was and all that.They told me that a FELLOW Arsenal fan had reported me for using abusive language and that they would be watching me and i would be thrown out if that occured.
So the people that i have got to know around me, started getting invovled and said every one in this part and around the stadium swears and they said,
“Are you gonna throw us all out then.This is a guy that gets behind the team and we need more fans like him”. (that bit did make me smile.)
I was really shocked and couldnt believe that i had been reported by our owns fans.
He and the others were told to sit down and mind there own business!!!
WATH,
Even my lateral thinking doesn’t extend that far 😉
Sorry that came out wrong,im multi-tasking.I’m at work 🙂
W.A.T.H,
A little funny story about that mate.
Well against the chavs i was going nuts the way we was playing and of course because of the team we was playing against.So i was a very happy man after that game.
So i turned up for our next home game against city and saw two stewards waiting in my row.Now when ive started getting to my seat one of the boys said watch out the stewards are after you.I shrugged my shoulders and said so what i aint done nothing.
So they come up to me and check my season ticket and asked who i was and all that.They told me that a FELLOW Arsenal fan had reported me for using abusive language and that they would be watching me and i would be thrown out if that occured.
So the people that i have got to know around me, started getting invovled and said every one in this part and around the stadium swears and they said,
“Are you gonna throw us all out then.This is a guy that gets behind the team and we need more fans like him”. (that bit did make me smile.)
He and the others were told to sit down and mind there own business!!!
I was really shocked and couldnt believe that i had been reported by our owns fans.
Well not shocked,but more disappointed if anything!
Oh come on Mike 🙂 Witches “brew”…… Shoes and all 😉
Mr Is, the fact Arsenal have instigated this text “grassing” number is beyond pathetic, big brother taken to another level, its football its passionate and feeling run higher than normal and its also a way to let off steam sometimes, ppl that go footie if they don’t like to get involved thats their perogative but to grass other fans up for shouting and swearing is for me a sign of the times mate. The stewards also act like the SS thinking they somebody they not…! The thing is where do those guidelines come from…? upstairs…! toe the party line or get kicked out…!
Afternoon fine folk 🙂
Afternoon shopper…………….
I wish WATH, got caught up in loads of traffic with the races and a bit hot under the collar right now grrrrr
You seen the ‘kidnapp comment’ by the barca mayor… what a knob!
Well maybe the Mayor should organise a whip round for that club of theirs so the poor tossers can afford to offer the right money for their little kidnap victim, it gets more pathetic by the day…!
We really need to report the Barca tossers but then I think, why bother, they just Uefa’s golden team anyway.
😆 Wath, I knew you’d have a good suggestion for the Mayor, it’s a joke…..
If they want him, cough up I say…..
We don’t do that kind of thing Will…..
Yes, because we are the class team of woorld football, the bastion of fairplay and all things good.
Or just whimps who don’t use the laws/rules in the game to set examples??
How many years have we had to suffer this Cesc debarcle…
And, Barca did it with Henry and Hleb…….
You could be right there Rico.
Also, would you guys kidnap me, pay me £100k a week and adore me please?
In a word, no 😉
Harsh…
But true 😉
I cannot afford your wages and i like to run a tight ship 😉
HA ha ha.
Sorry if I upset people here Rico, I am just trying to make people see that we are Aldi, trying to compete with Asda and Tesco’s.
Will,
I just wish that sometimes your comments could be just like your last ……
I get a tad passionate about my club, I did once try to bottle 7 Leeds fans in a pub in my younger, wilder days.
The other thing Will, everyone knows we are not a club with mega money, no blogger suggest we go spend 100M on 3 players – they don’t need to be told..
Or most fans are asking for is for Arsenal and Wenger to but 2/3 players, and that does not mean breaking the bank it means making us stronger!
And so does eveyone Will, but we all have our own views and each and evryone of us need to respect those views without a cutting dig or a derogatory reply…..
I know and I do agree that we need to buy, it is just this negativity that annoys me. If you want a club that will break the bank to win and you are not happy unless we are doing that, I don’t think Arsenal is the club for you.
I am old enough to know that there are times that we will not compete and at the moment, we are living in times where very rich men think nothing of throwing hundreds of millions of pounds away each year.
But negative is how some of us feel, and you cannot change that….
There is being sensible with money and there is being darn right stupid and wasting it. wenger is wasting what he does have these days….
And those rich men are perfectly entitiled to throw their money where they choose Will but that subject has become very boring….
Ok, no more from me. I think it is cheating but then I am in a minority of 1.
Good time for me to go and have dinner then…..
Just one more thing…
Will says:
‘I know and I do agree that we need to buy, it is just this negativity that annoys me. If you want a club that will break the bank to win and you are not happy unless we are doing that, I don’t think Arsenal is the club for you.’
Sorry Will, but that is a terrible comment, who are you to suggest who supports Arsenal or not??
We all support AFC through thick and thin, but it doesn’t mean we have to agree with the way they go about things…..
Evening all,
Whats accuring,
Thats two of us Will, i think its cheating as well, i think its time for wage capping throughout the whole of the leagues, if thats right what Rico say’s that Sep Blatter is involved. With his decision we are definitly in the shite. The Man is a corrupt dictator and untill his bumped off, football will also be corrupt. No rules for the rich there never has been, Makes you wonder if City’s sponsor turns out to be the city owner.
Evening Steve
I think a wage cap would be the best solution in football, then we might start to see a bit of loyalty come back into the game….
Joel Nathaniel Campbell Samuels better known as Joel Campbell is a Costa Rican international football player. The Costa Rican striker is currently negotiating with Arsenal FC, and being watched by AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona FC.
????
Evening Rico, I was agreeing with Will on the fact that i think the wealthy clubs are enticing players with the lure of money, while other clubs cannot compete, now i know that we are a wealthy club and we could quite easily outbid other teams, but we dont, that doesn ‘t make our club right, what it does is just make the club richer, its not that we are saving the money we earn to buy players, because we buy less than most, we pay the highest prices to watch, so the only ones that make anything out of it is the share holder’s owners.
I know Steve, I hate what they are doing but what can we do?
And totally agree with the bit about:
”its not that we are saving the money we earn to buy players, because we buy less than most, we pay the highest prices to watch, so the only ones that make anything out of it is the share holder’s owners.”
And then one day they will all sell up to the biggest bidder….. which i still believe will be the big russian…
City’s sponsor if City’s owner Steve.
I suppose Will, untill rules come in Changing the way football teams opperate, alls fair in love and war. But for me, i would love to see all clubs working between the same guidlines. Where managers come into their own, and players the same, whereby the best coaches with the best techniques work out victors. I find it so hard to watch a team like liverpool, who were supposedly struggling financially, spend a hundred million just like that, how the hell can they do that.
I tent to lean on Wenger’s side a little bit, i know he is not flavour of the month, but when he stated that last year was our best chance to win things and we blew it was about right. We had and have still got a blinding team, i know they crumbled and we had injuries to key players, but we have still got all those players, and they dont become shit overnight. Yes we can introduce a couple of new and hopfully good players to improve us, but i don’t honestly believe we need major changes at least one in defence and i would like a keeper with experience, as many have said before, perhaps a couple of years left in their carrea’s,
We’d all love that Steve….
But…..
I think we have the base of a bloody good team, get rid of the dross, buy 2/3 with winning mentality and we’d never crumble like we did in the last stage of last season again…
We need a real leader, an organiser at the back and someone to drum home what it means to play for Arsenal…..
I see that in Cesc’s absence in Malaysia Vermaelen was made Captain, In my eye’s thats where the captain should be.
I also believe that if we had the whole team to pick from last year, fit and able, we could so easily have won everything, Yes even the Champions League, in my opinion this team is good enough but the comunication is is not right, whether its to do with langauege’s i don’t know but perhaps English lessons as part of their training might help.
Theres a post there Steve, the language problem in the defence 😉
But i mean that with honesty…..
TV would be my choice of captain too, regardless of whether cesc stays or goes…..
What gets me is that Wenger doesn’t have to worry about anything, we have the money for two or three player’s. We have lost Clicky with Bendy and Denny about to leave if the reports are right to make room, it couldnt be much better, Gazedes has also said we will strengthen so where is our other player, there is no reason why he is not installed and out on tour with the lads, unless the guy Wenger wants is injured and he is waiting till he gets the all clear before announcing
I like it, realism and positivity.
But Steve, until those players are bought and wearing the red and white shirts, the ‘big words’ from wenger will always be just spin and porkies…..
Will, Wenger infuriates me, but the man is so likable talks football language, and above all in my eyes the mans a genius, a great football man, even better than Rednose, as Rednose has never built fuck all he just buys his success, Wenger on the otherhand has rebuilt Arsenal’s Reputation, the best stadium training facilities Youngsters program which has produced many a talented youngster, the team let him down last year, they should have been decorated many times last year, but with key players missing they let the occassion’s over power them, we will undoubtedly fight back and with a spell of injury free games we will again be leading the league.
What about Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, Neville, Neville….
He didn’t buy them Steve, and that was when they were at their real best…
They faced and lost a few things back then to Arsenal, a team that had Henry, Paddy, Petit, Anelka, Overmars, Wiltord, Lauren – then, they also lost to an Arsenal side with Pires, Freddie, Henry, Gilberto, Lehmann…. the list goes on….
We bought all of them……
So, did we buy our success….?
Anyway, I have a wooden hill that needs climbing, having been awake since sparrows fart…..
Have a good one all
Catch you tomorrow….
Nighty..
Thank you Steve, there is not another manager in world football who does and can do what Wenger does.
Let’s see Jose take Wigan into the Champions League without an unlimited check book.
We are swimming uphill with the financially doped teams are in speed boats.
Demento didn’t make: What about Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Butt, Neville, Neville.
I can see the worm is turning Rico, Don’t be too eager to see off Wenger the man will bring the goods of that i am certain, good points about Red nose but i am drumming or trying to drum up support for our team. at the moment, with all the waiting we have done hoping for breaking news, supporters are fretting and are frustrated, I honestly think they are premature, just watch some of the earlier matches we played last year, that tells you all you need to know about this team, they play great football, and can so easily become winners, granted we could have made life easier by buying in January but were the funds there then. also if we had had Vermaelen available would we have needed another defender, i suppose we will never know. They took a few hard knock’s in the latter part of the season and their heads went down, but i expect that to rectify with another years experience and key players back don’t write this team off just yet have a little belief.
Will, everybody wants instant success, if we buy half a dozen players we would be in the same situation that City and Chelsea with waiting for players to gel but no one thiks of that they just want silverware they would even had celebrated the CC and in my eyes that is Marginally better than the Emirates cup, Wenger is a stubbon bugger but he wont go away from his style of play for that i’m certain
Sorry rico nighty night sleep tight.
Instant success, that is the problem with people today, they want everything now.
I bet these same moaners would be at the town hall celebrating every year if this vision comes good and we dominate everything.
Time for me to sign off, thankyou to every one that commented sorry i couldn’t answer some of you personally, but i don’t earn what these players earn and my day is a little longer, sleep tight all.
Will, our time will come again, and soon, i’m off son a good night to you mate.
Hello everybody1
I was one week “abroad” in Atlantic Ocean.
No many news except Malaysya tour was a success….
Any new signs?
Fabregas?
I’m going to read the new bits.
Liverpool have joined Arsenal in questioning the legality of Manchester City’s sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images
Liverpool’s managing director, Ian Ayre, has joined Arsène Wenger in questioning the legality of Manchester City’s record sponsorship deal with Etihad. Speaking in the Malaysian capital, where earlier in the week the Arsenal manager had said that City’s new agreement raised “the real question about the credibility of financial fair play”, Ayre also queried the £400m deal.
Under financial fair play, clubs cannot avoid the requirement to stay below aggregate losses of €45m (£39.5m) a year by effectively sponsoring themselves with what are known as related payments. Since Etihad, an airline that has the same number of aircraft as Flybe and has never declared a profit, is owned by the same Bin Zayed family that rules the emirate and owns Manchester City, Ayre believes it is a related deal and has called on Uefa to investigate the matter further.
“When I spoke at Soccerex earlier this year I was on a panel about financial fair play,” Ayre said. “The guys from Uefa said there would be a robust and proper process about related-pay transactions. Is Etihad, Manchester City and Sheikh Mansour a related party? If they are, then it’s up to Uefa to rule on them.”
The other test the Etihad sponsorship would have to overcome is whether it represents “fair value”. Manchester City have pointed out that the £40m a year arrangement also provides for redevelopment work around Eastlands as well as shirt sponsorship and naming rights. However, Ayre questioned whether the naming rights to any stadium – especially one that already has a name – are worth anything like the money the airline has agreed to pay.
“It hasn’t happened in Europe that a football club has renamed an existing stadium and it’s had real value,” he said. “It was the City of Manchester Stadium or Eastlands for the last nine years and now it’s going to be called something different and someone has attached a huge amount of value to that.
“I find that odd because it has never been done before. There is no benchmark that says you can rename your stadium and generate that amount of value. Mike Ashley tried it at Newcastle but nobody called it Sports Direct@St James’ Park and it certainly didn’t have that kind of value.”
That’s a quality post Steve- I would personally argue that if the sums of money being bandied about are real then there is every right to question it. If we knew who else had had payrises and on what basis then we’d be in a good place to judge but I very much doubt the press or anyone else commenting on it really knows. There are players more worthy of a payrise but the whole team should really be thinking what they can do for each other to get over whatever caused them to collectively (RvP excepted) to lose focuse so badly. Not sure a payrise can sort out that kind of problem so maybe Nasri is a risk long term anyway and if we have to sell him it might be for the best long term?
Morning all
Steve, I know i sound as if i am anti wenger, but i am not, i’m just frustrated with the man – we all know what he can do and i can’t get my head around why he has changed….
I’m not for Wenger out, not one bit – Just want the old boy back not the one we have to listen to these days, full of promises yet goes back on what he says….
New Post up